Australia Part 2

Once the end of Ashley's teacher's college program came around, we got rid of her old Corolla, with which I had just learnt how to drive standard (on the left side of the road), and we rented ourselves the cheapest campervan we could find, although still not really that cheap with all the insurance we needed to cross the Outback. A little tip that I wish I would have known before hand ---> www.standbycars.com.au has a 'relocation' program that rents out vehicles to be brought back to a specific destination within a specific timeframe for sometimes as cheap as $1 a day, to save them the trouble of doing it themselves. Anyway, over the next 30 days, we made our way from Brisbane down to Sydney, to Melbourne, along the great ocean road to Adelaide, then through the 3-4 day stretch of the Nullarbor Plain (the southern portion of the outback) to the south-west of Australia, and around to Perth. We spent several days in all the major cities, and spent nights in many places in between, sometimes in a hostel, sometimes in caravan park, sometimes in abandoned parking lots or backstreets.

We saw so many amazing things, but there were definitely highlights for me. The Great Ocean Road/The Great Australian Bright are both drives along intimidatingly sheer cliffs dropping into the Southern Ocean, with no shortage of natural sculptures standing alone in the water, the remnants of ancient shorelines. Breathtaking. Also, the drive through the Nullarbor was amazing, particularly one night spent parked with the van in the middle of the vast nothingness, campfire fuelled by loose brush, and the risk of dingos always present. The number of stars we could see that night were unlike anything I've ever seen in my life. There were even fainter stars within the usual gaps between the stars, and fainter yet in the gaps between them. There was almost more white than black in the sky. The only audible thing were the road trains (long transport trucks passing on the highway we left behind about 400m ago. You could hear the slightest sound coming from kms and kms away. Otherwise, it was the kind of silence that leaves a ringing in your ears.

A lovely surprise was Esperance, a small beach town we had no particular aim to visit, but rather just stumbled upon looking for a place to sleep. A national park near this town called Cape Le Grand held probably the most beautiful beach I've been fortunate enough to set foot on --> Lucky Bay. Crystal clear blue waters, plunging into the Emerald green several meters out from the white sand laden beaches, with grains so fine they are bordering on silt.

Lastly, back in the first days of the trip, a great event came in the form of a secret parking spot for caravans in Sydney. After a night parked in a sketchy neighborhood, we were advised by the cops to get out of there for our own safety (should have known from the shaddy characters we could hear throughout the night) and to check out some areas further east. Not 20 minutes later, we found ourselves driving along a park at least a km in length, along the shore of a bay, with multi-million dollar homes on the other side of us, and no parking signs in sight. You learn pretty quickly that no signs = good to go. Not the best part yet...there were only a couple of other vans parked there, half a km from us...we could set up our chairs and cooking gear...and...the other side of the bay, which was filled with yachts and sailboats, was the Harbour Bridge, the famous Opera House, and downtown Sydney. The daytime view was spectacular, the evening view was indescribable. We thought it must be too good to be true, until a police cruiser pulled up beside us, we tensed up, and he gave us a smile before he headed over to sit by the water and admire the view. A home owner later came out and told us how lucky we were to find this spot. It was worth holding on to for 2 or 3 nights.

My trip with Ash finished in Perth in early June, when we said our tearful goodbyes as she boarded a plane home, and for the first time on this trip, I was traveling alone. What to do now. Not a day into it, I decided to drop a line to my friend Drew, who I had met in Russia on the train a year prior with Kyle and Justin. He was back home and wanted to meet for beer and to watch the footie game on tv. A few beers later, he invited me to stay with him at his house. It was the perfect set up. I checked out early from my stinky, overcrowded hostel and ended up spending 5 or 6 weeks at his place, waiting out the rain and preparing for the next part of my trip. I managed to do a lot of fun stuff throughout that time, like tour a submarine, tour some underground tunnels by boat beneath a jail, volunteer on a sail boat, and catch a ride up to Broome in the north of australia with a car full of travellers.

That trip to Broome was pretty interesting, because the car was on it's last legs, and we ended up breaking down in some interesting places. Once of which was in front of a senior's caravan campground, on party night. So, we ate and drank with the seniors in the mess hall. Side note, the morning, the world found out Michael Jackson had died. Anyway, we fixed the car, and it broke down again, this time for good, directly in front of the campground in Broome. It was pretty perfect. Did some cool stuff while I was there, like go to an outdoor movie theatre that was actually featured in the movie 'Australia', held a crocodile, and rode on a camel that was also featured in the movie. Also met with a couple of friends of friends for drinks. This is the point where I realized I'd never have a better opportunity to go skydiving. So, I bought my ticket, and spend 3 agonizing days thinking of nothing else but falling from a plane. The night before, when I was at my maximum stokedness, I got a call saying the plane had been broken all week and they were trying to fix it, so it was a no go. Blast! I got a full refund, but the exchange rate had fluctuated and I lost $40. Double blast!!

Another highlight of Australia was couchsurfing with Ash at Alex and Karen's house. They were this cool couple in Adelaide who showed us the ropes. We played lots of poker, they taught us how to make sushi, and they humbled us in terms of partying, staying up all night and all day pounding the drinks hard, then going to band practice completely wrecked, while we slept like babies hehe.

There are also a few other cool things I should mention, because, well, they are cool. One, the Australian money. It is super colorful, indestructible, and waterproof incase you forget it in your swimming trunks. Two, Coober Petty is this awesome place up in the outback that we didn't get to see, but heard lots about, where the residents live in homes underground to beat the heat. And three, picking up hitchhikers with a campervan is fun, because you never know what kind of crazy stories or good advice they'll have for you, and if you run into them again a day or two down the highway, it's like running into an old friend.

Go to Australia, it kicks kangaroo butt.