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Published: January 14th 2007
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Joanna at the Peak
Looking a little wind-swept, but the sense of satisfaction is hard to hide! 'Adventure Tours' are a popular way for backpackers to see the sights throughout Australia, and so far we haven't been on one because in Western Australia they seemed so expensive compared to hiring a car. However, in order to get from Adelaide to Melbourne we thought we would give one a go so we could see the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road. Our thinking being that if we hired another car, James would spend the whole drive watching the road and mising the great landscapes the stretch of highway is famed for, plus you get to meet other travellers, and they provide all the food, yay!
So our tour van arrived outside our hostel at 7am, and to our delight we discovered that there were only seven people on what was supposed to be a trip for up to twenty one! It was pretty early for us backpackers, so we did the introductions and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. Our first stop was a crazy town which had originally been settled by Germans (until the war, German was still the first language of the area), which had retained its charecteristics through the years. We stopped at the
Group on the Edge
Moments before this picture was taken, Lynn (second left) nearly fell to her death... twice! local bakery for some coffee to wake up, and inside were fantastic pastries and gingerbread houses! The pub was playing Bavarian music (yes it was open at 9am!) and was busy serving meaty breakfasts! Really strange experience, especially when you'd just woken up. John, our tour guide who has never been to Germany, claimed this was EXACTLY what Germany is really like... the Canadian girl was impressed, whereas us Europeans just shook our heads.
We drove all day and arrived in The Grampians that evening, having stopped a couple of times, to eat and take photos of some albino roo's (not shown here, as when we reviewed the photos they all appeared to be stratching their nether regions!). We went for two walks before the sun set on us, the first to a waterfall (pictured) and the second to a lookout called the 'Jaws of Death' (a rock formation, comprising of an overhang hundreds of feet above the ground). Only one group member, Lynn, was brave enough to clamber to the end and pose for a macho photo! The view was spectacular, overlooking miles of burnt forest from recent fires in the area, unfortunately this wasn't very photogenic, so
McKenzie Falls
Ever beautiful, despite a two-year drought in Victoria, which has been ruining the lives of local farmers who's crops have turned to dust we'll save those photos for the slideshow when we return.
That night we did more sleeping and a lot of people asking whether we were near the Ocean Road yet, apparently we weren't. In the morning we had our first spider encounter, when a MASSIVE, no REALLY MASSIVE hairy bugger set up camp in our dorm bathroom overnight. We've forgotten to mention that the tour group was made up of six girls and James, and needless to say this situation needed James to intervene quickly, in order to avoid damage to his status as 'the only man'. Oh dear, oh dear... things started okay when James stood brushing his teeth next to the spider, he almost looked fearless, but when it suddenly decided to fall from its perch on the wall into the bin below, this explosive movement caused James and a nearby Lynn to leap back into the dormitory several feet and slam the door! Joanna was accidentally left behind, stranded in the toilet cubicle inside the bathroom with the MASSIVE SPIDER and pants around her ankles! Apparently, all manlyness had desserted James, who refused to re-enter the room until the spider's whereabouts had been firmly established. Joanna
was eventually evacuated from the area and the five of us who were getting up early to go hiking left the others to sleep in this vulnerable situation, without warning.
Us five 'hardcore' travellers (Lynn, Jen, Sally, Joanna and James) had opted for an early morning hike up one of the highest peaks in the Grampians. John, our guide, had never attempted this peak before and didn't know the route... yay! Actually, it was a fairly comfortable hike through shaded areas without much scrambling, however this seemed to be proving too much for John, who admitted this was his first hike 'in a while', and wheezed his way three quarters of the way up before giving up. He'd already asked us several times if we wanted to turn back, but we were on a march and didn't catch on to the fact he was completely out of shape (he removed his t-shirt after about 200 metres because he was sweating so much). At the top John, who did eventually follow us up, nearly had another heart attack when Lynn (a very excitable Scot) nearly hurled herself off the peak, twice. We eventually coaxed her down for health and safety
reasons and descended without event. When we returned for showers the Spider seemed to have drowned itself, so we need not have worried about it all the way home.
At the end of the second day we reached the Great Ocean Road and saw the impressive natural limestone formations on the coast, including impressive caves and blowholes. The weather was pretty grey, slightly reminiscent of the North Sea, and the waves were high, so it was looking fairly ominous as we learnt about the famous shipwrecks of the coastline. With no hope of a sunset we retired to Port Campbell for pasta and beer, a small town with very little of interest, except maybe that is was a port? Probably named after some guy called Campbell too.
It was a pretty rough hostel, but we stayed up all night trading 'toilet stories'. Anyone who has travelled in Asia will know that toilet 'situations' are often hellish, but are amusing in hindsight. The most amusing of the night came from Jen, a lovely and innocent girl from Harrogate, who shocked us all with her 'shat on a rat' story (rats in toilet bowls are asking for it aren't they?)!
On our final day we continued with our limestone formatinos and saw the impressive, if slightly disappointing 'Twelve Apostles'. Disappointing because you can only see eight at any one times (unless you have a helicopter) and because it was another grey day with pretty poor visability. The formation actually used to be called the 'Pig and Sows' but as you can imagine, not many tourists were drawn to such a beautifully named attraction. We also saw London Bridge, a formation of limestone arches which once had the appearance of the famous landmark... that is until it collapsed, apparently stranding an adulterous couple at the time and shooting them to unwanted national fame. Sadly, London Bridge has fallen down now (no joke) so it's not quite as impressive, just one arch rather than two.
The rest of the Ocean Road Drive was beautiful and we saw small maritime towns and fantastic beaches and cliffs. We even got to see the famous (er...) 'Round the Twist' lighthouse and enjoy some free samples at 'Cheese World'! What more could a group of (largely) English travellers want?
We arrived in Melbourne late on the third day, and are settling in for
The Lighthouse
'Have you ever, ever felt like this...' a long stay. We will be stopping here for about two months, to work and save up some pennies before heading to Sydney. Joanna is already working in a coffee shop and has put a whole four dollars of tips towards the 'Ramsey Street Tour'! We will tell you all about this and the rest what Melbourne has to offer soon!
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mum r
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travellers' tales
Just got copy of last disc from Lesley - thanks.New screensaver is the seagull S.O.Y. sign. This latest blog made me laugh out loud at the bathroom/toilet stories - priceless! The tour sounds great and Grampians def. on list. keep Melbourne warm for us!! love mum R XX