From Melbourne with Love – January 26th Well Ladies and Gentlemen, here we sit in the southern most tip of our Australian Odyssey. It is from this point that we once again begin to head North. It is also from here that we put our car up for sale, and once again start packing our
From Melbourne with Love – January 26th
Well Ladies and Gentlemen,
here we sit in the southern most tip of our Australian Odyssey. It is from this point that we once again begin to head North. It is also from here that we put our car up for sale, and once again start packing our backpacks, instead of just throwing crap in the car.
Since we left the Outback, we have had a relative cold streak descend upon us. It was over 40° Celsius for more than a week. We were beginning to melt, and it was hard for us to enjoy spending any time in the car. With this in mind, it was a treat that the temps dropped to the low twenties. We were even wearing sweaters when the thermometer sat at 26° (In Canada, I normally would be close to naked at this temperature).
We pointed our car to the east and drove to the Barossa Valley. This valley is the wine capital of Australia, and world famous for the ease of tasting. While driving around, we found roughly 30 different wineries that we could drive into and sample the products (FREE!!). We decided that this could get dangerous, and with enough wine Mari and I might start driving on the Right side of the road again, so we decided to take a tour.
We parked at the Seppelt Family Winery, and paid $4 for a tour of the facilities. For a full hour we walked around huge barrels filled with everything from vinegar to fortified ports. It was truly impressive, but the fun was yet to start. We were placed in front of a large bar, and given a list of over 40 wines. We started with a large cold glass of water (to clean the pallet eh!), and then we each made selections from the white wines.
The most difficult part of the next hour was looking dignified (in our grimy t-shirts) while we sniffed, swirled, and sipped. To us, we appeared knowledgeable while I’m sure everyone else thought of us as rogues. Who cares though, because we were getting free wine.
After a session on red wines, followed by ports we perused the gift shop before deciding we should get something to eat. Later that afternoon we finally headed east.
The one feature of Australia that I had been waiting for was Mt. Arapiles. This park is a collection of cliffs and boulders spread out over a large campsite on the western section of Victoria. Mari and I bought a small climbing guide then spent 3 days in the park bouldering, finally leaving when my forearms were worn and my fingertips were too swollen to grip the steering wheel. On the morning of the second day, I awoke at 6 and dressed to go bouldering. For some strange reason my tent-partner stayed in the sleeping bag. I walked through huge boulders in the cool of the morning, lightly stretching and selecting good problems to play on. I worked through a few easy problems when something caught my eye. A group of 6 eastern grey kangaroos were running around my rock. I raced back to tell Mari, who told me about a fox that ran past the tent, and the kangaroos she had also seen.
We left for the south again, winding up in The Grampians, another famous climbing hot-spot. Unfortunately it was raining at this point so we settled for a nice hike.
One of the absolute highlights of our trip came when we reached the Great Ocean Road. This 300km section of highway winds (and I mean winds, this trail is so crooked that we headed north and south as much as we headed east) along the southern tip of Victoria. The land drops off over huge cliffs into the wind-swept ocean, and stops along the way mark the various geological formations (such as the 12 Apostles, a dozen rock pillars just offshore) and the various shipwrecks.
Halfway along the road, we parked in a small park and set up camp for the night. With nightfall approaching, we decided to go for a quick walk, and there in a tree 2m off the ground was a Koala. Sweet!! We raced to get the camera. In retrospect it was funny that we took so many pictures, because by the time we finished our walk we had seen 10 Koalas, none higher than 15m up a tree. It was a wonderful treat.
We drove into Melbourne, and here we started cleaning our car. We were feeling worn and decided to treat ourselves to breakfast. Upon leaving the restaurant, a nice lady in her forties called me over, and politely asked me to kill a spider. “No Problem” said I, the tough man.
I looked into her car, and was ready to meet the tiny spider. I was greeted by a hairy dangerous wolf spider about the size of my fist. As I stood screaming inside my head, and bravely crapping my pants, I pulled my sweater over my hand, scooped the spider out of the car, and stomped on him a dozen times.
“NO Problems” I calmly said, and then went to change my pants.
Well, Australia is almost over. Soon we will land in Singapore where we have friends waiting. We will give an update the moment we sell the car though.