The Great(est) Ocean Road

Yester-yesterday Erika, Megan, Kelsey and I got up very early to pack the car, pick up Alex, and head off to drive the Great Ocean Road. After a quick Macca's brekky, we were on our way, all the while listening to some great old hits on Mix 101.1.

Our first stop was Lorne (#lornewithane #alexsurfs). Up until Lorne, the two hour drive was mostly highways and uneventful, though we did go past Geelong (Go Cats!) In Lorne we got a quick bite for lunch (as we wouldn't have another opportunity later on), walked around the beach-town, and then hopped back in the car for the exciting parts of the drive.

The Great Ocean Road is carved into the cliffs to the south-west of Melbourne, and you can make out the literal edge of the Australian continent. The drive is extremely narrow and winding, and we were lucky that we enjoyed pretty safe weather throughout. We had some stops along the way (Alex disposed of some dry chicken, to the dismay of the local inhabitants) and we took in some awe-inspiring sights.

All of this was just a prequel, however, to the main event to come - The 12 Apostles. There were only ever 9 of them, and 2 have fallen down, but 12 in name they remain. The Apostles are collection of massive limestone rock stacks just off the cliff cost of Australia that had previously been connected to the mainland. We arrived at the designated parking area around 2pm, navigated through the hordes of tourists, and finally saw what we came for. A description won't do them justice so I'll just plaster the page with several pictures. This is, however, another site that you really must visit to truly appreciate.

After an hour spent taking the same 5 pictures over and over again, we got back in the car and began the long drive back to Lorne, and then to Ferntree Gully in Melbourne where we were staying. Once we got back, we met up with Tess and Pete for one final dinner. Then we went home to pack, slowly accepting the sad reality that our Australian adventure was nearing its end.

We woke up even earlier this (yester) morning - 6AM Australian time = 4PM Thursday EST. 26 hours, 6 in-flight movies each, and four cramped legs later, we're back in Boston, ready to fall asleep for a long, long time.

Thanks for following our adventures! Until next time!
-Simon & Erika

Back in LAX

Erika and I are back in lax ready for our flights. See you soon, Boston!

Heading home

Erika and I are at the gate at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne, ready to board our flight to lax shortly. 

We will put up a post about our last day in Melbourne, driving the Great Ocean Road, tomorrow. 

See y'all soon!!

Penguin Island

Yesterday we slept in a bit to try and reboot our immune systems and the extra few hours did wonders for us. We picked up Megan from her morning shift at work and drove on to Phillip Island, about 2 hours southeast of Melbourne. The Melbourne weather reared its impressive and unpredictable head as we head different conditions about every fifteen minutes we drove - from a pouring rainstorm just shy of the bridge, to beautiful blue and sunny skies in San Remo, and then back to pouring rain as we waited for the Penguins!

We had a late lunch in the city of Cowes on the other side of the island and then returned to the penguin parade area. Each morning, the colony of 30,000 little penguins commutes from their burrows along the coast down into the water to go hunting, and at sunset they all return, one after another in waves, to their homes. The Little Penguin is the smallest of the world's 17 penguin species, averaging about 33cm in height.

We took our places early on and were in the very front row when the penguins started coming out. They waddled out of the ocean with an uncanny similarity to how our Contiki group would stumble out of bars in Europe - one leading the pack, a few bickering amongst themselves, some more trying to find girlfriends or boyfriends for the night, and others, still, just smiling and along for the ride. We were bundled up as if we were heading to the north pole and even under occasional pouring rain and bitter wind we still had a stellar time watching the little guys bump into one another as they all gradually found their ways home.

Today we're off to drive the Great Ocean Road. We'll see y'all soon!

Healesville

Yesterday morning we loaded up the car with the two of us, Kelsey, Megan, Tess, and Pete and drove out to Healesville, about 45 minutes away from Melbourne. There we visited the Healesville Sanctuary, a massive zoo filled exclusively with Australian animals. We started with a platypus show, then saw the birds of prey show, and then wandered around for the next three hours visiting baby wombats, Tasmanian devils, wallabies, birds, snakes, and more. It was especially remarkable watching the weather turn from pouring, windy rain to perfect clear sun and then back every fifteen minutes. We finished up our visit by meeting and feeding some adorable kangaroos!

Afterwards we visited the Healesville Bakery and enjoyed some necessary hot chocolate and meat pies, and then headed back to Megan and Kelsey's. Later that night we went to Belgrave for dinner, and then finished the day up at the Sky High overlook on Mt. Dandenong, where we got some amazing (but cold) views of the city.

At the G and Southgate

Yesterday Erika, Kelsey, and I headed over to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG, the G) for a big tour of the arena and grounds. The MCG has existed in some shape or form on that location for 175 years, and the current stadium seats over 100,000 people and hosts cricket and AFL matches, including the annual AFL Grand Final, and also the 1956 Olympics.

The tour was excellent and we were able to see the stands, the locker rooms, media rooms, go on the field, and really go behind the scenes of the arena. Kelsey was even more excited than we expected, and must have made her family proud! We finished the hour-and-a-half long tour and then visited the Australian Museum of Sport. We learned more about the history of AFL (it's older than baseball!) and saw the Olympics exhibit, featuring the 1956 Olympic torch and hundreds of medals, suits, and equipment from all of the games that Australia has participated in (all of them.) We saw Cathy Freeman's tracksuit and Ian Thorpe's swimmers from the 2000 Sydney Games.

Around 2pm we met up with Megan and got a late lunch at the Southgate. We met up with Alex and walked around the city for a while and then headed back to the Southgate to see the famous fires along the river. We finished the day with a great dinner with beautiful views of the city.

Today we're off to the Healsville Sanctuary to meet lots of animals.

The Grand Final - and lots of street art

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Two days ago Erika and I said our sad goodbyes to Kristy and her family and flew out from Sydney Airport to Melbourne. In the airport we had a quick lunch of meat pies at Pie Face. My lamb chicken curry was delicious! After a very quick flight (on which they still fed us) we landed in Melbourne and were met at the gate by Kelsey and Megan (Mee-gan). Australian domestic flight security was much more lax than we were used to – shoe on, jackets on, liquids of any size allowed, and no one checked our IDs at any point.

When we got in we quickly rushed to pick up Megan and Kelsey’s friend Tess, and then get back to their house to catch the second half of the Grand Final – Victoria’s equivalent to the Super Bowl. Kelsey’s beloved Geelong had been knocked out the previous week in the semifinals, or else we would’ve had to find an alternate ride home!

At their home, we met Megan and Kelsey’s parents, Geoff and Janine, and their friends Brash and Caz. We enjoyed the end of the grand final (curse you Hawthorn), many Carlton Draughts, and lots of meat pies and delicious Australian BBQ. Afterwards, we finished the night with QUITE a bit of dancing and some more Australian brews at The Irish, a stellar local bar whose real name has been all but forgotten at this point. We went out with many of Megan and Kelsey’s friends, and were even joined by our friend Alex from our trip, and they all showed us a great time. Erika’s rumored dancing also did not disappoint.

Yesterday we gave ourselves a bit more time to sleep in (read: sleep it off) and then went out for brunch at the Abbey Road café in St. Kilda. We had some great breakfast while listening to excellent music and catching up. Alex joined us near the end of brunch and then we walked around beautiful, but windy, St. Kilda beach, and took in the Sunday market where local artisans showed off their wares.

In the afternoon we drove in to central Melbourne and walked around the Yarra River area and the beautiful financial and cultural districts. We saw some of the famous Melbourne street art and graffiti, and walked around for several hours, joined by our friend Mike from Contiki as well.

Finally, we finished the night at Misty’s American Diner, an American-themed restaurant in Melbourne, for dinner with Megan and Kelsey’s friends and Alex. The food did not disappoint – we had some delicious milkshakes – and we were excited to be the experts on all-things American, at least for one day!

Sydney airport

Kristy and co. dropped us off at the airport and we all said our goodbyes, for now. Erika and I are checked in and at the gate. We will miss Sydney but we are also really excited for our Melbourne adventure!

Also we had delicious meat pies for lunch at the airport. We looked like complete imbeciles eating them, but they were delicious nonetheless. 

We'll check in from Melbourne tonight!

-Simon and Erika

So long, Sydney

Yesterday was our last full day in Sydney and even though we didn't pack it as full of time-sensitive activities as our previous days we still kept very busy and had an absolute blast.

We woke up early in the morning and then Erika and I navigated the buses to Circular Quay and then to Bondi Beach. Bondi is the surfers' paradise of the world and we could understand why: neither of us had ever seen consistent waves of that size before. The beach was also extremely wide, and very deep, allowing us to get some great time in the sand and also gave Erika her first Pacific Ocean experience.

After taking in Bondi we embarked on the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, a 6km hike up and down the cliffs and shoreline from, unsurprisingly, Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. We took far too many photos and far too much video on this hike because it was just stunning at every point. The local city councils built up these walks as running paths for their citizens and we were lucky to enjoy them for a day.

When we finally arrived in Coogee, only a little tired, we hopped on a bus back to Circular Quay and met up with Kristy, Hannah, and Laura who had just flown in from the Gold Coast. The five of us then enjoyed some dessert (it's all they have on the menu) for lunch at Max Brenner's chocolate bar. I've been told I'm not allowed to post photos from this lunch, but I'm going to do so anyway. Erika and I shared the best dish on the menu. Remember that we did this after a 6km hike up and down cliffs!

We took our time at lunch, catching up and reminiscing about last summer's European adventure. Around 4pm we headed back to Circular Quay and rejoined the I'm Free Walking Tour to finish up touring the Rocks.

After rushing to catch the bus back home, change, and eat a quick dinner, we were back in downtown Sydney for the Sydney Pub Crawl, hitting 4 of Kristy's favorite spots in town and having Camilla join us. Our favorite place was definitely Scubar - under the water / ground.

We got back home at an ungodly hour and promptly fell right asleep. Now, we've just finished packing, washing the club stank off of us, and are, unfortunately, about to leave Sydney, for now at least.

Thank you so much to our amazing friends Kristy, Hannah, Dale, Camilla, Laura, and Jess for showing us such a good time here. What a wonderful place and what stellar people!

Melbourne, you're next!
-Simon & Erika


PS: We did not eat here.

On belay

We're back at Kristy's house after a long day; our most adventurous yet! I've never been more grateful for hot water as I am only now finally warm!

About a month ago Erika was researching the Blue Mountains in New South Wales and learned about a company called High and Wild Adventures, which offered canyoning and abseiling tours of the cliffs and national park. Without completely knowing what we were getting into, she convinced me (who can say no to those big blue eyes?) and we headed out to fulfill our destiny this morning.

 
We got to Katoomba (I love this country) by 8:45 and met our guides and group. I was the only guy surrounded by six other girls, so my bravery had to be turned up to 11.  Surprisingly the heights weren't even an issue. I was lucky, in a way, because I could never tell just how high the cliff was until my butt was out over the edge and I was sitting in an L-Shape with my feet up. We started with an easy 5m cliff (read: tall boulder) but the thing with abseiling is if you can do it on a 5m cliff, you can do 25 almost as easily. We got our lessons from Chey and Evan, our guides, and then tried a few turns on the 5m boulder, a 15m cliff, and then a 25m drop. Everything was going very smoothly, and we were stunned by the sites around us, until I took my first turn on the 25m cliff. I broke the cardinal rule of abseiling and kept my feet up, and bent, as my poor butt kept going down. Suddenly I felt myself go upside down, a fact which was confirmed when Evan, keeping us safe from above, gave me a wide-eyed look and started yelling, "Use your hands!!!" (You're never supposed to use your hands in abseiling unless something is wrong.) At least the harnesses work. Even more surprisingly I somehow did not panic. I kept thinking, "Hmm... something is wrong... well someone is going to fix it." Finally, after I righted myself, with considerable coaching from above, I made my way down the cliff and headed back up for another turn.

After mastering abseiling we headed to an absolutely stunning overlook in the Blue Mountains for a picnic lunch that the guides prepared for us. I could either write a 5 page essay about the Blue Mountains, or I could just post these pictures for you instead. Better yet, I could suggest that you visit them for yourselves, because that's the only way you can fully appreciate them.

The mountains get their name from the blue haze that comes from the eucalyptus gum trees that saturate the region. The gums release oils at such a rate that the forest literally appears blue. This was especially comforting to the two of us as we've been educated among the Blue (Ridge) Mountains before.

After lunch we embarked on the true and previously understated part of our adventure. We took our small van into the park, hiked down deep into the Empress Canyon, and then changed into our wetsuits. For added measure, we put on coats, thermals, and some girls even had winter hats on. Every little bit would help! Evan and Chey estimated the water at 10 C, or 50 F. It didn't even feel that warm. Somehow, even though we watched the video ahead of time, neither Erika nor I internalized just how much time we would spend in (or submerged in) the water. The first full immersion was the toughest: we jumped backwards from a ledge, down 10 (33 feet)  meters, and into a pool of terribly brisk water. While Erika handled it like the champ that she is, when I hit the water every one of my muscles tensed up and for a few moments I felt like I couldn't breathe. I backwards doggy-paddled my way back to some dry(ish) rocks and was helped up by the group. After the initial shock wore off, and my extremities finally, and mercifully, went numb, the rest of the jumps, dives, and wades were much easier to take. Each one still shocked the system like nothing I've ever felt, but I was able to enjoy the canyon and our adventure a lot more - especially the part where we jumped from 15m (50 feet) over a few rocks into a waiting pool.

The canyoning culminated in our final abseil of the day - 30 meters (98 feet) down a waterfall. It was pretty difficult to maintain good technique while frigid water keeps pouring on you and around everything that you'd want to push off of / balance on. I did NOT display good technique, but I did make it down unharmed. Erika was the star of the day, impressing our guides by keeping her feet on the cliff the whole time and gracefully navigating the falls with ease.

Our day wasn't done yet as we shook ourselves dry, changed into our spare clothes, and then hiked back up from the canyon floor to the top of the park. Thankfully, we stopped at a few overlooks to snap these views. Again, go visit this place. Pictures just aren't enough.

We finally met up with Kristy and Hannah at the end of the day and headed home where a delicious dinner and warm showers awaited us.

Cheers!
-Simon