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Published: April 18th 2011
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Melbourne and Tasmania - The beginning of OZ
I flew to Melbourne from Auckland, explored the city for a couple of days and then went to Tasmania for a road trip around the island. I came back from Tassie, and then rented a car to tour the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians. Then back to Melbourne one last time to watch a “footy” game (Aussie Rules Football). Because I kept coming and going, I got to try out 3 different hostels. The first two were in really neat old buildings, but were cramped and mainly full of folks who had recently moved to Australia and were getting their starts. Even though everyone was nice, it kind of made me feel like I was living in a flophouse….not the experience I was going for. The last one was a YHA with a nice big room, big kitchen and rooftop lounge. Also, just other folks traveling around AU…..much better!
Melbourne:
I like Melbourne. Thriving downtown, easy to get around, fun to explore. There is a big Chinatown area, Greek and Italian districts, and a some great neighborhoods with Victorian homes lining the streets. A big comedy festival was going
on while I was there and I went to one of the shows as well as watched some of the impromptu street performers. The weather was nice (although a bit chilly when the sun goes down…it is fall here after all). I think my favorite thing in Melbourne was going to the footy game. My desire to see a game stemmed from my memories of coming back to the dorm when I was in college after a night out with friends and finding Australian rules football on the TV in the lounge. I remember watching and wondering what the hell was going on. From my perspective, there was lots of running around, kicking, tackling and then some guy would point both his hands 90degrees from his body and the crowd would go wild…..being at a game in person made a lot more sense. I hope the lady sitting next to me wasn’t too annoyed with the questions. Nothing better than watching a football game in the sun and drinking beer! (even if I wasnt quite sure what was going on all the time)
Tasmania:
I decided to rent a car in Tassie and do a road trip around the
island. I of course went with the cheapest I could find…..I was happy that it made it back…..the clutch had that odd feel that I remember from my college Toyota right before the transmission locked up. But, we made it! Driving in rural AU is made extra exciting after dark due to all the little critters hopping out in front of the car. I drove slow and managed to avoid them (including the possum that just stood in the middle of the road staring at me), but there were many little dead things along the road. I was very excited to see my first little kangaroo and then was told that it was actually a wallaby….oh well….looked like a little roo to me! After spending a week on the island, I finally gave up trying to see a Tasmanian Devil in the wild and paid to see one at a wildlife park….looks nothing like the cartoon Taz!
The trip started and ended in Hobart, the capital and largest city on the island. They have a really cool market on Saturdays. It was nice to stroll along through the stalls, listening to music and trying the local food. There is also
an interesting museum there. I’m not a big fan of modern art, but everyone I talked to said it was worth a visit, it was raining that day, and it was free so I went. The building itself is really cool. When you walk in, everyone gets an Ipod Touch which you use to locate where you are in the museum and read about the exhibits near you. Great concept. There were enough exhibits that lit up to keep me entertained, but too many weird things to make me want to return. I guess I’m not sure why a sculpture of the remains of suicide bomber rendered in dark chocolate is art…
But enough about my lack of art appreciation! I enjoyed my time in Tassie. The eastern coast was my favorite part. I visited Port Arthur, the site of one of the early Aussie prisons which is on a magnificent piece of coastline, Freycient National Park (where I hiked to Wineglass Bay and saw some incredible blue bioluminescence in the water later that night), Bicheno (went on a tour to watch the penguins coming ashore at night and rented a kayak to explore the coastline and surf the
waves), Bay of Fires, and the Cape Eddystone lighthouse (where I saw a wombat….looked like something from the muppets). I hiked up Cradle mountain and met an American guy who was also an engineer who was also on a sabbatical from his job at Lockheed Martin (maybe I started a trend?) I ended the trip with a tour of Bruny Island where I discovered that sleeping in the car is not as easy as it was in college…..even in a station wagon (there were no hostels on the island so I “camped” in the car….bad Idea Anne)
When I came back to Melbourne, I picked up another car (this time a nice, new one from Avis…with a sun roof even!) and did a tour of the Great Ocean Rd. This is one of the most popular road trips in AU. Good beaches and really cool spires and caves along the coast. Perfect for a driving tour. However, the best part was getting off the main road and looking for koalas hanging out in the trees. VERY COOL!!!!! On the way back I drove through the Grampian mountains, did a short hike and watched the rock climbers do their thing.
I’m right at a month left in the adventure. Off to the tropical north and the great barrier reef!
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Kristen Porter
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Amazing pictures Anne!! You're right - the Taz looking nothing like what I was expecting - damn TV cartoons! The wallaby also looks like a Kangaroo to me too. I guess you could say us American's know nothing! Looks like you've found football (in the fall) in AU. I envy you there and you're beer! Funny running into a fellow LM engineer on sabbatical. Hmm...what's that say? Glad to hear that you're having a great time (and you're surviving in your not so great cars). The pictures are amazing - I've never been to AU and don't think I will anytime soon so I love reading and seeing pictures about it! Safe travels!!!