Australia in Review

Total time: 72 days

Kilometers traveled: 13,077

Wildlife spotted: Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, Platypus, Echidna (like a porcupine), Sharks, Seals, Sea Turtles, Cassowaries, Penguins, Dingoes

Favorite National Parks: Grampians (Victoria), Blue Mountains (New South Wales), the Red Center (Kings Canyon, Uluru, the Olgas)

Favorite Thing about Aussies: Hospitality

Yummiest Food: Tim Tams

Best Backpacker Town: Cairns

Best Nightlife: Sydney

Favorite City: Melbourne

Best Drives: Great Ocean Road, the drive up to Cape Tribulation

Best Beaches: White Haven Beach (Whitsundays), Whisky Bay (Wilson's Prom)

Completing the Circle

Oded and I pulled up to the Old Sydney Holiday Inn early Saturday morning. My wonderful parents gave Oded and I a break from the backpacks and the van and booked us into the hotel as our Hanukkah gift (thank you!!). Well, we showed up and it was clear within minutes that we would be someone's nightmare. We had less than two hours to return Astro Boy (tear) and needed to unpack the van, right then and there in front of this lovely hotel. So, we did. Backpacks, gas cans, eskys, food, tent, sleeping bags, atlases--you name it, it was on the curb. Fortunately, the hotel was awesome and they had us checked in and our bags delivered by the time Astro Boy was back with his rightful owners.

Not only did we stay in a hotel, but we went out on the town. A good friend from home is engaged to a lovely girl in Sydney and happened to be in town for the week. Ian and Tamara showed up at our hotel room about ten on Saturday night with a dress and heels for me and a button down shirt for Oded. They proceeded to dress us and show us the hottest spots in town--bars, clubs, guest lists, we were there in style. It was totally surreal to be in these posh places after spending four months in crocks and shirt dresses, but it was great fun. Oded and I bowed at around 3 am, completely exhausted and exhilarated and proceeded to sleep off the night and the last few months the next day.

By Monday, we were back on track, visiting Darling Harbour and taking in the views. Tuesday we headed out to Bondi Beach, Sydney's most popular coastal spot. After seeing tons of beaches in the last few months, this one still impressed me--there is something to be said for having an amazing city with coastal options. We ended up running into all of Israel in Bondi, specifically two guys we met earlier, one in Cairns and the other in Victoria. The world is a small and amazing place. Oded flew to New Zealand Wednesday night after watching hours and hours of inauguration madness and I follow him in two days time.

The Way Back to Sydney

With less than a week to get back to Sydney, we made the most of our time. We left Melbourne and headed southeast. After about two hours, we reached Wilson's Promontory, the southern most point of Australia and a somewhat undercover wonder in OZ. No one had mentioned it to us until we got to Victoria, but once we heard about it, we didn't stop--it was on everyone's top 5 list of best national parks in the country. It is this spot of coast that Tasmania broke off of and therefore the ecology and wildlife is very similar.

Wombats were rumored to haunt the roads at night, and despite our stakeouts we never saw one alive. The coasts are pristine and the beaches are amazing. The water color never ceases to amaze me, but it was the rock formations that surrounded each bay that intensified the beauty of this spot. We only had one day at Wilson's Prom, but it is definitely a place to spend more time.

From the Prom we headed north to Canberra, Australia's Capital Territory. We toured the Parliament, visited the library, the largest in the country, and drove through the town with its streets name for every state in the country. After just an afternoon in the small capital, we headed north and east towards our final destination.

The Lord's Lodge

Melbourne is definitely a city I could live in. After calling every number in the book, we found a hostel, the Lord's Lodge, that would let us park the van on the street and pay $10 a night to use the amenities--bathroom, kitchen, TV--good luck indeed. The spot was prime, the neighborhood hip and the hostel a regular UN--folks from Chile, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Japan, England spent each night cooking, drinking, playing cards.

We spent a lazy week there, visiting museums, gardens, and beaches. We reunited with Oded's friend Lisa, who he met traveling in Canada last summer. We spent Friday night dining in St. Kilda, Melbourne's claim to the beach, eating gelato and watching the sunset and the penguins come in. Saturday night found us at a hostel barbecue full of old friends and new, lots of food, sangria, and music. Sunday night we made our way south of the city to meet Oded's father's cousins who served us a never ending meal, straight off the grill.

After a few great days in the Grampians, an amazing drive on the Great Ocean Road, and Melbourne, I am confident that Victoria is the place to be.

To see photos of Melbourne, please click me

No Vacancy

The Great Ocean Road is not an experience that is meant to be written about--it is meant to be driven. Roughly 200 kilometers, the coastline and uncommercialized towns are packed full of fish and chips shops, second hand book stores, and weekend fairs. Australia has a habit of declaring things Great but the The Great Ocean Road definitely deserves its superlative. We drove the road east to west, from the Grampians to Melbourne, and started with the stretch that is most visually impressive.

After thousands of years of waves beating against the coast, fragments of limestone have eroded, leaving arches, islands, and stacks of former coast standing alone in the middle of almost unbelievably blue green water. We stopped at every turn off from the Bay of Islands to the Twelve Apostles, each one a dazzling piece of geological puzzle, alive in the sea.

The road is packed during the holidays with backpackers, foreigners and locals alike and accommodation is booked out from caravan parks to the highest end hotel. Nights found us parking on small side streets or at the back of a willing hostel and mornings found us washing up in public bathrooms, but it was spending a full three days taking in every view. It was on our last day that we succeeded in spotting koalas in the wild; curled up in tall trees right on the road, loads of koalas slept, ate and moved from branch to branch. We left the coast around Torquay, the capital of all things skate and surf, and took the highway to Melbourne.

To see photos of the Great Ocean Road, please click me

Introducing Mick & Shazza

We have never quite experienced quite the same reception as we did upon reaching the caravan park in the Grampians, a majestic mountain range in West Victoria. Hordes of kids, on bikes and on foot, ran after our van in a frenzied happiness that at first confused us and mostly scared us, as the youngsters banged the side of the van in unrestrained glee. Our reception clearly had more to do with Astro Boy than us. We came to a stop and I opened the side door, exposing our bed, to reprimand the blond boy who had so adamantly chased us. Before I could say anything, I heard, "Is this where you sleep? It looks comfortable," and a blond head all but jumps into the bed--a charmer in the making. Within moments, two dads came to claim the rabble rousers and within minutes the fate of our Grampians adventure was sealed.

After a discussion of Astro Boy, national parks and the validity of some past due pasta, Marc, Lyndel, Stoph and Rach acted as our hosts for the last hours of 2008 and the first of 2009. We could barely drink and eat all the beer, wine, scotch, and cake on offer, not to mention the hot Milo (cocoa)--my first in what promises to be a long standing habit. We had chosen to spend the New Year in nature, away from the crowds and the drinks, but somehow the party found us and it was somewhere in those last hours of 2008 that we unknowingly gained Aussie credibility.

The Grampians themselves are a place to be consumed--from the lookouts over lakes, towns and ranges to the abundant walks through rocky ascents, the nature is first class. A 2006 fire ravaged much of the area and the scars are still evident, but the town was packed with families. Many, like our new friends, set up shop year after year to celebrate the holidays. We hiked through the Grand Canyon and out to the Pinnacle, we stood at the foot of McKenzie Falls, and we pulled ourselves up to the summit of Mt. William, but the nature is not all that Halls Gap boast. It is a wonderland of sugar and treats--fresh fudge, stuffed back potatoes, ice cream scoops bigger than my fist. Heaven, indeed.

On our last night Stoph presented us with two bottles of wine and our new names. As Oded is often hard to pronounce for non-Hebrew speakers, Oded mnay times introduces himself as James, an army nickname that stuck. To save Oded this hassle in the future, Marc and Stoph gave Oded a true Aussie name, one that will never be mistaken or mispronounced--Mick. And where would Mick be without his gal pal Shazza? We left the Grampians after two days of being well cared for and properly entertained on all levels and reentered the world with our new identities--Mick and Shazza.

To see photos of the Grampians, please click me