After Steve's marathon in Canberra, we bussed to Melbourne to meet up with one of Steve's friends, Pia, who decided she'd come with us on the first leg of our trip out to Perth. When we picked up our Wicked Campervan, we were pleasantly surprised and then a bit panicky. Surprised because they decorate all the Wicked Campervans and we ended up with the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo…freaking awesome to drive across Australia in the Mystery Machine, but when we opened the driver's door, what did we discover, but a manual transmission. Now this wouldn't have been a problem except that combined Steve and I have about the equivalent of an hour's experience driving stick shift and here we were faced with a 3,000 kilometer cross country trip in a vehicle we had no idea how to drive and the threat of a huge credit card bill if we killed the dang thing. It didn't help matters that our first foray in the vehicle was into downtown Melbourne to pick up Pia from her hostel before we headed west. Through much jerking, shuddering, frantic moments, and dozens of curses later, we managed to arrive without too much trouble.
So then we headed west, stopping in the Grampian Mountains to see some kangaroos, and then a few days in Adelaide where we rode for hours on free bikes and then wandered the night markets in Chinatown. After Adelaide, it was just Steve and I since Pia had to go back to Sydney. We continued along the coast, entering the sparsely populated area leading down to Port Lincoln where Steve went cage diving with Great White Sharks. Then we continued on our way across the Nullarbor, literally meaning "no trees" and you know what, it's just scrubby brush on hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers of flat land interrupted only by the occasional roadhouse and petrol station. I don't think I've ever been more governed by the sunrise and sunset in my life. Up with the sun, driving all day, and then cooking dinner by twilight in a rest stop before the sun disappeared for another 12 hours. It took us about 2 weeks to get from Melbourne to Perth, stopping in little towns and free camping in national parks over the Easter Holiday, because all the caravan parks were booked solid and we hadn't planned ahead. whoops! I completely forgot Aussies are the kings of caravanning and every holiday sees thousands of them on the road in search of the perfect campground to relax.
Driving across the Nullarbor!
In Perth, we spent some time with Byron, a friend of ours that we met when we first arrive in Lennox Head. We met both his mother and his aunt and their hospitality was amazing. We also got the chance to meet up with our friend Chris who we met way back in November while we were picking garlic in Hunter Valley. it was great to catch up and hear what he's been up to since we parted ways.
From Perth, Steve and I flew down to Tasmania, the Australian Island off the south coast of Melbourne where we had another 2 week road trip set up. We met up with Mary and Isaac, two awesome Nova Scotians, who we met in Lennox. We rented a Britz campervan, with two beds and a working kitchen (may I say a thousand steps up from our Wicked Campervan, and headed out on a leisurely trip around the tiny island of Tassie. We did a lot of hiking and wandering and boulder climbing. We saw Wineglass Bay, one of the top 10 beaches in the world, a car show, two of the oldest bridges in Australia, snow at Cradle Mountain where we huddled in the van under blankets because none of us had the proper weather gear, and a working wind mill. Traveling with Mary and Isaac was probably one of the highlights of the trip, despite the fact that nearly all of us were sick at some point during the expedition, because they are both so laid back and we all had a blast. If I could have, I would have made that trip last another few weeks. I already decided, I'm visiting them in Nova Scotia sometime in the near future.
Tassie's where we spent the better part of a day blocking and shooting our version of a music video for Rebecca Black's horrible, yet catchy, song Friday. If you've heard it, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven't and want to hear it, look it up on YouTube, but beware, it'll be stuck in your head for days afterward. That's probably why so many millions of people hate it.
From Tassie, we all went our separate ways. Steve went back to Perth to head north to the Ningaloo Reef to swim with whale sharks, the world's largest fish. Mary and Isaac flew to Sydney to stay with a family friend before they leave for home on the 5th, and I flew up to Cairns in Queensland to begin my whirlwind trip south, seeing in less than a month what most people spend 3 or 4 months seeing. I went snorkeling and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and went up to Cape Tribulation and the DainTree Rainforest, home to the cassowary, a bird almost as big as an emu known for its razor sharp claws that can disembowel a human with ease.
My next stop was Townsville to meet Sonya Ashton's cousin who lives there. Now I've heard plenty about Townsville through Sonya's stories about crocodiles and snakes and spider bites, but it turned out to be a surprisingly suburban town with gorgeous views of the ocean and the mountains surrounding it. I didn't see a single crocodile, spider or snake and had a blast while I was there. It was like having a home for a few days because Colleen was fantastic. She even made me sack lunches for my day spent exploring Magnetic Island.
And right now, I'm sitting at a Mcdonalds in Airlie Beach (I know, Mcdonalds…but it has free Wifi, so there). I have an hour before I head out on a 2 day sailing cruise through the Whitsunday Islands and more snorkeling and scuba diving. I'm looking forward to it.
Home on June 15th! I have so much to do before that happens, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at home and dong a little work before I head west for school in September! See you all soon!
