Australia
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Drives, Bays, and Blowholes
Day three was meant to be an early morning but turned into a relaxed one. Rain clouds still haunted the skies and although we had wanted to see the Bay of Fires at sunrise, there would have been nothing to see but grey. The rocks were stained burnt orange, a complimentary contrast to the white sands and crystal-blue waters. They stretched along the coast, adding a splash of color and life to the landscape. A calf had gotten out of its pen and was wandering around near the visitor car park. Pieter wanted to pet it, but it was skittish and ran off before he got too close. Light raindrops…
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First Taste of Tassie
I’m sitting in a bookstore coffee shop that reminds me of Babi’s house. The cooking section to my right and has familiar titles like Poly Unsaturated Cooking, A Wizz in the Kitchen, and Cooking for Every Occasion. We have been in Tassie for two days now and are taking the morning off to catch up on things, like blogs. We took the Spirit of Tassie, bringing Pieter’s car and choosing the free recliner over a private cabin with beds. The voyage was a bit rocky but the motion sickness pills and stress from the previous week were inducement enough to sleep through the night. As of late I had been…
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The Great Ocean Road
It was my first time driving on the opposite side of the road and to be honest I had been avoiding it for some time. Whenever the opportunity had presented itself, I had respectfully declined. I love driving, it was just the idea of driving someone else’s car, and on a side of the road that was foreign to me. But the time had finally come to face my fears. Other than constantly hitting the wipers instead of the indicators, it all came quite naturally. The side mirrors were the biggest help, because it was difficult to get your brain to understand the car’s position. By the time I picked…
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Wilson’s Promontory
The weekend had finally arrived; we had been planning it for over a month and I was eager to get on the road and back out in nature. The last time all four of us had been together was during the Lost City Trek in Colombia. Even back then we had known our paths would cross again in Melbourne, and what better way to celebrate than with a camping trip at Wilson’s Prom? Just a little back story: I met Lucy and Brian on the San Blas sailing trip from Panama to Colombia. Then we decided to do La Ciudad Perdida together, which is where we met Holly, who was…
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Roos and Zoos
I didn’t have any plans for the day off so when Pieter posted in the group message asking if anyone wanted to go hiking, I jumped on the opportunity. The weather in Melbourne had begun to cool down and it was the perfect day for being outside. After browsing through our options, we picked the Gellibrand Hill Summit trail, which sported a nice view of the city and a chance of seeing kangaroos. The last time I went on a trail that suggested encountering these hoppers was back in the Blue Mountains. I saw a grand total of zero, so my hopes for Gellibrand were quite low. Five of us…
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Dandenong
I’d had an emotional breakdown: work was stressful, I wasn’t getting exercise, and Sezdep had come back to say hello. More than anything I needed to escape from the city and get out into nature. The one problem I had with Melbourne was how difficult it was to get to hiking spots on public transit. With a car, it wasn’t an issue, but otherwise it took hours, transfers, and in some cases an overnight stay at the destination. Fortunately, I had a shared day off with Alex and he offered to drive to the Dandenong Ranges. Even just being in the car headed away from the city lifted weight from…
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Nudies
My Babi (grandmother) always had her own unique way of describing things. If the dogs were fighting instead of “stop it” she said, “no fights here.” Instead of “hunky-dory” she said “honkey-donkey.” Window shopping or browsing was always “snoofing.” (Which by the way, I believed was a real word for the first 21 years of my life and am determined to see added to the dictionary before I die). Anyways, her word to describe people who prefer to spend their time naked was “NUDIES.” This is how she referred to her brother, my great-uncle, who retired to a nudist community in Florida. I’m sad to say I wasn’t able to…
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Mornington Peninsula
Life has a way of running away with you and before you know it months have flashed by before your eyes. In my case I’ve had a lot of mini-trips and adventures around Melbourne that I haven’t written about. So, the next few Melbs related blogs are not necessarily in chronological order; in fact, I might not even mention when they took place. It was a dreary morning when we set out for Mornington Peninsula. The plan was to partake in a bunch of mini hikes and end the day at a brewery. Clouds clung to the horizon, preventing the sun from biting too harshly. Like most of my hikes…
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Sydney Revisited
It is only now that I realized I wrote an entire post and never published it. This is the missing piece of my Australia travel puzzle. It’s about the day I spent in Sydney before flying to Melbourne and was intended to be published after Green Point and before Melbourne: The Early Days. In truth, I actually completely this post but there were issues with the internet and the upload was deleted. Consequently, I never realized that it was never posted until I went looking for a picture that was uploaded with the post. Only it wasn’t on my blog. Any-who, I hope you enjoy the missing link of Australia.…
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Christmas in Summer
Growing up in California, I got the best of both worlds when it came to Christmas. Living in the mountains, I got the snow, crisp cold air, and overall ambiance associated with the holidays. However, most of my family lived down the hill, where it only snowed on freak occasions and you could get by with a light jacket. Quick note: if you don’t celebrate Christmas, good on ya. This post isn’t meant to promote a specific religion or holiday. It’s about me and my experiences around the holidays and I happened to grow up celebrating Christmas. In my head I had convinced myself that having Christmas in Australia wouldn’t…
