Week 70 - Adelaide (Australia)

It was our last week in Adelaide before we were due to fly back to Asia and therefore our last week living in a house with a garden and a kitchen before going back to hostels and hotels. We spent most of the week cooking, baking cupcakes, watching films and chilling in the garden and the pool. 

On Thursday we wandered down to the beach with Slater to test the sea temperature ahead of Australia Day and on Friday we headed into the city to meet Alan from work for a few drinks on the roof terrace of the hostel bar, popping into the Santos Tour festival that had taken over the newly developed Victoria Square in the city centre on the way.

Rhys BBQ'ing in the park, Adelaide.

Sunday was Australia day and we’d reserved a giant Haviana flip flop to take part in a world record attempt at Glenelg beach. It’s an Australia wide event with thousands of people taking to the sea on inflatable flip flops across the country. Glenelg is a pretty small beach compared to the others, Adelaide being only a tiny city, and there were only 379 of us floating about compared to the 2,099 at Cottesloe (who now hold the record). We spent a couple of hours chilling on the beach and playing in the sea before we decided it was time to head home and get out of the sun. On the way back we spotted a big screen showing the cricket and after Rhys and Al had their bowling speed measured, we grabbed a drink and settled at a table. Slater left us after a while to get ready for work and after we realised there was a competition being drawn at 6:30pm with a chance to win $2,500 we thought we should stick around and try our luck. 

Australia Day Haviana Thong Challenge, Adelaide.

Me and Rhys floating on our inflatable flip flops, Adelaide.

It was a sponsored area and every time we went to the bar we came back with freebies, baseball caps, bottle openers, spanners, playing cards, stubbie holders, cool bags and god only knows what else. When it finally came to the draw we were already more than happy with our hoard of freebies including signed caps from Merv Hughes, then Alan’s name got called (twice), followed by Rhys’s. The competition involved throwing a ball at stumps from various distances. The pressure got to Rhys and he was out early on but Al pulled it out of the bag and walked away with a giant cheque for $500. We were pretty happy on our walk back to the house and spent the rest of the night celebrating and painting Al’s face to look like a tiger (having not washed off the orange paint he looked like a giant baked bean in the morning).

Alan and his GIANT cheque with Merv Hughes.

Our only other adventure for the week was on Tuesday, our last day in Australia. Me and Rhys had walked past the local lawn bowls club earlier in the week and noticed they did night bowls on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Rather than just sit in a pub we thought it would be a great way to end our stay and when Alan arrived home from work we headed out. When we got there it was packed and it turned out it was a competition - we’d just wanted to have a go by ourselves. We got coaxed in to taking part (for free) and matched up with some other people our age who had been playing for 3 years. One of the guys came out with us to give us a few tips and that combined with the coaching we’d had from Nettie and Dave in Wollongong set us ahead and by the 10th end we were drawing. I think the local team were a little embarrassed and extended the game to 12 ends and finally beat us by 1, we were pretty chuffed with ourselves. Then after the game we were shooed inside to a table with our lane number on and were fed free sandwiches while the organiser gave a speech giving us a shout out as the ‘new team’ and some abuse about the cricket. Alan bought some raffle tickets and came away with a tray of meat and I got a random $5 cash price for no reason at all. All up, a great night, if we lived there we’d be regulars and I think Al is going to join. We were too wired to sleep when we got home and opened a bottle of wine, finally turning in around 11pm with the alarm set to wake us at 3:45am. 

Me bowling like a pro, Adelaide.

All up we’ve had the best time in Australia, Adelaide started to feel like home after spending a month there and Al and Slater went out of their way to help us out, they’re both stars and we’ll really miss them. Australian people (and Kiwi’s in Aus!) are among the friendliest and most generous we’ve come across anywhere in our travels, from people we met for a week a year ago putting us up to strangers in the street or on the bus stopping for a chat. I’m sure we’ll be back for a visit at some point but right now it’s time to get on the road again.

Week 69 - Sydney, Adelaide (Australia)

Simone and her housemate Mark both work on weekdays so we had a chilled start to the day, enjoying having a moment to sit down with a quiet cuppa. That was until we called the one man band Philippine Embassy in Adelaide to discover they were shut for another week and made the rush decision to apply for our visas while we were in Sydney. We didn’t have anything prepared and it was all a bit chaotic. We ran out, caught a train and found an internet cafe to print and fill in the forms and itineraries we needed for our applications. Luckily there wasn’t a queue at the Embassy and we were in and out in the blink of an eye. 

Since we were in the CPD we thought we should take the chance to explore and headed off to the Darling Harbour. I’d never really realised that Sydney has so many little harbours, I thought there was just one big one. The Darling Harbour is a great area with lots of fountains and grassy areas, playgrounds and restaurants, bars and attractions like the aquarium and Madame Tussauds lining the harbour front. We walked around the water, marveled at the sheer number of jellyfish and jumped on a ferry bound for Circular Quay. Considering the cost of a harbour boat trip the ferry was a steal at $6 and gave us a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Circular Quay is another big harbour covered with bars and restaurants. Once off the boat we wandered over to the bridge where we’d been recommended the Pylon Climb. The famous Bridge Climb is crazy expensive and booked up in advance so the Pylon Climb was much more up our street. We climbed the stairs and reached the lookout at the top of the pylon for stupendous views across the harbour. Next, we walked to Observatory Hill, a little pocket of green with the city observatory at the top, again with views over the harbour. Back at Circular Quay we jumped on a bus back to Simone's. 

View of Circular Quay from the Harbour Bridge Pylon, Sydney.

When Simone got home from work we got ready and headed out into Bondi, apparently Wednesdays are the new Friday. We picked up two of her mates Dani and Canadian Mark on route and got our first glimpse of Bondi Beach, still heaving despite it being early evening. Our first stop was the Bucket List, a bar right on the beach with a real post surf vibe. We only stayed for one before moving on to the RSL, a members club on the cliff with views out across Bondi. Next stop, the Beach Road. As Simone is a regular we were whisked to the front of the queue and headed upstairs past the rows of beer pong tables. It was heaving, a great bar/club with live music and a good atmosphere, if we weren’t still recovering from the Melbourne/Wollongong burn out it’s the kind of place we could have happily stayed all night. Around 11pm me and Rhys headed off, leaving Simone to enjoy the rest of her night.

Me and Rhys with Simone, Bondi Beach, Sydney.

We had to head back to the Philippine Embassy the next day to collect our passports. After we picked them up, shiny new visa in place, we decided to walk through Hyde Park and on to the botanic gardens. Hyde Park has a huge war memorial, a couple of fountains and an avenue of trees and is home to the Sydney Festival for the month of January. Although not much was on in the day we did get free water bottles (how can anything free not be good?!) and we wandered through the festival site before popping out at the cathedral. A couple of photo stops and a cafe lunch later and we walked into the botanic gardens, stopping at the NSW Art Gallery to check out the 19th European Collection. I’ve learned Rhys quite enjoys galleries so long as i’m very specific and only pick one or two rooms to visit at a time. From the botanic gardens we followed the path around to Mrs Macquarie's Chair (a bench cut into the rock) and a view point over the harbour. We continued around the bay until we got to the Opera House, not quite as impressive close up as at a distance but so iconic it deserves a visit. We decided we’d probably never be there again and stopped at the Opera Bar for a glass of wine overlooking the bridge.

Fountain in Hyde Park, Sydney.

View of Sydney Harbour from the Botanic Gardens.

That evening, Simone’s mate Rachel and her fiancee had invited us all around for a BBQ along with Canadian Mark. It was a really good night, good food, good company and a nervous cat.

The next day, we hit the coast. A lot of people had told us that the Bondi to Coogee walk was a Sydney highlight so we packed a picnic and set off. The coastal cliff walk is about 6km long and takes you through the bays of Sydney’s eastern suburbs from Tamarama and Bronte to Coogee. Most of the bays we passed through had sandy beaches and rock pools and we found a great little beach shelter where we could rest and enjoy lunch. After a cold drink in Coogee we started the walk back, stopping for a dip in the icy cold rock pool in Bronte and then for an ice cream in Bondi. For a city, Sydney has some great beaches and the walk was definitely a pleasant way to spend the day.

Bondi Beach, Sydney.

View towards Coogee from the Eastern Coastal walk, Sydney.

On Saturday Tim and Tam flew in from Brisbane for the weekend and we arranged to meet them in one of Sydney’s oldest pubs in the Rocks, The Fortune of War. After a hectic journey in to Circular Quay on the ferry from Rose Bay (leaking water bottles and no ticket machines - Sydney really needs to sort out it’s transport system especially tickets), we headed in to the pub to wait. It was so good to see them. We had a couple of drinks in the pub before wandering over to the botanic gardens to find a spot with a view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge where we could set out our blankets, enjoy our picnic lunch and have a few subtle drinks. We stayed in the park for hours chatting and catching up and climbing on the statues (oh we will grow up one day) before catching the bus back down to Simone’s picking up sausages on the way. Simone was throwing a BBQ and the house was full when we turned up. By the time Tim and Tam and their friends they were staying with had left, Simone was on her way out for the night and me and Rhys made up our bed on the couch and left everyone who was still on the patio to it.

Rhys and the Harbour Bridge, on the ferry from Rose Bay, Sydney.

The Opera House, Sydney.

Rhys, Tam and Tim, Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

The next morning we were meeting Tim and Tam in Circular Quay again to catch the ferry to Manly, another beach suburb 30 minutes away across the harbour. 45 minutes late and Tim and Tam turned up. The ferry ride was another scenic trip, one of our highlights of Sydney has definitely been the ferry rides. Once there we wandered in the direction of the main beach, stopped to stroke a ridiculously fluffy puppy and found a little restaurant for lunch. After watching a lifeguard competition we found an empty patch of sand and laid out our blankets for a couple of hours of paddling and swimming, sun bathing and people watching. Around 4pm we decided it was time to head back into the city and walked back to the ferry terminal. Back in Circular Quay we said our goodbyes - we see Tim again in 5 weeks in the Philippines and are hoping Tam might be tempted to join us. 

Monday we spent the day hanging around waiting for our flight back to Adelaide. The weather had turned and it was threatening to rain. Other than a picnic at the southern end of Bondi beach we stayed at Simone’s relaxing until it was time to walk up to Bondi Junction to find the bus to the airport. Another Sydney transport problem and 4 shops later we managed to find somewhere to buy bus tickets and made it to the airport with plenty of time before our 8pm flight. Once in Adelaide, Slater picked us up and drove us back to his where we cracked open a bottle of wine from his wine club delivery. 6 bottles later and a couple of Alan bungles and we decided it was time for bed.

Following the stupid amounts of wine the night before, Tuesday was a chill day with the biggest adventure being a trip to Coles to do a food shop. When Al got back from work we popped around the corner to the Holdfast pub for a drink and a catch up before heading home for dinner.

Week 68 - Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Wollongong (Australia)

John, being the super generous person he is, had kindly offered to take us to the Wicked Campervan depot in Kensington to pick up our van and our home for the next 2 nights. Fingers crossed we wouldn’t end up with a van with some girly design painted on it, a Captain Caveman van emerged from the garage (Wicked vans are iconic, the older cheaper vans are all pretty scruffy and tired but they are all painted with individual designs and usually have rude slogans slapped across the back, they’re the ultimate backpacker van). We loaded our bags and headed off out of Melbourne on route to Geelong, a seaside town to the south. It was an error really and we should have bypassed the town since we wanted more coastal driving than traffic lights and dual carriageways but it did mean we could stop at Coles and stock up on food for the next couple of days. Out of Geelong, our next stop was at Bells Beach, just west of Torquay, a major surf town and home to a number of the big surf brands. The beach itself is ridiculously famous for it’s surf and is pretty enough but no where near as spectacular as those further along the coast. We parked up in a bay with a view out over the water and ate lunch in the van. 

Coastal view from the Great Ocean Road.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving along the Great Ocean Road stopping at various scenic viewpoints, the Split Point Lighthouse and a memorial arch to the thousands of ex-servicemen who worked to build the road, a project to give them employment when they returned from WW1. Our last stop before we set up camp was at Kennett River, a tiny hamlet where within 100 metres of the main road you can find wild koalas and brightly coloured rosellas (red and blue parrots). We stopped by an information office to get advice on the best place to camp and started getting a bit worried when the super unhelpful and miserable woman told us lots of places we couldn’t go because they were full with no real help on where we could go. 

Split Point lighthouse, Great Ocean Road.

Our Captain Caveman van on the Great Ocean Road.

We ended up driving through the Otway National Park to the other side of Apollo Bay where we found a great free campsite on the banks of the Aire River. We’d been put off when we read there were 50 pitches but when we arrived they were so spread out on an open grassy area that it didn’t feel busy at all. Straight away the family in the caravan next to us came over to say hello and another couple who wanted a photo of our van. We were recommended to walk the 30 minutes along a sandy track to the beach and decided to check it out before sunset. 5 minutes in and a car pulled up behind us and told us to jump in, the guy from the tent next to us had come to pick us up to shorten the walk and dropped us off 5 minutes from the beach. When we got there, other than 3 surfers, we had the beach to ourselves, it was beautiful, great big sand dunes and towering cliffs. 

View of the Aire River campsite from the track to the beach.

The next day we were up relatively early with the sqwarks of a huge flock of cockateels who were nesting in the trees nearby. We packed up camp and crossed the wooden bridge to head back to the Great Ocean Road. This was the day we’d really been looking forward to. We’d given ourselves 8 hours until we wanted to be at the next camp, 185km away. A few scenic viewpoints and short walks to the top of cliffs and we pulled up at the car park to Wreck Beach. When we arrived we were the only people there and after descending the hundreds of steps to the beach, we wove between rock pools to the first of the two anchors that remain from shipwrecks. We decided to skip the second anchor and headed back to the van. 

View from the Gables Lookout, Great Ocean Road.

Anchor from a ship wreck on Wreck Beach, Great Ocean Road.

The next stop was at Gibson Steps, a view point that offered us our first glimpse of the famous 12 Apostles. Next, we pulled up at the Apostles and followed the boardwalk around the cliff edge to marvel at the rock formations, giant limestone karsts similar to those in Thailand. Sadly erosion has taken it’s toll and there are no longer 12 towers, only 8, but nether the less we were very impressed. A little further along the coast we came to another area with walks to various viewpoints where we found a bench for a picnic lunch. We’d heard there was a fairy penguin colony nearby and managed to spot a lone penguin way off in the distance. Next stop was at London Bridge, an huge rock archway, followed by a Grotto, a small open roofed cave where the water crashes in. One final stop at the Bay of Islands (surprisingly a bay with lots of islands in) and we had about 60km left to get to Warnambool, a big town that marked the end of our Great Ocean Road adventure. Once in town we stopped at the tourist office to ask about campsites and ended up in a little town a short way inland called Koroit. Although not as scenic as the other sites we’ve been at, it had hot showers and free laundry, the fattest cats you’ve ever seen and really friendly people staying there. After watching a game of cricket in the field next door, we ended up sitting with a group of older people, listening to a guy play organ and chatting, very random.

The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road.

The Grotto, Great Ocean Road.

Another early start and we drove the short distance to the Tower Hill National Park, a small park centred on a lake and an extinct volcano crater. We parked up and took the path to the peak, a quick 20 minute trail that took us to a great view point over the lake past grazing emus, a wallaby and a couple of big fat blue tongued lizards. Next, we took the path ‘Journey to the last Volcano’ and within 100 metres of the car park found a koala overhanging the track. The trail took us to the rim of the volcano crater before curving back to the visitor centre. Back in the van it was time to head back to Melbourne. We took an inland route that was much faster than the Great Ocean Road. With a stop in Winchelsea by the river for another picnic lunch, we were back in Melbourne by 2:30pm. 

View of the lake, Tower Hill National Park.

After dropping off the van we walked to the train station and headed into town, to the Grace Darling Hotel in Fitzroy where we had arranged to meet Jase, a guy we’d met in Guatemala and our host for the next two nights. Shortly after we arrived Brendon turned up for a drink, followed by John. My friend Tash and her husband Dylan and new born baby boy then rocked up looking like the picture of a healthy and happy new family. I had a cuddle before he started getting too irritated with the heat and Tash and Dylan took him off home. An hour or so later Jase arrived from work. Happy hour finished at 7pm and we decided it was time to head back to Jase’s to dump our bags and grab some food, saying goodbye to Brendon and John. 

Rhys with Brendon and John at the Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne.

We brought some bargain sausages, a case of beer and some random cheap wine from a random cheap wine shop and Jase fired up the BBQ. If John’s house was a perfect picket fence family home, Jase’s is the ultimate bachelor pad, spacious, modern and within a stones throw of a hundred super trendy shops, bars and coffee shops. After dinner and meeting one of Jase’s housemates, Cam, we headed out to the Black Cat, a cute little bar just around the corner and one of Jase’s favourite hangouts. Fitzroy is the hipster spot of Melbourne, a bit like Shoreditch in East London but it’s less pretentious, even me and Rhys didn’t feel out of place despite being thoroughly unhipster. Me and Rhys sat and chatted with randoms in the corner while Jase danced his way around the bar. The night ended with a kebab as all good nights should end.

Jase had his tour guide hat on when we woke and after cooking up a storm for breakfast he packed us in the car and took us around the corner to the coffee shop where Cam works for some of the best coffee we’ve had in a very long time. Next we went for a walk around the Melbourne museum as we wanted to check out the Exhibition centre building and the gardens. Back in the car Jase drove us into the city for a drink at the Rooftop Bar, one of his favourite bars with views out across the city. The building the bar was in was full of different cafes and bars spread over all the floors, if we’d had more time in Melbourne we would have loved to go back to check out some of the other places. Next we walked down to the river as we were keen to have a drink at the bar that wraps around the base of one of the foot bridges. Afterwards, we wandered back to the car and Jase drove us out to Williamstown for fish and chips in the harbour with panoramic views of the Melbourne skyline off in the distance. We clambered onto a canon, took in the view, fed some seagulls and then headed back to drop off the car. 

Rhys and Jase, Williamstown, Melbourne.

Rhys on one of the canons in WIlliamstown, Melbourne.

After chilling at the house and meeting Jase’s other flatmate, John, we wandered out to a bar called Bimbo’s for cheap $4 pizzas. Although we’d decided to have a quiet night as we were flying to Sydney early the following day, we ended up doing a min pub crawl stopping at a Little Creatures Brewery and ending at The Napier, a proper British old man pub. Jase’s housemate and his girlfriend came to meet us and by the time we got back to the flat (via a pile of hard rubbish that provided a wonderful outfit for Rhys of women’s PJ’s and a dirty old jacket and a pair of jeans and a coat for Jase) it was getting late.

Waking up the next morning was difficult. We had a 9am flight and Jase drove us to the airport. We said our goodbyes, wishing we had longer to explore Fitzroy and hangout with Jase (he is pretty awesome). Check-in was straightforward and the flight was on time. We arrived in Sydney just after 10:30am having flown in past the harbour bridge and the opera house. Once we’d picked up our bags we jumped straight on a train an hour south to Wollongong, a beach town where Rhys’s uncle lives and where Rhys lived with Al, (the cousin now in Adelaide) for a couple of months 5 years ago. Across from the station is a pub called the North Gong and we propped ourselves up to wait for Mel, a friend Rhys met last time he was there and I know from London.

Mel arrived with her boyfriend Corey in tow, followed shortly by Ben and Ash, another couple who spent time in London and Pip, yet another person from Wollongong who set up camp in London. It turned into a great night, lots of drinks, a random bikini contest (and no, Rhys didn’t enter, it was being taken very seriously) and lots of time to catch up and hear about what everyone has been up to since they left London. After we left the North Gong we dropped our luggage back at Mel and Corey’s and walked over to the Master Builders. Now, they have these ‘clubs’ all over Australia and i’ve never seen anything like it. Think a bingo hall crossed with a casino crossed with a betting shop, it has cheap drinks and cheap food with a couple of different restaurants and it’s got people in at all times of the day. We put a couple of dollars in the pokies (fruit machines that require a lot less thought) and all but Rhys came out up. After a couple of bottles of bubbles we wandered home past yet another kebab shop to play with the crazy kitten, Marley over a night cap (my first Bundaberg experience).

Sunday afternoon in the North Gong with Corey, Mel, Pip, Ash and Ben, Wollongong.

Corey struggled in to work the next day while Mel took a sneaky day off. After a egg and bacon muffin we arranged to be picked up by Rhys’s Uncle Dave. As it was my first trip to Wollongong, Dave and Nettie decided to take us down to the beach. I was very impressed, just past the harbour, at one end of the North beach there’s a free salt water swimming pool and next to that there’s a rock pool, a kind of natural pool cut in to the rocks and filled by the sea, big enough to swim in. The rock pool was too tempting to miss so we jumped in to freshen up before continuing our walk along the beach, an arch of golden sand bordered on the land side by a grassy area, Stuart Park. We watched a couple of skydivers land and walked back to the car via the Beach Pavillion. 

Back at the house we stopped for a beer, one of Nettie’s dad’s home brews and dropped off Lauren before heading back out to Stanwell Tops lookout. We grabbed an ice cream and watched the paragliders and hang gliders taking off while soaking in the view of the coastline and admiring the Sea Cliff Bridge. The bridge appears in hundreds of car adverts and is a really scenic stretch of road, built to move the road away from the cliff face to avoid damage by landslides. On the way home we stopped off at the Bowls club. Dave and Nettie spend a lot of time bowling and we were keen to give it a try. Bowling is a really popular sport here with all age groups, they have the weather so where as we’d go tenpin bowling they go to the Bowls clubs. We had a blast, with a bit of guidance we were both doing ok and we had a pairs game, Rhys was far more consistent but I managed some flukes and me and Dave came out on top. While we were out, Lauren had rustled up a gourmet fish cake dinner and when we got back the table was set. The night ended with us all sitting around playing with Nettie’s gadget to improve circulation which in essence just electrocutes you, laughing as you turned up the strength and your feet and fingers started twitching, I think Dave particularly enjoyed it...

Rhys and Nettie watching Dave bowl at their local club, Wollongong.

We slept in the next day, enjoying having a comfy bed and a quiet room. After breakfast Nettie gave us a lift to the train station and we headed back in to Sydney. Our friend Simone had agreed to put us up for the next week and we followed her instructions to her flat in Bondi Junction, just a short walk from the world famous beach. Bondi Junction itself is a really nice area, a great highstreet with all the shops you could ever want and good transport links. Simone had left her keys out for us so we let ourselves in and flopped. That evening we ate dinner, watched a film and caught up having not seen Simone since our night out in Cancun, Mexico.

Week 67 - Adelaide, Grampians, Phillip Island, Melbourne (Australia)

New Years Day was a write off. While Slater went out to a dance festival the rest of us slummed it on the couches watching an entire series of Strike Back and Rhys finished getting things ready for our road trip to Melbourne.

We left Al and Slater’s early the next day to catch a bus to the garage where we were due to pick up our relocation camper van. We arrived in plenty of time and picked up the van with out any problems. It was huge compared to the one we had in Australia last time we were here, it could seat 5 people and sleep 4 (albeit at a squish). It was easy to get out of Adelaide and we were on the road in no time to start the 750km cross country trip to Melbourne (having decided one night just wasn’t long enough to do the coast road and allow time to make stops to actually enjoy it). About an hour into the journey and we started having doubts we’d made the right choice as we didn’t want to miss driving the Great Ocean Road. We set ourselves the task of reaching the Grampians thinking that if we camped in the south of the park we could still drop down to the ocean road if we decided we wanted to in the morning. We stopped in a little town called Keith and had some of the best fish and chips for lunch and stopped to see some white kangaroos before continuing to the national park. The road was pretty dull, relatively straight and not a whole lot to look at. We were glad when we got to the turnoff just past Horsham. When we got into the park the roads were so winding it took us far longer to reach the town, Halls Gap than we’d expected and by the time we got there the breaks were so hot they’d stopped working. We passed so many signs for scenic view points and little trails that we made the decision to spend the morning the following day in the park rather than booting it to the Great Ocean Road.

We stopped by the visitor centre, which had shut stupidly early, and noted down the location of a couple of free campsites. We ended up in a tiny little camp and had the place to ourselves until two vans pulled up just before dusk. The free campsites in Australia are incredible, most of them are in beautiful spots in national parks with just basic facilities, toilets and fire pits.

Our relocation campervan.

The next day we were woken by the kookaburras sqwarking outside our van. We packed up and headed out into the park to explore. We spent the next couple of hours pulling over at all the different spots. It was a bit of a rush and we would have loved to have spent a couple of nights there walking the different trails. There were a number of view points and a few waterfalls. Just driving around was great with views of the mountains. We still had a fair drive from the Grampians to Melbourne and got on the road after lunch for the last push to the city. We were due to drop the van at 4pm and after a short detour, found the car wash the guy had recommended us just to be told that the van was too tall to fit in. We found another wash and dropped the van back at 4:30pm.

The Balconies view point in the Grampians National Park.

We were lucky and Brendon, a Kiwi we met in Chile, came to pick us up from the garage so we didn’t have to work out the trains to get out to Ringwood where another guy we met in Chile, John, was putting us up. Ringwood is a lovely suburb, very green and leafy with spacious houses with picket fences, the kind of place you’d want to raise a family. We arrived just as John was BBQ’ing some sausages for an early dinner. Shorty after Kat, John’s other half came home from work and we jumped in John’s car and headed south to Philip Island. One of John’s mates and his fiancee had rented a house for the holiday week and had invited a big group of their friends down to stay and, being hospitable Aussies had let us tag along. We spent the night sitting around the living room, drinking goon and chatting before retiring to the granny annex were we were serenaded by two of John’s mates before bed.

After packing up, John become our tour guide for the day and drove us to all the highlights of Philip Island. Other than the penguins, which cost a small fortune and don’t come out until sunset, I think we pretty much covered off most of the island with a wallaby sighting to boot. Since it was really windy and threatening to rain we moved around a lot rather than stopping and chilling on any of the beaches. After a bargain lunch in the Pickled Vicar in Cowes we headed to Nobbies, a great board walk with stunning views that wound it’s way through a seagull nesting site. We even spotted a copperhead snake, the only snake found on Philip island. Another stop at a boardwalk through the mangroves and we decided to head back into Melbourne. Driving back to the bridge to the main land we passed a few more hot-rods (big brightly coloured vintage American cars) heading to a show at the GP race track, having seen hundreds by the bridge the previous day.

John and Rhys on Phillip Island.

The coastline of Phillip Island.

Edge of the Mangroves, Phillip Island.

Back in Melbourne we were all pretty worn out but it being only Saturday we thought it would be wrong just to have an early night and instead decided on a fire in the garden. A couple of possum spottings later and we turned in for the night.

On Sunday, after a very civilised cooked breakfast served on the veranda, John took us to Ramsey Street. We were the only people there and wandered into the street as a security guard came out to meet us. He stood with us pointing out who lived where and we took photos outside every house, a must for any Brit in Melbourne! After, John dropped us at the station and we wandered in to the city for an afternoon of sightseeing. We’d read about a couple of alley ways good for seeing street art and were given a great map at the tourist booth showing us how to get to them. Melbourne is a really vibrant, arty city and everywhere you turn there are sculptures, buskers and graffiti. Some of the alleys were just tagged but others had really elaborate and intricate works. As we walked between the sites we got to see the centre of the city, the little laneways filled with coffee shops and high vaulted shopping arcades, the main shopping streets and china town. Our next stop was the river. After a stroll along the banks to see a couple of black swans we realised we were close to the Olympic Park and the MCG, although we were too late for the Ashes, there was a sculpture of some cricketer, Don Bradman, who Rhys says is one of the all time greats, and we headed to the ground so Rhys could get a photo with it. By the time we’d walked back in to town we were getting tired. We made one more stop at the Shrine of Remembrance war memorial, a huge building near the observatory where you can climb up to the terrace for views out over the city, before wandering back to Flinders Street, the main station, along the South Bank. Back at Johns we had another quiet night,a couple of drinks and dinner in front of the TV before bed.

Me and Rhys on Ramsey Street outside the Robinson/Scully household, Melbourne.

Graffiti in the centre of Melbourne.

Federation Square, Melbourne.

Rhys by the river, Melbourne.

View from the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.

View from Southbank, Melbourne.

We arranged to meet one of my mates, Laura, who I met the first time I went to South America, on the Monday so after a lazy start to the day we caught the train into town. We’d left it abit late as we intended to have a walk around the botanic gardens before we met her and instead it was more like a quick run around. Back at Richmond Station Laura picked us up and drove us out to the Abbotsford Convent, a great little place that has been turned into a chilled out artists colony with lots of little studios and exhibition spaces. The Convent had a vegetarian restaurant called Lentils where you pay by donation. We pulled up stools and, surrounded by hipsters, helped ourselves to the buffet, which included dessert and coffee. Even Rhys cleared his plate despite there being no meat, it was so delicious. After food we had a little walk to the farm area behind the convent, got wee’d on by a cow when we stood down wind then drove back into Melbourne to catch our train back out to Ringwood.

We’d saved Tuesday to head down to St Kilda, Melbourne’s beach suburb, but first we had arranged to meet Lou, a girl we’d met in Guatemala, on her lunch break in the trendy area of Fitzroy. She took us to a great burger bar, Huxtaburger and we whiled away the hour catching up and eating lunch. After we left her we caught a tram down to St Kilda. When Rhys last came to Melbourne he stayed in a house with 15 other boys on a street a few rows back from the beach for a couple of months and he was keen to revisit his old stomping ground to see what had changed. The house had been completely renovated, a couple of photos outside and we wandered down to the beach. It’s not as nice a city beach as Adelaide and is a bit reminiscent of South End with a massive theme park area called Luna Park with a scary looking clown face guarding the entrance. We stopped for a coffee and a cake on the main street and for a happy hour cider at a little bar with seats spilling on to the seat to catch the late afternoon sun.

Luna Park, St Kilda, Melbourne.

Rhys had arranged to spend the evening at Dan’s house, one of the guys he lived with in St Kilda and we headed out on the tram to Caulfield. Dan’s mum and her friend were over from the UK so there was quite a gathering. We met his beautiful daughter Indie-Mae and his better half, Lolly and stayed for dinner. Sadly we had to head back to Ringwood before it got too late and left around 9:45pm. We arrived back at John’s just after midnight tired and cold, the trip not sped up by a misunderstanding at Richmond that resulted in Rhys getting on the train and leaving me on the platform to wait another 30 minutes for the next one.

Week 66 - Adelaide (Australia)

We were awoken on Christmas morning by Al, who in turn had been woken by the smell of cooking bacon wafting into his room. Slater had breakfast covered. Next up was present opening with a bottle of bubbles to wash it down. Santa had found his way in and left us all with a little pile of presents, mostly purchased from the dollar store down the road or brought in with us from the duty free shops in Malaysia. Some of the particular highlights - clip in hair for Al (I would post the picture but I don’t think he’d be too impressed), a giant cow pat Al acquired from the Ben&Jerry’s OpenAir cinema for Slater, hip flasks, cap guns, bikini girl glasses and an inflatable frog for the pool (which Al immediately blew up and put on).

Once the boys were settled with drinks in the garden I got dinner started. As always there were many things that could have been better but as an overall first attempt at cooking a full Christmas dinner I think it went pretty well despite being an hour earlier than expected, oops. We had a massive turkey that has fed us for the rest of the week and all the trimmings, including yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, bacon sprouts, honey roast parsnips and lemon meringue for dessert- all made from scratch. Dinner was followed by more drinks, calls home to the UK, movies and chocolates to round off the evening. All up a pretty good Christmas albeit stupidly hot for a full turkey dinner. 

Rhys and Al enjoying the pool on Christmas morning.

Rhys and Slater ready to start Christmas dinner.

Boxing day was a chill day, there was more food, this time a pork joint (they don’t sell raw ham anywhere here, these Aussie’s never even knew there was such a thing as raw ham and they don’t even get their bacon raw, it’s kind of half cooked, very odd), more TV, more drinking and more sleeping. We popped to the bar around the corner for a couple of Boxing Day drinks in the sun and other than that just kicked back and relaxed.

Slater had the Friday off work and decided to take it upon himself to show us some of the tourist hot spots of Adelaide. First stop was Mount Lofty, one of the tallest mountains in the area with views out over Adelaide to the sea. We sat down for a coffee while admiring the view. Next up was Hahndorf, a quaint little postcard perfect German town about 20km out of the city. We decided to take the scenic route from Mount Lofty and spent about an hour driving around the back roads, lost. The detour worked out for the best though, a toss of a coin at a junction took us into the bush and down a road that turned into a little track before passing an abandoned copper mine that has been put aside as a conservation area. We got out of the truck to stretch our legs and explore and within a minute Rhys had spotted a koala. We were so excited to see one in the wild and took a million photos before doing a short circuit of the mine ruins and spotting another two koalas, cue another million photos. Back on the road and heading in the right direction we happened across the freeway and sped out to Hahndoff. It was incredibly busy but quite homely with old school ice cream and sweet shops, antique shops and loads and loads of cafes, restaurants and pubs. We chose the pub with the biggest schnitzel menu and grabbed a table outside to watch the world go by while we stuffed down yet more food. A quick stop to watch a farrier shoeing his horse and a brief exploration of the museum/art gallery and we were back in the truck to head back to the house.

Me and Slater at the top of Mount Lofty.

Rhys and Slater, lost in the bush.

Koala at the copper mine.

A bit of history, Hahndoff.

We had a quick turn around and were out the door again to head into the city to meet Al to go to a baseball game in Norwood, a suburb a bit like London’s Kensington, the other side of Adelaide. Just as we were pulling into the city Slater got in a bit of an altercation with a bus driver who kept cutting everyone up and when his eyes were off the road we rolled into the car in front. Slaters truck was untouched, the bullbar however destroyed the back end of the car in front who in turn had shunted the car in front of him. Insurance details were swapped and we were on our way again in no time, no one was hurt and the damage was only so bad because Slaters truck is a monster. We found Al at the bar opposite his office and got a drink in just as it closed. Next we hopped over to the hostel terrace bar where there are really cheap drinks and a surprisingly local clientele. About 8pm we we headed to the truck and drove out to Norwood. The baseball was a groupon deal and tickets were a bargain £3.80 each, we found ourselves a seat and settled in to shout at the Adelaide Bites who were losing to Canbarra. Our shouting didn’t seem to help and they lost the game but I think we’ve all found a new understanding and love of baseball despite it being an extremely slow sport. The best bit though was as we were leaving, the players were signing autographs and Alan ended up down in the throng asking to get his head signed. A couple of minutes later and a sharpie was found (the biro didn’t work) and he came back to us happy until we pointed out that the player hadn’t signed his name but drawn a penis on his head. Ben Lodge, you are a champion. Back at the house and we had a night cap, before bed.

The boys at the baseball.

Us enjoying the baseball.

Slater was working Saturday and Sunday so it was just me, Rhys and Alan. We didn’t really get up to much, more eating, more drinking, more sleeping, more sitting in the pool in the garden. Rhys went for a walk to the beach while I popped to Coles and that was about it. The boys watched the Hobbit while I pottered around and we made a huge turkey pie to finish off the last of the Christmas meat.

On Monday we had an appointment at the Apple store in Rundle Mall to see if they could fix our ipods (they couldn’t). Afterwards we walked out to the botanic gardens and were amazed at the sheer size of them, we spent a couple of hours wandering between rose gardens and cactus gardens, conservatories sheltering giant lily pads and conservatories holding huge rainforests (where we got caught in a rain shower). When we left the gardens we walked along the river to the Adelaide Oval and stopped at a pretty church before heading back to meet Slater in Rundle Mall. Lunch was another cheap food court meal in China Town. Rhys jumped on the tram to head home and me and Slater went back to the mall to pop in a couple of shops before stopping off for a drink on a little terrace in the Richmond Hotel, a perfect spot for people watching. On the way back to the tram we ended up back in the hostel bar and then when we got to Glenelg we stopped for one last drink at the Jetty Bar. A bit more shopping on Jetty Road and we headed home. It turned in to a big night. We gave Al a hair cut, watched some horrid UFC matches, had a go at UFC (I even tapped Al out twice with only a few rule breaches (who knew you couldn’t bite)) and drank the rest of the goon. At one point Slater had his fancy dress genie costume on and there was a bet that Al will have kids in the next 5 years (it’s on video so we remember it).

NYE morning we weren’t feeling too fresh (who drinks the night before New Years Eve?!), we cleaned a bit, watched TV and packed for our trip to Melbourne. Our biggest excursion was a trip to the post office to collect my passport and to the dollar store to buy glow sticks for the Glo Glenelg NYE party. By the time Alan got home from work we’d left it to late to buy tickets for any of the bars in Glenelg and opted to start the party at the house. We popped next door to the Holdfast bar which was so empty it was closing early, before heading back to the house. As midnight drew close we trundled down to the beach, equipped with a wide selection of glow sticks. We were a bit disappointed to find the beach scattered with small groups of people sitting on rugs and had expected there to be more of a party atmosphere and a DJ or two. After the midnight fireworks we stopped at Subway and headed home. Despite it not being a mad New Years it was all we wanted, to spend it with Alan and Slater without spending a fortune.