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Published: April 3rd 2007
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Great Grampian Adelaides
Margaret Ashley Love The tour began outside the Melbourne Arts Center at 6:15 in the am with a small little man and "Say a Little Prayer" playing on the shuttle radio. The sun hadn't come up yet and I was asleep again before it did. I awoke to us leaving Melbourne and heading out to the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. The first place we stopped along the way was a little camping ground that was renowned for it's koala infested eucalyptus trees. We saw koalas everywhere! None were close enough to touch, not that we were supposed to. Apparently, they are so slow, "typical Aussie" because they eat eucalyptus leaves which have next to no nutritional value. Their bodies have adapted to being able to stand their flavor, but the size of their brains hasn't benefited from the diet. They can sink their claws 4 inches into wood, hang and fall asleep. Imagine what they could do to a human arm...
Our next stop was an off road and off itinerary drive down a logging truck road through the rain forest. Along this road, the shuttle's diesel engine began to conk out, which wasn't too hopeful for us out in
the middle of no where, but it stayed alive and got us up the hills with everyone going "I think I can" and down the hills coasting to see where illegal logging has been slowly destroying the shady landscape.
After this detour, we landed at the tree top walk whose platforms 40 meters off the ground take you through the tree tops. I was petrified. I don't do too well with heights. This would be the first of many times on the tour my vertical limits were stretched. As Brent, our tour guide said "I was built on the ground, I like it to stay that way."
The next part of the trip was all along the Great Ocean Road until we got to Princetown where our hostel for the night was. Settling in, we hopped back in the shuttle to get to the 12 Apostles for sunset. It was a bit cloudy but insanely beautiful nonetheless. After about an hour's worth of ooing and aweing, we went back to the hostel for an Aussie style Barbee and a good ole night of veging in front of the classic movie, Dodgeball.
The next morning's wake up call
was 7am which got us on the road for the optional helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles, then on to the Gremian steps, which were carved out of the limestone cliffs down the beach by the original homesteaders of that area way back. Since then they've been cementized and a railing has been installed. No way would I have made it all the way down without that railing. After that came the Lachard's Gorge which gave me a handful of seaglass from bottles and windows of countless shipwrecks and a shark tooth! I was literaly sifting through the sand to find goodies. I was rewarded handsomely. I was so surprised. The other poeple on my tour walked down, took pictures, found a rock and sat talking to one another. I was all over that beach like white in rice. I have a great appreciation for beaches, I guess from growing up on one. Gorgeous.
After that we went to the Bay of Martyrs where Aborigines were rounded up for stealing the white settler's sheep, women and children marched to a swamp and shot, the men and teenage boys marched off the cliff hanging over the ocean. They were called
martyrs because the white settlers wanted to warn other "Vermin" not to come around "their" land. That story wasn't supposed to be told to us tourists, but our tour guide was not your average tour guide. The eeriest thing about the story was that as we were hearing the story, we were sitting amongst the bush that had a giant brush fire sweep through. All of the bush was dead black. Poetic justice.
After quick visit to the Bay of Islands and a lunch stop in a local fishing village, we headed up to the Grampian Mountain Range that rises out of the farm lands out of nowhere to our accommodation at the Ass's Ears. 30 miles away from any other civilization, we all pitched in making Spaghetti Bolognase then moved indoors to the pub which we had all to ourselves to play limbo, a broom flexibility game, a hoolahoop contest and great contest where you put a cereal box on the ground and everyone takes turns picking it up with their teeth without putting knees, hands or any other body part than just the bottoms of your feet. Slowly, each roung, another few inches of cardboard is ripped
off from the top until me and two other girls got all the way down to only a little square of cardboard was left laying flat on the floor. The girl from behind the bar tried to pick it up, no luck. Sandra, a girl from Sweden, tried to get it, no dice. I thought I didn't have a choice. I was in a split practically making out with the floor when it finally stuck to my bottom lip and I got it!!! I got a free beer coozie and people bought me beers for my fantastic achievement, which was apparently fun for the guys to all watch. Good times.
The next morning we hiked Mount Hallow.
I just went to visit my relatives here in Adelaide. They were so cute. They've lived in Adelaide all of their 80 and 82 years respectively and have ben married for 57 of those years. They practically finished each other's sentences. they fed me a ham and tomato sandwich with salt and pepper on it that took 10 minutes to make because each slice of tomato and ham had to be perfectly placed. Then there was no salt in the shaker,
so that had to be replenished, and there were ants in the sugar for the tea, so that was also tossed. Though I just said, well, it adds flavor! Haha.
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