Melbourne to Brisbane

Hey hey! How ya going? Let’s bring you all up to speed on the happenings: We had a bit of a snafu upon arrival in Melbourne, that I purposefully omitted last entry, but now that we’re not in Melbs anymore, and I can relate on it in hindsight, the chain of events is actually kind of amusing. We booked our trip in Melbourne for 8 nights, (which is a decently long time when you are traveling and have nowhere to stay) because we thought we had somewhere to stay. Another fellow Club Med Turks co worker recently moved to Melbourne, and told us that she had plenty of extra beds and couch space, and we were free to stay with her. Well, when we got there, it turns out there weren’t any extra beds, the place was a pigsty, and though they offered to let us stay in their beds, the sheets were covered with questionable stains…Oh, and also, there was a raging house party in the house as well. So the three of us, Brooke, amy and I conferred, and decided to sneak out into the middle of the night, and call Amy’s friend Stewie to bail us out. He generously let us crash at his house, after receiving our 2 am desperate phone call. After calling around, Amy managed to score us a place to stay at another of her Aus Club Med friend’s house, where we had nice beds and internet access- something I take for granted at home, but which is a HUGE luxury when you are backpacking.
A highlight of the Melbourne area was the Great Ocean Road, a long windy costal route that wraps around the southern tip of Australia’s coastline. We decided to take a tour, which ended up being a really good idea because the tour guide kept us on schedule so that we stayed at every attraction just as long as possible to fit everything in. We stopped along the way to view wild koalas sleeping in Eucalyptus trees, and to have lunch in Apollo Bay, a charming costal town. Finally we made it to the spectacular 12 Apostles, massive rock formations that rise out of the ocean. There are actually only 8 left out of the original 12 due to erosion and the forces of the waves on the rocks, but the view was still spectacular. We continued on to the London Bridge, another large rock formation, that used to form a natural bridge, but which collapsed in 1991, with people out on the edge, so it is no longer accessible to visitors. Overall, the tour was over 12 hours of driving, but it was well worth it. The Great Ocean Road is definitely a must see if you make it down to Melbourne!
The next day, Amy’s friend Stewie took us to his parent’s house in the country, about 1.5 hours out of Melbourne. His parents are avid gardeners, and had a beautiful arraignment of flowers, vegetables, and other flora. Stewie took us in his 4WD truck down a dirt road to a local lake, where we climbed a tree and swung in on a rope swing. It was my first rope swing experience in over 10 years- so much fun! Stewie used to do Circus at Club Med, so he swung in with back flips and layouts, I merely managed a back flop- but it was still fun!
We had to wake up at 3:30 am the next day to fly to Sydney, which was brutal. We picked up Amy’s car and drove to the Blue Mountians, about 1.5 hours north of Sydney. There, we saw the 3 sisters, which are 3 massive rock formations that stick out of what can only be described as Australia’s tree filled version of the Grand Canyon. Aboriginal legend has it that three sisters fell in love with men from another tribe, which was forbidden. The men went to war to fight for their loves, and fearing for their safety, the tribe’s witch doctor cast a spell on the sisters, turning them to stone to keep them safe from the strife. Unfortunately, the witch doctor was killed in the battle, leaving the sisters to remain forever entombed in their rocky forms. Despite the rainy weather, we embarked on a 6km walk under the falls that traversed along the cliffside. The path was really well maintained, and the views were spectacular!!!! The foliage was lush, we were rained down upon by waterfall mist, and witnessed wild black cockatoos soaring across the sky. Other than that, there wasn’t much to do in the Blue mountains, especially given the rain and we spent the rest of the day/night just chilling at the hostel.
The rest of the trip is a bit of a blur- we just drove a lot, in hopes of getting back to Brisbane as quickly as possible. We stopped again at Surfer’s paradise, and it was a lot less crowded than it was the first time we went, over summer holidays. I really enjoyed it with less people, and after going yet again a few days later with Amy and her cousin, I have come to change my opinion of surfer’s and actually quite like it. The shops have a lot of cute clothes and the gelato was delicious!

That's all for now, hope good things are in store!