Peed On By A Koala in Spiderland!

Rupesh And Lou In Oz (18th December-16th January, 2008)

First of all Rupesh was never coming to Australia, he was coming to Spiderland. Let's just say he's not a great lover of spiders of any shape or size! Just to give you an idea of his fear, we had just booked our tickets to Melbourne in September and were walking home from the tube station when he exclaimed, "look at that bad boy!!" When Rupesh refers to a 'bad boy' he is never referring to a naughty child, it is always in reference to a big bad spider! Rupesh was pointing at the window of a house. I looked more closely and all I could see was bird pooh on the window! We had only just booked our tickets and already Rupesh was having hallucinations about spiders!!! How was he ever going to survive in Spiderland!

Mum had no idea Rupesh was coming to Melbourne until he arrived on the 13th of December. Mum is never going to believe anything I say ever again. Rupesh then flew out the next day to visit a friend in New Zealand. He had a very sleepless night though, getting over the jetlag. He was awake at 2am and caught his first bug in my sisters house which remained captured under a mug all night. He told my sister in the morning that he had made his first friend in Australia!

Rupesh was also greeted by the biggest spider clinging to my sisters back gate as he was driven up the driveway. And, the next morning there was a red bellied black snake in my sisters garden - the first snake we'd ever seen in her garden!! Must be because of all those natives she planted recently!!

As for the title of the blog - it really happened! Rupesh and I stopped numerous times along the Great Ocean Road on our drive to Apollo Bay to look at the wildlife. Our first stop was the Anglesea Golf Course - full of kangaroos and then on to Kennett River where there were lots of koalas. It just so happened that they were quite active, moving around the trees, munching on gum leaves. I was videoing one of the koalas at the time when both Rupesh and I felt a spray. And then there was a delay - that koala is weeing on us! Check out the video!

Over the 4 weeks we covered a lot of ground. In Melbourne alone we made it to watch the Carols in Federation Square on Christmas Eve and the opening of the Advent Calendar. We enjoyed a balmy night at the Moonlight Cinema, the Aussie Open, Queen Vic Market, Melbourne Zoo and the Eureka Tower. For those of you who haven't been in Melbourne for some time, the Eureka Tower is now the highest building in Melbourne. A Canadian I met in Hong Kong informed me of this after I tried to tell him he was wrong! Rupesh went to the Boxing Day Test with my brother and nephews but truly the highlight of being in Melbourne was going on the Neighbours Tour on a bus full of Brits! It supposedly never rains in Ramsay Street. Well, this particular day it poured! It gets better though, we also made it to the Neighbours Night at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow Pub in St. Kilda. The pub was full of hundreds of Brits and I was one of 3 Aussies in the entire place! The night finished with Dr. Carl Kennedy's band! Despite my sarcasm it was a fun night but I think the Neighbours Tour needs a bit of work!

Rupesh also experienced life on the Murray in 45 degree heat and soon wore his first pair of shorts that I had to take him shopping for when he first arrived. We had a great day at Healsville Sanctuary and visited a winery in the Yarra Valley on the way home. We had a lovely evening at the Sky High Restaurant on Mt. Dandenong and had a sensational view of the lights over Melbourne after the sunset.

On our drive up to Sydney we had to turn off at Wangaratta. Apparently this is where everyone on Neighbours disappears to from to time to time. Rupesh didn't believe me when I told him there wasn't a great deal to see there!! Rupesh spent a couple of days working at the Sydney office of the same company he works for in London. We did lots of sightseeing and spent a day in the Blue Mountains before taking the coastal route home via Jervis Bay and Lakes Entrance. I found as much wildlife as I could for Rupesh including lots of kangaroos, kookaburras, rosellas, bullants and lots of 'big bad boys' otherwise known as spiders!

One final day trip before Rupesh flew home; Phillip Island where he was amazed at the hundreds of seals at Seal Rocks and the penguin parade at dusk.

In addition to all our tripping around Rupesh was subjected to lots of time with my family and friends who enjoyed having him around. And it wouldn't be 'Spiderland' without this parting gift; we just got in to my brothers car after spending the day at the Australian Open on Rupesh's last day in Australia. And what came running across the bonnet and along the side windows - a huge huntsman! The windows remained up the whole journey home and then there was a quick dash from the car until the huntsman was found. At 100km/hour on the freeway we still didn't lose him! He hid himself very well in the door jam at the back of the car.

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