6-9 June: Whyalla

After our first night in Adelaide, Shannon and I returned our little rental car and headed out on a bus for Whyalla. Whyalla is about 4 or so hours away from Adelaide and much more arid. It's where Shannon grew up.


On our bus ride, we saw part of the Flinders Ranges. Some of the oldest mountains in the world. They werew beautiful, I would love to go back and see them.


Whyalla from a look out point. I enjoyed my few relaxing days there despite my cold. I really like Shannon's family. We went out to dinner the first night and then Shannon and I spent most of our days watching movies. We're such bums.


Shannon's dog, Wulfie. He has another dog, Cody as well. They're really funny, especially since Wulfie picks on Cody because he has to hog all the attention. But, I like them both. I don't play favourites. After all, I don't even play favourites with my cats. Actually, Mr. Gladstone passed away while I was in Whyalla--that was a bit of a day ruiner. Poor thing. But I don't want to talk about it here.


The steelworks around sunset. Everything around there was red, from the dirt to the road. Most of these photos are compliments of a Nikon D200 that I was able to borrow from Mr. Mason. Amazing camera. So nice of him to let me borrow it. Now I have something to save my pennies for.....when I get all my debt paid. By then of course it will be a Nikon D2000 or something like that.


Shannon's parent's house. It's not where Shannon grew up, but they moved not all that long ago. It has a pool, but it was too cold to swim. Winter. Everyone back in North America, you can stop gloating now, winter will be back in a few months. Granted, that will be my 3rd winter in a row and I might not make it.

The view from his house. Just past those trees you can see the ocean, but it didn't turn out so well in the photograph. Well, it makes for a nice view, you'll have to take my word for it.


Look, something very Aussie: a kangaroo. I've since many more since then (and wallabies too), but at that point I hadn't sen a single one so I was pretty chuffed. Still am. They were a bit scrappy looking, but this one looks pretty good from the photo.


Shannon and I walked Wulfie and Cody to the foreshore one afternoon. It was a crazy windy day, but those waves are tiny. You can see the mangroves in the background and out to Mt. Laura. There was heaps of seaweed on the beach, so I opted to look, not touch.

Looking back, the trip seemed longer when I was there, now it seems to have flown by. After welcoming Shannon into my home and life, it was nice to have him reciprocate. It's special meeting family and seeing where a person grew up. You feel closer to them somehow, as though you received a glimpse into their past. For a split second you can pretend you are a part of it.

And then life goes on. And you go wine tasting.

5 June: The Great Ocean Road

Our last day on the Great Ocean Road.


We started our morning at the Cape Nelson Lighthouse. We were the only two there, but it's a pretty sweet lighthouse. It was nice to bypass all the tourist stuff. The museum was closed for renovations but the lighthouse grounds were still open to the public. So we wandered around and headed back on the road.


Our next stop was Estuary Beach where the water was slightly warm and we ran around barefoot, climbing sand dunes and collecting seashells, while staring out at the crazy pelicans that we couldn't figure out how to get to.

The sand dunes were unreal and led to a beautiful ocean beach as well. I love that all over Australia there are just beautiful spots that haven't been over-commercialized like many have in the US. Or at least it seems easier to find them and for almost an hour be the only ones on a massive beach. Not to mention you can leave your shoes behind and they are still there when you get back.


We saw a lot of rainbows on our trip. This one is on the hill in Mt. Gambier. It doesn't go over, but go IN to Blue Lake, which is actually and old crater from a dormant volcano. Pretty cool. The rainbow is much cooler, which appeared as we were jumping out of the car. Since I have been in Adelaide, I have seen two on my way to work. Before that, at least four or five. Australia must be lucky.


This is why they call it Blue Lake. This isn't the bluest it gets. That's in October or November for a few days. But it was incredible. After our stint in Mt. Gambier and getting rained on, we headed for Adelaide. It was strange to finally reach the city we'd been journeying too, but I wasn't sure I was ready to leave the Great Ocean Road behind.

4 June: Great Ocean Road

It was mostly cloudy and raining at sunrise, but we made the most of it. It was still another breathtaking experience.


Then we slept at a petrol station until it opened and then got petrol, slept some more and went inside to have coffee and some meat pies to warm ourselves up. The sun came out so we went to the Otway treetop walk. You walk in the rainforest among the trees, it's high up. There are only three like it in the world, all in Australia--this is the highest. It was great, but a little scary.


We decided to head back, since the Otway Fly was actually backtracking. We set out for the 12 Apostles again. It was raining again after a brief reprieve. But I took heaps of photographs (this one...doesn't do my OCD justice). Then we drove on.

We stopped at the Loch Ard gorge, named for the wreck of the ship the Loch Ard, which killed all but two of the about 84 or so on board there.

It looks a lot better from the beach than it would from the water. There is a reason it is called the 'Shipwreck Coast.' It's a dangerous coastline, where hundreds of ships met their end. Many of them I read about or scan photos of for work.


There was a graveyard for the victims of the wreck as well (at least for those who had bodies recovered) and one for everyone. It was really sad and eerie, yet peaceful among the wind and tall grass. It was strange how quiet and empty it felt out there on the coast. So much of it is a national park that it seems virtually untouched at times.


The entrance to Thunder Cave that leads to the blowhole. So loud and it rumbled as we walked down close to it. In the rain and wind, the water was so rough, it make the landscape even more wild and un-tameable. And slightly slippery and terrifying. Absolutely perfect.

The blowhole, from up above. More examples of limestone erosion. It's over a 100 metres to the cave entrance and the ocean, but if you fell in, you would die.

The Bay of Islands. You can find these formations almost anywhere along the coast, but you can only scream "stop the car!" so many times. And we had to get to Portland before dark to get a motel room somewhere inexpensive.


But, sometimes cattle crossing the road cause delays. Oh well. We got to Portland, got a room, got really bad fish fry and went to bed early. One more day and then it's on to Adelaide!

3 June: The Great Ocean Road

I will tell you now, I don't think much compares to the beautiful, rugged, limestone landscape of the Great Ocean Road. Not to mention it's just fun to drive. I knew I got up early for a reason, I was excited to begin the adventure in our little Hyundai Getz.

She's small and black, but as you can see, she was cute and home for three days. While I did drive on the left side of the road, Shannon did most of the driving. I did the navigating--I can officially say most people would get lost if it weren't for my navigation skills.

Bells Beach, the first stop just before the Great Ocean Road officially begins. We had to stop to watch the surf and the crazy surfers off that point trying to catch a wave. Even on a cold day, it was beautiful.


A typical view from out the window. You can see the road winding around the mountain. That's only ONE of the many shots I took while Shannon drove. The coastline was amazing and continued to appear from behind all the turns and hills. I was constantly in awe of the beauty.


One moment beaches and suddenly, it looks like we're in England with the green rolling hills. It constantly oscillated between the two scenes. It rained a lot on and off too, but that didn't dampen our sense of adventure...


Along the GOR is Otway National Park known for waterfalls and rainforests. Sadly, we didn't see waterfalls, but we saw heaps of rainforests. This is along the Maits Rest Walk and it was certainly rainy and beautiful. We were among some extremely old beech trees, which was incredible.


The reason they call it the Limestone coast, the constant erosion going on makes it beautiful. Thank god for limestone, eh? And these would be the 12 Apostles at sunset. We just made them in time. The first of three. It beautiful to walk along the path, listening to the sound of the waves and suddenly......there they appear, as if out of thin air below you. And you suddenly witness the passage of time and the feeling of eternity all at once. One day will be gone, but more will appear as wind and the ocean work their magic.

Wow. That's all I really had to say.


The visitor centre after dark. It was cold by the time we got to the car and then we drove to a nearby beach town called Port Campbell. It was tiny with one main street. But, we found on cafe still open and had some pizza, wine and heaps of water. I was so thirsty and it was so wonderfully warm in there. We decided to sleep in the car, but had to dodge down a creepy side street to sleep because the cops were doing laps around the main road, and we felt we'd be in trouble for sure.

Even worse, I had to pee from all the water and wine, so we had to keep driving the beach house. Thankfully, they left the bathrooms unlocked by the foreshore. We made several trips that night.
We gave up sleep about 5:30am and decided to drive back for sunrise to the 12 Apostles. First we got lost, then we got there....and stared at the Southern Cross until the sun came up.

2 June: Melbourne

This brings us to my last full day in Melbourne and I had a laundry list of things to see before 5pm (after that you lose the light and there's no sense in taking photographs). So, we started that day at the market getting breakfast and buying Shannon new sneakers. Then we headed out to the place I'd been dying to see. The old Melbourne Gaol--I suppose I should clarify that 'gaol' is pronounced 'jail' but I can't tell you why they just don't spell it j-a-i-l and be done with it.


That's the real death mask of Ned Kelly. It was the reason I went there. He died there and of course he's a legend in Victoria. If you don't know who Ned Kelly is, you ought to read up on him. If you're Irish, you'll really find reasons to love him. And if you're not it's just a good old story of an outlaw becoming a hero, even in death.

Okay, so I have a slightly unhealthy obsession and took several photos of his mask. I'll bore you with only one.


The gallows where Ned Kelly was hung and where they continued to hang people until I believe 1975, give or take a year. Pretty eerie. The place was cold, clammy and felt like death. But...that's where Ned died...so in my own special way, I had to make the pilgrimage to it.


Next stop was Captain Cook's cottage. It was actually built in England, by his father and Cook never actually lived in it--they built it after he joined the Navy. But it's cool just the same. First of all, it was dismantled by England, shipped to Australia and then reassembled according to plans. They numbered each stone. How crazy is that? So technically, the British just dumped their historical treasures on Australia, but I rather enjoy it.


The cottage is located in Fitzroy gardens and I really liked it there. We continued on our walk because we saw a sign for a model tudor village and we thought going inside more period homes would be great. But...this is what we found instead....


ACTUAL model homes, about a foot high. While it was funny, we should have taken the sign literally....

After it got dark, we decided to enjoy the many city malls in Melbourne. This cone and building is in the centre of one. We waited there before going to see Pirates 3. Where, in the movie, we were ASSIGNED SEATS. Yeah, like going to a play, apparently they follow similar rules for the movies. How strange is that? Well, after that it was time to call it a night. Our next leg was about to begin...

1 June: Melbourne (My Birthday)

Ah, the most important day of the year...my birthday! The big 23 and I'm in Melbourne sharing it with my boyfriend. Well, I miss everyone at home, but how many times do you get to say your birthday was in Australia? Unless you live there of course. Well, we didn't sleep in long in our hostel, because I get excited on my birthday. First, Shannon took me to the Queen Victoria Market, and it's the best place in the world! It's like a farmers market, deli, craft fair, cheap shopping centre, bakery and the best way to blow a day.


This is the entrance to the markets. It seems to go on forever with heaps of stalls. I got UGGs for my birthday from Shannon. Cheap UGGs, but the real ones. They look GREAT! Anyways, I went back every day, and wished I bought more. I should have gone souvenir shopping, but sorry, I haven't. I'm not even sure how I feel about that kitschy stuff anymore....

DUCKLINGS! Yes, they sold wildlife...including pigeons and budgies, which are the cutest little birds ever, but sooo noisy. I really think that market was the best part of Melbourne and our hostel was only blocks from it. After we did our morning shopping, we went to a park and feasted on my birthday lunch. We ate hummus, bread, turkey, cheese, mandarins and of course wine...all in the middle of the day in a lush green park. It was such a good meal.


We finished the meal off with a trip to the Melbourne Aquarium. It wasn't as exciting as I thought, but it was my birthday, so I enjoyed it. I bought my only present so far, a magnet for Grandma--one of the most important people in my life, so she deserved the first present.


So, the big excitment of the night was our walk to the MCG, the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. It's not cricket season, but it is Footy Season, AFL. The Australian rules football. A different sport indeed, I can't describe it to you, you just have to see it for yourself. But it was great and those were the teams that played, Collingwood won. Hometown win.


Look at the boys in action. With short shorts. The yellow ball is the footy ball. I don't remember what happened, but it was an exciting game.

As you can see, I fully support footie now and am enjoying my birthday heaps despite how cold it was at the MCG. I had just bought that hat at the QV market earlier that day and it really came in handy for that game. The markets are good for everything. And footy makes Aussie's drink, eat meat pies and scream A LOT.

We finished off the night with some gyros at an all night place called Stalagmite. It was heaps busy, but we ate and then headed out because it was after 11pm and we were buggered. What can I say? Jet lag!

Thus concludes my birthday....

31 May: Melbourne

Melbourne: 8am. After a long bus ride through moonlight bush and a cold run to a bathroom that was outdoors and out of heating or hot water for my hands. There was nothing better to come to than a raining, busy, cold city. And a hotel without a room ready. To be honest, it rained most of the day and so when our room was ready I spent most of it sleeping in a king-sized bed. These pictures are from other days, but show the evening walk I took with Shannon.


Melbourne is known for its tram system. This is one of the old trams traveling around the city centre. I did not ride one, but I thought that there should be a picture of one.

The Yarra River and some colourful buoys in it. Behind them is the yellow building known as Flinders Station. There's a lot of great walking along the Yarra, especially with all the shops on the south bank.


A wide shot of the Yarra river and a great reflection. When Melbourne isn't raining, it really isn't that bad. So, I admit due to the inclement weather on the 31st, we got off on the wrong foot.


Southgate is a really big shopping centre on the south bank of the Yarra. There's a lot of great restaurants there as well. Shannon and I went to La Camera (an Italian joint) to celebrate my birthday early. We enjoyed some wine and chicken risotto and a view of the river. Then a walk to walk off the risotto and gelato dessert.

Almost every major city seems to be getting a ferris wheel. Melbourne is right along with them. I didn't get to ride it, but I did take lovely photos of it. Mostly because I was on the wrong side of the river.


Sunset over the CBD of Melbourne. Some of my best photos came out of Melbourne. After supper we went back and I managed to fall asleep quickly. I guess at this point jet lag caught up with me rather quickly. I also wanted to be ready to enjoy my 23rd birthday to its fullest.

30 May: Canberra

One day was not enough for Canberra. We didn't get off the bus until almost noon, so we didn't have enough time to visit any galleries or museums. Instead, we went to Parliament after walking around.
The Lake Burley Griffin. Complete with a 24 hour big fountain and accompanying rainbow. It was a cold day, but the walk made the view worth it. Canberra is higher elevation, so usually colder than other places throughout the year. It felt a little like late fall and everyone was bundled up in big jackets. Even I wished I had thought of a jacket.

Captain Cook memorial. It's a really cool memorial, but as you might be noticing, there is a very large Cook theme in Australia. Like Columbus, he didn't technically find it. Obviously the Aboriginals were there first and then Dutch sailors founded the North shores. I suppose Cook's claim to fame is he did map the big Southern blob on the map, thus putting Australia officially down on paper for the Western world. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. I just find it amusing.

The Magna Carta Place monument. The "symbol of freedom." I guess the document still applies to them since they are a part of the commonwealth. As you will come to see, they highly value and treasure it. Seriously.
The new Parliament building. Where Shannon and I went in and were met by very FEW and very FRIENDLY guards. Nothing like in the US. There was only one officer standing out front of the Parliament. I figured it was because no one important war around. Turns out I was wrong. We went to sit in on Q&A in the House of Representatives so I could see the Liberals and Labor Party duel head to head like high schoolers (and believe me they do...it's rather amusing). But I got to see Prime Minister John Howard as well!

First, I fully admit he looks just like Dick Cheney. In fact I asked Shannon who the Cheney look alike was. Second, he never answered a single question. I mean he talked, but it was always about something else totally irrelevant. Actually, he talked about how great the Clinton administration was for reducing the debt. Had to agree with the little man on that one.

THE MAGNA CARTA! Well, the 1297 version. Sealed in...I believe halogen? One of the inert noble gases. How cool is that? anyways, they purchased it in 1952 for about 12,500 pounds. As of 2006 is was worth AUS$15 million. Less than the $40 million it was worth. But technically, I'd consider it priceless. I also saw the desk where Queen Victoria signed the bill in 1901 called the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (UK). Go Queen Vicki!

I'll admit it, I feel as though the trip to Canberra made me a very patriotic Australian. And even though I'm not Australian, at least I could feel proud for a country that is not my own. Technically. But, I take a far greater interest in their politics because, let's face it, I'm sucker for stories about commonwealths.

For starters, they're all about federation and not freedom we Americans gawk on and on about. It's funny what those words mean to different people and yet how both of them in some respect represent the same thing. Only one was a bill signing and the other a bloody revolution. Oh, to have been a colony.