It's hard for me to believe, I blinked and we were in Victoria, the last stop of this Australian part of our trip. At the end of this post I write about some reflections so far of this amazing country, and the trip itself.
The Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road starts in Torquay (about 1.5 hours from the Melbourne airport), and continues 244K past one of the big attractions called the 12 apostles. It reminds me of driving up highway 1 in California, the coastline was similar with cliffs and beaches... and of course breathtaking views!
The road was built by 3,000 returned soldiers and is a war memorial dedicated to their fellow servicemen who were killed in World War 1. It took over 13 years and was completely hand built, but now is a big tourist attraction.
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| Our journey starts here! |
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| We loved this modern house, must have some amazing views! |
Winding roads, ocean views...
We drove about half of it on our first day, starting in Torquay and stopping at our airbnb in Grey River.
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| Airbnb view, absolutely gorgeous! |
The next day, we hit the road again to road trip along the second half going all the way to the London Bridge.
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| You know it's a touristy spot when... LOL |
I swear it's going to be weird for me driving on the right when we get back! Becoming a left side of the road pro :)
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| Secluded beach right across from our airbnb |
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| huddlin' |
The road bends inland for a good amount of the drive, but then you start to see the sea again and it opens up to this...
I had seen tons of pictures of the 12 apostles when researching where to go, but nothing beats seeing it for yourself! Blown away...
After the 12 apostles we did a little hiking around the Loch Ard Gorge stop...
On one of the paths, we could see the view in the picture below, which we weren't going to walk over to until Justin saw this huge wave! He wanted to experience it for himself.
Walking over to it, and then this wave is the most we got after waiting for a bit...
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| first aussie snake sighting O_O but don't think it was poisonous |
Got to see the Razorback formation and the London Bridge, all beautiful!
On our last day, as we were packing the car, our airbnb host came out to see how everything was. We then mentioned we wanted to see koalas, and she felt sad saying this is where you see them. She even said a young koala was hanging out right in our front yard in a tree the day before, but we were off on our road trip! She then kindly invited us up to the main part of the house, served us coffee (tea for Justin), and had her husband look in the backyard for a koala!
He let us know there was one... and boy was it way up in the tree! I was trying to figure out how the branches were holding him, he was pretty round haha. Beautiful view from the backyard too.
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| well hello there! |
So I'd say our Great Ocean Road trip was a success! The koala was the icing on the cake, as well as our kind hosts.
We then stopped at a beach outside Anglesea on the way back, though it was too chilly to lay out. Nice to walk!
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| Someone hang gliding, fun to watch |
St Kilda
I picked an airbnb in St Kilda, which turned out to be a really fun spot. Our location was just two blocks to the beach and St Kilda pier area, while also only being 30 minutes on the tram from downtown.
Super windy day walking the St Kilda pier! Usually there are penguins down at the end of the pier, but I think it was too windy for them. Lots of wind surfers though, Justin and I really want to try it, looks awesome!
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| We were impressed with how high they would jump! |
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| Skyline from St Kilda |
If you turned left from our airbnb there was a nice big park area with different sporting fields, and Aussie black swans. Justin was in runners heaven here... and we even ran together one day!
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| feeding aussie swans at the lake |
Our airbnb host left us an info packet with lots of restaurant suggestions, so we decided to try her favorite Mexican restaurant. It was a fun place, but I will say the Mexican food in Australia is not like it is in the US... it was still tasty though! Smaller portion sizes, but similar offerings... Justin and I will be ready for Dos Taquitos (or really he's ready for Armadillo Grill) for whoever wants to go when we get back! The margaritas were especially good, and happened to be on 2 for 1 special!
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| something isn't right here... :-P |
Downtown Melbourne
Really neat architecture...
Melbourne has unique buildings everywhere, we loved all the offsetting of the different floors and all the colors.
Justin might move into that tall building with the purple / blue floors.
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| Flinders Street Station |
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| I really liked this one, the white is piping or something outside the main building |
Trams?
Seems weird to point out, but the tram system was just so easy to figure out that we didn't even have to look up how to get downtown or back to St Kilda at all. The trams come every 3 minutes or so even where our airbnb was, so you never had to plan around it like in Sydney. I felt that overall Melbourne was really organized, or maybe it was just beautiful and therefore easy on the eyes to get around :)
Even the tram stops had beautiful designs on the glass... wish I had taken a picture. A little goes a long way in a big city! And it's not just me, there are t-shirts with trams on them... so...
StReEt ArT...
Melbourne is known for their street art, and we saw lots of examples of this just in the small area we were able to explore.
We took a picture of the cat for Mom and Vera :) Love the bright colors in the other one.
Roo burgers?!?
Before we left Australia we wanted to make sure we tried kangaroo, so we decided to try it in burger form! At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but why not. Also, we learned while we were on Kangaroo Island that Australia has to cull a couple million kangaroos a year. So maybe it's more sustainable since kangaroos are naturally in this environment, and our KI tour guide said kangaroos don't need much to live off of being very efficient with their resources. Anyway, I didn't realize there was such an over population of them, I think I forgot to talk about that in my last post.
They sure were tasty! I would compare it more to a chicken burger, or maybe lamb, but that could've been the sauces it was paired with. We split a yummy mushroom salad with it!
While we were eating here I spotted Kola the koala in a cute shop across the street (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's at the end of this blog lol). The shop was already closed but I made sure to come back the following day, and found out he was hand knitted by a local Melbournian.
Loved all the stylish alleyways/nooks...
Seemed like everywhere you turned there were hidden nooks with trendy restaurants and cafes. It would take a long time to fully explore Melbourne's food scene! Impressive.
We will be back someday Melbourne! (Don't tell Justin but I may like it better than Sydney... :-P )
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| Victoria Market |
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| Yarra River |
Reflecting on Australia...
Time has seriously flown... I can't believe I'm sitting here in New Zealand writing this. I know it's ridiculous to say, but with a trip this long I've almost gone through the post-trip depression for every place we've been, and yet been so excited for the next place. Looking back thinking about the Cairns lagoon, or the gold coast... it's just like reflecting on separate trips almost. Traveling this long it's almost like you reach a day to day normalcy, and then you wake up and realize you are 86 days in! I mean, what?
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| Kola the Koala on Australia Day! |
So, Australia... this trip... Where do I begin with reflecting? What have we learned?
On Australia...
We love it here, everything feels so laid back and the saying is "no worries". This ideology seems to hold true especially for those small beach towns, like in Queensland. We've loved the people, the tropical fruit, laying out on the gorgeous beaches, and hiking in the amazing bushland. I personally love the coffee and honeycomb gelato, and Justin loves how advanced the appliances are, haha. Australia in general seems to really emphasize caring for the environment, and healthier foods seem more abundant. Of course we also love the kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, etc! The plants, the bird life, especially the birds in Queensland and listening to their vibrant sounds. It's truly an amazing country, and we just love the vibes here. We will be back, in March, but also again in the very near future. Australia, you definitely capture both of our hearts!
On the trip/traveling itself...
Man, what an experience! First off, I feel so blessed we've been able to do this. That our business allows us to work no matter where we are, and we actually have gotten work done. I've discovered I really love living in each new place, waking up to a new city, and the anticipating what you'll explore that day. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't care for routine, and I've found this way of traveling while working to be refreshing and invigorating. It's surprised me how an airbnb can and does feel like your "home" for that moment in time. Not to say that I don't get homesick for my real home, I do, I talk about that further down.
I've been blown away by the kindness of others, especially with our airbnb hosts. Each one has been so helpful and welcoming. The whole airbnb experience has been wonderful, and I'm so glad we chose to go that route. We have found our favorite airbnbs are when the host lives on the property also. Nice to have someone to say hi to and check in sometimes, and offer recommendations.
It's been kind of interesting, but with traveling this long we've almost reached a sort of "normalcy". It feels almost normal to be gone and to be here, to be living out of the suitcase I brought (which by the way have been holding up really well). I guess it's just interesting how quickly you adapt and discover what works for a new way of living. No matter what by traveling changes you, you expand your comfort zone and understanding of others, and that's the beauty of it. My quote at the end of this blog summarizes that well :) I am so glad we chose to do this.
On missing home...
Having said all of that, I definitely get homesick. I miss everyone back home and it feels weird to not see anyone for so long. On instagram I follow all these AU/NZ accounts, but I still follow all the Raleigh foodies. I'll see pictures of my favorite places and new ones I want to try. I've teared up talking to my mom over facetime, missed my own bed, and am definitely miss girl time. It's really an great experience to travel for so long, but it comes with it's own challenges.
I think traveling just shows you how amazing this world is (in case you forgot), and yet how completely wonderful your little home nook is as well. It's almost like your appreciation for every place is peaked. Raleigh will feel like a brand new city when we get back. And we actually do have return tickets now, we'll be back on March 29th!
So far so good though, and while it's bittersweet to leave Australia, it's time to explore middle earth!!!
Love to you all, we miss you so so much!
Sarah
"I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world"
~ Mary Anne Radmacher
p.s: This week in things (read appliances) Justin loves... a light up dishwasher! Yes, we are turning 30 this year... LOL
p.p.s: Things Sarah loves... learning new ways to make coffee! This italian percolator was fun to try from our airbnb.
