The Great Ocean Road

So, your work contract ends and you're jobless on a Wednesday. What should you do? Book onto a 2-day tour of the Great Ocean Road, that's what. No chance for getting the unemployment boredom, especially with a 7am start. Sure, 600km in 2 days is a lot to cover, and you could easily spend WAY more time adventuring around there. But, it's better than nothing and at least they know where they're going, which is more than I can say for me.

I'd booked onto a travel tour recommended by a friend and wasn't disappointed. Thursday morning also brought with it the sun, so it was a great day to head along the coast. It was a scorcher in Melbourne (30 degrees at 5am), and the first day of total fire ban for the state. We spent the first 3 hours driving west of Melbourne to the far end of the Great Ocean Road, past Lismore, to Warrnambool (war-na-bul) and Tower Hill, which is a huge sunken volcano where lots of koalas, emus and kangaroos live in the wild. We managed to see all of them too... though I wasn't particularly happy about the emus joining us for lunch.

From Tower Hill, we headed finally to the end of the Great Ocean Road, working our way along the first section (the Shipwreck Coast) right down to Port Campbell. We stopped to take in the beautiful rock formations at the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Martyrs, the Grotto, and London Bridge. I've heard it described as one of the most beautiful sections of coastline in the world, and it certainly is stunning. Finally, we headed to see the 12 Apostles as the sun set before watching the Little Penguins waddle up the beach to their burrows. After a barbeque in the hostel, we headed out to the local pub in Port Campbell, where the locals lined up along the bar and just stared at us...

Next day, it was cooler, and clouder, but thankfully it cleared up a little as we headed back down to the Shipwreck Coast to Loch Ard Gorge. The flies were out in their masses, and annoying us like crazy but the scenery was just incredible, as were the stories of the history of the area. Next, we headed back to the 12 Apostles, where a bunch of us took a helicopter ride over the whole area. It was short but sweet, and well worth it for the view. After that, the Apostles just didn't look the same from the top of the cliffs. Another of the Apostles fell a few weeks ago, so now there are only 8 or 9 left, which is a little sad.

We left the Shipwreck Coast, and headed down to the Green Coast and inland to Mait's Rest for a walk through the temperate rainforest there. As if on cue, it started to rain the second we pulled up in the car park, and stopped as we got back in the bus! The rainforest reminded me a little of the rainforest on Vancouver Island, but on a much smaller scale. The rest of the day was spent driving the Green Coast via Apollo Bay, a cute little town right on the waterfront, and on down the section of road that was cut straight out of the rock face. Beautiful and dramatic. I don't envy the guys who got to spend years upon years carving that road out by hand!

Finally, we got to Split Point Lighthouse in Aireys Inlet, where they filmed "Round the Twist", which I used to watch as a kid. The weather was pretty inclement by this point though, and we didn't stay long before heading on to the Surf Coast, and Bells Beach. Bells Beach is probably one of the most famous surf beaches in the world. Typically, it was flat as a pancake that day. Hahaha. I'll just have to imagine the huge breaks that it's famous for.

I was exhausted when we got back to Melbourne, but what a great trip :)

Geelong and Torquay

There's been a lot of -est words flying around recently. 2009 has seen Victoria having the hottest temperatures on record (February), the driest winter on record, one of the wettest Octobers, and now it is having the hottest start to November since 1902. In the first week of November it pretty much consistently stayed above 30, much to my relief. I've enjoyed it immensely! The changes come quick here though, and it'll cool down again before long. As people keep saying to me... Welcome to Melbourne.

Weird to think that just a couple of weeks ago we still had our heating on, and I had two douvets on my bed. Now it's warm enough to chill out with friends in park without a jumper on until way after sunset. And of course, getting splashed in the boats isn't such a hardship when it's hot out.

After our awesome day trip last week, we decided that another day of adventuring was in order. This time we took the road around the other side of Port Phillip South West to Geelong (pronounced ju-long), where we had lunch on the seafront, and beyond to the seaside town of Torquay. Torquay is mainly a surf beach, and very popular, so it was good to finally see it. We had intended to continue on and follow the coast along the beaches to Barwon Heads, but we got a bit sidetracked by the outlet centre... Still, spending an hour or so in the late afternoon lying on the sand in the warmth of the sun is not too shabby a way to spend an afternoon ;) Bliss.

Back to work tomorrow, and it's my last 3 days at the Bureau of Meteorology. It feels crazy that 6 months there has gone by already. Only 4 months left in Australia. Wow.

The South Gippsland Coast

I started the week well, resting up and trying to get better. Even taking the public holiday on Tuesday as a lazy day to try and recoup, rather than doing something intersting with it. Then 'me-ness' took over and that didn't really happen. Gladly, I doubled-checked the day I was due to start coxing at Melbourne Rowing Club, otherwise I would have gotten up at 4.30am a whole day too soon! After a few sessions, it's been great to be back in a boat, even if it is in the wrong seat ;)

The public holiday was for the Melbourne Cup. I did find it a bit weird that you'd get a public holiday for a horse race, but it's tradition, and the Victorians have missed out on a fair few public holidays that the other states have been getting recently so I guess it makes sense. Actually, the horse races go on all week, but the big one is on the 4th of November. I guess it's kind of like the Derby, or Ascot. It's all about the high fashion, dodgy hats, and ludicrous amounts of drinking. I (and not just beause I was on antibiotics) didn't partake. I was told yesterday that not going to the Melbourne Races (or Spring Carnival as it's also known) was like going to Dublin and not drinking Guiness, but what can you do?

The weather has taken a magnificent turn for the better, and you can imagine my glee when I looked at the forecast for the week, and discovered that for the next 7 days it is not likely to get below 30. How's that for spring? Yeehee! Cathy, Jen and I decided that nice days should be celebrated with adventure, and a trip out of the city. And what do you know? Sunday's are just made for that purpose. Cathy saw a travel section in the newspaper (actually it was a car ad, but they talked about the road they were testing the cars on) talking about a day trip from Melbourne and we thought it would be worth a go. 275km round trip South East (past Phillip Island where I was a few weeks ago) to South Gippsland to a short but beautiful piece of coastline stretching from Cape Paterson to Inverloch. We decided to check it out.

The sun came out to play, and the beaches are really pretty. We jumped off the Bass Highway at Cape Paterson and headed down to the beach for a while before following the coastal scenic drive around the various beaches to Inverloch, trying not to get sunburnt along the way. The coastline there is a series of cliffs and beaches. We headed back through the beautiful rolling mist-covered hills, which really reminded me of home, especially in their green-ness, presumably because of the rains in September. I wonder how long the green will last, since the rain has stopped and it looks like the heat is here to stay for a while.

Hallowe'en in Brisvegas!

So, they don't really 'do' Hallowe'en in Australia. One of my Aussie friends called me a tourist a few weeks ago for referring to the weekend by the term "Hallowe'en". Hahaha. Luckily, I have British friends here, and we know Aussies who are happy to celebrate anything that requires beer (and fancy dress). Much like my trip to Adelaide, please don't expect any tales of Brisbane or anything! The only bit of Brisbane I saw is the bit of Chinatown Craig drove through when he drove me to the airport on Sunday! No complaints though, I'll see Brisbane another time, and the weekend was awesome.

We spent most of the day on Saturday preparing the food, and getting everything ready for the party. It was a great lolly (or, in English English, 'sweet') filled day, as we overindulged with Hallowe'en shaped lollies - I am such a child, and fake teeth always make me laugh. The costumes were amazing. Everyone went to so much effort. I was so impressed! I can safely say I have not laughed that much in ages. Sunday was hangover day and we just chilled out before we all caught our flights/buses. The trip was so worth it though. It was great to see Lisa and Craig again, finally meet Sarah and Guy (who were in Vancouver at the same time as me a few years ago and who I had heard so much about), to see Lisa and Craig's beautiful new house, and to bask in the Queensland warmth (of course, I later discovered it had actually been warmer in Melbourne for once!)

Unfortuntely, my body rebelled AGAIN! I knew something was up on Saturday when I started to get the all-over body aches and a sore throat. But choosing to ignore them, and use the numbing-by-vodka method, I managed to forget about it for the evening. Sunday, it hit in force. I apologise to all for my moaning! Yesterday morning, I was given yet more antibiotics for tonsilitis (I know... AGAIN). Shake me, and I might just rattle.

I caught a taxi back to my house from the city because I couldn't be bothered with trams after flying whilst ill (and probably hungover). The poor taxi driver got the full brunt of my bad mood when he got lost despite using the SatNav. It was probably made worse by the fact that I KNEW exactly what he was going to do it but hadn't wanted to interfere, because after all, what do I know about SatNavs? It was worse because I had given him full directions when I'd first got in the cab. Still, he gave me a discount after I successfully redirected him across 3 suburbs. Actually, he was on my street the whole time, just 3km away - the numbers just restart every time you hit a new suburb, THAT's how weird this city can be sometimes. Last I saw him he had detatched the SatNav terminal from it's stand and was shaking it. Hahaha.

Today was a public holiday. It feels strange to have a Tuesday off work, but I think it has definitely been beneficial to my health! It was the Melbourne Cup today and Victoria got the day off for it. It's akin to Ascot I guess, but they take it so much more seriously here. None of my friends wanted to go, which in hindsight, is probably a good thing! Back to work tomorrow. Thankfully, this evening I double checked the day that I am starting as a cox for Melbourne Rowing Club (it entails getting up at 4.30am). I had thought it was tomorrow, but it's actually Thursday. Phew! It would have been seriously annoying to get up that early on the wrong day!