Melbourne etc...

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Hi!!

Now we just entered our last week here in AUS, and many many things has happened the past 14 days.

We flew to Melbourne, november 13th, and the flight was beautiful. Almost no clouds in the sky, so we had a beautiful view of Australia. Its amazing how this continent, has so many different landscapes and nature, even within two hours of flying. We arrived in Melbourne, or outside Melbourne, at this really small airport, called Avalon, which was almost just a big barn, in the middle of nowhere. From here we got on a bus, and the drive to the city was about an hour. We were, in the bus, talking about all the different things we could do there. And we both agreed that we wanted to see as much as possible, and the area had so much to offer. We were acutally bringing up the idea to walk from Avalon to the city, 50 km, but after a lot of considering we decided not to. However, we promised each other, that we wouldnt spend the whole week in the city, because we already had spent a few months in Sydney. We wanted to see the nature and in one way or the other travel around Melbourne.
Arriving at the city, we found a place to get some lunch, and I asked Rikke, if she felt like going straight to the hostel with our stuff, or walking around. I was ready for walking all day, and so was she, so we walked down to a little surburb called StKilda. Here we sat by the beach, before we headed back to the city. Just this first day, we walked for five or six hours and we saw a lot of Melbourne.
Its a beautiful City, and I almost felt back in Europe, walking around there. The buildings, and the achitecture there is really modern, and simple, and the people were very laid back and relaxed, like how you often see it in south of Europe.
There are really great opportunities for shopping there, almost better than in Sydney, so if youre up for that, its the place to go. However, Its not the thing for poor backpackers like us, so we didnt do any of that during our stay.
The following day after we arrived, I planned out a walking trip, that would take us around Melbourne, to all the must see things there were. It was a beautiful day, we were very lucky with the weather, and we saw so many nice places. There are a ton of parks, botanic gardens and buidlings there are worth seeing. It took us just about the whole day sightseeing, but then we had done what there was to be done and the rest of the days we could pland some trips outside the city. At night we went to a street in the centre called Lygon Street, which is muck like, little italy in NYC, where we had a very nice, italian dinner, for 10 dollars. It is possible to eat out on a low budget here, you just have to know the good places.
Saturday we realxed, and spent the day, planning, making a booking for renting a car, just some practical stuff, so that we could spend the rest of the time, exploring. Sunday we rented bikes, and drove along the Yarra Valley, 25 km outside of Melbourne. On the way we stopped for lunch, at a Organic Farm, which was a really nice place. It was a nice way to see the city and the outer surburbs of it, when youre on a bike, its a faster transportation than walking, and youll see more, but you still have the opportunity to stop whenever, like you wouldnt have on a bus. So for 15 dollars for a full day, we really enjoyed a day of working out, while seeing the beautiful nature around.
Monday we picked up the car we booked on saturday. We were planning on spending two full days on the Great Ocean Road, which is a 400 km coast line thats said to be really amazing, and then returning the car wednesday morning. With a full tank, automatic gear, we were ready to go. I drove, and it was great to back in a car again. I had to get used to driving in the opposite side but quickly that was a normal to me, and I find it really easy to be in the traffic downhere. We had about an hour before the "road" really began. In Geelong, 50 km from Melbourne, we saw the signs for the Great Ocean Road, and there the adventures began.
The nature along the coast were so amazing, changing dramatically all the time, from green jungle forest todry mountains, to flat farmer landscape... Its really on of the experiences down here, I would say everybody should do. To mention some highlights, walking in the jungle to great waterfalls, driving through small villages and seeing the beach side culture, watching cliff sides with waves slamming against the side with a such power you didnt know was possible, looking as far ahead of you as possible with all theres to see is green grass areas with grassing sheeps and waving trees in the sun.. So much to see within just 400 km. I have never seen nature like that.
My favorite highlight of the trip was The Twelve Apostles. Cliff formations in the water that has broken of the "coastline" and is in the water placed besides each other. They are huge! And I can understand why people say its maybe one of the most beautiful sights in south australia. Its supposed to be even better during sunrise and sunset, because the light reflecting should be like nothing you have ever seen, but we had to move on, so we didnt get to see that. Almoist at the end of the drive, we had dinner at a small italian place in a village by the water. Here we decided to drive back to Melbourne, even though it was eight at night. We had seen what they was to see in just one day, and we agreed, that we might just as well go back, and then we would have the opportunity to see a different area the next day. The more we would be able to see the better!
So I drove back, with Rikke sleeping by my side, staying awake with some lollies and music. Around midnight we were just outside of the city and i pulled over by a service station. We knew it isnt legal to sleep in the car, but we didnt have anywhere else to go so we took the change. Cold, and tired, I woke up around five am, and there was no change of getting back to sleep. Reliefed that no cops had come knocking at our door, asking us to not sleep in the car, I walked into the service station, and started to think about what we could do the following day. When Rikke got up, we went to the bathroom, got ready for the day, and then sat in the cafe with some cofee and a map. We planned a route to the Yarra Valley area, east of Melbourne. It took us, with the morning traffic, about two hours to get there, but it was such a beautiful drive. After seeing so many coast line cliffs and more, this day was all about green green grass hills, and wine racks as far as the eye would let you see. We passed through many small villages, and this was almost like going back in time. The peole were wearing old fashioned clothes, the fronts of the houses were just like in the old movies, and even much of the food you could by the same. But is was great seeing it, and the Yarra Valley area is a place i wont forget. We did some nice walks up there, too waterfalls, and also we drove to the top of a mountain, which during the winter is a skii area. From the top there were a beautiful view over the valleys, and it was so peacefull. However, after two perfect days, with no getting lost or anything, something should go wrong, and it did. We read about this drive in a book, in a national park, and we wanted to do it. It was supposed to be 15 km, but it turned out to be alot longer. In the beginning the road started to turn from normal road to dirt road, which we werent alloud to drove on, according to the rules from the car company, but we figured it would just be for a little while. After 15-20 minutes it hadnt stopped, it only got worse, and we were in the middle of the jungle. The trip was supposed to go around though, so we figured that if we kept on going we woould be out again within not too long. That didnt happen either, and after an hour we got to a spot where ww could turn either left or right. And no signs! At that point we hadnt been speaking to each other for a while, I think we were both pretty annoyed by the whole situation, and we had no idea where to go. It wa sno interest to make a wrong turn, not knowing if ot would just bring us further into the park, but we had no chance of knowing. Following the only thing I had, my intuition, I made a left turn, and after another 15 to 30 minutes drive we got to another spot, and the same thing happened again. At this time, we had been driving for almost two hours, and I was starting to get afraid, we wouldnt find our way back out. We had not seen any other people on the road, and every tree looked the same. Going down a mountain side, we were positive we were entering a valley, which didnt mean any exit of the park..
But then finally, the road started getting less rough, and then back to normal... I have a bad temper, at some times, and I have to admit that even after we got back out, I was angry. Not at anyone particular, just about the fact that we had spend alot of benzin, and time in a park, where there werent even much to see. It was starting to be late aft6ernoon soo we headed back towards Melbourne where we had dinner, and decided to try to go back to the Hostel to see if they had a room availible. We werent that up for sleeping another day in the car, and I was really exhausted after driving. Luckily they did have a room, so we parked outside the door, went straight to bed. The next morning we got up, cleaned the car and brought it back to the company, where everything was fine, even though we hadnt washed it or vaccumed it, very lucky they didnt charge us more because of that.
One day left in Melbourne, where we walked around in the centre and went out to the dinner at the Docks, a popular place by the harbour. We wanted to enjoy the last night, so spoiled ourselfes a little bit. The next morning we jumped on the bus, then the plane, and around two o clock thursday we were back in sydney. However, we had to pick up our bags, which had been at Sophies place during the week, and this was a longer process. It took us three ekstra hours, in 35 degrees and filled busses. I was wearing my new Ugg boots, which I bought at the famous Queen Victorias Market in Melbourne, where we were one day, which I forgot to mention, and thees boots made out of sheep wool and sheep skin were not the best match with the warm humid weather. So you can imagine, how happy we where finally geeting back to Bondi Beach, and a long shower around 6 pm. It was great to be back at the hostel, and the "family" there;. The people who has been there as long as us, who we have gotten to know quite well. They even said they had missed us😊 Almost like going back home, which is what i Love about this way of travelling.
With only two days there, we headed for the Blue Mountains Saturday morning. This is just two hours away in the train, and Sophie came along. Stepping into the mountain air, we realized how big of a climate change two hours of driving up in the mountains can be! It was freezing cold, and really windy. We quickly realized that I actually was the only one with something similar to a jacket, and we didnt bring warm clothes at all. That was gonna be interesting! The hostel there was really nice, not very crowded, but that didnt matter. The living room had big cauches and a fire place, pool table etc.. We dressed in the warmest possible clothes, and git outside. We had found a three hour walk to do, which would show us one of the higlights in the Blue Mountains. The three little sisters. After some busk walking, with many beautiful views of he mountains, we came to the sisters. And were a little bit disspointed. It later turned out that this was only because we were almost standing inside of the, and couldnt tell at all what they looked like from a far distance. From here we walked dorn the Great Stairway, 900 steps, straigh down the mountain. This was not for the light heartet, and it had signs telling only great walkers to walk down it. We put ourselfes in that category, so we headed down. That was quite an experience. The steepest stairway I have ever walked down! When we reached the bottom, another couple of km of bushwalking came along. Then we arrived by the worlds steepest railway. That was something we didnt want to miss trying, and also none of us felt like walking the 900 steps back up, so we got in it. It was not very long, but almost vertical up, it was almost like a roller coaster ride. Back up at the top, it suddenly started hailing. Also a thing to mention, within these three hours we had had, sun, wind, rain, hail, then sun again, then hail again and that was the weather all day long... I guess the weather in the mountains is impossible to forecast.
So getting the warm back we had a hot cup of cocoa, before we continued the walk and got to the Echo Point, where we had a beautiful view of the three little sisters.
At night, we shopped for a three course menu, and I was the chef. We enjoyed the dinner, and Rikke and Sophie shared a bottle of wine. The next morning, the weather was even worse, so it would be impossible to do any longer walks, with the clothes we had. So we alked around in the village, Katoomba, and had warm drinks at every other cafe. In the afternoon, Sophie went back to Sydney, and Rikke and I stayed. For dinner we had leftovers, and at night we played monopoly. I won!! 😊
The following day, we took the bus to the nest village up, where we wanted to do the Grand Canyon Walk, a hard 5 km walk in the mountains. It was a great decision! We walked down to a vally, followed a river along the cliff side, passed under a waterfall before we had to walk straight up the mountain again. This was hard. Really hard. Just as we thought the steps would have an end we would see another 100, followed by another 100... When we finally reached the top, people were telling us we deserved medals and accomplished us with words as good job, and youre almost there. The work out of the day! But it was all worth it, from the top we had the most amazing view. Finishing up with walking along the cliff top we were back in the village Heathbrooke, where we got the train back to Sydney.

Last night, we were once again back at Bondi, where my good friend Ben as his girlfriend were back from a trip up the eas coast, and it was great seeing them again. This morning afer breakfast, Inbar, another good friend, who left five weeks ago also were back, so i had a nice chat with him before I went to write this block.
This week were gonna finish up with Bondi, we re flying to Bangkok next monday. Im looking forward to exploring a whole different "world", but its also gonna be a little bit sad to say goodbye to our little new life here. However, we know that the people we have met, we are supposed to stay in contact with, well see again, and there always a second chance of going back to Australia.. Which I will definately take. Theres so much to see here and do here, and we have only done 5 % or less.

This was a little novel, I hope it wasnt too much information at once!

Take Care, Malene

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