The Rainy Ocean Road

We have just returned from the Great Ocean Road and the three rainiest days Australia has seen in years. The four of us, Rob, Jill, Richie (a friend of ours from camp), and myself spent most of the last three days in a 1963 Holden Special. Holden is the GM equivalent in Australia. Our sweet ride came tricked out with two bench seats, one side view mirror, and a column shifter with three gears. Rob and I both spent some time behind the wheel which was both fun and terrifying at the same time. Driving on the other side of the road takes a lot of concentration; Rob equated it to learning to drive all over again.

These are just a few of the flies we made friends with.

The 1963 Holden Special, complete with a surfboard for that added beach look.

We ventured out of the car in the middle of a storm to see the 12 apostles only to learn that there are only six or seven left. The rest have fallen into the ocean over the last few years. It was cloudly, raining, and really windy but we tried to imagine what they might look like on a sunny day.

Three of the 12 apostles. We think they are Mark, Matthew, and Thomas. We think the one in the front that crumbled was Judas.

The cave we hid in during the rain marathon.

On the way back we stopped off at a waterfall that resembled a scene straight out of Jurassic Park. This was right after our koala sighting competition. I think Rob won. He was pretty proud.

Jurassic Park.

Bad hair day?

A section of the Great Ocean Road. They film car commercials here. Zoom Zoom.

Melbourne and the Bowls Club

Mebourne is a cool spot. We have been here for a few days taking in the sights. The bad weather followed us from Sydney so we haven't been to any beaches, instead we continue with our routine of walking 15 km a day around the city. Our hostel is out of the downtown core in a suburb called St. Kilda. It's a good spot with complete with more cake shops than you can count.

We stopped here for some Sunday afternoon cake and coffee.

A shot of the downtown area.

The biggest advent calender I have ever seen. Unfourtunately there wasn't giant peices of chocolate to go along with it.

Some graffiti. It was everywhere. Except here they don't try and stop it, instead they encourage it. I walked down an alley that was deemed a City of Melbourne artistic site. They must have had 15 people spraying the walls right off a major street.

The Bowls Club

A few days ago Jill (a friend if Rob's from Guelph) amd I decided to take a crack at the great Australian sport of... lawn bowling. Or, as its better know around here as, bowls. Think curling on grass without the brooms. It was great. We had a private lesson from a guy that worked there and a lane to ourselves for three hours. We learned in Australia bowls was a sport only embraced by senior citizens, much like Canada, until about five years ago when younger people took it up as a social event. While we were there there were several office Christmas parties going on. One of the guys there was an Academy Award winner for an short animation movie. I got his picture and then proceeded to loose the memory card from my camera. Everyone loves it - except Rob who doesn't believe there was any way it could have been fun.

Our Coach.

A few gutter balls.

Bowling.

The field... er... court... er...lane. I'm not sure what they call them.

The ball. The inside of the ball is weighted so to have to bowl your ball on a path that will bring it back into the center of the lane. I made the mistake of bowling the weighted side out a few times. Its embarassing.

The Downunder Way

This is how Santa rocks it downunder.

Sydney, Australia: a photo essay

We arrived in Sydney almost a week ago flying in from Byron Bay. It was actually cheaper to fly the 750km than take a bus which worked out well for us. The weather has been kind of crappy here as it has rained everyday we've been here for at least a little while. Last friday I watched out the window as a river went down the street during one of the tropical downpours. I don't know why people were even trying to go through it. The rain was going sideways and the water at some points was knee deep. Fun to watch though. Everyone who lives here loves it though as it has been so dry here for 3 years or something.

So what have we been doing for the past 7 days? Well, most of it involves a lot of walking. We walk everywhere and have taken a zillion pictures of the harbour and waterfront which is absolutely spectacular. Toronto could learn a thing or two. We continue our shopping bonanza where we never actually buy anything but just look at prices and have fit in a couple museums. We are staying downtown in a YHA which is super nice and holds over 500 people. We scored one of the 4 rooms in the building with a balcony. However after getting eaten alive by bedbugs one night I switched rooms but still frequent the space.

This is the central train station right across the road from our hostel.

The obligatory shot with the opera house (above and below).

The harbour bridge.

Horatio Nelson. One eye, one arm and still kicking ass in the war games. cool.

This skeleton is from a dinosaur that was bigger than a T-Rex. It's name was Gigantosaurous. I think they let a 10 year old name it.

Ben pointing at something while figuring out where we are going next. A true multitasker.

Cockle Bay beside Darling Harbour.

The Sky tower. It's kind of ugly.

Hyde Park. Really nice!

The harbour bridge at sunrise. This thing is huge.

Just check out Ben on one of the pillars. Gigantosaurous? I think so.

I saw this as he was climbing up for the previous picture but showed him after. whoops. oh well.

Cityscape in morning mist.

We took the monorail around town on Saturday and it was rather anticlimactic. The cars were really hot inside, it was like we paid for a moving sauna around the city full of strangers.

Make them sing Opera.

Cityscape

Zee harbour at night.

Byron's Pride and Joy

If you've ever been to Byron Bay you must have noticed it's pride and joy. The landmark above all other landmarks. The icon of the city which can be found on postcards, kebab store uniforms, real estate logos and surfboards. The one and only; the lighthouse.
Sitting atop Cape Byron, the most easterly point of the continent, the brightest light in all of Australia (besides the sun) beckons ships from afar as it's light can be seen up to 50km away. It also has a walkway up to it that is ridiculously long and in the blistering sun. Ben and I made the voyage taking the longest possible route. (We only realized this after looking at the map at the top) By the time we arrived we took like a 5 minute look and then sat in the old lighthouse keepers house, which was surprisingly cool, for a half hour watching a movie on aboriginals while eating ice cold chocolate bars and downing water like we had just crossed the Mojave. Ben drank a liter and half faster than the rock that shot at my head from the near by weedwacker while reading a sign. Overall it was a great experience, a true journey. Someday they might make a movie about it.
This was the first spot where we saw more "older people" than backpackers. There were bus loads of 'em.

The actual most eastern tip of Australia. There was no way we were going to walk all the way down there. A picture would suffice.

A great beach down there. Surf's up!

On another note Ben and I have been doing a lot of "window shopping". This consists of us going from store to store looking at the same clothes noting that they are exactly the same price everywhere and that that price is way to expensive. This was my favourite article we saw.

The only thing stopping me from buying it was the $60 price tag not the religious statement.

Sun, Sand and Surf

Hey everyone! So we left Brisvegas (Brisbane) last week and headed south past Surfer's Paradise after many people telling us it was overrated. As we drove through town it seemed like we had made the right choice as it was a booming mass of condos and highrise buildings, not really a backpacking dream. Along the way our bus stopped so people could go Zorbing. Check out the pics.
You sit in the middle of this big ball with 2 other people and a bunch of water swishing around a ride down the hill. It was 20 bucks for a 20 second ride and looked alot lamer in person so we didn't go but for some reason I feel it important to report.

We arrived in Byron Bay and after a zillion text messages and phone calls met up with a friend that I worked with in Guelph; Jill and a couple that I met in Fiji and Auckland a couple months ago; Ollie and Emma.

Emma on the left, Jill on the right.

Ollie and Emma

So since we've been here we've just been bumming around in this little touristy town looking at the overpriced surf clothing and going to the beach. Sharks are common here and it's pretty annoying when everyone has to leave the water to avoid them but I guess it's better than the other option of swimming with them. We've gone surfing and body boarding which were both a great time.

The water here is way colder than up north but it's alright b/c that means there aren't any jelly fish although Ollie did get stung by something as we surfed one day. Don't worry he'll make a full recovery.

Ben holding it down at "The Wreck" beach. There's a shipwreck right near shore.

Which way's the beach guys?

The discotheque

Oh ya, I got this mysterious rash on my wrist the other night. I have no idea what I touched but it's really itchy and if it doesn't go away soon I'm going to have to seek some medical advice. Do they have poison ivy down here, that's what it looks like.

Brisbane Round Two

Well, not too much has happened over the last few days. Instead of staying in hostels for the last week, we have been crashing on couches along the coast. We got hooked up with some names and numbers from an old camp guy who lives in Australia (thanks Rippa). It has been great being able to hang out with some real Australians for the first time.

We spent some time in Mooloolaba, and now we are in Brisbane staying with five girls who have been incredibly accomodating. There isn't too much to do in Brisbane, as Rob informed me since he was here two months ago, but we have been taking it easy watching a few movies and walking around seeing the sights. Our busy day today in Brisbane included, mailing postcards, buying some clothes, and eating ice cream.

The house we are staying at is a really nice "Queenslander" but it doesn't have many functional door knobs. The one in this picture doesn't turn or serve much of a purpose except reminding us of Lord of the Rings.

In Mooloolaba we borrow some surfboards off the guys we were staying with but they were way too small for our skill level. But, hey, we looked cool.

Brisbane on our walk home.

In an effort to save money we got our hair cut at a Hairdressing Academy. Bad Idea. We thought, "How bad could a $15 hair cut be." Just imagine, and thats probably pretty close.