All quiet on the blog front eh? Well as I explained in my previous entry the rather wonderful Amanda Panda was coming to town! She is actually still here through till Saturday but I am currently writing you from a temp job I got this morning! I am doing reception work. Possibility it will repeat tomorrow if the girl I am covering is still sick. I am hoping today’s assignment will be the first of many to come through.

Anyways the last 10 days have been busy, wonderful, and interesting. Our road trip of the Great Ocean Road trip was overall a big success. We rented a Nissan 4 door (convertibles were sadly too expensive!) and picked up snacks for the road. We stared the trip at the beginning at the worlds most famous surf beach, Bells Beach. Even now in September (winter down here remember!) we saw a fair few surfers catching the waves. It was at Bells Beach that Patrick Swayze goes for one last fling at the end of one of my favourite early 90’s films Point Break. After admiring their skills we headed over to get a closer look of the Split Point Lighthouse. Nobody was particularly keen to go to the top ($8 a pop) and I know I will go with my father when he makes his way out here eventually! On we went to Erskine Falls which is a 308 step walk down to. It was stunning as most waterfalls tend to be! The area reminded me a little bit of when I went trekking in Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai) except without the added bonus of getting to enjoy the sensation of the waterfall cascading down my back. To be fair it was rather chilly and would not have had the same desired effect as it did in Thailand after trekking for hours in boiling heat! We had a late lunch consisting of calamari and chips in Apollo Bay. It was really light and fluffy batter which is unusual. We explored the area a little bit and enjoyed walking through the sand shoeless. We then hit the road to make our way to Port Campell where we would be staying for the night. As we made our way there we suddenly realized the world famous 12 Apostles was on our route. I had a slight idea what to expect but not entirely either to be fair. And well it was kind of nice going in to see them with these expectations. They were absolutely stunning!! And we could not have been there at a better time just as the sun was starting to go. The colours in the sky were breathtaking. The sky in general in Australia is stunning I have come to appreciate. I frequently walk down the street in awe at the incredible sunsets and endless blue skies when it is not raining. I will be posting photos soon enough and hopefully they will do some justice. After taking about 100 or so photos each we finally made our way to Port Campell where we checked in to a hostel before getting some food. It was an early night as we were quite zonked from our 7AM start.

The following day we hit the road to make our way towards Warrnambool which is just past the end of the Great Ocean Road. On our way there we stopped at Cheese World where we enjoyed a free tasting of 6 different kinds of cheddar. We settled as a group on a mature cheddar to share for the rest of the trip. After Cheese World we headed to Logan Beach which is the sight of whale watching along the Great Ocean Road. We managed to see a few Southern Right Whales but getting photos of them was near impossible. It was then time for some ‘city’ action in Warrnambool where we had a bland pub lunch and a wonder around a bland city centre. Nothing to write home about here and will not be rushing to return anytime soon! It was then time to seek out London Bridge which though impressive was not quite as takes your breath away as the Apostles. None the less still worth a trip to see and the sun was shinnnnning brightly so got some great photos of that Australia sky I spoke of earlier. We then started to make our way back slowly with a pit stop in Apollo Bay to pick up some much needed gelato. That night we stayed in Lorne which is the most popular destination along The Great Ocean Road but because it is winter the town was quiet and easy for us to find accommodation. We ended up at a really nice set up with very good kitchen and barbecue facilities. We decided it was in our best interest to take full advantage of the latter facilities. We made skewers, sausages, onions and bell peppers (capsicums here in OZ!). In the morning the outside area of the hostel was surrounded by lots of wonderful local birds. I know they were just after our breakfast food but still made for a unique start to the morning. We headed to Grandma Shields Bakery in town for her famous pies. I got myself a steak and bacon for lunch with a homemade caramel slice. Both were absolutely delicious. It made me realise fairly quickly that Phil’s Bakehouse up the road from my house is not up to scratch with their pies and I will need to seek out better ones here in Melbourne! Before enjoying the pies at a picnic spot we made a short trek through the forest to make our way to Teddy’s Lookout which had incredible views of everything we have been driving through. Much like the sky the ocean here just seems to go on forever and ever and ever! I definitely want to return when it gets warmer to swim. The water is incredibly picturesque and looks oh so inviting. And so our Great Ocean Road trip ended.

We only had one night back in Melbourne before heading out to Sydney! I was excited when I started planning to move out here that they have some good budget airlines to fly. We got $88 roundtrip tickets on one of the most popular airlines which is called Jetstar. They fly to South East Asia and Fiji which I might just have to take advantage of later on! We got in to Sydney on Saturday afternoon. We headed to the area of Glebe which is a lot like Northcote (where I live) in terms of old architecture, independent coffee shops and a bit of a bohemian vibe. The hostel we stayed in was recommended by a friend of a friend that I met up with when I first arrived in the Land Down Under. I probably would stay further up the road next time somewhere with a bit more going on at the hostel. That evening we headed to Newtown which is the popular student/young people’s area of Sydney. We actually had very decent Mexican food and man do I wish the operation existed down here! We then explored the area and had drinks at two different bars. Both bars we were at had police turn up with sniffer dogs and escort people out that the dogs had well sniffed out! I asked my Sydneysider friends about it and some were perplexed and some said that’s Newtown for you!

On Sunday we headed over to a market I wanted to check out that the guidebook recommended for good vintage finds. The vintage was not that impressive sadly but what was impressive was all the young girls selling their clothes at cheap prices. I picked up a great navy blue boyfriend cardigan for $10 that will be getting a lot of wear. Amanda Panda picked up some fab necklaces. We then headed down to Darling Harbour/China Town to meet my friend Alana who I know from London. She is a Sydneysider originally but has lived in London on and off over the years and has just recently moved back to Australia shortly after I did. She took us to a hole in the wall dumpling place in China Town where we stuffed ourselves for $10 each. Afterwards we headed to Coogee Beach for a 2 hour scenic self lead walking tour to the world famous Bondi Beach. It was very windy but sunny and overall very enjoyable. All along the walk we came across loads of little beaches. Parts of the walk reminded Amanda Panda and I of Spain. And just as it was getting dark we descended upon Bondi which was well….not that impressive I thought! Maybe it was because I was tired, maybe because it was dark but something about it was just kind of ‘is this it?’. Thankfully my family friend recommended a nicer part of it where we enjoyed a well deserved glass of wine. The family friend and his new fiancé came to meet us and took us to a great Italian restaurant near theirs. The restaurant is situated in the middle of an Italian grocer. I can’t even remember the last time I saw this family friend, we figured it must be close to 10 years! After dinner they drove us down to the harbour to get a nightcap near the opera house. They were not able to join us as they both had work in the morning. After years of seeing photos, footage and other forms of media of the opera house it was wonderful to finally see it! It is very, very cool. As we were settling in to our drinks a young couple came up to us offering us free concert tickets to the opera house!! They had brought their baby along to the concert and it was proving to be too loud for the little tot. They did not even want anything for it! $80 7th row tickets at one o the most famous music venues in the world. And it was an artist we knew by the name of Ben Folds! We only caught the last 20 or so minutes but it was totally worth it. The opera house is very impressive inside with incredible acoustics. A wonderful way to end the evening.

On Monday we went to explore the area known as The Rocks. I had no idea what to expect but it was not what I expected. It is kind of a cheesy touristy area but with some good views of the harbour bridge and opera house. Alana came and met us after we went to the disappointing Museum of Contemporary Art (to be fair only one floor was open). We made our way to the Botanical Gardens which though nice were not as spectacular as they could have been due to the national drought. We finished the late afternoon with a much needed cocktail harbour cruise. Once again like our viewings of the 12 Apostles we were there at the exact right time with spectacular sunset colours exploding through the sky with a particularly wonderful blue. After the cruise and cocktail we headed to the North Side where Alana lives. We were going to walk across the bridge but it had started to rain unfortunately. We went to her parents club (Australia has a big membership club culture) for dinner where I had a delicious steak. After dinner we went and met an old friend of mine Eden. I had not seen him in I think 5 years or so. I use to follow a few of the bands he was in London before he immigrated out here on a skilled artist visa. He is a fantastic composer and sound designer who has worked with a huge range of artists. We met at him at his very funky studio where we had wine and caught up. It was really nice to see him so happy. I hope to see him again sometime whilst living out here! It was then time to take our boy Dave out to a bar where he could meet some fellow men. Alana selected Stonewall which had plenty of men, cheesy music and cheap drinks.

And so it was Tuesday our last day in town. We only had a few hours to explore so we settled on the Gallery of New South Wales which had an impressive permanent collection of aboriginal art. Things I learned whilst in Sydney?

1) The city DOES have cheap and good food
2) The busses are really expensive
3) The city is even more spread out then Melbourne and that is saying something!
4) The weather is considerably more pleasant
5) I am glad I chose Melbourne

The next couple of days with Amanda Panda (Dave leaves tomorrow) will be pretty low key as we both need to be careful with our finances after a busy and eventful week.

Hope all of you are having a splendid September so far!

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