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Published: January 12th 2008
From hovering around zero degree weather in Tasmania to 42 degree blazing sun in Melbourne, my body didn't know quite what to think, but where there's sun and a beach, there's Shauna! As our wardrobes consisted of hiking boots, quick dry shirts, and toques, we needed to do some serious shopping so we could fit in with civilization again. We hit the shops in our sleep deprived stupor and managed to find some good sales and New Years duds. We hit up Lygon Street for dinner, which is known for its Italian restaurants with Italian men trying to swoon you into their restaurants by flooding you with compliments and offering free wine - SOLD! We had a beautiful dinner, an eventful cab ride home, and then off to bed.
I was able to catch my friend Caitie, whom I WWOOFed with in Italy and she kindly offered me up her housemates master bedroom, who was conveniently out of town. Caitie and I drove along the coast to St Leonards, a small little town on a quiet bay where we had lunch with some family of hers, and soaked up some of that hole in the ozone layer, before driving the
first chunk of the Great Ocean Road. It got dark before we could make it to the 12 Apostles, so we cruised home and stopped for a cup of coffee at her aunts place.
New Years Eve we hit the city. I was able to catch up with Erin again, as her and Chad came out to party with us (Andrea, Aline, Annalise, myself, Caitie and some of her friends) At 11:45 we were away from the city centre and decided we better get a move on if we wanted to see the fireworks. So on the tram we went. I think the driver had it in for us, because as the clock struck midnight, we were still on it. We could see some of the fireworks from the window, but the New Years hugs and kisses were all under the fluoro lights and fish eye mirror of the tram! Well, it was very Melbourne anyway... We hit up an after party and managed to make it home before 4pm, so it was a good night and a positive start to 2008.
On the first, Lachy picked me up at Caities and we spent the better part of
the day at St Kilda's Pier, walking along the cafe laden streets, enjoying gelato and then at sunset, watching the fairy penguins come in for the day. Who would have thought there are Penguins in Australia!
The next couple of days were a bit of a blur as Lachy, Aline and I blitzed home to Brisbane in 2 days. We stopped to check out the Ettamogah pub, that is famous for its design as having the bottom more narrow than the top. We also got to check out this random submarine in a small town about 400km from the ocean. Weird, yes. Oh, and who could forget the dog on the tucker box... A strange statue of a dog on a lunch box, with a story I don't really understand, so won't try to tell it! It was about 8 hours drive to Canberra on the first day. We had some time to take in the war memorial museum and check out the outside of the parliament buildings. The city of Canberra was actually built just to be the capital of Australia, so it was cool to see a city that was designed as such. We stayed with some
friends of Lachy out in the boon docks, it was so beautiful there. As we ate our roast over a nice red wine out on the patio, we got to watch a fox chasing around some kangaroos in the distance. The next day was 16 hours of solid driving, of which Lachy did most of it. As Aline's Brazilian license expired, she only has her learner's permit at the moment, so I filled in a few hours of the drive, and managed to stay on the left hand side for the whole time!
We got back to Brisbane and I fell fast asleep. Spirit of the West couldn't have said it better when they said "and these so called vacations will soon be my death, I'm so sick from the drink, I need home for a rest...!"
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