To Perth we go

Early mornings are common when catching a flight and on December 29 we had quite an early morning not only because our flight left at 0700 but Danielle set her alarm clock for 0415 which meant we were up and brushing our teeth before we realized we were half an hour early due to the time change in Adelaide. Thank you Danielle :) We made sure to raze her good as we went back and lied in bed for 20 minutes. But everyone knows that even though you can have a little more rest your body is already awake so just laying there makes you more tired. So we got back up and just puttered around till the taxi came to pick us up. We flew with Jetstar and it was a tinier plane but with plenty of leg room which was an unexpected delight! We had no time to grab brekkie since we took longer to check in and as we passed a coffee shop we heard the call for final boarding for our plane and decided against the stop. A cup of coffee was not worth missing our plane. Luckily for us there was a cute flight attendent that bought us each a chocolate bar inflight to provide us with a nutritional and delicious brekkie!

I have to say I was getting pretty excited as we descended into Perth since I knew that I would be soon seeing mates that I never thought I would see again! Arriving into the airport I was greeted by my good friend Daniel...who was early and thought he would surprise us when we got off the plane so we had someone to welcome us. The sweetest thought but we looked pretty haggard with our early morning rise. Oh well it is the raw Canadian beauty he got to see in us. Soon Marc arrived around the same time as Valena's flight and team Canada was reunited once again! We didn't realize how much we missed each other and got used to being with each other 24/7 that it was great being back all together again! A big thanks to the boys who both picked us up due to the amount of excess luggage we had....our only excuse is that we are women. We drove to a suburb north of the airport where Daniel's home would be our home for the next five days. What a cute place he has in Ellenbrook, so clean and spotless...I have never seen a man's house that orderly and neat...I think our room drove him a little insane those days we were there but the sweetheart he is, he just didn't say a word! We got our first taste of the beaches in Perth by going to Cottesloe beach...the beach where they had Heath Ledger's wake! It is incredible the blue of the water here! Valena and I tried swimming out to a marker but 3/4 the way there we realized there was no one else around us and the sharks are huge on the west coast! We totally psyched ourselves out and hi-tailed it back to the shore!

It was a day of reunions with not only each other but I was able to see and catch up with quite a few friends from a contiki trip in europe a couple years ago. It was so nice to see these boys again and it was a pinch me moment that I was in Perth. Some dreams do happen I guess! After drinks we made our way down to Fremantle, the older part of Perth, for some fantastic Italian cuisine. Fremantle has so many cute cafes and shops that we instantly knew we would come back and check them all out in the days to come.

The days spent at Daniel's house were great! He is the kind of guy that is easy going and up for anything such as letting us cook our healthy meals (we had veggie pizza and he liked it!),watch movies and go for runs with him around his neighborhood. Being at his place has been the closet thing to being back at 269 Keystone Lane. Just the area makes it feel like I am at home! Daniel also played tour guide to the Canadians. He took us to Kings Park for a picnic and a good walk about. This park overlooks the city of Perth and the Swan River. This view is top notch and gives you such a unique view of the city. I have to tell you that this city is breathtaking and I can see why these boys boasted that this place was the best in Australia. I have been here for a few days and I am already agreeing.

There are a few intriguing facts about Perth that I feel the average Canadian should know.

1. Perth is the most isolate and the most sunniest capital city in the world, an average of 8 hours per day.

2. Perth has the highest population per capita of self made millionaires in the world.

3. South of Perth there is a town called Brusseltown that boasts the longest jetty in the southern hempisphere

4. Capital city in the world with the most consistent winds. There is the "Fremantle Doctor" that arrives between 12pm & 3pm virtually ever day of the year.

5. Kings Park is the largest inner city park in the world

New Year's Eve day was spent a little differently since Valena was having massive tooth pain and Daniel and I drove her into the city to get the first of three root canals. She is such a trooper and didn't complain at all and even went out with us for New Years Eve! I could not imagine having a dental surgery and then getting dressed up and going out for New Years but this girl did it! We met up with Erin, Marc, Ben and their friends and headed into Fremantle to go to a pub called Northfolk. It was cute and had some bands but there was no really good dancing music which is always sad since we like to bust out a move on the dance floor as often as possible! You would think that a pub would have a massive countdown to ring in the new year or that we would be on top of the hour since it was our first Australia New Year's but the sad truth is that we missed ringing in the New Year by 4 minutes. As we were getting champagne and organized to do the countdown, V looked at her watch and informed us that the New Year had come and gone so we had our own little countdown and post celebration with hugs and kisses around! The night ended with a stop at Hungry Jacks (the exact same chain as burger king just called different) with burgers and fries and then the walk back to the bus stop.

So after a night out the best way to really celebrate bringing in the 2010 is to be on the water. Lucky for us my friends have an old crayfish boat that is rightly named "ship happens". Our debut trip on this beautiful girl was today and we all were so excited! There are five people that co-own this boat and share in the fun of being skipper and taking care of it; Daniel, Stu, Jan, Jenna and Adam. Today Daniel was the skipper and did exceptionally well steering it down the Swan river. There was around 25 people on the boat in total and it was heaps of fun! It just is crazy that this is life for Perthites; to hang out on a boat, anchor it and play in the water all day...can I get citizenship please! We had a bbq on board and if there is one food aussies love its sausages...they can't get enough of them and they come in so many different kinds! We aren't that keen on sausages back home but here they are a perfect snack on a boat trip! The day went something like this; meet new people, catch up with old friends, play in the river, tan in the dingy, eat sausages and watermelon, jump in the water, chill to music and then reluctantly head back to the jetty. Life can be tough I know!

I really enjoyed catching up with the boys I met in Europe. They still all are the same fun loving Aussie blokes that I remember!

After the boat trip, we introduced Daniel to tim tam slams and he was appalled again how much we love our sweets! I hope all of you at home will be inclined to try the tim tam slam so you get the joy we do as we slam it! We all intended to relax and watch a movie but chose a scary one (the house on the left) and I do not recommend this movie! It was disturbing and so scary that afterwards Dan, V and I couldn't sleep at all!. So being considerate of the sleeping beauties (Jod and Daniel) we took our loud voices outside and went for a stroll around the neighborhood at 1am. As we headed back we were not tired at all and chose to sit on the sidewalk to continue our girl chat. Cops drove by and stopped asking if we were enjoying the cool air. We instead told them of being terrified of the movie and not being able to sleep because of it. Their witty response was "so you are sitting outside in the dark at 130 am". I guess they had a point but they didn't know who loud our voices are so being outside was our only option! Eventually we made our way back into the house and off to sleep.

The next few days were filled with taking it easy at Daniel's, trips to Macca's for free internet and our first Sunday Session. Here in Australia it is a massive thing to go out and meet your friends at a pub on Sunday and catch up on the weekend details. The rumor is that a boy would spend all his time with his gf and would then meet his mate's Sunday to chill out and catch up. We like it and enjoyed our first session so much that we extended it and crashed a going away party at a hotel down the way. It was massively fun and we ended up going to a friend's house with a mini elton john and sheryl crow concert on tv...life doesn't get any better than this! Five days in and I would recommend everyone to come to Perth. This city is absolutely beautiful being surrounded by ocean and river running through it. The people are relaxed, incredibly friendly and so kind. I would only say that you could fall in love with this city so have a return flight out before you come or you will end up like me wanting to stay for months...years...

Miss you all at home and hope this new year will bring some adventures your way! XOXOXO B

Christmas Week in Adelaide

Christmas in Adelaide

One of the magnets on our fridge right now says, “Enjoy the little things. One day you may look back and realize that they were the big things”. This couldn’t be truer of our trip. Honestly, it doesn’t matter where we go- the dynamics of our group and the epic moments that are created, in the most unexpected places (like giggle fests in grocery store aisles), are some of the fondest memories. That said, we were asked repetitively “Why are you going to Adelaide?” Apparently the city of churches isn’t on many travelers’ itineraries. We wanted to explore Adelaide for a few reasons, and although it’s definitely quieter than Sydney, Melbourne, or Perth- we soon discovered many reasons to be extremely thankful we stopped in this little South Australian city for Christmas!

We definitely scored with our accommodation in Adelaide. Turns out the only place available on ‘VRBO’ for Adelaide was in Glenelg. Oh darn- I guess we’ll stay in the beach district- if we have to! We arrived in Adelaide, and took the campervan for a quick rip around the city, one last hurrah, before handing it back into Britz. It was a sad, sad hour when we had to part with our 4-berth home on wheels. Much to our delight, the condo we had booked for Christmas was perfectly marvelous! It was right off of Jetty Rd. (home to heaps of great shopping, restaurants, cafes & pubs), and just a walk away from Glenelg beach. Not only that, Valena & Britt met the most charming guys at church the day before, who turned out to be perfect gentlemen. The best hosts 4 Canadian girls could ask for! We won’t talk about the horrifying bits- like the Aussie taste-test extravaganza they upheld us to (eeeek- Vegemite!)…ok, ok. It wasn’t all gross stuff. The boys bought us ginger beer, milo, tim tams, and yes, the infamous Vegemite after taking us out to listen to carols by the river. They helped us get into the Christmas spirit with thousands of people out to enjoy the music & fireworks. These same guys also drove us to Norlunga to go snorkeling along the reef & jump off the jetty. Such good memories!

V flew to Sydney to catch up with Uncle Doug, Aunt Karen & the kids for Christmas. We almost considered it a tragedy to let her go, if only for 1 week. I believe Britt’s exact words were “It feels like we’re missing a limb, literally, Team Canada cannot operate properly without V!”. Our friends seemed quite amused with this, as they clearly didn’t understand just how attached we are to each other. This sort of thing happens after spending a month in such close quarters. There may be some rehab needed as we transition to life back in Canada- when we can’t fall asleep to the sound of each other’s laughter, stories, antics…and snoring. Only ½ of the group make melodies through their nostrils- of course we’d never reveal who!

We spent the rest of our time in Adelaide exploring the city of churches, Jetty Rd., Glenelg Beach, and meeting more wonderful people. We woke up early Christmas morning to watch the sunrise, and open our ‘secret Santa’ gifts on the beach. We felt the million-mile distance between home & Australia as we unwrapped parcels in the sand in our flip-flops. I had received contact info. via family at home to meet up with Dan & Jill Edmonds, and Trudy Brentnall & Drew Gordon. We could never thank these beautiful people enough for inviting 3 strangers into their home to celebrate Christmas day with! Drew & Dan drove all the way to come pick us up in Glenelg, and drove us back to their beautiful home in the Adelaide hills. We witnessed the making of their secret family Egg Nog recipe, and were spoiled with a seafood and BBQ feast. Before lunch, we were also spoiled- somehow Santa was brilliant enough to know we were in the southern hemisphere this year, and dropped off some gifts for us under the Edmonds’ tree. Jodie, Britt & I all received TimTam packs with mugs, drinking chocolate, & all the goods!

Before making this entry much too lengthy, I will end with a funny story about the dodgy motel we stayed in for our last 2 nights in Glenelg. I hopped into the shower one morning, and furiously tried to get the shower to start, avoiding asking for assistance- so as not to look like a total fool. When suddenly, miraculously- the hot water was a flowin’. Sweet! Problems began when, after my shower with the long-legged spider, the steaming hot water would not turn off! Oh dear. Steam quickly began infiltrating the entire room from the bathroom, and the girls remained in bed as I ran for help from the maintenance man. He came in with his tool kit, with the girls still in their PJ’s, and spent a good 20 minutes fixing our little problem. Haha- give us the condo back please! Oh- I forgot to mention. This motel was so classy it also had a drive-through liquor store at the main entrance. Bogan all the way! Like I said, it’s the little things that count the most. We have so many special moments, you could stack tissue paper to the sky & nearly reach heaven. Merry Christmas Everyone! Xoxoxo. D.

The Great Ocean Road!!!!

One of our main objectives when we decided to get a campervan was to drive The Great Ocean Road. The road was constructed to provide work for returning soldiers and dedicated as a Mermorial to those killed in the First World War. It is an amazingly scenic road that officially runs between Torquay and Allansford with a length of 241 kilometers. When you read this, your Canadian-highway-driving minds will probably be whirling away doing calculations; "241 km at 100 km/hr means it should only take 2.4 hours give or take 10 minutes." Now, consider that we took 7 days to drive it. That, and the posted pictures, should give you an idea of how beautiful this stretch of road is. At the beginning, we decided to pull off at every viewing point turn-off but that was quickly ditched after we had only progressed 2 km in 4 hours. One of the great pulls of the drive is the close proximity to the ocean; we only lost sight of it for an hour on the whole drive. It would take pages to describe the beauty of this drive so I figure I'll just post extra photos so you can take a peak yourself.

Our rainy day was the day we arrived at the famous stretch of limestone formations, the most famous of these being the Twelve Apostles. It's amazing how many pictures you can take of rock formations. We had 2 photo shoots at the Twelve Apostles (the first day was massively windy and rainy) and I can safely assume we have every possible angle of the rocks captured on camera PLUS a couple videos. Afterwards, we moved on in our trip to view other famous limestone erosion displays. It was v. interesting because we saw all the stages of the erosion of the limestone. The waves slam against the limestone walls and erode it bit by bit; first it becomes a cave which will become a tunnel and then a bridge.... eventually the bridge will collapse and then you will be left with a singular stand just like the 'apostles' which in turn will eventually collapse completely just like one of the front 'apostles' did in 2005. Not all of the collapses include stories as amusing as the London Arch, formally known as London Bridge. The arch finally collapsed in 1990, leaving 2 tourists stranded on the outer part of the bridge who had to be rescued by helicopter. This alone would have been exciting but, add the fact that the pair were actually married to other people and their once private affair was no longer that once they were thrust into the media spotlight, and you have a fantastic scandal... Ha ha...

The next stop was a quaint lil town, Portland, and it was a quick 10 minute stop, just long enough to see the lighthouse and it was the cutest lil one yet! It was miniature that it was barely taller than a two-storey house that was beside it, but Dan read that it was visible for 26 km so that is pretty decent right? Something I love about our group is the silly lil things that we find so amusing. We're such a happy group, always laughing and joking and finding the lighter side of things. Our quick stop to the lighthouse turned into a fantastic photo shoot.. One of my favorites thus far! I decided to get a cartwheel pic which led to Jodie getting a "sideways jumping" photo which turned out to be quite literal. Props to her for not ending up in a face plant. We got such a laugh from that, that Dan decided to do a monkey pose (aka head stand) and then Brit did a splits jump... but the real genius was when we got a lucky passerby to take a photo of all our specialty poses at once... The end result was fantastic! Utter chaos really... I love it.

This small stretch of highway was a huge part of our trip that provided us with so many amazing photos and memories. It is sad to think that after this stretch all we have left is Mt Gambier and then we arrive in Adelaide, our final destination in our camper-van.

How to survive in a camper van

As many of you have asked us how we survived for a month in a camper van, I figured that we should shed some insight into how it's done. We soon learned that all it requires is for us to throw a few things out the window and embrace the whole aspect of simple living. There no longer was any sense of decency or modesty between us girls, as we quickly realized that there was only so much room to change and quite frankly it just took way too much effort concerning ourselves with covering ourselves up! As girls, of course we packed way too much, which meant that our suitcases and backpacks took up just about half of the limited space that we already had.

Hygiene
You will see from the pictures that the Britz didn't have a toilet or a shower, which forced us to be creative in how we were going to keep ourselves clean and in top condition. Gas stations, McDonald's, truck stops, pretty much any public bathroom we could find, soon was a blessing and something that we all kept an eye out for wherever we went. As inconspicuous as we tried to be, leisurely strolling to a washroom with our toiletries in tow, there were times when we got a few odd looks and soon enough nothing seemed to faze us. Some gas stations were utterly disgusting, but all we could do was laugh otherwise I think we would've went many nights with unwashed faces and unbrushed teeth, and when you are sleeping in that close of quarters with people, you did not wanna have morning breath.

Bathrooms were pretty easy to come by, but showers on the other hand proved to be very difficult. The easiest solution to that is to not shower regularly and instead rely on salt water to keep yourself clean. The ocean and outdoor showers are very good options when necessary. Shaving in the ocean proved to be very good for the skin and shampooing your hair at the outdoor showers at the beach is more common than you think. You must remember that you are living in a camper van and therefore your appearance should not be your top priority. Who cares if you haven't washed your hair for over a week, not to mention blow drying or even styling it. Embrace being free and if questioned on some things, just pull out the backpacker card. People seem to be a lot more understanding once you tell them that you are backpacking. The standard of your appearance and hygiene goes down a few notches and it's more acceptable to present yourself a bit on the greasy and dirty side.

Food
Now when it comes to cooking or eating in a camper van, there are a few options. If you aren't keen on being as economic as us, then you could get a campsite at night to plug in and use your stove to cook food and charge your fridge. Us on the other hand, being backpackers and trying to save every penny we could, decided to forgo the whole plugging in unless absolutely necessary, so our food options were quite slim. But soon enough, we found a quick solution and great meals to enjoy. For breakfast we would all pull out our granola and yogurt, maybe cut up a mango and enjoy with the spoons that we used the day before, hopefully washed, if not by water, then by us licking them clean. If we were really lucky, we would find a microwave either at a gas station or hostel, or some friendly hosts house that would allow us to make oatmeal. Oh what a treat that was! Most of the time for lunch and supper tuna and corn cakes would be on the menu. Not to fear though, there are plenty of different flavors of canned tuna, ranging from sweet chili to lime and cracked pepper, so our taste buds were always in for a surprise each night. Luckily our fridge would recharge whenever we drove and so we managed to have an good amount of fruit and veggies. Since we were sticking to our simple lifestyle, there were many times when we wouldn't cut up our carrots or cucumbers, but rather stick a few into our purses for snacks and when we were hungry, just grab it out and start chomping on it. Once again, a few odd stares our way...but hey, we are being healthy and not wasting time by preparing our food! Mangos were our choice for fruit, along with Sundowner apples. So you see, we managed to get all food groups in here. Of course there are other foods that you could try to manage in the camper van, but we found these to be the best. Oh, I better not forget to mention one of the desserts that we discovered and loved. Frozen yogurt bars! Britt found them one day and we were all instantly in love. We would buy a box at a time and end up having to eat them all in the same day since our freezer didn't really work b/c it wouldn't ever get cold enough without being plugged in. This worked out perfectly until we were on our way to Melbourne and the girls went a little overboard. I was talking on the phone with my parents and the girls come running up with boxes of yogurt bars in the hands...apparently they were on sale and they couldn't resist getting more than one box. I think maybe the closed quarters of the van made them a little bit crazy because it was a bit hot that day and so we had to eat the bars extra fast and we had twice as many each to eat. So in just a couple of hours we all finished off the boxes of yogurt bars, and as a result, we haven't bought them since. I think we all still feel a little sick to our stomachs whenever we see them in the frozen treats section. Since we couldn't fathom eating another bar, we quickly replaced that with cadbury chocolate bars and soon all our willpower to eat healthy seemed to no longer exist. It seemed that in no time, not only were we eating chocolate for dessert and snacks, but as a replacement for a meal, or when we were happy, sad, mad, frustrated, etc. You name it, anytime of the day, no matter how we were feeling, it always seemed that chocolate was necessary. Good bye to any hopes of bikini bodies! I am glad to say though that after the camper van, we have managed to put an end to our chocolate obsession...only to be replaced by another weakness, but let's not discuss that right now.

Another important thing to consider when buying food for a camper van for 4 people is that there isn't that much room in the fridge or the cupboards so you must be prepared to make daily trips to the grocery store. If you dread buying groceries, then this may be hard for you, but it is a necessity. Us girls love going to the grocery store, it's almost like being in grade school again and going on a field trip. Seriously we can spend so much time walking up and down the aisles, gawking at all the good food and deciding what we should buy. You would think that after a week or two in the camper van that we would know what to buy, but for some reason we seemed to spent so much time in the store and end up with the same food over and over again. Maybe it's just the fascination that we all have with food that did it for us. Tip of the day. If you are ever having a conversation with us and can't think of anything to talk about, just bring up food as we can all talk for hours on that subject. But be prepared, you may be a bit shocked just how passionate we do get...don't let it scare you away, just think of it more of us being passionate...even if it is about food.

Sleep
You must understand that getting a good sleep is one of the most important part of surviving in a camper van. Could you imagine how it would be if there were 4 girls in closed quarters on minimal sleep? Things would not be pretty and it would probably end up with a few cat fights and a lot of awkward silence as there would be no where to storm off to after an argument. Going from the front seat to the back isn't really enough space between 2 people after they've had it out for each other. So all you haveta do is ensure that everyone gets the best sleep possible. Yes, yes, we know, it's hard to do when you only have about an inch between your head and the roof when you are sleeping on the top bunk, and it's impossible to roll over, but it is manageable. Figure out a system so that each member of the camper van team will have equal chances of sleeping on the spacious bed downstairs and cramped quarters upstairs. You may want to practice your flexibility and gymnastics skills as your will have to go in feet first onto the top bunk, hopefully you are the first one otherwise you must maneuver around your sleeping partner without kicking him/her in the head or face. Another important thing to remember is that you absolutely cannot step on the stove. It will break and poof! there goes more money that you will most likely need to buy that canned tuna for lunch. At night you will most likely need to stack the luggage up between the fridge and counter and bottom bed. This leaves absolutely no room to walk, so if you must go to the washroom at night or are the lucky one who wakes up first, you need to squirm your way out of there without waking up the rest of the crew. It may seem a bit tricky at first, but before you know it, you'll be amazed by what you can do in small spaces...it's all about being stealth.

Parking
Finding places to park your camper van at night may be the most frustrating or most fun thing you do. In most places you aren't allowed to park your camper van just anywhere, but there are ways around it. Try to find areas where there aren't any No Overnight Camping signs, usually by beaches, behind schools, main streets, you know, those kind of areas are best avoided. Driving out of town and finding a turn off the road or some dark area blocked from the main road by trees is usually a better choice. Now if you wanna be a bit risky, you can try parking in town and if you can get away with it. We had really good luck during our whole trip, only getting caught once for parking behind a school, but luckily got away with only a warning...otherwise it could've been $250 each! Let's just say that after that we were a bit more careful when finding a free parking spot at nights. Keep in mind that a camper van doesn't really blend in with the rest of vehicles. You may think that if you park in between a couple of cars that it won't be noticeable, but believe me, it stands out like a sore thumb. There is no way to hide that baby, so this is your chance to be creative. If you do manage to get caught, just play ignorance...most of the time you will get away with a warning and promise that you learnt your lesson and will never do it again.

There are many more tips for surviving and making the most out of your stay in a camper van, but this is a good start. Remember to use the resources that you have around you, whether it's public bathrooms, hostels, or friendly hospitable contacts. Traveling with a camper van really is the best way to go...you will have more adventures and fun stories than you could ever imagine and will be sad to say goodbye to it when the day comes to give it in.
Cheers,
Jod

Raindrops are falling on my head

We would count ourselves extremely lucky to only have one day of pouring rain on our whole trip. Instead of being bummed about this, we welcomed it! After narrowly getting stuck on a dirt road (shhh britz doesn't like its costumers to do any off roading!) Dan, Valena and I got out and pushed with our ever-so powerful muscles as Jodie maneuvered the van out of the muddy patches, we were on our way! We ended up driving in the early morning with the sound of raindrops and Jack Johnson. We all were in our own little world crammed into the front bench of the campervan as we drove through tropical-like vegetation with some eerie mist to accompany us. There is something amazing about driving in the rain and we all welcomed the opening of the heavens.

We came into the town of Port Campbell and had a coffee at one of the few cafes there and all agreed to get a campsite and plug in. This was the first time we have arrived at a campsite before supper and we had the whole day to relax, rent movies from the main desk and all have long showers, it was such a sweet thing! Spending a day in a campervan, you would think that you would be aching to get outdoors, which we did eventually later in the evening when the rain stopped. But it had been so long since we had a relaxing movie day that we all enjoyed it. We caught up on writing postcards, reading, sleeping and it was a nice break from being busy and going going going. We even treated ourselves with a little cadbury chocolate! The day couldn't have been better!! In the evening the rain did clear up enough for us to go see the Twelve Apostles and it was amazing to see these rock formations with the beautiful ocean around it. We met some friends of Danielle's from back home and caught up with them in our lovely camp kitchen. Luv B

1st Stop on the Great Ocean Road: Lorne

After leaving Torquay and getting a start on the Great Ocean Road, it wasn't long before we found a town to settle in for a few days. In fact, it was the first town the we drove in to. Lorne is a cute, little resort town full of cafes, bakeries (mmm) and small shops. It is right on the coastline with a great beach as well as a couple of waterfalls and lookouts. When we pulled into Lorne, we knew that we just had to spend a bit of time exploring and enjoying all it had to offer. The first day we rushed to the beach as it had been over a week since we had some hardcore suntanning time and we were all itching to get a little sun. Dan being the social butterfly that she is made acquaintances at one of the bakeries resulting in us getting an amazing tour guide, Matt. Not only did he show us all that Lorne has to over, he even let us park our campervan in his driveway, saving us money once again. Between our time lying on the beach and playing in the waves, Matt took us on a bush walk to a waterfall, which reminded us of a scene from Jurassic Park. We also experienced the best smoothies that we have found so far in Australia at the Lip 'n sip just on the main street. We ended up stopping there a few times during our stay, maybe even twice in one day, to find relief from the heat.
I think that it would be safe to say that Lorne was our favorite town along the Great Ocean Road. It has so much to offer between it's beach, shops, and great people that we found there. If you ever find yourself driving that way, take some time out and enjoy it.

Jod

Melbourne Food! And the winners are...

Laksa Time!

And how could I describe Melbourne without going into detail about the beguiling, mouth-watering foods we encountered there!? I’ll try and keep this brief, but ‘foods of Melbourne’ had to be a blog of it’s own!

Top 10 Foods we enjoyed in Melbourne (Most introduced,

cooked, or purchased by our amazing hosts- Rach, Jess, & Alex…you’ll note the strong Asian influence J

1. Malaysian Laksa
2. Tasty 小笼包 Xiao Long Bao with a thin but chewy skin encasing a mouthful of flavour-packed broth with all the right seasonings. (Chinese dumpling bar in Chinatown!)
3. Mini Cupcakes on Degraves St. (Degraves street was a marvel itself!)
4. Mars bar cheesecake (Greek restaurant at the Casino)
5. Indian Curries
6. Mexican Rice from the Victoria Night Market
7. Deep Fried Dumplings with Chocolate and ice cream- Britt tested this one at the Night Market’s as well….deadly!
8. Home-made Beef Terriaki soup
9. Lattes, Cappucinnos, and White chocolate Tim-Tam Slams!

10. AFL Pizza place- true Aussi style

Tourquay...surfer's paradise

This quaint little town is home to some of the best surfers in the world! Not only that we also discovered the best pizza in Australia so far! I am not joshing you are, it was amazing! Our favorite was Pesto and Feta pizza that was soooo good. The freshness of that place tempted us that we ate there twice! Not only was the pizza great but the cafe was run by all these cute Italians...they must have been brothers since they all looked so much alike. Even if they weren't, we think an Italian pizza cafe has to be owned by Italian brothers...like Mario and Luigi!

Ok now that the talk of food is aside, let me tell you about this town. It not only is famous for the waves that entices the goodlooking beach boys but the ladies come not only for them but for the shopping. It is outlet heaven for the last season of Ripcurl, billabong and other surf wear all for 70% & 80% off! This is a stellar find for four backpacking girls who are trying to maintain a budget on this trip and have had slips in the past. We spent just a little bit of cash that got us some great new items for our Aussie wardrobe. We also had the chance to surf twice and still had tons of fun even though we didn't get up us often as we like. The first time we went we got to play in the waves with our friends Jesse, Rach and Alex. We also have to give credit to them since they took us to that pizza place. The second time was just us girls and that was fun too!

This town should be on everyone's list to stopover and spend a night or two. And if you happen to be a surfer at heart then look no further than this place to stay and live the dream. For us it was just the starting point for the Great Ocean Road.

Melbourne- the Multicultural Hub of Aus

(December 6-12, 2009)

To sum up our amazing week in Melbourne is impossible. It was beyond words, as many blessings on our journey have been, but Melbourne particularly won our hearts. It’s been compared by heaps of people to our Vancouver. Straight from our Lonely Planet guidebook, the great intro to Melbourne I read (and was proven to be true):

“Sophisticated and slick, edgy and rough, Melbourne’s physical and cultural landscape is shaped by a dynamic population, ever ravenous for a bite of global culture. The result is Aussi’s most accessible multiculturalism. Ornate Victorian-era architecture and leafy, established boulevards reflect the city’s history and cutting-edge developments…character filled neighborhoods, such as Fitzroy, St. Kilda, and Carlton (where we stayed!) hum with life and the city produces some of the best art, music, cuisine (yes, we can attest to this!), fashion (shopping was much too tempting), performance, design and ideas in the world (p. 474, LP)”.

And even better than all these traits in 1 city is the beautiful people we reconnected with and met! I had played in a band with Jesse McArthy back at home, in Lethbridge, with church. He has been going to uni down here for the past 3 years, and we had planned to reconnect. You know, something that’s easily said but not-so-easily done? We were greeted & treated with incredible hospitality. The timing was impeccable. He was finished uni for the year, and had all week (with our buddy Alex) to play tour-guide. And Rachel Lee! Where do we begin? Jesse’s girlfriend is a gem- hilarious, creative, lover of bunnies, generous, warm, story teller- extraordinaire, and all ‘round beautiful person. Since her 3 sisters had flown back to Singapore for the holidays, she let us stay in her gorgeous ‘New York-style’ loft apartment for the entire week! It couldn’t have been better, the accommodation and the company! We were near the Uni of Melbourne (which makes you feel like you’re in a Harry Potter novel and entices us to want to further our education, dreaming of attending a school so beautiful as this)! Also near the CBD (Central Business District), Victoria Markets, Carlton, and well- just heaps of brilliant parks (our favorite was the Botanical Gardens), cafes, shopping and entertainment. Melbourners know how to do their coffee! And the massive coffee culture here had us drinking up to 3 latte’s a day on occasion. Britt decided to try out as many coffee shops as possible one day, and with Alex’s help scoped out some of Melbourne’s best cafes. The lovely thing about some of these special places is that they were often hidden, off the beaten city path, often with no signage whatsoever. So I can’t even tell you the secret to who serves the best coffee, because I don’t remember reading a business name, but we could walk you down the hidden back alley near the Uni where it lies…and explore the coffee plants, bicycles, incredible interior design & ambience, friendly staff and perfect latte (see photo). Blissful!

Saturday we had a very important meeting with Rachel in the CBD at … Lu Lu Lemon Athletica! We took her shopping Canadian-style. We were ecstatic when we discovered LuLu in our exploration of Melbourne! It felt like home walking into the Canadian company’s retail paradise with inspirational quotes & colours that brightened our world! And- cheers to you Rach, I will tell everyone about our spastic move to walk 2 full city blocks with lulu lemon shorts on our heads. Oh the good times!

We took the last day in Melbourne to drive down to St. Kilda with Alex. We enjoyed the perfectly maintained boardwalks, and walked out onto the jetty to see penguins- for free this time! Thank you Jesse, Rachel, and Alex for your incredible hospitality! And this note is to the lovely Drew Gordon & Trudy Brentnall: Please forgive us for not calling or stopping by when we were near Melbourne! Although you were so obviously expecting us with a full fridge, planned itinerary, and 3 gorgeous eligible Aussi millionaires… we do hope you will find it in your heart to let us onto your property when we come calling again next year! (We’re so glad we got to meet you at Christmas time in Adelaide- you’re both wonderful people!

ps. Sorry we have been such slackers with the blog! We've had a busy holiday season here in Oz, and quite honestly have been having too much fun to sit behind computers as much as usual :-). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! xoxo d.