C & D Take on the Aussies

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Well Dez and I took on the Aussies with flair and style and had an absolute blast during her 12 day visit.

She arrived on Sept 30 and once she finally cleared customs we spent about 4 hours chatting and cackling like hens catching up before we caught our flight to Tasmania. We flew on a regional airline into a small airport that is mostly used by commuters and business people so the pilot was stoked to have some tourists on board (he saw us coming a mile away with our huge packs and camera around Dez' neck). He smiled and waved from the cockpit and we got our photo with him after we disembarked! It was a small prop plane of about 50 seats or so and Dez looked a little unsure and I am sure was cursing me under her breath for booking our flight on this teeny little plane. It was a pretty rough take off with a lot of turbulance which you feel much more in a small plane but soon enough we were cruising on our way to Tasmania.

When Becky, Patrick, Tyler and I were trekking in to Everest in April we had hiked most of the way with these 2 guys (David and Desmond) from Tasmania and David had invited me to come stay with him and his wife (they were in the parental age group so no I am not bringing home a Tasmanian!). Well David and Kaye were the most amazing gracious hosts who both took time off of work to chauffer us around Tasmania. David and Desmond took us to cradle mountain and lake St. Claire to hike and altough the twisty road home almost made me car-sick the rain held out and it was a great day. Then David was leaving the next day for an annual fishing trip so his lovely wife Kaye (who reminded Dez and I so so much of Monica Milot from Two Hills) who I had never met, took off a day of work and spent 2 days showing us around the coast and then into Launceston. We went to a wildlife sacutary where we saw what else...Tasmanian Devils!! Tasmanian Devils are the largest carnivorous marsupial (kangaroos are vego) and are rather nasty creatures. And sadly look nothing like the cartoon, and don't spin in circles either...sigh... We also got to pet kangaroos, laugh with the kookaburra's, talk to the cockatoos, and view other Aussie wildlife like wombats, wallabies, quolls, and koalas. We went to some incredible limestone caves called Gunns Plains caves and although Dez was slightly terrified, she did amazing in the very confined space of the cave. I think they were even better than the caves in Asia.
We also saw the fairy penguins on the beach at night, did a girls night of facials, Desiree and I cooked Ukrainian food for her, and generally had an awesome 4 days in Tasmania. We definately met 2 of Australia's (and Tasmania's) finest!

We headed back to the mainland and thankfully our flight back was smoother. We picked up our rental car and were off....well kinda. You know how people who know routes really well give directions really quickly and say how easy it is....ya, well, Melbourne...not so easy. The signage is even worse than Calgary if you can believe that! AND remember this is driving on the LEFT side of the road. There is also an automatic tollway in Melbourne that you need a pre-paid electronic thinggy in your car and if you go through it and you don't have it, they will send a bill to the rental company and then you get fined...blah blah blah...so needless to say it was a bit stressful. We stopped got some groceries, and some directions from some heaven-sent angels who even drew us a map and THEN we were headed towards Geelong and the Great Ocean Road. yee haw!

One thing I must say about Australia (at least Victoria) was that their tourist information centres are quite easy to find and give out a plethora of free maps and guides. So we loaded up on the freebies and again were a little frustrated at the poor signage, but managed our way to the beginning of the Ocean Road in Torquay (the surf capital!). Since it was too early in the season to surf (which we were a bit disappointed about), we didn't stop until Lorne where Dez had her first hostel experience. And boy was it a dooser!! Our room smelled kinda like a hockey dressing room...ewwww. We thought it was the girls in the room but after they left it still stunk. Quite gross. And our roomates (I think they were from Holland) opened the window and turned off the heater because they had sleeping bags (which you were prohibbited from using at the hostel but they apparently were rebels) and all we had was the thin blankets the hostel provides. They would have been adequate had the heater been on. So we practically froze to death in the stinky stinky room and then our roomates got up at like 6:30am and were less than quiet. So the first experience for Dez was not so great, and she was a bit leery to try it again. Later that morning we noticed a dent in the rear bumper of our rental, and also realized that I had parked it on the wrong side of the road...whoops. So needless to say we were slightly bummed but trudged on down the very windy Great Ocean Road.

We stopped in Kennett River as our map said there was a good place to see koala's in the wild. So we followed a rather crappy sign (go figure) and walked and walked and walked and saw no koalas. So we went back and go the car thinking maybe we had to go further up the hill. So we drove and drove and drove and the road got narrower and bumpier and agreed that we should go back. On the way back down we saw 2 other people and asked them if they had seen any. They said, ya about 80. Well j-esus, where the heck are they? Everywhere apparently. So we parked the car and almost immediatley saw some...we were looking too hard I guess. So that was pretty awesome once we finally saw them. We went a bit further to Apollo bay and thought we would check out the hostel there. And low and behold it was the nicest bloody hostel I have EVER seen. We were so stoked we booked in for 2 nights, watched movies on the lovely plasma tv, had hot showers, and slept like babies. The hostel was pretty new and the kitchen was super clean and well equipped! The next day we did a rainforest walk which was really great and then we relaxed and cooked a really nice dinner.

We took off early and headed along the most scenic part of the Great Ocean Road towards the the 12 Apostles and we were not to be disappointed. They truly are magnificent and although we braved gale force winds we got some amazing pics and were in awe of natures wonder. The water was very trecherous and we had no trouble understanding why it was "ship-wreck" coast. In the span of 40 years, 80 ships had perished trying to navigate the trecherous waters. We saw other limestone icons of Australia including the Arch, Locke Ard Gorge, London Bridge (which collapsed in 1990), the grotto, the blowhole, and thunder cave (which was indeed thunderous with the water going through like a canon). We left the Great Ocean Road in Warnambool and tried to see whales there but were a bit past the season of breeding.

So we headed inland towards the Grampians which are mountains...well mountains by Australian standards. Not nearly as magnificient as our Rockies or the Himalaya's I saw earlier this year but was nice nonetheless. The outcroppings were really interesting in that they looked layered but yet on an angle. We packed it in for the night after a long day of driving and the next day headed out on a really great hike to a place called the Pinnacle which was quite impressive. The next day we headed back into Melbourne...dun dun dun....

Well Melbourne didn't fail in the crappy signage department and we soon found ourselves in a bit of rush hour traffic and I must say google directions let us down a bit, although I place almost all the blame on the city of Melbourne. So we pulled over to collect ourselves and to have 2 pairs of eyes on the map to see where we went wrong. It wasn't even about driving on the other side of the road. So through a couple of good twists of luck we found ourselves on Franklin street to return our rental. Yay! Then it got even better, Dez and I danced and hugged when the Avis guy told us the dent was already there. Well we were so knackered from the stress of the day our plans for celebratory drinks to congratulate ourselves for surviving our road trip was put off by mutual headaches and exhaution!

But we were not to be held down. Desiree was up at the crack of dawn...again...and soon we were off to explore the city with our detest for their signage wearing off to discover that it really is a great city with wonderful people and lots of things to do. Of note we loved Queen Victoria Markets which are kinda like a really nice farmer's market with fresh produce and lots of tourist souvenirs so we hit that up in no time. We also saw the immigration museam which told of Australia's past as a place for convicts (I am pleased to report that it is no longer that way!) and it was quite interesting. We also just enjoyed walking and taking it all in. On the friday I went for a much needed haircut (last one was when I left 6 months ago, yikes) and Dez got her hair styled as we had tickets to a broadway musical called Wicked. And it was....well...truly wicked!! We totally loved it, bought t-shits like the geeks we are, and talked about it for the last 2 days of her visit. We headed to the zoo, saw an over-priced crappy imax show called Deep Ocean 3D...I highly don't recommend it.

Dez was up and off last sunday morning and although I was sad to say g-bye to my amazing friend it was only farewell for a short time. Soon enough I will be home and we will be scrapbooking until the cows come home...Travis be prepared for a house guest on the weekends!!

Thank you my dear dear friend for taking the time out of your busy life and for leaving behind your little guy and Trav to come and visit and see some of the world with me. I loved each moment!

It is hard to believe I have been gone for 6 months and now I have less time left than I have been gone...a bit of a strange feeling. But the adventure continues when Ryan arrives on friday and it will now be "R & C take on the Aussies" as we hire a campervan and travel from Melbourne up the east coast to Cairns.

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Photos

Dez squared, David, and Carla
Hiking at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania

tulips galore
the fields of tulips and dutch iris' in tasmania

Walter Wallabie
wallabie is just a small kangaroo

A Taste of Two Hills
Dez and I made nylysnyka and lazy holubchi (I know my spelling sucks)

lovely ladies
getting egg white facials at Kaye and Davids

Maple Leaf Forever
there are tons of maple trees in Australia, a reminder of home!

damn right
and we rocked it!

yoga in the rainforest
aren't we graceful!

the grampians
note the layered rock

Desiree has her own potatoes
she made such an impressing the aussies named a potatoe after her, whatta gal!