June 10th - Road Trip!

June 10th 2007,

So I’ve been in Australia for approximately 48 hours. In that short time that I’ve been in this new country, the awesome experiences have been jam packed already! So to update you on what’s happened since my last entry (where I was flying from Atlanta to LA). I managed to call my sister, and I was able to meet her and her husband for a short while during my 3 hour layover in Los Angeles. It was absolutely perfect. I was able to check in for my next flight, then walk outside to be picked up. Dinner was short, but very good (at the El Segundo Whole Foods, the biggest whole foods I’d ever seen!) They also had free wi-fi, which made it possible to post my initial posts) So after that short break, it was back to the airport to complete by journey to the land down under. The flight itself went fairly smoothly, it’s amazing how quickly time goes by when you are expecting a long trip. I believe I slept for about 5-6 hours on the plane. Usually I’m really good about keeping myself busy, but for some reason on this flight, I was completely content playing chess on my little entertainment screen, and only watched one movie. The meals were about what you would expect, but luckily, I had a aisle seat with the middle seat empty (747-400 3-4-3 configuration). But right away, I found myself surrounded by a sea of Aussies and their fun accents. I watched the movie “Breach” while on the flight, entertaining, but nothing really that amusing. The one bad thing about having the aisle seat was not being able to see much of the great scenery on the way in. We arrived in Melbourne approximately at 7:30AM on Saturday morning (approximately 23 hours after I left Atlanta) Customs and such were no big hassle, and was able to get out into the terminal about an hour after my touchdown.

I met up with my buddies Lloyd and Mick (they're the other guys in the photos) after a short wait (I lived with Lloyd during my stay in I-House, and then met Mick during the three of our travels in Venezuela during December-January of 2007). From that point (9am) our challenging schedule began. We immediately started a 2 day road trip that began by heading southwest towards the Australian coastline. We traversed the Great Ocean Road for approximately 3 hours, with breathtaking coastal scenery and interesting weather. We had a mix of clouds and sun for most of the morning, and the sight of a rainbow for most of the day. I would compare the scenery somewhat to the PCH in California, but less rocky and more pastoral, but absolutely gorgeous nonetheless. We stopped in a small town called Lorne (sp?) for lunch. Lorne was a quiet beach town, like many we passed on our travel down the roadway. Had we more time, I think it would have been great to stay for a bit, even more so during the summer months when surf would be in full swing. I went to my first Australian Fish and Chippery and had the greasiest meal I’d probably had in years. Approximately 5 pounds of fried seafood, fish, and potatoes were set in front of myself and my friend Lloyd, being hungry, the amount of oil and grease did not seem to bother us. Well it didn’t bother me until about an hour later, and continued to haunt me for most of the afternoon. After our brief stop, we continued down the highway to the 12 Apostles, a group of towering rocks that jut out of the rocky coastline. Unfortunately due to erosion and weathering, only 8 of these rocks remain. After a few additional photo stops and short hikes, we headed northward towards Bellarat, Lloyd’s hometown. The time was approximately 6pm or so, and the sun had recently gone down.



Approaching Lloyd’s hometown, I got a little of the background. We were attempting to reach the town in time to make a 8pm show about Soverign Hill ( a historic place in Australia’s history and independence from Great Brittian). We had purchased some beers along the way to be consumed during our few days together. Thus by the time of the show, I imagined that I might be able to bring a beer in (imagining the show may be a relaxed atmosphere, kinda like the Stn. Mtn. Laser Show if you are familiar) Well, it was much more of a educational-yet-cheesy family atmosphere, so the beer stayed in my jacket pocket for most of the evening. After the show, we headed back to Lloyd’s mom’s place around 10pm. Their home was much of a rustic cabin versus anything else. Heated only by the fireplace, and electric appliances were at a minimum. We had dinner around 10pm, at which time there was barely anything left in me. But made it to bed around midnight.

Yet, there was little time to rest as we were up and on the road by 7:30AM to head to the Grampians. This was a national park in southern Australia which contains some of the world’s best rock climbing. It was rock climbing which would be today’s activity. To make a long story short, we had a 6 hour climbing class which was absolutely a blast. We were climbing up 5.8 level sandstone and rappelled down at the end of the day, absolutely great. We had a quick lunch around 2pm, where I found out Paris Hilton went back to jail, and also tried a pie for the first time. However, these are not like US pies, but instead more of a pastry roll filled with warm things such as meats or potatoes. Quite good and quite filling. Probably the US equivalent to a hot pocket, only theirs is much more natural. Then we were able to make it back onto the road and reach Melbourne around 7pm. So here I am now, writing this in the comforts of Mick and Lloyd’s apartment. I have a nice mattress on the floor and am keeping warm with my sleeping bag and laptop. It sounds like tomorrow we’ll have another full day, waking at 7am to head out and enjoy the city of Melbourne. Hopefully I’ll have great things to report in my next entry.

Paul