We flew into Melbourne, late morning, and went to pick up
our rental car. This first stop was the
grocery store to stock up on food and grab some much needed lunch; we were both
starting to get a bit hangry (definition: hungry and angry combo; when you’re
so hungry you start to get angry).
Melbourne was not our first destination, but rather driving the Great
Ocean Road was, one of the most scenic drives…ever I guess, I dunno, we just
get lists online of things to do. I had
elected a leisurely pace for the Great Ocean Road, which is really a rather
short drive, but as I was the only driver, I didn’t want to miss all the good
stuff, because I had my eyes on the road; so, I wanted to be able to stop and
gawk to my heart’s content. After
getting out of the Melbourne area for about an hour or two, we stopped at the
town of Geelong (the “gee” pronounced like “George” not “Gorge”, we didn’t
know), which was the official start to the Great Ocean Road. We went to the Information Site in town, and
got advice on all the places to stop and gawk along the way. The consultant at the desk was so nice, and
also kept recommending that we stop in different towns to “check out their
Information Site.” So yea, we probably
weren’t going to do that, one is enough thank you, but then she even gave us a
recyclable bag with trip goodies and maps!
Jackpot, free stuff! We had
thought to spend our first night in town, so we attempted to drive around and
find free parking, which we couldn’t, so we found the local mall parking lot,
and decided to take a look to kill some time, at which time, we geniusly picked
up a bottle of wine and some dark chocolate Tim Tams. We walked around the mall a bit, staring into
windows with things we couldn’t buy, and after a whopping 20 minutes, decided
this was not the place for us to hangout.
In fact, when we were leaving, we both looked at our watches and were
quite surprised we had only spent 20 minutes there; we were banking on about an
hour. We decided instead to just proceed
on our way to the next town of Torquay for the evening. We made it in a bit before the sun went down,
found the library for wifi the next day, and prepped and ate our dinners; we
didn’t have a whole lot to do to kill time, so we cracked open the bottle of
wine and the Tim Tams and settled in for a movie. Yea, that was a pretty luxurious night! The next morning, we were ever-so-rudely
awoken, by a bunch of mothers with their children being dropped off for morning
childcare…whoops, probably not the best parking lot in which to sleep. We made ourselves look somewhat presentable
(aka as unhomeless as possible), and headed inside. There was a surf museum that Jared had wanted
to checkout, which ended up actually being ridiculously expensive, so he did
not in fact go in. We used the library’s
internet for a while, before we set off on our drive. The day was absolutely perfect, and the drive
was beautifully scenic. I was glad I
decided for us to take our sweet time with the drive, because I probably pulled
over ever 5 miles at all of the lookouts.
Until…we heard the weather forecast for the next day, which was rain
rain rain. That next day, we were
supposed to hit up the main attraction of the Great Ocean Road, the 12
Apostles. So, we both decided on
screwing the leisure sightseeing driving, and booking it all the way through to
the 12 Apostles. The drive was still
very beautiful; I just didn’t get to stop for quite as much of it. We made it to the 12 Apostles a bit before
sunset, which was perfect timing! The
best time to be there is sunset, so we were able to squeeze in amongst all the
serious photogs with their massive cameras and gadgets, and find ourselves an
open spot at just the right time. We had
about 30 minutes before sundown, and about 15 minutes before the dark clouds
completely covered the sun, which stunk.
But we got some good shots in none the less, and were able to see the 12
Apostles in great lighting, with a bit of mist over the water as the sun went
down; it was really quite eerie and transcendent, making for a beautiful
scene. By the way, you might describe
the 12 Apostles as a set of 12 tall mini islands; the coastline along that area
is a shear dropping cliffs, almost at a 90 degree angle from the beach and
water below. The Apostles are masses of
land and rock that have stood erect and tall as the coastline has receded
inland. Also, little factoid, as of only
a few years ago, there are actually only 11 Apostles, one fell, but the name
stayed. Anyway, just as people were
giving up hope on seeing a great sunset over the water, a small slit of cloud
parted, and opened up a vibrant, magenta ray of sunset over the rocks, which in
turn made everyone freak out, grab their cameras and run to a better vantage
point. We did get a few shots off,
before packing it up and calling it a good day.
As the dark sky took over, everyone piled into their cars and made their
way to the closest town down the road, along with us. We found a campsite, which was retardedly
expensive, but we decided to splurge….I actually have no idea why at this
point, I’m sure there was a reason we didn’t just opt out like usual. I will say though, the camp ground did have
really nice facilities and internet! We
both took indulgently long hot showers before again…sleeping in the car :/.
The next morning, we were happy to have booked it all the
way through the Great Ocean Road. We
woke up when it was still dark out to see what the 12 Apostles looked like at
sunrise, but as the sun rose and the light stayed gloomy and rainy, I decided
to opt out of actually getting out of the car, and left the exploring to Jared,
and the nappy to me. After, we went back
to the camp ground, and I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a few more hours of
sleep in until joining Jared in the kitchen; we made an awesome hot breakfast
and played on the camp ground’s internet till check out. Over the course of the day, we stopped at a
few other lookouts, as that entire area is full of neat limestone rock
formations and caverns. We also got up
to Cheese World! Yes, it’s what you’re
thinking, tons of free cheese! Uh, thank
god I’m not lactose intolerant (knock on wood).
We gorged ourselves with cheese, before again, piling back in the car
and heading back toward Melbourne. I
gotta tell you though, by this point I was going a bit car-stir-crazy and kind
of lashing out, but Jared was able to tame the anti-car beast growing inside of
me, and we made lots of pit stops along the way back. By the end of the day, we arrived back in Torquay
and decided to walk around the small town center a bit; our flaw was that we
walked into an intriguing spud restaurant that smelled SO good! Not a smart idea when you live on tuna and
pasta. We spent the night again in the
library parking lot, just not in such an obviously homeless location for the wellbeing
of the moms the next morning.
As we were a bit ahead of schedule, the next morning we were
able to spend a couple hours playing around on the internet (which is when I
wrote the Great Ocean Road cliff notes that I have since lost). That afternoon, we made it back into
Melbourne and dropped the car off, before heading to our hostel in the city. By the times we got to the hostel, it was
well after dark. We settled in and made
it to the grocery store to make dinner and call it an early night.
Next morning, up early for free pancake breakfast!! We used and abused that free pancake breakfast
for a touch over an hour before calling it quits, fat and happy. We headed to the library to do some research
on Melbourne activities. Jared had
already been so he was planning on opting out of big touristy things. That afternoon, I went on a free walking tour
of the city, getting to see the different areas of the city, the government
buildings, the awesome graffiti art, and learning all about the gold rush in
the late 1800’s. Did you know at one
point, Melbourne was the richest city?
Neither did I. Even as recently
as about 15 years ago, someone found a gold nugget worth $150,000!!! So that’s something I can consider for an
alternate income, gold digger extraordinaire!
The walking tour ended a touch before sundown, and I meandered back to
the hostel for dinner.
The next day was the Grand Final for the Australian Rules
League (ARL) between the Sydney Swans and…crud, a team from right outside of
Melbourne. I may get in trouble for
this, because Aussies are very passionate about what they call “rugby” and what
they don’t, but for all intent and purpose for Americans, it’s Rugby. People had flown in from all over Australia,
but the hub of ARL is really in Melbourne, so the city was alive with everyone
decked out in team gear. We went to
Federation Square to watch, which is sort of the center of town with art
exhibits and, randomly, a huge jumbrotron TV screen. Jared and I decided to join in on the fun by
picked opposite teams to root for; I of course made the wiser decision, and my
team kicked Jared’s team’s butt! After
the festivities, we headed back to the hostel, and joined some of our fellow
hostelers for dinner and hostel drinking, which means Goons. Let me explain; a rite of passage for
backpackers in Australia is to get drunk on Goons, which is a super cheap boxed
wine, about $10-15 for 4 liters. We’ve
all done it, we’ve all regretted it the next day. BUT, seeing as how Jared wasn’t really a
backpackers in Australia for long enough, he did not know this, and thought
that when he bought this boxed wine, he was actually buying wine and not
something made 80% from “wine stuff” (we’ve heard rumors that it’s onions, but
they are still unconfirmed). Anyway, we
all got a chuckle when Jared whipped out the Goons, not knowing any better, and
we all partook in drinking it. That
night, I actually decided to spend one night seeing the nightlife of Melbourne,
so I went out until all hours of the night with some people from the hostel.
The next morning was a bit rough, by morning, I mean
afternoon, because that’s when I got up.
Jared and I took it slow that day, and went to the library to play on
the internet for ages. We were still in
the process of planning out the next legs of our journey, so there is always
planning to be done. Early evening, we
went back to the hostel, and enjoyed a good dinner and a movie before calling
it a night. Sorry, this day was
especially boring to write, so I’m assuming it was boring to read.
The next morning, we were heading to our last tourist
destination, Uluru. We woke up and had
an early workout with someone from the hostel.
Came back and quickly packed up our stuff. We weren’t actually leaving until that
evening, so we were able to toodle around the hostel, watching movies and
cooking up the last bit of our food, before we had to leave.
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