I last left you wondering what on earth I've been up to the last few months and now we'll get into it (I am warning you now - this is going to be a rather lengthy one). Sydney was a very brief stop when we got back to take care of some life admin as I call it while having easy access to banks and such in the city. Ben and I had also planned to each go solo for a few months when we got to Australia so the first stop we made out of Sydney was Merimbula, NSW where Ben has been since then. Someone we befriended in Perth, Josch, had been working there. I hung out for the evening and spent the night with them before heading off the next day to get back into the solo swing of things.
My main agenda off the bat was getting to Melbourne because I had mailed a new debit card to a hostel there due to a debacle involving fraudulent Uber Eats charges that while I wish had been me living it up in Sydney were sadly not as I was in NZ at the time. I arrived in town Christmas Eve to a very wet and dreary Melbourne so Christmas was largely spent in the lounge watching festive movies and playing battleships. In hindsight I should have slowed down to enjoy the better weather and beauty in NSW on the way since it would take nearly two weeks for my card to arrive. A definite oversight in my minimal planning.
With the weather continuing to be rather uninspiring, my first parking ticket, and perhaps feeling a few of the holiday blues I decided to get out of the city and back into the great outdoors. I planned essentially nothing, as would be a theme the next few months, but decided Phillip Island just around the corner to the southeast would be a nice starting point. It was stop and go traffic on my way and after two hours of the stress of trying not to stall the car with a ways to go yet I pulled off the main road in San Remo, the last town before the bridge to Phillip Island. I found a nice beach on the edge of town where I made dinner and ate it on the beach as the sun set. I also spent the night there in my car, which is very much frowned upon in this area, but December and January are summer school holidays here so it is often difficult or just unjustifiably expensive to find somewhere to stay, even when camping.
Phillip Island is small enough that you can explore it pretty well in a single day. I started by visiting a few beaches and lookouts until my main interest was open. After over a year in Australia I thought it was about time I saw a koala so for better or worse I visited a koala conservation reserve to catch a glimpse. Even on the reserve they are very hard to spot - you're basically just looking for a lump way up in the crook of tall trees. Luckily they had some raised viewing platforms where you are guaranteed an up close encounter. I was quite pleased with the photo I captured, although you do have to feel slightly bad for the little fellas who's naptime is not respected by chatty tourists.
As the day was drawing to a close and I felt I had sufficiently seen the island I headed further east to a seaside town called Inverloch. I had previously been introduced to someone living there and was going to meet them for the evening. The following day I visited Wilson's Promontory, a very popular hiking and scenic area. I don't have too much to say about this place - I had a nice walk and befriended a wallaby but after hiking in NZ I had not quite readjusted my expectations of "mountains" back to Australian standards and the view from the top of the walk was pretty, but also just a smidge disappointing. That being said, it was so nice to be back in a country with countless beautiful beaches just in time for summer and Wilson's Prom has many. When I got back to Inverloch for the night I again hung out with new friends. I also met up with them the next day for a BBQ, before heading back to Melbourne, this time to stay in the CBD.
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| The view from the top of the mountain in Wilson's Promontory, very different from NZ! |
In the CBD I did my routine seeing of the famous sights - the National Gallery of Victoria, the state library, and the botanical gardens among others. My favorite was hands down the state library and I wish I always had such an accessible and aesthetically pleasing workplace.
I went on one more excursion from Melbourne, east again but this time not quite as far. I went just around the corner and stayed at a caravan park along a long stretch of tidal reserve, Lang Lang Foreshore Reserve, which when it wasn't raining I had a nice time exploring. I did spend the better part of two days in my tent while it was pouring down, venturing out for walks when it lightened to more of a sprinkle. I also had some wonderful neighbors, a family with three young children who were just a few weeks into their own lap around Australia, that graced me with a cafe quality coffee complete with latte art!
During may last hurrah in Melbourne I chose to stay at a new hostel in my preferred suburb, mainly because it has free, untimed parking and is close to a nice beach. While I was making dinner the first night there was another girl in the kitchen who looked very much like someone I had hung out with briefly in Perth during my first weeks in Australia. We really got along but by the time we met I was headed to the farm in a few days. After both of us had spent far too long wondering the same thing about each other I finally said something and we had a great time catching up. This is one of the most fun parts of travel, running into somebody you've met once and somehow feeling like you've been friends for years. As it happens she had also just spend several months in NZ and neither of us knew the other was there.
I spent my final day in Melbourne wandering about and watching tennis at the opening day of the Australian Open. For a very low price you can get in on a grounds pass and watch any of the matches in any of the outdoor courts and in one of the big arenas. Unfortunately it can take some time to actually get a seat at any of those courts and going opening day probably did not help. I had a nice time catching glimpses here and there but I hadn't actually watched much tennis so I upgraded to an arena seat for the evening session. I think the classic arena experience was what I really wanted anyhow and it was well worth it.
Unfortunately the women's match I watched ended part way through the second set as one of the players was injured and withdrew. The following men's match was very intense between fellow American Frances Tiafoe and a Croatian lad, and in the end Tiafoe clinched the win. Watching in the arena is sort of strange because the silence during points is deafening, you can't even faintly hear any of the loud music from outside. Despite there being hundreds of people in the arena there is not a single peep and then when the point is over everyone erupts into cheering and applause for a few seconds before going absolutely silent again (and if not being asked by the judge to quiet down and take a seat, which happened often). I happened to have a bit of a cough at this time and was very nervous about being able to keep quiet but luckily if you have an excessive and constant supply of cough drops and drink water until you're about to burst it is possible to keep it in check.
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| Margaret Court Arena, I had a very nice seat in just the 5th row |
The next morning I took off to explore the famous Great Ocean Road which goes from Torquay to Allensford. I stopped in Torquay for the morning to take a surf lesson because this was yet another thing I decided I had been in Australia too long not to have tried yet. I had a blast and did have some success, even without the nice shove from the instructor to get me going. I'm probably not quite competition ready but you all will be among the first to know if and when I finally have my debut.
The Great Ocean Road is winding and hilly with remarkable views of the coast and forests the entire way, passing through numerous small towns and countless beaches. The drive itself is half the fun. I had planned several short hikes for the afternoon but the weather was finally warm and sunny and I could not resist cancelling them to spend the day beach hopping and enjoying the cool ocean waters instead. I slowly made my way ending up about half way along the road in Apollo Bay by late afternoon where I was spending the night. I had hoped to catch a nice sunset but it started raining so I stayed in for a quiet evening.
Day 2 of the trip down the infamous road also started out rainy, so I spent the morning calling a friend from college. Once the drizzling had passed I set out again. The second half of the road is where some of the most famous sights are. I first visited went to very tip of Cape Otway where there is a well-known light station. Feeling the need for a bit of exercise and feeling lightly guilty about ditching every hike the day before I chose to do the walk to the lookout point for the light station instead of a tour through the buildings. This turned out to be a poor choice since I could barely even see the lighthouse from the overlook. It was a nice walk but I feel the view may have been slightly over-hyped.
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| the alleged view |
From Cape Otway I continued on until I got to the most well-known stop, the 12 Apostles, and several other nice rock formations close by. At the end of the day I arrived in Port Fairy where my Great Ocean Road journey would come to a close. While I was making dinner a group of travelers my age that I remembered seeing earlier in the day at some of the stops arrived and I spent the evening playing cards with them. I showed absolutely no mercy, whooped them in the new game they taught me called Cambio, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Since I enjoyed their company I joined them the following morning for a walk together around nearby Griffiths Island before heading our separate ways.
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| As you can see, this section of coast is lined with towering cliffs like these |
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| The Twelve Apostles - there may or may not be twelve anymore and someday there will be none, so it's best not to try to count them |
The next destination on my list was the Grampians, a mountain range in western Victoria. I was staying on the south end of the range at Dunkeld caravan park which turned out to be a fabulous decision as they had free lettuce, tomatoes, raspberries, and other delightful goodies growing around the camping sites. During the daytimes I visited Mount Sturgeon, the Pinnacles, Mount William, and Hollow Mountain. Hollow Mountain was probably my favorite because it was more of a rock playground that wound slowly upwards and I enjoyed exploring and climbing around like a child on a jungle gym.
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| The Pinnacles walk had a lot of cool rock formations and passageways |
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| Exploring a cave on Hollow Mountain |
From the Grampians I was headed rather quickly all the way out of Victoria and into South Australia towards Normanville, which is on the peninsula south of Adelaide. One of the families I worked for in WA, and will be going back to in a few weeks, was on holiday there and was kind enough to invite me to join them. We had a nice morning at the beach where I was often on sandcastle or moat digging duty, two things I haven't done in years but was happy to jump on. After an afternoon nap for some we spent the evening on a walk around town, a bit of UNO, and back to the beach for dinner.
The next morning we parted ways and I took a nice loop around the bottom of the peninsula, first stopping in Rapid Bay. This is a fairly secluded beach area and has high cliffs on either side and you drive so it feels like you've just driven down into a little bowl or something. It started raining when I arrived so it was a brief visit before continuing on, which took me to the old Talisker Mine site which was active back in the 1870s and interesting to explore. You could also walk along a string of hills out to the coast which was a beautiful walk and yielded views all the way to Kangaroo Island to the south. From here I journeyed back up the east coast of the peninsula to Port Elliot, where I spent the next few days. The bakery there is very famous so of course I had to stop in for a few treats. I tried a pasty for the first time and had instant regret for not doing so sooner. Pasties here have potato and onion, maybe carrots and meat. It is a fairly chunky filling all inside a nice flaky pastry dough.
From Port Elliot it was just a short jaunt up to Adelaide. I was probably most excited for this portion of my journey because I had bought a ticket months ago to see my favorite musical artist, Gregory Alan Isakov, in concert here and it was fabulous - literally a dream come true. The rest of my time in Adelaide was spent visiting museums and gardens and going for evening runs along the river. I also visited Hahndorf, a small touristy village with classic German storefronts and shops. Some of my favorites were the cuckoo clock shop and of course I had to visit Otto's Bakery.
After having completed the few things I actually did have planned in January I decided to find some work for a few weeks while waiting for Ben and Josch to finish up in Merimbula so we could all head back to WA together where I will return to Kulin for seeding again. I ended up getting a job picking plums back over the border in Victoria. In short this did not last long as the work is terrible and they were not paying properly, neither of which I felt inspired to handle for very long being fresh out of holiday mode and knowing I had a much better job with people I know and enjoy waiting for me in WA.
Since then I have been back on holiday to enjoy the end of summer, which in it's own way is both just what I wanted anyways and stressful. I first went to camp in Wombat State Forest, a few hours north of Melbourne. This was a very quiet and shady campsite so I spent a lot of time reading in my hammock. It happened to be near an old sawmill site that the info board advertised as a nice hike to the historic site so I set off one afternoon to check it out. I did read the entire section on the board about the walk and I recall it mentioning a large pile of sawdust, but I seemed to have missed the fact that the pile was all that remained of the site. Not being much of a sawdust enthusiast myself and expecting to at least see some building remnants it was a a bit of a letdown. It was also very warm and sunny and I got much sweatier than I'd planned but there were no creeks or ponds to jump into, which is largely why I left the next morning.
That day the temperature was 102 and I drove down to the coastal town of Anglesea. I went straight to the beach and into the ocean. I felt renewed, and also like I probably smelled a better now than I had in days. I spent the next two weeks camping in nearby Otway Forest Park, returning to my beloved beach bum routines and occasionally sneaking into the caravan park in town for a proper shower. The weather has been very dry but the temperature lately has been all over the place, often being high 90s one day and low 60s the next.
I also recently celebrated my birthday, which as any other day I spent at the beach. I was a little worried it would be weird to spend it alone as I've never done that before but I have to say it was actually quite refreshing. With most people not accounting for the time difference my actual birthday was very quiet instead of being overwhelmed by the usual flood of messages (don't get me wrong, I do very much appreciate them but it's also nice sometimes to not spend all day on my phone and just enjoy the day for what it is).
People who hike the Appalachian Trail often tell stories of encountering "trail magic" and I've found that solo travel, or perhaps just backpacking and travel in general, has it's own version of trail magic. When I first arrived in Australia it was the relief of finally finding a job and it being with such a kind family, and then another down the road, both of which have taken care of me in their own ways. Sometimes it's a caravan park neighbor who makes you a proper coffee with latte art and all. Sometimes it's an older gentleman you chat with in line for check-in at the airport who ends up being on your flight and brings you extra snacks and chocolate every time he gets up to use the restroom. Most recently it has been fellow campers who have brought too much food or fuel they can't take on the ferry to Tasmania the next day and decide that I am a worthy recipient and to spend the evening round their fire. Not to get all sappy on you, but aside from you all back home these are often the people that make traveling solo feel less solo, and however long or briefly I may have met them I won't forget their kindness.
In the last couple of days I have returned to Melbourne to meet up with some friends Ben and I worked with at the outback hotel in South Australia which I really enjoyed seeing again. There is nothing like communal misery to bond people together and it just so happens that six of the eight of us happen to be in Melbourne at the same time. Ben and Josch got in yesterday and later this week the three of us are roadtripping back to WA together. By the end of March I should be back in Kulin, with hockey, netball, my Irish friends, and lots of sheep work to look forward to.
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| Some Marree friends, some Perth friends, and some new friends |
