Week 14 - 19th Feb - 25th Feb

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We left Mt. Gambier en route to Warrnambool via anything we deemed worth seeing. There weren’t many places in our book noted as must-see things but we did stop for a coffee and a mooch around at Cape Bridgewater. There we saw some blowholes down at the cliffs and what’s known as the ‘petrified forest’. It’s basically some more strangely shaped rocks and not a lot else. Increasingly frustrated at the Australian Tourist Board’s ability to turn anything into a tourist attraction, we got back to the van and drove to Warrnambool where we would stay that night. We stayed in a nice little hostel and went for an all-you-can-eat roast lamb feast for $15 each - tasty! I won gold at eating and washed it down with a couple of pints of Guinness before the long walk back to the hostel to indulge in more sleep! Our mission for Tuesday was to find work. Having left Loxton early, we weren’t as flush as we would like to have been but had enough money to last us for a short time -we wanted to secure some work before we ran out of cash though. We went into town to all the job agencies but it quickly became clear that there was no seasonal work in the area, it being one of dairy farming. We figured that something would come along and spent most of the day ringing people to find employment - unfortunately with no success.

In the afternoon, we met up with Anne, the American girl that was with us in the hostel in Nannup, WA. She used to live in the town for around 18 months and had just moved to Melbourne about a month or two ago. I had called her to let her know we would be in the area, so she came to meet us to escape the city for a few days. It was cool to see her again and in the evening we went to get some food and have a couple of pints, after which we went to one of the coolest little places ever! At the end of one of her friend’s garden, there’s a rope ladder down a very steep drop at the edge of a lake. At the bottom of the ladder, there’s a cave with a really cool view of the lake - we sat there with a couple of beers and a campfire until about 2am then returned to the hostel. On Wednesday we had to be out of our accommodation by 10am and had to work out some kind of game plan. We were sure that there would be work somewhere nearby and didn’t want to drive anywhere without having secured something. Anne asked one of her friends if it would be possible for us to stay at his place for a night, which he said would be no problem at all. He very kindly put us up for free for the night as there was plenty of space, our intention being to use it as a base for finding work and avoiding spending money. In the evening, I went to a quiet little gig in town with a few beers with Anne while the boys stayed in.

On Thursday we started to think about moving on, but when Anne put forward the idea of staying chez Dave for another night we thought that that sounded like a good idea. It would mean not spending any money on petrol or accommodation and would give us another day to find work. Being British, we didn’t want to feel like we were in the way there, or taking the piss - but we were assured that there were now worries and to make ourselves at home. Grateful for Dave’s hospitality, Tom battled with the knackered old lawnmower for a very long time and, after maybe a couple of hours of persistence and determination not to be beaten by a machine, he succeeded in getting the damn thing to start. It was a tricky job, but a short time later the grass was cut, much to Tom’s satisfaction and confirmation that he was a man! I went for a swim in the afternoon. It was a very cloudy and misty day but the water was still nice, despite the mass of seaweed! I showed my appreciation to Dave by having a bit of a cook-up in the evening - it was the least we could do. I put together a table full of tastiness - grilled salmon with slices of fennel, Dauphinoise potatoes, stuffed red peppers, mashed potato and broccoli - but Dave unfortunately had other engagements! At least one of his housemates was there to indulge.

Unsuccessful in finding any form of employment and with little prospect of getting any, we left Warrnambool on Friday morning in the direction of Melbourne. I cooked up some tasty scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast - Dave was there this time, so it was good to have given at least something back in gratitude for allowing us to crash at his place. We resigned ourselves to the fact that, it almost being the weekend, we wouldn’t find any work until Monday at the earliest. As such we weren’t in any rush to get to Melbourne, and we would be able to take in the Great Ocean Road. It’s one of the must-see things in Australia and, at 250km in length, is renowned as one of the world’s greatest drives. The first leg of the drives takes in such rock formations as The 12 Apostles, London Bridge, the Grotto, The Arch and much more. For once, these were worth stopping at. The views were stunning and the drive was pretty cool. Jay had done all the driving for most of the day and I took over as we drove into Apollo Bay. After only about an hour of driving, I succumbed to tiredness and had to hand over to one of the others. However, they were equally shattered and we saw no point in trying to reach Melbourne - it was still at least 200km away and on the kind of roads on which one really doesn’t want to be sleepy!

Apollo Bay seemed like a nice place to stay and, with plenty of hostels from which to choose, we slept there for the night having stuffed ourselves on some cracking fish and chips. I still find it funny how one is presented with an array of comparatively exotic options at the chippy - shark, barramundi, snapper, oysters, mussels, calamari, scallops…sausages over here, on the other hand are pretty shit though. Mum, when I get home I’m going to need a lot of Lincolnshire pork sausages from the butcher to remind me of the fact that the humble banger is actually bloody tasty! While we’re on the topic of food, I’m sad to say that Australia really doesn’t have a distinct cuisine. It’s very British from the point of view that it’s easy to find a good roast, a decent fry-up (minus nice bangers!), and lots of fish and chips. I suppose the coolest thing about it is all the different animals on offer. One does have a good selection of international offerings, though, especially Asian and Italian, which are always tasty. I think the foods I miss the most from home are good sausages (they’re all beef bangers here), strong mature cheddar, decent continental cheeses, good bacon, Yorkshire puddings, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, PG Tips tea…most other things are available here. Tom on the other hand as a hankering for
pickled onion Monster Munch, prawn cocktail Walkers crisps, Peperamis, Tetley’s tea and Bovril!

We left in the morning to drive the second half of the Great Ocean Road. This part is a different kind of drive - not so many things at which to stop and look but more twisty, winding roads hugging the coastline. Tom drove this section - it must have been fun driving. It’s the kind of road where you can pretend to be a rally driver - a bit tricky in a Toyota LiteAce, but hey. There was one guy caning his Porsche at one point, which was pretty cool to see - bastard! It was a very pretty, scenic drive and I’m glad we got to see it. Soon enough we were on a dual carriageway on the way into Melbourne. It’s a vast city and I’d been looking forward to getting there as I had heard lots of good things about it - just too bad we weren’t going there with plenty of cash in our wallets! On the way into the city we got a text message from Anne, now back in Melbourne, inviting us to join her and some friends to an outdoor concert in one of the parks. We thought that seemed like a good idea - we especially liked the fact that the word ‘concert’ was preceded by the delightful word ‘free’. Anne said that she had enough food for as all, so a nice cheap evening in the park with good company was a nice way to spend our first evening in the metropolis. For those of a classical music mindset, Oleg Caetani was conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the evening, fresh from their European tour and with Ian Munro at the piano. On offer was Benjamin’s Overture to an Italian Comedy followed by Chopin’s Variation’s on Mozart’s ‘La ci darem la mano’. After the interval we had Rachmaninov’s hour-long Symphony No. 2. It was something that I had wanted to do for a while now, and it was great that the opportunity had presented itself. It was a really nice evening finished off with a few cold beers on the rooftop of our hostel, overlooking the city.

On Sunday we checked into a new hostel, which we hoped might have a bit more character. The YHAs are always clean and tidy and the facilities on offer are always excellent. There is, however, a bit more of a clinical hotel feel whereas the smaller individual hostels tend to be more inviting and full of people to sit and chat to. After a tasty 4-course Chinese lunch for $12.50, we went to the Melbourne Gaol, something that Tom had been looking forward to seeing. It’s where Ned Kelly was incarcerated and hanged and contains his death mask and replica of his armour. Not a terrible nice place to stay, as prisons tend not to be! It was an interesting excursion though. Afterwards we went for a stroll round the Queen Victoria Market, not with intention of buying anything, more just to see what was on offer. The evening was spent with a few beers and a pool competition. I got knocked out in the second round and Jay lost to a girl, much to his disappointment! Monday morning was just around the corner and the job hunting would start again in earnest - fingers crossed! We’re now pretty much skint!

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