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Published: February 22nd 2007
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The Great Ocean Road is not just a clever name. Built as a war memorial for those who passed away, it is an incredibly scenic and windy road that would be found in those porsche carrera commercials. While there are oodles of bus tours that go along that road, I felt that the whole bus tour thing was a bit played out and I wanted to drive it myself. This was the first time during my trip where I found myself in a situation where I really wish that I had 1, 2 or ultimately 3 others to join me for the long 2 day drive. This would have been nice for the company, especially for the 4 hours of the drive where I couldnt the only thing on the radio station I could pick up was broadcasting a cricket match. Now, you're all probably saying, oh my god...cricket?? how boring! Well, you're wrong. Listening to it on the radio isnt boring, its torture. I may as well have been listening to a play by play of my grandmother doing some knitting at home. There are signs all over the road that say "Tired?? TAKE A NAP!! It only takes 3
seconds to die. Arive Alive!"...etc, etc. Well, the problem isnt that people are too tired, its that silly Aussies are listening to Cricket on the radio! The best way to improve highway safety, is to just ban all cricket on radios. Even I decided to pull over after a few hours to take a nap, not even because I was tired, but just out of hope that by the time I awoke from my nap, the cricket match would be over and something else would be on.
Anyways, I did not have the luxury of a friend, so I opted to rent a car from Adelaide and make the trek. It wasnt too expensive, and I got upgraded to a Holden Commodore Executive (think, pontiac grand prix LE) with activated GPS and a bumping sound system. The first day I drove a good 7 hours cruising at much faster speeds than I would like to admit.
Made it to a nice little place on the ocean, and got to see some penguins at night, which I didnt know existed in Oz.
There have been many times on my trip where I have realized how ignorant I am towards
many things and have lived quite a sheltered life. Personally, I always thought the song "London Bridge is falling down" was just about some bridge in London that was falling....well, I'm a clown. Its actually along the Great Ocean Road and the story of it goes like this. One fine day, a nice attractive couple were walking out across the natural bridge and had just stepped on to safe land when the bridge collapsed. Fortunately, nobody was hurt but the couple had to be rescued by helicopter and flown to safety. Inevitably, this was big international news and the cameras and reporters were everywhere. For some reason, the man was continuously hiding his face in shame, rather than taking the opportunity to get his 15 minutes of fame. The reason, you ask? Well, as it turns out, he was a married man, who was supposedly on a business trip...when infact he was cheating on his wife with a much younger woman.....busted!
I made it into Melbourne and met up with some great friends. Bart, Cait, Melissa and Nicole (all friends from Uni) were there. Bart and I went to a great cricket final game b/w England and Australia which
lasted 8 hours. No wonder Aussies drink so much. Can you imagine if Leaf games lasted 8 hours? I probably wouldnt have a degree...actually, yes I would since exams are at the end of April and the Leafs are always on the golf course by then.
Bart and I were completely ignorant towards all the rules and wished we had someone to break down the rules for us. But, we soon figured most of them out and have a little more respect for the game itself.
The girls also have a wicked place now in Melbourne. Its a big apartment with a huge common room, a pool table, big screen TV, DVD player, bbq's and a great view of the city. It was cool having a big part of our Hammer crew back together, with the other half all piled around Greeners computer back in Toronto on the webcam. We all had an E-beer together (which is when you sit in front of the webcam and have a beer. Its difficult to make out what people are saying and usually ends up sounding like a walky-talky with picture and everyone just laughing and drinking), which is funny, because it
The Beach in Melbourne
just like the good ol days back in the Hammer! was a Friday night around 8 in Toronto, and Saturday morning around 11:30 in Melbourne.
Melbourne is an awesome city and is the first place that I wish I could have stayed for a longer visit. Melbourne is the one city that I could realistically see myself living in. The girls are all going to have an amazing stay there.
After a great night of food, wine and fun, Bart drove me to the airport at about 4 in the morning which is a story all for itself...but it will have to wait for the next entry, as I'm about to hop on a sketchy Thai bus now.
The Jez...out
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