Week 14

---

While we were in Torquay I booked to have a refresher surfing lesson, in an attempt to get my technique back to what it used to be. It started at 9am, and was supposed to last 2 hrs (it turned into 3!!). I almost ended up having the lesson on my own as the other 2 guys booked for the lesson were late. We spent a lot of time warming up on the beach and going through various different techniques. For the first time in ages the sun poked itself out from behind the clouds that had been following us since we started our journey from Adelaide to Melbourne. The sun felt so warm that we were all sweating in our wetsuits… lovely!! It was really nice to have such a small group, because it meant our instructor could give us detailed personal tips. By the end of the lesson I was nackered, but standing and it felt good. Because we started late and the lesson went on for a whole extra hr, by the time we got back to the shop it was gone 12. I had a shower and then walked back to the cabin.
When I left this morning the guys were in bed and I asked Frank if I could take the key so I could have a shower in the amenities block once I’d finished my lesson. We locked the door from the inside at night, so as I was leaving I locked the door from the outside. (it was one of those sliding patio doors, that can normally be opened from the inside). I got back around 1, only to find I’d locked the guys in… ooops!!!! Thankfully they didn’t mind too much, but I felt really bad.
After a late lunch/breakfast of eggs on toast we decided to hire another surfboard. It came with a wetsuit, which meant Bobbie could have a go as well so we split the price. It was getting late, so we didn’t have long in the water, I was knackered anyway, so wasn’t catching many waves anyway. In the evening we watched The Incredibles and I fell asleep on the sofa, only to be woken up by Frank a few hrs later, asking me if I would rather sleep in a proper bed.

That was our last day in Torquay, next stop Philip Island. It was a reasonably long drive and we had to get the ferry to the other side of the bay. The sea police were training new members, so they kept pulling alongside our boat and climbing up onto the deck. All of the kids on the boat loved it. Just as we were nearing the end of our ferry journey they made an announcement over the tannoy saying there were dolphins at the front of the ship, so I went to check it out. Not only were there dolphins, there were also seals, but unfortunately I didn’t manage to get any photos.
When we drove off the ferry, we ended up getting slightly lost as the maps didn’t correspond very well with the road signs. Anyway we eventually made it to Philip Island, by driving over a bridge that connected it to the mainland.
We decided that since the weather was looking up, we would camp for the last time and drove around to find a good campsite. It turned out we pretty much had the whole campsite to ourselves, aside from one other couple. The campsite had an indoor heated pool, so after we’d put up the tent, I left the guys to sort out their Bali stuff and went to check it out. The guy from reception was in the pool and I ended up talking to him for ages about what its like to travel (he’s also travelled) and about Australia. He said he would put the fire on in the adult lounge for us, so we could sit inside somewhere warm, so I went to get the guys. I was grateful for the warmth of the fire, because it was starting to get a bit nippy outside. We sat and watched crappy TV, which was something different for a change.

We had planned to get up early in the morning, but managed to sleep in. Philip Island is good for surfing, so we headed to one of the main surfing beaches. We were blessed with beautiful weather again and must have spent a good few hrs on the beach; Frank and I took it in turns to use the surfboard. The waves weren’t very powerful, so I ended up falling flat on my face a few times, something Frank and Bobbie found hilarious. Originally we planned to go back to the campsite for lunch, but we spent such a long time at the beach that we went straight to Nobbies seal centre, where were grabbed a toasted roll each. Frank and I were starving after our long midday surf, so some decent food was very much appreciated. You’re supposed to be able to see seals in the wild on rocks just off the shore from the centre, but because it was quite windy at the southern most tip of the island, they had all moved further away from the shore, to a smaller more sheltered island. I did manage to spot some perching on some rocks in the distance though.
Philip Island is most famous for its little penguins, which at sunset 365 days of the year, come out of the water and parade up the beach to their burrows in the sand dunes, so that’s where we went when we left Nobbies. They have 2 big seating areas along the beach where the penguins come, and as the sun gradually began to go down, 1 by 1, then in slightly bigger groups, the little penguins came up to the shore in the waves. They’re called little penguins simply because they’re smaller than the typical penguin. They can be very cowardly and it takes them a few attempts of going in and out of the sea, before they brave the walk up the beach. It was quite funny to watch and a great experience. There are also boardwalks through the sand dunes, so you can see penguins up closer. Its the beginning of their mating season, so they were making very loud noises for such small creatures. Your not allowed to take photos, so unfortunately when I finally get round to uploading some, there wont be any of the penguins.
After watching the penguin parade we went back to the campsite and after dinner, we went to sit in the adult lounge again. I ended up falling asleep with a beer in my hand and the first thing I said when I woke up was ‘where’s my beer?’ panicking I’d spilt it somewhere. It turned out Bobbie realized I’d fallen asleep and taken it off of me.

After 2 nights on Philip Island it was time to head to Melbourne. While we were on our way I rang up a few hostels, to find out if they had space for 3 people and a car. We would have camped, only there aren’t any campsites near the centre of town. We ended up checking into a place called Bev and Micks, $80pp for the week. It turned out Bev and Micks was a backpackers on top of a small pub. We were introduced with a free drink each and after we’d paid, Danny showed us to our room. We were in a 10 bed dorm and when we went up stairs to the rooms, we understood why it was so cheap. After having shower, which was being very temperamental with temperature, we headed into town on the Tram. We’d been waiting to go and see Angels and Demons, so after grabbing a bite to eat in town we headed to the Imax, only to find they weren’t showing it. The people there directed us to another nearby cinema, which when we got there, wasn’t showing it either. The only other cinema nearby was in town and since we weren’t entirely sure where we were, we got in a taxi. We couldn’t go and see Angels and Demons till later in the evening, and the guys wanted to see Star Trek, so we went to see that first. We didn’t leave the cinema till gone 12, got the tram into the centre of town, then walked back to the hostel, which wasn’t very far. It looked like they were closing the bar when we got back, but they were just getting rid of people that weren’t staying at the hostel. They kept serving us until the early hrs of the morning (5am!!!!!!!!). We played a really good drinking game, which ultimately ended up in Bobbie having to drink 1.5 jugs of alcohol, which contained a mixture of the drinks everyone had been drinking during the game.
As most of you know, I don’t really drink and in fact a lot of you will never have seen me drink before. That night was definitely an exception to my ‘normal’ behavior and I got absolutely legless. We were dancing on the pool table and goodness knows what else. Surprisingly I didn’t have much of a hangover in the morning, just felt a little heavy, but having said that we didn’t get up till gone 12, which may have had something to do with it. We went down to have some breakfast /lunch (in the kitchen from hell… you almost passed out from opening the fridge, the smell was so bad!!), then made our way into town to watch an AFL game at the Etihad stadium (old Telstra dome). We ended up going with a guy from our room, who was lovely. After getting our tickets we all went to Nando’s for dinner… first proper meal in a while. Since we weren’t allocated actual seats we went in over an 1hr before the match started, but it definitely paid off because we had fantastic seats. For those of you who don’t know AFL, is the Australians version of football and stands for ‘Australian Football League’. To put it simply It’s kind of a cross between rugby and football and is a very fast moving game. It turned out we chose a very good game to go and see, as it was the 2 of the top 3 teams playing and the results were VERY close. Our seat choice also turned out to be good as all the action seemed to happen at our end of the pitch. Afterwards the guys all had Mc Donald’s (as if nandos wasn’t enough to fill them up) and we walked back to the hostel where we had a few drinks before heading up to bed.

Melbourne is famous for its markets. We were staying right opposite the south Melbourne Market, but on Saturday we headed to the big Victoria market in the north of Melbourne. We grabbed some lunch when we were there and I had the best tuna roll I think I’ve ever had!! After wandering round the market, we walked back into town, looked round the shops and went to sit in the bar near the cinema, where we had dinner.
Back at the hostel we didn’t plan to stay up late, but there was a very drunk Irish guy, who was egging Frank on. I don’t think I ever remember seeing 2 people so drunk… They just kept having the same argument all night and after a while it got a bit boring.
Frank was so drunk I had to help him up the stairs and into bed.
I don’t even remember drinking much that night, but in the morning I felt really rough, had a sore throat and really bad headache. Frank wasn’t feeling much better and we stayed in bed for most of the day. I only left the room to go to the shop and by some throat sweets and Frank some more cigarettes. In the afternoon we watched 2 movies on Bobbie’s laptop and then went to find something for dinner. After eating Bobbie went down to the bar to play poker with some of the guys. Frank and I stayed and watched another 2 movies (well I only managed to stay awake for the first one :p)

Jeesh that was a long entry… sorry for some of the probably unnecessary detail!!!

---