Recapping the last 2 weeks...

It’s Wednesday, 9:05pm, and we are currently in: Darwin.

We have done so much since the last time we blogged, so here is a quick run down for you, our avid readers:

Pictures are at - http://picasaweb.google.com/Jeanners21

The Great Ocean Road:
This is arguably one of the most beautiful scenic drives in Australia. It runs between Melbourne and Adelaide along the Pacific coast. It’s carved into the cliffside/mountainside, through the beautiful fir tree forests. The road is true to its name, in that the ocean is never too far from your gazing eyes.

The only stop we made along the GOR was at the ’12 Apostles.’ Our host, Veronica, in Sydney told us that we should stop there, with the caveat that there are actually only 10 apostles left. Mel’s friend, Chalis, said there were actually only 8, while Lonely Planet (our guidebook, our Bible) said there were 6. We never quite determined exactly how many there were, but they were beautiful.

That evening, we stayed in a city called Mt. Gambier, along the Great Ocean road. We happened upon this town rather randomly, but were extremely delighted to find that it had 4 attractions that were rather incredible:
The Blue Lake: most lakes are blue, so we thought, but this lake proved to be bright azure. There is reportedly no explanation for its color. It reflected the sky more beautifully than the sky itself.
Mount Schank: the volcanic cone crater, which we hiked up numerous stairs to reach.
Tantanoola Cave: a limestone cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites
Umpherston Sinkhole: an old cave which collapsed upon itself, resulting in a beautiful sinkhole. Apparently, they feed opossums there at night, but we didn’t witness (or desire to witness) this. It was really beautiful, with its bright green foliage and two impish chinese boys running and playing hide and seek throughout it.

We arrived into Adelaide the night before Easter, only to find out that the city practically shuts down on Sunday and Easter Monday. We were, however, stoked to finish our Lent fasts, diving into both red meat and desserts as quickly as possible. On Monday, we set out with the intention of finding the renowned local horse race; however, we got lost along the way and instead discovered Hahndorf, a small german town just outside of Adelaide. We spent Easter Monday wandering through this jewel of a town, eating bratwurst, chocolate, and the most amazing cupcakes you’d ever see.

In North Adelaide, we stumbled across a quaint little hotel, Prince’s Hotel. It is an old colonial style house that was converted into a hotel some time ago. We were taken in by its beauty, and the ability to purchase fast, wireless internet. It wasn’t until the first night, when we had to cross the darkened hallway to reach the bathroom, that we got a bit spooked by the size of the house and the fact that we seemed to be the only guests. The hotelier was extremely wonderful, assisting us to no end when Walt misplaced his wallet.

Our last day in Adie was my 28th birthday. We tried and tried to set up sky diving and/or hot air ballooning, but they were just too pricey and too difficult to accomplish. So I settled for the next best thing: spa day. My roots were showing significantly through my Mary Jane red hair, so I set out to find a hairdresser who might dye my hair back to my natural color. She did, and she did it well. She’s no Shelby, but she got the color right and cut it very well. We then headed downtown for a pedicure, which we convinced Walter to join. Vanessa did a fantastic job, and after a month of walking around Australia, my feet felt womanly again.

My birthday night ended with the most delicious and luxurious meal I have ever eaten. We ate at Gaucho’s Argentinean steakhouse. We started with a bottle of cabernet, perfectly ripened black olives, and toasted garlic bread. We split two large filet mignon (one seasoned with garlic, lemon and sea salt; the other with chimichurri sauce and lemon) which were accompanied by fantastically fried potatoes (with sea salt, again). For dessert, we ordered the chocolate menage-trois: flourless chocolate cake, 3 chocolate truffles, and chocolate bavois; our waiter also served us complimentary port to sufficiently finish off the meal. The chocolate truffle was unanimously the best - the ultimate statement - resulting in the quote of the evening: “You see, I could live inside a chocolate truffle.”

It was an incredible way to bring in my 28th year, despite being so far from my beloved family and friends. I have MW to thank for such brilliance. Skydiving and hot air ballooning will come later.

I won’t share with you the horrors we ran into with Groovy Grape, the company which was supposed to usher us into the Outback for our 3 day tour there. Instead, we ended up on a 20 hour Greyhound bus ride to Alice Springs. Our arrival in Alice Springs on the 16th was met by Tony and Becky, who are friends of Ellie’s (Mel’s college roommate) that live there and work at Yirara college (a secondary school for indigenous children, sponsored by the Lutheran church).

We spent the first evening with them, doing all we could to stay awake long enough to eat Macca’s chips and then a pub dinner with them in downtown Alice Springs.

Our 3 day tour left at 6:30 am the next morning from Alice Springs with Jess from the Rock tour. Jess rolled up in a 21 passenger van, filled to the brim with mostly girls, and a trailer behind pulling luggage and swags.

Little did we know what a swag was at that point.

We drove 6 hours to King’s Canyon, where we completed a 7 KM hike through this beautiful creation. The first section of the hike was a killer climb up endless steps with a backpack strapped to our backs. It was worth it, to see the canyon on one side and the gorge on the other. We hiked around this canyon, with Jess pointing out different plants and sites along the way. We arrived at the Garden of Eden, where we would have swam if it had not been overcast and chilly. We opted instead to put our feet into the water, cleaning off our dusty feet. That day, we also saw wild horses, a wild kangaroo, and a wild dingo. We were also momentarily tricked into believing there was such thing as a pygmy koala which lived in the ghost gum tree. Jess soon confessed it was similar to one of the toy koala clips that had lived on our ceiling fans in Orlando for the last 6 months of our time there.

At sunset, we settled down into our joint campsite. If you know me, you’ll know that camping in the bush was not my idea of fun. No toilets?! I couldn’t believe I agreed to this, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. We ate chile con carne, roasted potatoes curry vegetables, bread and had Toohey’s beer by the campfire that night. We put off our bathroom break as long as possible, but as you know, with beer it usually isn’t that long. Mel and I wandered out into the woods with a roll of TP and a flashlight, and about 45 minutes later, after we heard Walt and some of the girls from our trip calling to us, we headed back in. We realized, during the longest bathroom break ever, that we should just stand out in the wilderness, along the road, staring up at the sky (hoping for breaks in the clouds) and conversing over serious matters until we had to go to the bathroom a 2nd, and then 3rd, time. We realized, again, that after drinking beer, those times tend to come quickly.

Eventually, we did make it back to the campfire and we all crashed rather quickly. Sometime in the middle of the night, Mel was gracious enough to wake me up, as the sky had cleared and we were able to see the stars now.

The first time I really saw the stars was in Bermagui, along the coast between Sydney and Melbourne. We were driving along this deserted road, with no light in sight, when we pulled off on this dark forest road for a look at the sky. It was stunning. We heard something in the woods and jumped in the car, stirring up dust as we sped out of there. They say that I was the only one who was scared by the noise, but they got in the car pretty fast, too :) Then, just before we arrived into the town of Bermagui, we stopped again on a deserted bridge and turned off all the lights. The stars are nothing less than stunning when our manmade structures and lights do not block them.

This middle of the night reminder, in the middle of the Outback bush, with no ambient light, was incredible. It was probably 3 or 4 in the morning and we were the only 3 who were awake to witness this grandeur. You can see so many shooting stars that you would never see in the city. They are tiny, they are great, and they are all beautiful.

Sadly for Mel, she realized that by waking me up, she was now obligated to accompany me back into the bush for a mid-night bathroom break. #4. Geez.

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Because you are tired of reading, and I am tired of writing, I'll continue this recap soon :)