Catching Up in Canberra

We were pretty excited to leave Thredbo in sunshine to begin our trip to the nation's capital, Canberra. We had booked three nights at a YHA in the middle of the city specifically because it had a pool and spa. After our rainy days, we needed that badly! Bill was so excited and in such a hurry in fact that he had the (mis)fortune of meeting one of NSW's finest on the freeway to Canberra. We had heard the fines for speeding were outrageous, but this kind officer reduced Bill's by over $200. Phew! A warning would have been more generous, but we will take kindness wherever we can get it.

We were able to check in early, and waiting in the lobby when I arrived was a familiar face from Albury. (Note to Facebook friends: not THAT one, but the other one. Nevermind, Mom. All is well)

After some walking around town, we met up with an old friend, Sherri Lake, and her partner Paul.

Sherri was my first friend when we moved into the house where my parents still live. We hadn't seen each other since high school, but Sherri generously helped out with our Australia trip planning via Facebook and emails. We had plans to rent a place together for Easter week, but first got acquainted in Canberra where she lives. We went out for some great Mexican food followed by desserts at a local icon, Gus'. Sherri and Paul introduced us to sticky date pudding, another Aussie icon. We thought it was yummy, but Sherri insisted it wasn't authentic, and so she is currently seeking out a better source!

The boys and I spent the next couple of days seeing what Canberra has to offer. We had been told it was a rather dull city, but our two days were quite filled with educational sightseeing and souvenir shopping. The kids loved Questacon. It was a very hands-on science centre. I made them both learn a little about Gallipoli at the National War Memorial and we saw a Last Post service (a regular, if not daily event) honouring a soldier who passed in WW1 (attended by surviving family members and several US Major Generals).

By the way, the YHA pool AND spa were BOTH freezing!!

 

And then it rained...

From Melbourne we drove north to Albury. It rained for two days. We saw The Lego Movie ($72 for just admission!). Stuff happened and we got upgraded to a cabin from the lodge.

We drove to Thredbo in the Snowy Mountain region. Pretty drive...in the rain... Couldn't really see the top of the mountain for the clouds. Rained next day. Rained the day after that. Watched muddy mountain bikers descend from the top of the mountain. Went swimming at the Thredbo Leisure Centre.

Thredbo River

Village of Thredbo is very cute.

Learned Aussie chilli powder isn't like Canadian chilli powder. It is just ground chillis. Bought some cumin too, and made some really good chilli. It's that kind of weather.

And that's all I have to say. Don't worry, it all gets much better! That was over a week ago.

Snazzy sock day

 

It was the state championships

 

Muddy bikers

 

Hello Melbou(r)ne!

Off the tram and ready to take on Melbourne

Our first task in Melbourne was to drop off Gretta the Jetta and pick up Bruce the Outlander. It was nothing personal against Gretta, in fact we enjoyed her, but the cost of a one way hire was much cheaper from Victoria than South Australia. Plus, Bruce is bigger! The kids have a little more room to breathe now!

In Federation Square

The roads through Melbourne are very confusing, especially when you have no sense of where you are going at all, and there are several toll routes. We relied heavily on Sheila the GPS who, for all her faults, got us everywhere we wanted to go. We have no clue what kind of toll charges we will be paying once the MasterCard bill comes in. The rental company's transponder just automatically forwards the charges to us! Convenient, I suppose, but a little scary too!

Our accommodation was in the outskirts of town, close to the airport. Fortunately that was where the car rental places were, so we didn't have a whole lot more driving to do. We stayed in a Big 4 Holiday Park in a cabin with its own washroom and kitchen. Bill and I decided we actually prefer living in hostels to these cabins. In a hostel you can usually find a place to get away from each other, but in the cabin you're together all of the time. We all still like each other fine, but we all need quiet time. By "we" I mean Bill and Jack and me; Brody would prefer to all be together all of the time. This park had a good playground and a heated swimming pool, so the kids were thrilled. They immediately hit the pool, and I dove into The Lonely Planet.

Cool Melbourne building

The next morning we found the City Circle Tram that takes tourists in a loop through the CBD for free. It was very handy because we didn't have to drive right downtown, and the tram gave us a tour by pointing out the highlights along the way. We got off at Federation Square, the hub of the city and began our walk through the city.

Just smile and wave boys. Smile and wave.

We quite liked Melbourne. They've made an obvious effort to make the city aesthetically pleasing. The architecture is an interesting mix of Victorian and modern, and there are artistic elements all over. Even some of the highway overpasses are artistic. I suppose they are competing against Sydney and it's beautiful opera house!

Live sculpture.

Our walk took us past the Melbourne Comedy Festval stages, through Chinatown and the Greek district, and up to the Victoria Market. The boys have grown quite fond of markets...and their food stalls. Bill took the kids to find food and I headed off in search of treasure.

I started with some Filipino pork and chicken skewers (super-delish), and then walked through the aisles. The market was huge and covered, which was nice because it was a hot and sunny day. As is the case in many markets, most of the stalls were run by Asian people selling knock offs. There were also a lot of Chinese-made Australian souvenirs. I looked, but I can't bring myself to buy what I know is crap! There is a lot of "aboriginal" art, that I just can't believe is authentic given what they're selling it for. If it is authentic, some poor Aborigines are getting the short end of the stick. Either way, I couldn't do it. I left with nothing. I have some regrets for not purchasing a couple things, however.

After the market, we went to a footy match. That is, an Australian Football League game: North Melbourne vs. Port Adelaide. Melbourne is the home of the AFL, and houses two stadiums. None of us had any clue about how footy is played. The field is round, the ball is like a football, and it seems like a cross between soccer, football, volleyball, and quidditch. There are a bunch of referees in bright yellow, a bunch of trainers in bright pink, and a lot of players. There seemed to be very few substitutions, so these guys did a lot of running around. Even between the first and second and third and fourth quarters, all of the players stayed on the field. The trainers ran out to give the players water from time to time, and the clock never stopped. By the end we had a little sense of how it all worked, but we mostly just followed the crowd and reacted as they did. We cheered for whomever was winning, so we likely annoyed everyone around us! It was a good time! Bill's note of interest: "And one person could buy 4 beers for $30." No two per person limit like at home!

The next day we explored St. Kilda, one of the trendy districts of Melbourne. The kids played at the Adventure Playground with some cool, hipster kids while we waited around with the cool, hipster parents. (Side note: People should not dress their toddlers all in black. It's just wrong.) We explored the trendy shops and the trendy pier and then we went back to swim at the Big 4, decidedly unhip and not trendy. It was another nice day, but threatened to be our last for a while!

St. Kilda Pier

St. Kilda Harbour

 

Grampians National Park, Great Ocean Road, and Phillip Island

The next part of our trip had some highs and lows.

We started on a high. After Kangaroo Island we had a very long day of travel (12 hours start to finish) to Grampians National Park. I really don't remember how I was alerted to this place, but it was a worthwhile detour. We arrived after dark to our ultra-cool YHA Eco-hostel. It was a beautifully designed modern building, very clean and comfortable. The managers encouraged us to help ourselves to eggs from the chickens in the back, so the boys woke up early to get some. Unfortunately, the chickens only "pooped out" three of them (or, more likely, someone else got to them first).

Brody in the chicken's egg pooping station

So, after fresh eggs for some of us for breakfast, we went to the Hall's Gap visitor centre to learn what we should do for the day. The woman there suggested a really great hike that took us through a canyon, along rocky cliffs, through a narrow crevasse, and finally to "The Pinnacle", an overlook at the summit. It was a hot day, and so pretty tough-going, but we all really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had a picnic lunch at another scenic spot, decided we were too hot for another hike, and then decided to start heading towards our next stop: Port Fairy.

Cool crevasse

This was our first mistake. We should have spent another night in the Grampians. It was pretty and we liked it, but we were anxious to get started on the Great Ocean Road. And we had reservations. Damn my over-organization!

We stayed at another YHA in Port Fairy. It was quite unlike the previous place, but also quite charming. It was in the former home of the founder of the town, so a Victorian-era home. To be honest, it didn't have a lot of "curb appeal", but inside was cute. The stable had been converted into rooms and there was a courtyard and garden in the back. Our room was huge, and we had a washroom right next door (a big plus in hostel-living!). Another guest worked at a local bakery and he brought home scones and delicious muffins to share! (Another plus plus in hostel living!) And finally, it had the biggest tv I've ever seen and satellite! We liked the accommodations and really liked the quaint town, but had booked only one night. Second mistake.

At the Pinnacle

We started our Great Ocean Road tour by exploring Port Fairy's Griffith's Island. It was an hour long walk around this nature reserve, and it had informative placards about each of the areas of significance. It was a beautiful walk on a beautiful day, and we saw a huge ray in the harbour, shearwater (birds) burrows, hunting kestrels (they hover in one spot for minutes at a time before dive-bombing to attack their prey -- like UFOs!), a lighthouse, beaches, and wild flowers. It was a nice, easy, pretty walk.

Griffith's Island lighthouse

Griffith's Island beach

A short drive from there, we made a quick detour around Tower Hill, another nature reserve that was once a volcano. We immediately saw some emus and Brody spotted a koala tucked in the crook of a tree. We were still on a high.

Emus at Tower Hill

We soon after got on the Great Ocean Road and began our tour along the coast, or so we thought. In reality, a good portion of that first day of driving was actually through countryside. From time to time, there were scenic views, and we stopped at a few, but we didn't see much we hadn't seen before. Admittedly, we've seen a lot. We're hard to impress. It was really hot, 26C, so we stopped for lunch at a beach (in Peterborough) and let the boys have a swim to cool off. I made friends with a dog.

Boys cooling as my dog friend looks on.

Soon enough, we were back in the car and finally reached the Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles are large rock formations jutting out of the ocean, close to the shore. There are closer to 11 than 12, they get knocked down and new ones form every couple thousand years. If you've been following my blog, you know we've seen a lot of rock formations. These were nice, but we didn't find them extraordinary. If we hadn't seen the Pancake Rocks in NZ, we might have been more impressed. Actually, I liked the Remarkable Rocks on KI better too. Maybe I was just grumpy. We took our photos and hopped back in the car and continued through the countryside down the Great OCEAN Road to our next stopover, Apollo Bay.

Some Apostles

A couple more Apostles

Apollo Bay was a surfer town on the beach. Souvenir shops, cafés, and restaurants lined the main road. We had a little shop around after checking into our next place, another cool YHA in the style of the Grampians one. Great facilities! We decided we preferred the YHAs to the Top 10/Big 4 cabins. The boys enjoy the social nature of hostel living, I do too actually, and you don't have to go outside to pee. And the price is right! And no, we aren't the oldest people there! Well, sometimes we are, but not at these nice ones.

So, you guessed it, mistake #3 was booking Apollo Bay for only one night. Mistake #4 was leaving behind our canvas bag full of food "staples" the next morning.

The good news is that from Apollo Bay to our next stop in Torquay the Great Ocean Road actually followed the ocean and the views were quite stunning. The bad news is it was raining, so we didn't want to get out of the car. We did make a couple stops to sightsee and play tourist, including a quick visit to watch the surfers at Bell's Beach. Those of you who are Point Break fans during the 100 Year Storm. It was so windy and cold, I half expected Swayze to reappear!

Why would anyone surf here?

We arrived in Torquay at lunch time and when we stopped for our picnic lunch, we realized we were missing the food bag. We debated about whether or not we should drive the hour back to Apollo Bay, but decided against it. However, the more I thought about it over the next few days I realized we left a lot more valuable stuff behind than I originally thought. Suga'nuts!

Pretty beach along the way

Fortunately, there was good shopping in Torquay and we were able to replace the most important stuff (like Bill's coffee plunger). The rain cleared up somewhat, we had cappuccinos, and I bought a really bright floral beach cover up (retail therapy). We made the most of the day!

The next day was a longer driving day. We made a stop at a surprisingly interesting war memorabilia shop in Geelong that Jack wanted to see (to buy some military badges), then continued up through Melbourne and down again to Phillip Island.

Things get mostly bad now.

We stopped at the information centre on Phillip Island to see what there was to see. We had two days to fill. Unfortunately, we had already had an amazing animal experience on KI, so we were a little limited on what we were willing to pay for to see again. We decided we would see the Little Penguin Parade (Phillip Island's claim to fame) that night because the weather was due to take a turn for the even worse the next day. We went to check in.

It was an ugly, old 1970s trailer. Clean, but depressing. There was a sign in the toilet stall asking people to treat the place like their own home, "and that means mopping the shower and using the toilet brush." Well, that unreasonably annoyed me. I mean, I'm on vacation. I'm paying to have my toilet cleaned for me! (I still can't let it go!)

We went to town and had a much too greasy dinner, regretted it, then went to see the little penguins. "Little penguins" is the breed. They're the littlest penguin breed -- go figure.

Brief high point: That night, according to park rangers, 1788 little penguins came ashore while we watched. It was amazing! They washed up in the tide, waddled up from shore in big groups, crossed the beach, and made their way up to their burrows. As we returned to the car park, we watched them waddle right by us. Some of the males were having chest bumping arguments over who deserved the nearby female. Pretty funny! No cameras were allowed = no pictures.

Really low point: The next morning I woke up totally depressed for no apparent reason. It was the "nothing-can-make-me-happy-today" kind of feeling. The weather was lousy, and I wanted to stay in bed all day. (DON'T WORRY MOM, IT WAS JUST FOR THE ONE DAY. I FEEL JUST FINE NOW). It was strange. I told Bill how I was feeling, and he said he felt off too. Maybe it was our greasy dinner from the night before. Every time I went to the washroom, I wanted to rip that toilet brush sign down! I ate a bunch of chocolate, had a cappacino, and went to browse around town by myself. I made a comfort food dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, and garlic bread with cheese, and then I was mostly better. By the next day I was back to normal.

I took no photos on Phillip Island. I was too sad. Like I said, all good now.

The next day we left for Melbourne. (the r is silent)

 

Kangaroo Island

Argh! This is my second time writing this post! The first disappeared into cyberspace just as I was finishing. As a result, I'm not so enthused to be rewriting. Fortunately, the subject matter is really awesome!

On the ferry to KI

Kangaroo Island is at the southern tip of South Australia, about a 45 minute ferry ride from the mainland. The population of the island is about 2500 people, and lots of wildlife, including (I'm told) 1 000 000 wallabies! There are two main paved roads: one along the south coast, and one right through the middle. The rest of the roads are unsealed and vary in their suitability for driving. We booked 4 nights accommodation there, 2 nights at each end of the island.

Brody and the possum

We began in the east at a small, intimate hostel in Kingscote, the biggest town on the island. We arrived in the evening and made plans for the next day, after having dinner with a young German guy named Kristof. Kristof was travelling alone and in the opposite direction to us, so we were able to swap tips -- always an advantage of hostel living. The rest of the people staying there seemed to be working on nearby farms, so we didn't see much of them.

Ahhh... So cute! ( the koala too)

The next morning we got a little lost, but ended up at our desired destination, Paul's Place, an animal sanctuary. Paul rescues animals that have been orphaned, mostly as a result of their mothers being hit by cars. (By the way, I know how to rescue a Joey from its dead mother's pouch if you ever have the need.). We had soooo much fun during this three hour tour; it was a real high point of our trip so far. The farm was essentially a huge petting zoo, and we were encouraged to feed and hold all of the animals. There were kangaroos, sheep, emus, deer, possums, birds, lizards, koalas, echidnas...everything! I fell in love with the 'roos, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get one home! These kangaroos were quite tame and were wonderfully gentle and sweet. Their fur is very soft, making them surprisingly cuddly. Yes, koalas are great huggers, but their claws are long and dig in the whole time. Poor Brody even got a hole in his shirt.

One of my lovies

Emus, on the other hand, are greasy and aggressive, and not at all gentle. It really hurts when they peck food from your hands! Paul was a bit of a prankster, and at one point he placed Bill squatting against a fence, then put barley on his head and crotch while the emus had their way with him. It was pretty funny. At the end of the tour, Paul did a sheep shearing demo which ended with Brody getting thrown by Paul into a pile of fleece. He loved it!

Emus having their way with poor Bill

I made a whole video on just our visit there. (BTW, I only just realized that my videos get blurry when I post them to Youtube. They're perfect on my ipad, but I shrink them to save data when uploading! Oh well!)

After leaving Paul's, we went to cool off at a stunning beach nearby. We had to walk through a labyrinth of caves and tunnels before stumbling upon the white sand and gentle turquoise surf. It was perfect!

Afterwards, we hurried back to Kingscote to see the nightly pelican feed that you will see at the end of the video above. It was pretty entertaining to see these monstrous birds try to drown one another to steal their fish.

The next day was also super-fun. We had a short visit to a eucalyptus distillery. This family-run business smelled like Ste. Anne's Spa, and featured home and beauty products made from local eucalyptus. Who knew it was so versatile? Afterwards we went sand-tobogganing at Little Sahara, a naturally-occurring, monstrous sand dune in the middle of the island. It's all in the video! Tobogganing on sand is very fast. My old body that now gets queasy on a swing didn't love it, but the kids had a great time. We all agreed it would have been a lot more fun with a lift to take us back up because it was no easy feat to climb up the massive dunes. Unlike snow, sand doesn't hold it's shape, so each step sank up to my ankles.

One of The Remarkables

Little Sahara

Our next two nights were spent at a farmstay on the west end of the island. There was so much to love about this place. The kitchen and dining area was in a sheltered outdoor cookhouse. Rustic, but cool! There was a campfire pit of which we took advantage, of course! And the ensuite bathroom was semi-outdoors, overlooking the cattle paddock. As the sun went down, the place came to life with possums, wallabies, and kangaroos. It was so exciting! The campfire was on the wallaby expressway, and they hopped on by throughout the evening.

What a beach!

The first night we had the place to ourselves, but the second night a small tour bus of international students from the University of Adelaide joined us. We were prepared to be grumpy, but we ended up having a lot of fun with their tour guide, Scott, who showed us how to use the Southern Cross to find south, and he told us the Aborigine creation story of how KI came to be. Scott was a tank driver with the Australian army and he had also been a tour bus driver in BC, so he had many great stories and he seemed to enjoy our company too. Best of all, he shared his marshmallows.

The west end of the island was all about nature too. We visited a couple seal colonies, fabulous rock formations called The Remarkables, and another beach. Really, the video says it all. KI was certainly a worthwhile detour!

 

This guy let me get really close

 

 

Outback Adventure: Coober Pedy

Despite Bill's continued ailing tummy, we had to leave our Adelaide-area home by 10 am on Saturday. That meant I had to count on the boys to help with the clean up and pack up, but by 10:02 we were on the road and headed to the Outback!

It was going to be a two day trip, a little over 10 hours in total. I did all of the driving on day 1 and most of it day 2 because Bill needed to sleep. We had purchased a GPS on our third day in Australia when we went to Adelaide: unlike NZ there is more than one way to get places, and we decided a tiny map and our aging eyes wasn't going to cut it. Ironically there is only one way to Coober Pedy from Adelaide, but driving alone with Sheila-the-GPS made me more comfortable. Cruise control was really nice too!

The Opal Mining Museum

I set the GPS for the caravan park in Port Augusta (the only town of any size between Adelaide and CP) where I had booked a cabin for our stopover. Sheila said it was just before town, and she guided us there effortlessly. We pulled in, and my heart sank. The place was a big dust bowl with crappy old trailers on the perimeter and a few dilapidated cabins. Nothing green in the whole park. After some effort, we located where we checked in. The guy at the 'office' was surprised to see us, and asked me what I had been told the cost was. ($80 for a 2 bedroom cabin). We got the key and went to our room.

Before I go on, I have to take a moment to explain that I take great pride in my ability to find cheap, clean, and comfortable accommodation. I consult TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, and whatever other resources I can. I look for pools or playgrounds for the kids, good cooking facilities, and clean washrooms. In this case, we were getting a 2 bedroom with a kitchen and bathroom in the cabin for only $80. A bargain!

Well, after walking past the garbage can overflowing with garbage and beer bottles at the door, we walked in. I nearly died, but kept smiling. Bill was still rather green, so after trying to get the A/C on without any luck (it was really hot -- gateway to the Outback and all), he just flopped on the dingy double bed (in the 'kitchen/living room/dining room') and I got the boys to load the food into the fridge. I was planning to visit town for dinner (to avoid the cooking facilities), then go back and get good and drunk so I could sleep. In the meantime, I checked my confirmation letter to make sure that this hell-hole was in fact the cabin I had booked. I saw there was supposed to be two real bedrooms and a swimming pool and a working A/C. So, I was going to send an email to complain to the woman I had made the booking with because the office guy clearly had no clue! As I scanned down the email, I realized we were actually in the wrong park!!!

I howled with glee, ordered the boys to pack the cooler again and got the hell out of there as fast as Gretta the Jetta would carry us!

The next place was up to my standards! I've never been so happy to sleep in a strange bed!

Bill was a little better the next morning, but I still did most of the driving to our destination. We saw live emus, and just a few cows and sheep. The road was flat, straight, and littered with dead kangaroos, dead emus, dead sheep, and dead cattle. The birds of prey, not vultures but maybe eagles, munching on the carcasses were massive! Their legs were the size of my forearms. Many of the carcasses were just skeletons. I don't know how often they clean up the road, if ever, but it really was pretty shocking to see all the dead stuff.

The landscape was a little rolling leading up to the Flinders' Ranges (think escarpment-ish landform), but then it was really flat and red as far as the eye could see. Every once in a while, we would see a salt lake shimmering white and some of them were the size of large lakes. The vegetation was mostly scrub bushes and a few trees. There was evidence of the bush fires from earlier in the summer, but we saw only relatively small blackened patches.

Finally we neared Coober Pedy and everything changed. Yes, it was flat and lacked vegetation, but now the fields were littered with perfectly conical piles of mullock (debris from the opal mines)! It looked like a serious infestation of ants!

We turned off the highway and into town, and found our motel after just a couple wrong turns. The Lookout Motel was pretty cool! Like most of the homes and accommodation in Coober Pedy, our motel was underground. This way, there is no need for air conditioning!

Opals were discovered in CP just before the end of WW1. When trench-digging soldiers returned to Australia, they felt right at home digging mines and living underground. So, Coober Pedy was first settled by these soldiers. As the years went on, others accepted that this was the most logical way to live in the Outback where temperatures can reach up to 50C! Consequently, most of the town is underground -- museums, shops, homes -- and so above ground looks pretty desolate. Once you enter the plain storefronts, however, you find sprawling stores and museums. Many are built in what were once mines, and all of the walls and ceilings show the markings of the tunnelling machines -- swirls on the walls and corrugated grooves on the ceiling.

What a face!

We took a tour through an opal mine/museum, and later through the home of a local church's pastor. We learned that when people want an addition or a closet, they just bring home the machine from the mine and dig it out. The pastor told us that $50 000 worth of opals were discovered when his pantry was dug out. Unfortunately, it was a previous owner. We also learned that many of the residents are miners in addition to operating another business. The cost was about $150 to get a mining license and a 50 sq m claim, but you had to agree to spend a minimum of 20 hours mining each week. Pretty reasonable, I think! Though we didn't stake a claim, we did try our hand at noodling through the molluck searching for opals missed by the miners. We found some possible treasures, but we've yet to have them appraised.

Baby Pica. So cute!!

In addition to learning everything there is to know about opals and opal mining, we visited a kangaroo orphanage operated by a souvenir store owner/miner. We fell in love with these beautiful animals, especially Pica the six-month old rescued from some aborigines who had planned to eat her. No, I won't be eating any kangaroo here.

3 seconds' worth of flies! Ick!

 

A final detour on our Coober Pedy trip was to see The Breakaways, a collection of big rocks in the middle of the desert. Lots of flies, not that exciting rocks, but we aren't going to Ularu (Ayers Rock), so it was our compromise. We passed by the Dog Fence designed to keep dingos to the north. It stretches for 5600 km from the east coast.

The drive back to civilization was uneventful. We went back to that same luxurious caravan park in Port Augusta for our halfway stop, and caught the ferry to Kangaroo Island the next day.