The Australian Road Trip - Courtesy of WOJ

Another chapter, another adventure, this time in the shape of my very own "Australian Road Trip". And a road trip here is like no other. Being the largest Island in the world and largely developed since the invention of the automobile roads here are BIG, very smooth and for the most part completely empty! So that means endless hours of nothing but yourself and the ipod for company. Good job I rather like Hannah!

So I finally made it out of Sydney and headed West through the Blue Mountains National Park, before being spat out on the other side into what seemed like another world. Gone were the lush, green mountains, now what spread before me was a vast, flat expanse of dry, parched land, dotted with what they like to call a 'rural city'. Ha - that means a farm or 2! I finally felt like I was starting to see some of 'Australia' (though I'm told this is nothing compared to the real outback of the Northern Territory). 1000K, 48hours and a lot of petrol later I arrived at my first destination, The Arapalies. A mecca for rock climbers from all over the world, the Araps are a small outcrop of rocks neighbouring the Grampains, about 300K West of Melbourne. Its well known in the climbing community that you'll find the best traditional climbing in the world here. With the number and quality of routes available to climb, hard core climbing bums spend months on end at the Pines camp site at the base of the rocks drinking tea, trading equipment, catching Kangeroos and sometimes even climbing!

I soon got sucked in by the whole scene and ended up staying 3 weeks. Ooops. I had a great time though. Climbing everyday excepct when the muscles were too sore or it was raining. On those days off we would go to the organic farm down the road and help out in exchange for loads of fresh veges and homemade soup, scones and cookies! It was like having our very own Supernan out there!

After 3 weeks it was noticable that Winter wasn't too far off, and even with my plush duvet and thick foam mattress it was getting cold in the tent. It was time to move on! First stop was Melbourne where I dropped a friend at the airport. I only stayed 1 night so maybe I'm not fully qualified to say this but I'll say it anyway - Melbourne was horrible. I know I missed the really 'cool' parts, but the suburbs on both the East and West were hideously ugly. Why so many people were building houses there is beyond me. From Melbourne I carried on along the South coast as far as a town called Cann River, where I then headed North through the Snowy Mountains. This was my favourite driving of the whole trip. Mountains, lakes and rivers as far as the eye could see. It reminded me of New Zealand. My next stop was Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains. This is a ski resort where I'm working over the winter in a rentals shop. As it was on route back to Sydney I thought I would stop by and try to find somewhere to live. I met lots of people and had lots of offers of sofas untill I find my own place, which is great as i couldn't stop, I had to be back in Sydney if I was going to catch my flight to San Francisco. Which brings me to where I am now. In Sydney, catching a flight to San Francisco tomorrow!! I'll be back in 2 weeks to tell you all about it!

Lots of love, I miss you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. A special thanks to WOJ 111 (otherwise known as a mazda 323). Without whose special efforts this trip would not have been possible.

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