Road Trip!

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This past weekend was a long weekend because Labour Day was observed on Monday in New South Wales. Four of my friends and I (Patrick, Oonagh, Lizzie, and Maxim) decided to take a road trip to Byron Bay, about 10 hours to the north of Sydney. However, on Saturday when we were getting ready to leave we saw that the weather was going to be bad in Byron, so instead we decided to head 10 hours in the opposite direction to Melbourne. I started driving first on the road trip and after a few minutes of being extremely nervous, I got more used to driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. Soon enough we were on the highway on our way to Melbourne. We believed (incorrectly) that the Great Ocean Road began somewhere outside of Sydney and led us to Melbourne, so we decided to make our path head towards the southern coast in order to capitalize on the ocean views. However, what ended up happening is our detour added little to our view but 7 additional hours to our drive. Instead of driving on straight, wide highways like we would have been, we were winding through narrow roads on forested mountains where you lose radio and cell-phone signals for about 5 hours. The Australians call the area we were in the “bush.”

I learned an important lesson about the bush during our 18 hour drive: businesses close early! We drove hungry for hours because every restaurant we encountered along our drive had closed long ago. At last, tucked in-between giant trees, we found one stop that still had an “Open” sign illuminated in the window. Though the kitchen was closed, the middle aged woman offered to make us ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches which we promptly devoured graciously. After talking with this woman and the other people in the store for a while, we decided we should continue on our journey to Melbourne.

Eventually, 7 hours later at 4am we arrived in Melbourne. We were to stay with some friends who we knew in Melbourne. We arrived at their house (which was much larger than I would have expected) and, as the sun began rising, went to bed.

We awoke the next afternoon with food on our minds. Since the friends we stayed with were all Irish, we were directed to the local Irish Pub to get some “pub grub.” After the fast during our trip to Melbourne, needless to say we all enjoyed the food very much. After giving one of our hosts a ride to a friend’s house, we headed to Phillip Island, about 2 hours to the South. We had some serious trouble finding the highway, but we soon were smooth sailing on our comparatively short drive.

Our destination on Phillip Island was the Penguin Parade. This animal sanctuary offers you the opportunity to see penguins in their natural habitat. Every morning the penguins go out to sea to find food and they only return after sunset once they feel it is dark enough for them to safely make their way from the beach back to their homes. So the spectators wait quietly on the beach as the sun sets for penguins to appear out of the water. After a short while, you would see a small group of penguins form together in the water and, after gathering enough strength in numbers, waddle their way up the beach past you. Once the penguins were up the beach, you could walk on a boardwalk above their habitats and see them and their babies. Overall it was a great experience!

As we headed back to the car we feared another hungry night since the sun was down and, presumably, restaurants would be closed. We found an Italian restaurant that had people in it. The kitchen was closed, we were told, but pizzas were still being served. 4 pizzas later, everyone was full and we headed home to sleep.

The next day we headed to downtown Melbourne. Here, after wandering for a time, we made our way to the Eureka tower’s observation deck—the highest observation deck in the world. From this vantage we could see the entire city and beyond. We could also see the Crown Casino—the largest casino in the southern hemisphere—and decided it should be our next stop. We spent several hours here and I’m happy to report that I had winnings at the end of the day. After our Casino trip we headed to the Meat & Wine, co. for dinner. Since I had some extra money from the casino, I decided to splurge and get the ribs. They were possibly the hugest ribs I’ve ever had! I didn’t have a camera with me to take a photo, but I plan to steal one from my friends ASAP.

After dinner we returned to the house and headed out, this time determined to take the proper route. We left around 11:30pm and arrived in Sydney with the sunshine around 9:00am. The trip, I admit, mostly consisted of being in the car driving, but when you’re with friends what could be more interesting!

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