making up syllables: October 2013

so sorry about the longer than normal gap in the update. we are in the midst of desperately trying to support ourselves in melbourne with the little money we have left while trying to find a job, housing, a life, etc. try and understand the obligations i have outside of writing some words and posting some pictures!

before i jump into the mess that is our first couple weeks in melbourne i suppose i should wrap up the last leg of our camper trip. due to some poor calculations on my part, we found out we actually had about a week longer than anticipated with the jolly green rental so we took a longer course than planned. instead of going straight through victoria to melbourne we bypassed melbourne initially and hopped on over to adelaide. but first lets chat about victoria a bit shall we?

the section on victoria in the tiny tour book i purchased covers melbourne and its outlying areas and…that's it. i think the main difference between victoria and new south wales was that were more trees and less towns while passing through. our first main stop was a large peninsula and australians southern most point, wilson's prom. wilson's prom is a nature reserve and park and features some amazing camping opportunities as well as an abundance of natural wildlife and picturesque vistas. particularly if you're willing to hike a bit. we didn't want to spend too much time here so we opted for what looked to be a very scenic and relaxed jaunt up mt. oberon, which was more or less a service road for park vehicles. about half way up jamie decided he wanted to do some off-the-path climbing under the logic that going straight up the mountain would be much quicker than the slow series of switchbacks. i told him he was an idiot and let him do as he pleased while i pushed on. i later realized i was probably as big of an idiot for leaving him by himself as he tried bouldering up a mountain in the middle of a nature reserve. but did i let that stop me? no, of course not. i kept climbing and eventually i reached the top, from which you had an amazing 360 view of the park and its coasts, including the very lovely squeaky beach. just check the photos below. after waiting for about 15 minutes i started to really worry about what had happened to jamie and made my way back down the hill. not too far from the top i ran into a slightly bloodied and very muddied jamie. apparently he made his way up until it started to seem like it was more dangerous to go back down so he kept pushing forward through the bush and along rock faces and perilous slopes and what not. so basically it was just lucky that he wasn't actually dead. and after all that he decided not to make the final ascent to the top. his loss i guess. we eventually made our way back to the visitors center so jamie could wash off and we were soon on our way.

there wasn't much of anything between melbourne and wilson's prom so we made pretty good time making it to port phillip bay, directly south of melbourne. there we were able to hop a ferry over to queenscliff, bypassing melbourne altogether. we stayed the night in barwon heads, not too far from the bay. the next day we got up early and started along one of the most scenic drives in the world, the great ocean highway. the great ocean highway was a project started for returning ww2 veterans and runs along the southern coast of australia from roughly geelong, just outside of melbourne, to warrnambool, which is maybe halfway to adelaide. there were two things going against us on our trip however: 1) the overcast and rain that plagued us throughout the day and 2) the overcast and rain that poured on jamie's poor broken heart. the combination of the two turned us into very sour companions indeed. still, with the pockets of sunshine came pockets of happiness and the gloomy weather provided for some moody shots of the coast. some highlights along the great ocean road included the cape otway light station, "australia's most significant lighthouse" which was built by convicts; the 12 apostles, a group of naturally eroded rock structures out at sea, and some rainforest type areas. again, you can check the photos below. we continued driving past the great ocean road and made camp in what was basically a field. a free field. another day of driving. another night camping and then we were in adelaide.

which was probably not worth the gas money. adelaide seems nice enough i guess. a lot of parks. a nice market that covers a large area of the central business area. but not much in terms of nightlife. sure we were there on a tuesday but i'm not convinced that it would have made much of a difference had we been there on a better night. up to this point we had stayed 2 nights, 3 days in the main cities but poor adelaide…poor poor adelaide, we only spent 1 night 1 day. i didn't even take any photos. i couldn't be bothered as jamie loves to say. go there if you want to hit up kangaroo island – a wonderful nature preserve from what i understand – or go on a tour of wine country. don't go there expecting to have a really great weekend. i'm sorry adelaide, i did want to like you, but this time i think it is you and not me.

instead of retracing our steps back to melbourne, we cut through inland on the return trip and stopped overnight at the grampians national park. the next day we drove through and took the time to take in its many beautiful overlooks and waterfalls. you know the drill - check it below. it is probably worth mentioning that this was not only our last full day of the camping trip it was also my birthday. and it was also raining and freezing and not very nice in general. we stopped for the day in ballarat, australia's largest inland city, which isn't saying much. we had a late birthday lunch of pizza and then found a campground. we tossed some frisbee, had a few beers and then retreated indoors to escape the bitter cold and wet. we skipped dinner and went to bed around 8. yay, fun birthday! i couldn't even sleep that night from the cold and when i tried to go pee at night i found that the door had froze shut. who said australia was supposed to be warm year round? i want my money back, dammit! the next day at least we were able to finally arrive in melbourne, our final destination, and the beginning of the harsh realization that we had spent most of our money and were faced with the stinging slap of reality. but i guess i'll save that for the next post where i can hopefully wrap it up with the happy news that i finally found work and a place to live and things are starting to look up.