Australia was the last country that we'd explore on our trip, and that is a scary thought. On the other hand, we still had 7 of the 20 weeks to go, which is much more comforting. With some additional mental effort, we were able to create another subdivision: we would first spend 2 weeks relaxing in Melbourne before our final 5 weeks of road tripping down the east coast. So now we had 7 weeks to go ánd weren't even on the final stretch! Sometimes a little bit of denial goes a long way.

In the absence of any real landmarks, we spent most of our two weeks trying to figure out why Melbourne is known as one of the most liveable cities in the world. We ate all the foods, drank all the coffee and consumed enough alcohol to say: It's a pretty good place. The laneway culture definitely lends a helping hand. While narrow alleyways are to be avoided in almost all cities, the Melbourne alleys, euphemistically called 'laneways', tend to harbour cool little coffee places, shops, street art, and restaurants. A very famous passage is Degraves street, where we got our lunch from one of the many vendors multiple times. And while it is useful for a tourist to get a full stomach for about 5 AUD, it mostly caters to the suits that descend from their surrounding glass towers for a quick lunch. Another place to get a cheap lunch is from the food courts in one of the shopping centers. Melbourne Central was the one closest to our hostel, and you can fill up on sushi for an impossibly cheap 10-15 AUD. Sushi doesn't tickle your fancy? How about pizza, pasta, Indian, Thai, Japanese (Sweet mother of tastebuds: Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancake), anything goes.

Speaking of Melbourne Central: It's a massive shopping complex spanning multiple blocks that are connected by walkways over the streets below. It has also swallowed the Shot Tower under a massive glass dome, one of Melbourne's older buildings. Another of Melbourne's older buildings is the 'Old Melbourne Gaol', where we got taken into custody as part of the museum experience. Caroline was a stalker, I got in a violent fight. And so we got locked in the watchhouse, where drunks used to recover from their boozing, where prostitutes couldn't perform their tricks, or where other petty criminals spent a night to make the streets momentarily safer. This was adjacent to the actual gaol (I have no idea why they insist on spelling 'jail' so weirdly). Ned Kelly was hanged there, Australia's most famous outlaw from back in the day. A Down Under version of Billy the Kid, if you will.

We were nearing the end of November, and spring was rolling over into summertime. The city life also kicked into higher gear, and many events sprung up to celebrate the coming of summer. The 'Night noodle markets' by the river, Summer nights at the Queen Victoria Market every Wednesday, the Rose Street Artist Market every Sunday, and so on. There was no lack of events to attend, or to kindle my FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Lucky for me we had two weeks in Melbourne, so we could take things slowly and still have done just about everything we wanted to. And one of those things was the Great Ocean Road.

To explore the Great Ocean Road, we hired a car for a 2 day, 500 km long, highlight-reel mad dash. That car cost us 170 AUD for 2 days versus the 750 AUD we would be paying for a month long rental from Cairns to Sydney. Still cheaper than booking a tour though. Even with two days, we were short on time to see everything there is to see on the Great Ocean Road. But that may have something to do with spending a lot of time in Kenneth River, where exotic (wild!) birds perched on our shoulders, hands, head, basically anywhere they could for a front row spot to the seeds in our hands, The parrots were fine, but damn those kookaburras are heavy and cling on for deer life. And due to the abundance of eucalyptus trees, we were able to spot a momma koala munching away on some leaves while her cub explored nearby branches to also try (and fail) to munch on some leaves of his own. They kept falling out of his little mouth. All cuteness aside, the main attraction of the Great Ocean Road is not the wildlife, but the coastline. Rugged sandstone cliffs and structures weathered down by wind and sea, are dotted along this section of coast, a prime example being the 12 Apostles. Well worth the time in the car.

Our time in Melbourne was made all the much more unforgettable by our local friends that showed us around, for which we are eternally grateful. But they didn't mean well all the time. Lauren and Ed coerced Caroline into trying Vegemite when we were 'doing like the locals do' by going down to the Mornington Peninsula for the weekend, where we had frying oil encased in some fish and chips for dinner (greasyyy) on a paragliding runway overlooking the ocean. Ed taught us about 'sharky' water and the different ways of spotting strong currents at the beach. But back to the Vegemite: they promised her 'a delicious sandwich spread'. I warned her but she wouldn't listen. "Trust me, I'm an engineer", I said. I also tried the "Trust me, I'm a doctor", but to no avail. It took her hours to get rid of the taste. That is one life lesson learned the hard way.

We also roadtripped down to Philip Island, thanks to Costa who was willing to take us. Caroline got to touch a stinking koala on the way there. We skipped the daily parade of penguins coming back ashore in the evening after a day of hunting and frolicking in the sea, even though they counted over 2000 penguins the night before (Ed reminded us that heaps of penguins also means heaps of sharks. O yeah that's right we're in Australia!). It's still a beautiful island without the penguins, with stunning boardwalks and coastal views.

Our two weeks in Melbourne flew by at a terrifying rate. We wanted the time to go as slow as possible, but like Einstein proved, it actually goes faster when you're having fun. To end this blog update, here are two completely unrelated anecdotes that I couldn't fit into the storyline:

• When you're away for months on end, you inevitably encounter the moment when you can choose the hippie lifestyle, or get a haircut. Caroline had already gotten one in New Zealand, and now it was my turn. What are the odds of walking into a random barber shop, and the hairdresser being from the Netherlands? Splendid! That way we could have the 15 minute awkward chitchat in Dutch. Hers was a bit rusty though. Already spent too much time here.
• Driving is not the only thing that they do differently in New Zealand and Australia. The locks on doors are the other way around as well. We've now spent 8 weeks in these countries and are still getting it wrong every single time. It shows you how much mental activity is necessary (none) to lock a door. Pure muscle memory, an automatic movement that catches you off guard when it doesn't work.

Geschreven door BigTrip