Melbourne, OZ

Loop Completed

It took seven months but I'm back in Melbourne, having done my loop around OZ. It wasn't the plan but that's how these things go. Since I last posted, Eva and I did the Great Ocean Road. We started by driving from Port Fairy to Lorne. After passing Port Campbell, we were back into territory that I knew, as I did The Great Ocean Road last July, and Port Campbell is where I got off it and headed back to Melbourne. We got much better weather than I'd had in July. From Port Campbell to Ottway Nat. Park, we stopped off and viewed the limestones cliffs and islands that The Great Ocean Road is famous for, 12 Apostles and all that jazz.

Then we just cruised for a bit till we made it to Lorne where we met up with Sarah aka Jelly Bean from Cool Bananas (see you are on my website). She was travelling the other direction with her friend Fran, from England, so we all camped together for a night (well, not together together, jeez). The girls had a tent which they pitched just in front of the "no camping" sign. Eva and I preferred the warmth of Vacilando as it's been nippy at night. It was wonderful to see Jelly Bean again and catch up, it'd been three months since I'd seen her, I couldn't believe it was that long. I also found out, to my dismay, that Jelly Bean was a vegitarian. I hadn't realized this over Thanksgiving, where she had three types of potatoes for dinner. Oops! Jelly Bean if you read this, I'm so happy we got a chance to connect one last time here in OZ, and next Thanksgiving I promise to have a better veggy menu.

The next day we bid the girls adieu as they left not long after day break. We elected to snooze for another few hours before waking and heading back into Lorne for morning showers. That done, we made our way up to Torquay, stopping at Bell's Beach to see that fabled break. They were already getting ready for next month's surf competition. We then headed into Torquay and hired some surfboards for the afternoon. First time I've gotten to surf since Agnes, and I wasn't bad, considering. It was just fun to get into the water.

We then decided to camp on the beach rather than make for Melbourne and went to the beach in Anglesea where I'd camped last July (it was my first roadtripping campsite, ahh nostalgia). It's also where locals walk there dogs during the summer so we got to see a ton running amok in the sand. There were three Golden Retrievers so I was happy as a clam. Ironically, Eva and I both finished her book, "A Dog's Life," last night on the beach. Strange, I think, but oh well.

I lay down for an early evening nap and woke up five hours later around 11.30p. Eva'd been nice and let me rest, but by 11 she wanted blankets and sheets and needed to move me to get both. I was dog tired from surfing, I suppose.

Today, we roused and made our way up to Melbourne, and into the madness of the Commonwealth Games. There's all sorts of stuff going on here besides the athletics, looks like it'll be a fun weekend. And, I think the Melbourne Grand Prix is next week. Lord, but we picked a busy week to come into Melbourne. But Emilia is in town, as well as Gavin, Andy and Red, the Irish boys I hung out with last time in Melbourne. And Fraulein Schneider! So, it ought to be a fun couple of days, I'll let you know.

Port Fairy, OZ

Well, I've made it back to Victoria, and the coast. We left Adelaide on...Saturday, I believe and headed for the Barossa Valley, a major wine region in Australia, I think it may be the biggest. Sunday was gorgeous weather and Eva talked me into doing a bike tour of some wineries. It was a fun day, we stopped for a few tastings and ended up buying an excellent bottle of port at one of the wineries. It's made for a nice drink after dinner ever since.

We left the Barossa on Sunday, and made our way South, towards Victoria. We found a beautiful place to park for the night, it was a turnout for a scenic lookout, and we had an amazing view from Vacilando. The next day, we left South Australia and, for me, returned to Victoria. For Eva, this is her first time here in this state. We camped in the Little Desert National Park for the night, which was fairly empty. It also had the worst example of the use of "highway" that we've seen here in OZ. Would you call a deep sand track leading off into the scrub a highway? Calling it a road seemed to be stretching the point for me. Oh well.

Yesterday, we left the Little Desert and aimed for the Grampians, which is a much more popular National Park here in Victoria. We decided not to spend the night but figured it'd make for a nicer drive than the main road. We were right. It was a beautiful drive, winding twisting roads, and lovely vistas. A fire'd swept through the park not too long ago, and the damage was still clearly visible, as was the new growth though.

After passing through the Grampians, we headed due South and before long, hit the coast once again. We spent the night here in Port Fairy, and are about to drive the Great Ocean Road. I'm about out of time now, but I should be getting back into Melbourne this weekend, thus completing my loop around OZ. It's also the final weekend of the Commonwealth Games, so the city ought to be a rather fun mess. We'll see.

Adelaide, OZ

We have left the Outback. We spent a day touring around Coober Pedy and by the afternoon, didn't see much point in staying another night, so we got back on the road and aimed South. It's incredible, three days ago, it was too hot to sleep at night. Last night, it was actually chilly, I'm talking long sleeve chilly, and a blanket at night. What a change. So, we're in Adelaide, which is the first city that I've seen since leaving Brisbane last October. For Eva, it's been even longer. We parked in town and have been doing a walkabout, taking in the city. We also decided that it was time to take a short break from each other, as we've been together almost 24/7 since leaving Alice. Not that anything's wrong, amazingly, neither of us is ready to tear the other's head off. But, we figured, on the whole, having something to tell each other about our day's would be a novel experience. Our plan is to spend a few days here before heading back down to Melbourne, and doing the Great Ocean Road, which Eva's not seen. So, that's about all for now, I'm mostly happy about the lack of flies.

Coober Pedy, OZ

Well, this one's gonna be kinda quick, but I've made it to Coober Pedy, the Opal Capital of the World. There's a lot of piles of dirt all around town. Since leaving Alice, Eva and I travelled South down the Stuart and then turned off to visit King's Canyon, Uluru, and the Olga's. It was nice, our first night camping was one of the nicest that we've had so far. I'm glad that I've been to Uluru (Ayer's Rock), because it's one of those things that you've got to see, but once you saw it, you'd seen it, it didn't really do any tricks and there wasn't a whole lot else to do there, besides look at it.

So, now we're in Coober Pedy, a dusty, dry town. I've been hoping to play golf here for years, and that's what I'm planning for this afternoon, it's got one of the ugliest looking golf courses that I've ever seen, sounds excellent. Anyway, we're resting here for a day, and then resuming our push South, towards Adelaide.

So, that's about all for now, I don't have a lot of time to write, so I've got to wrap this up. But, we're both safe and sound, and we survived the animals of the outback, the wild camels here are really scary, just ask Eva.

Alice Springs, OZ

So, we're headed back onto the Road. We've packed up and sadly said good bye to the room that we've been in for the past three nights. And the bed. Last night, Eva and I went out, figuring that we needed one night out in Alice before leaving. And before y'all start worrying about my drinking, this is the first time that I've been out drinking since Airlie Beach which was, over two weeks ago. We met a few people here in the hostel, and then went out to a backpacker's bar/club with them and danced the night away. Lots of fun!

Here in Alice, I actually ran into two people that I knew. The first was Chris, a Dutch guy who was at Cool Banana's the first week that I was there, way back in October. The other was Leon, an older gent whom I met at the Globe back in Sydney last August. That one took me a while to place, but we figured it out.

So, that's it for now, we're off to Ayer's Rock and King's Canyon.

Alice Springs, OZ

It's amazing how nice a bed can be, considering I haven't slept in one in over 4 months. Eva and I decided to stay in the hostel that we checked into on Friday, and take a break from the bed in Vacilando. It's been rather nice, yesterday I did nothing, lounged and took it easy. Raise your hand if you're surprised (then smack yourself in the head with that raised hand). Today, we're getting ready to move onwards again, cleaning, getting supplies and other such chores. A lazy sunday for some, a busy hectic day for me, I've got a shopping list and everything.

Not too much else to report, my Birthday was a good one this year, the best in the past 10 years, in fact. Of course, as my dad pointed out, this may mean that I won't have another enjoyable Birthday till I'm 38, but we'll see. I also was blown away by the amount of emails I got from y'all, thanks for remembering.

Alice Springs, OZ

Well, howdy from the middle of OZ. Eva and I left Mt. Isa on Tuesday, and took the Plenty Highway to Alice Springs. The route was an unsealed road, which meant we went a bit slower than the normal sealed road. Unsealed means dirt for any that were confused by that, sealed means paved. Our average speed was about 40 kph (k not miles), and it was bumpy, dusty and the flies were frisky whenever we stopped. It was great! I think we saw maybe 12 people during the entire drive, though many more cows.

As the sun set, the flies would clear though, and we continue to be blessed out here with amazing sunsets and sunrises. Somehow, one of us keeps waking at sunrise and we both check it out for a few minutes before rolling over and going back to bed.

Eva continues to cook excellent dinners. Yes, I am a total bum for letting her cook, but she's better at it than I, and better by a fair margin. The meals have been great. We experimented with making our own pan fried bread last night, something that I picked up from Kiki while in Agnes. Kiki, thanks for the recipe, it was great. The recipe is self raising flour, water and salt. Pretty danged easy, and pretty danged tasty.

We stopped today when we were flagged down by two Aborigines on the side of the road. They seemed to have run out of gas so we gave them some liters, and Eva gave the woman her thongs, as she had no shoes on her.

It was long days driving, but fun ones. On the downside, I think the dust adversely affected the tape deck. Whatever the reason, we lost music sometime yesterday. Hopefully, a cleaning will mend the music problem, especially as I just saw U2 Rattle and Hum in a 2nd hand shop, great album. I also managed to put a crack in the windshield, though I have no idea how. Well, it might have been the cow that we ran down for dinner two nights ago, but I doubt it. The fresh steak was worth it though (I'm joking, geez).

So, here we are in Alice, where I plan to be a bit festive tonight. We're going to relax here for the weekend, before pushing off towards some of the sites in this area, Ayer's Rock and King's Canyon to start with. Anyway, thanks for the messages some of y'all sent, it was great to hear from people around the globe.