Road trip!

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This weekend Sergio came down from visiting his brother during the week in Sydney. Friday night we went to the Eureka Sky Deck, the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere. It was really beautiful to see the city at night from so high. I was super nervous, but Sergio made me go out on the Edge, a glass enclosed observation deck that looks straight down 88 stories. I was definitely scared looking down at first, but I’m really glad I did it!

Saturday morning we got up really early and went to meet Sergio’s dads friend for breakfast near Chapel street. It was a funny experience looking back on it because we ended up having to walk/run a long way because all the trams were rerouted due to the Grand Prix. It took forever to get there, but we got a real breakfast, not just toast and cereal, out of it.

Afterwards we picked up our Torago van at the Budget car rental. Sergio was our designated driver for the trip since he was over 25. I’m glad he was brave enough to tackle driving on the left side of the road! At first it was an unnerving experience because we ended up getting lost trying to get back to the city. After a bit of recuperation, we packed snacks for lunch and met up with Rosa, Rosa’s sister, Jen, and Sarah and set out for Phillip Island. It took us about 1 ½ hours to get there. We stopped quickly at the chocolate factory at the entrance to the island for our free sample, and then headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day and the beach was great (despite the sand flies). We went down sightseeing more to Point Grant where we ended up finding some penguins resting under the boardwalk. We tried laying down and taking pictures, which sort of came out. The penguins that live on the island are the smallest in the world. They are only about the size of a large hand tall. They’re so cute, and I found 2 all cuddled up together😊

At night the penguins come in from a full day out fishing at sea. They just happen to come up in one area every night, so they’ve created bleacher seating to watch them. It’s so funny because they are so scared to come out of the water and cross the beach. They wait for a large group and then scurry across. Their waddle is sooo cute. You aren’t allowed to take pictures there, so you’ll just have to trust me that it’s a cute sight.

On Sunday we set out for the Great Ocean Road. It starts in Torquay and goes down the coast towards Adelaide. We stopped at the beach near Torquay, which wasn’t really a swimming beach, but it was awesome for surfing. There were amazingly long-lasting waves, and it was a lot of fun to watch the really good surfers tackle them. We went down the coast a bit further to reach a swimming beach and had lunch. Jen, Rosa, and Sergio were brave enough to get in, but the water was freezing!!

From there the road got super curvy, not good for motion sick people like me. Our goal was to get to the 12 apostles. It took about 4-5 hours from Melbourne since we had to drive so slowly. The views were beautiful though. It reminded me a lot of the California coast down hwy 1. There were huge cliffs with crystal blue water. Driving through the land was really interesting because parts actually reminded me of Africa (because of the trees) and other parts looked like Ireland (because of the green rolling hills). There were also a lot of sheep and cows. We even saw a random emu roaming. When we finally got to the 12 apostle (which I think are now 10 because they’ve fallen over), it was definitely worth the drive. The scenery was amazingly beautiful! It’s hard to describe and pictures really didn’t do the trick, but WOW it was awesome!

We decided to drive another way back and avoid the curvy roads at night, so it only took us 2 hours to get home. We stopped at the most random town ever in the middle of nowhere to get pizza for dinner. Then we introduced Sergio to our tradition of getting McDonald’s soft serve ice cream. I never got their ice cream at home, but here it’s only 50 cents, which is the cheapest thing in the city! So, we’ve become regulars at treating ourselves it. It’s sad, but yummy!

Other random things going on…today I saw my first accident in the city. However, it was a tram accident, which ended up stopping traffic completely. It was actually a funny sight, but I’m sure not good for the people on board. Also, I noticed my shirts are getting holes in them and discovered I have moths in my closet!! I got some anti-moth things to hang, so I’m hoping the problem will be resolved soon. We found another awesome restaurant...it's called Hooked. It's really awesome seafood-fish, calamari, shrimp! Oh and I colored my hair dark brown a couple weeks ago! Jen actually did it for me, which had me a little scared at first, but I absolutely love it!

Sorry for not posting as much lately...the internet here is so slow (uploading pictures took me 2 hours), and I've also been pretty busy with classes. I definitely love the emails though, so keep in touch!

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