Great Ocean Road-Melbourne

Our last day in Adelaide we hired bikes and saw the city peddling around as well as the outskirts along the river and through the parks. 

Saturday we started our trip towards Melbs. We ended up hitchhiking with a dutch guy, Remco, who was heading the same way and wanted some company. We met him in our hostel and so began the journey. First day we stopped in the small coastal town of Robe, the one road in is the same one that takes you back out. Spent the afternoon at the Scottish pub in town and then headed to the hostel to make some dinner and put a few more beers back. This was hands down one of the best hostels I've stayed in throughout all my travels. It was this gorgeous historic manor run by the sweetest couple. Deb and Scott took us in like family and after cooking our dinner together invited us to their section of the manor. The three of us, Deb and Scott and their son and his friend stayed up until the late hours drinking and playing Wii. Scott clearly played this thing religiously as he was impossible to beat! Sunday we drove to Port Fairy and this southern front that began in Adelaide continued to follow us bringing rainy weather. We stopped at a cafe to get some warm drinks and get out of the rain. Dropped Bobert off at a hostel in town and then Remco and I went and camped on the beach; for both good value and to save some money. Had a few beers left over from Robe in the eskie so took care of them while enjoying the night surf. 

Monday we continued along the coast line towards Lorne. Again, pretty shit weather so stopping off along the way to view the London Bridge, the Grotto, Arch, 12 Apostles, etc. was more a quick dash from the car to the viewing areas before getting soaked by the rain. This was my third time along the GOR so I wasn't too upset not seeing the views at their greatest but was disappointed for the guys who hadn't been here before. Our hostel in Lorne was really nice too. It was a group of cabins nestled into the very green hillside and white cockatoos everywhere! I was going to camp out with Remco again, but decided to just pay for a warm bed since Bobert had hooked up a few days accommodation with a friend in Melbs. We had some strange encounters with other travelers staying in our cabin. One guy was convinced I was in a movie that a travel agency had done in Alaska and I kept telling him he has me confused with someone else. He was pretty insistent that I watch the short video as he was sure it was me so I humored him to find out that he thought I was was a 13 yr girl who had won an essay writing contest in her school and won a trip to AK! Later in the evening he wanted to show me all 'his' pictures he has taken but were clearly downloaded from the web as copy rights were plastered all over them. To top if off, he tried getting into a discussion about how the world is coming to end b/c the Aluminati (made up of past presidents and all the celebrities of the world) is taking over and our only salvation is Jesus. These are just a few examples of how strange this guy was! The other man in our room stumbled in late tripping out on drugs. He stripped off his clothes and crawled into the fetal position in his bed rocking back and fourth. Very bizarre. Other than that it was a lovely place to stay! Only hostel I've been to that has free internet and laundry. 

Tuesday we made our way to Melbs, was only a 3 hr drive or so. Remco dropped us off in St Kilda south of the city center where we said our goodbyes. Bobert has a friend, Kellie, who he knew while living in Maui and she has since moved back home to Melb. Such a great host, very accommodating and made us feel like home. Next day we spent the entire afternoon at the pub along with Kellie's boyfriend, great way to spend the day! Night before I flew back home to Newy we had an incredible home made lamb roast at Kellie's parents house...YUM! Full on three course meal, it was amazing. 

Back home now as of last Friday. Thought about hitching back up from Melbs but the group had a Kokoda training hike on Saturday I didn't want to miss out on so just bought a ticket home. We hiked a section of the Great North Walk that is a trail starting at The Rocks in Sydney and ends in Newy. Pretty good hike, part we did was 29k that took us 10 hrs due to the steep up/down nature of it. Woke up Sunday having that great sore feeling and some new blisters. 

Went to a clinic yesterday and got my Dr's note all sorted for Kokoda as well as some shots so its all coming together. Can't believe a month from today we'll be a few days into the jungle. 

Until then I'll just work as much as I can! 

Cheers

Kangaroo Island

Got into Adelaide late last night after 3 days on KI. After vising the farms our first day we went to the pub for a few happy hour beers and then cooked up some roo steaks at the hostel. Next day we spent in Flinder's National Park hiking around. Went out to Admirals Arch where hundreds of New Zealand fur seals were hauled out and next stop was the Remarkable rocks. A group of massive rocks coming out of the sea in all funky shapes/sizes. We stayed at a wildlife sanctuary in Hanson's Bay our second night. There was only one other Israeli couple there so pretty quiet place. In the middle of cooking up some dinner a Swedish volunteer girl walked in with a koala clinging on to her. Lala was rescued last year by the couple that run the place and had just had her evening milk protein meal and full of energy. I got to hold her for awhile and then we let her run around the place and she climbed all over the furniture for about 5 min until her spurt of energy was gone and back to the normal lazy state they are. I've never seen a koala so active! Held her again before they took her bed, she was really soft and smelled of eucalyptus. This was definitely one of my highlights on the island. Next morning we walked along the koala walk a few minute's away from the lodge. Just this long road lined with eucalyptus trees. We walked all the way to the end without seeing a single one but on our way back spotted 5 up in the trees. Rest of the day we drove along the southern shore of the island stopping off for various walks and beaches. Once back in Penneshaw, hung out at the beach for awhile before returning the car and catching the ferry back to Cape Jervis. Had hoped to see more wildlife than what we did but still managed to catch a few wallabies, kangaroos, NZ fur seals, koalas, and snakes.
We got into our hostel late last night and will spend a few days in town here before renting another car and making our way along the Great Ocean Road in route to Melbourne. There's a bike rental place just around the corner from our hostel so either today or tomorrow we'll hire some and check out the city.

Cheers