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Published: February 2nd 2009
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We are leaving for Hong Kong in about 10 hours so I have a little time to get caught up with my blog.
After leaving Adelaide we travelled for two days towards Melborne and the Australian Open. It was about 650km between the two cities using the scenic route, so we broke the drive over two days. On the first day we aimed for Mt. Gambier. I met a Dutch guy while in Adelaide and he told me that I shouldn't miss the Mt. Gambier crater lake. Thomas was right. It was a deep blue like I had never seen before. It reminded me a lot of the color of Talicho Tal in Nepal, but without the 5000m altitude and the whole hike for 5 days in kind of thing. The lake in Mt. Gambier was a nice, accesilble place for everyone and look at the color! Wow!
Next, we headed for The Great Ocean Road in Victoria. This is roughly a 200km long road that hugs the cliffs on the south coast of Victoria. The road is a major tourist destination in Australia. While stopping the POS (van), at the various overlooks, we heard various languages being spoken.
Salt Lake
ONe of the many salt lakes between Adelaide and Melbourne. Of all the tourists, there were probably more Chinese than anything else. I'd say one in two tourists were from China. Since we hit the road a day before Chinese New Year it makes a lot of sense, and since WalMart stocks only things made in China it makes more sense. Somebody is still getting rich. Along with being amazed with the variety of people travelling down the road with us, we were also amazed at the giant cliffs and spires. The coast is made mostly of limestone. So, water and wind cut right through the stuff making interesting shapes. Maybe the only down side of the Great Ocean Road was the flies. There were a million and a half flies zipping from nostril to ear and then looping around for the eyes. The little buggars drove me and a whole bunch of the other tourists crazy. I tried standing next to a particularly smelling looking tourist hoping to lead the flies to more fragrant patures, but with no luck. Maybe, I was the more fragrant pastures.
A ton of hours later ADam and I arrived in a heatwave and in Melbourne. According to the national news, this was
Giant Lobster
A small restaurant trying to generate some business with the spectacle of a huge lobster. the worst heatwave since 1908. I know weather reporters love to exagerate. 'Storm of the Century' "Biggest Blizzard since Ice Age!" In this case I can say that they really weren't pulling a fast one. It was well over 40C for the few days we were in Melbourne. They had to postpone play at the tennis tournament, champions dropped out with heat cramps, and Adam and I had a hell of a time sleeping at night. The caravan park looked like an air conditioner free war zone. Those of us sleeping in POS vans resorted to sleeping in our underwear in the grass beside our trusty junks. ADam and I realized that we would be a casualty to this war agianst the heat if we didn't find the refuge of a little climate control. Casinos have really good air conditioning and free lemonade. With fifty bucks in-hand, lady luck at our side, and heat kicking our ass, we headed for Melbourne's biggest casino. After playing the slot machines for a while we realized that slots real do suck and we headed for the roulette table. We exchanged our big 50 bucks in to chips. Our pile of 10 chips looked
Between here and there
The trip between Adelaide was long and dry. pretty lame. The old guy next to me had huge piles of chips and an older asian woman on the other side of me must have had 3 or 4 grand sitting in front of her. ADam and I tried to pace our selves. With only 10 chips we didn't have a chioce. After about 2 hours we were finally up. We had made about 15 dollars!! About 30 minutes after that we were busted and left the casino uttering, "we should have stopped when ..." "if only I would have bet on..." It was a fun way to blow fifty bucks. Later we found a strip mall and sought refuge there until 2 hours before the tennis match began.
The tennis match was awesome. It felt like ADam and I were UN peace keepers stuck in a war between France and Spain. Nadal, the number one player on the planet, is from Spain and the number 8, Simon, is from France. It was a good competitive match. People with red, white and blue face paint would yell, 'allez, allez Simon!' While the yellow and red clad would yell the spanish equivalent. In the end Nadal won in straight
Mt. Gambier
THis is a crater lake in South Australia sets and ADam and I headed back to the lawn of the caravan park.
We are now in Sydney. Yesterday, I went running for 40 minutes. I ran around the Sydney opera house. How cool!?! This evening we are heading to Hong Kong for two days of neon and excitement.
Mike
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Paulette Davis
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Way Cool-ADam looks way cool too. PD