Ramblings and the Great Ocean Road part one [the part that doesn’t actually cover the GOR at all. Ha.]

January 7, 2015

Do you ever sit down to write, but there is just too much to write about so you end up writing nothing at all because you don’t know where to start? That seems to be the current story of my life when it comes to this blog. I am literally overwhelmed when I even start thinking about where to begin. I’ve gotten so far behind that it almost seems pointless sometimes to try and catch up. And yet, I know I NEED to make myself document this adventure as much as possible so that I remember everything for later. And so you all can peek in from time to time as well. This place is AMAZING, and my one regret throughout this whole thing is that most of my family and friends will never get to experience it for themselves. =( If I was rich I’d send everyone on a trip to visit Australia. Seriously, I love it here. Recently I was thinking back to the day before the day I left for Australia. Or, really, the night before that. Ha. Anyway, I was remembering getting all teary-eyed whenever I thought about my upcoming flight to Sydney. It was the night of my brother’s wedding rehearsal and I couldn’t believe I had to say goodbye to everyone again so soon. 7 weeks at home seemed to have flown by. I couldn’t even think about planes or Australia or goodbyes without crying. It was awful. I knew I would have a great time here, I just had to get through all the goodbyes and then I would be ok. And now that I am here, I just smile when I remember back to that night. And I can’t imagine not having come here. Besides Russia it’s been THE best adventure. It’s hard to believe I’ve only been here about 3.5 months. I’ve seen and done and experienced so much already!

See? I get on here to post an update about Melbourne/GOR and I end up rambling. There is so much that rushes through my brain anytime I think about blogging.

[Side note: One day I will post a list of all my interesting animal/insect experiences here. I have been jotting them down in my journal. Today I spotted a lizard upstairs in the kitchen (never seen one upstairs before) as he darted out of somewhere to catch and eat a fly that had just landed on the floor. Then he disappeared under a shelf. It happened so fast, I was glad I happened to be looking at that spot on the floor when he appeared, ha. Random things like that seem to happen all the time.]

Ok, back to my latest trip. I am pretty sure I have other trips I need to post here but for now we’ll just try to catch up on this latest one.

Summary: A Dutch friend from Brisbane and I flew down to Melbourne and met up with 3 German au pairs we’d never met before. Melanie and I rented the car (I think that’s my first time renting a car in another country? Pretty sure….) and then drove to the first night’s hostel and met up with the other girls. The girls were nice. The hostel? Let’s just say that hostels like that remind me that I am getting old and hostels aren’t my thing. I might have said “never again” once or twice while staying there. Thankfully the other hostels were much better. One was even adorable. Now my brain is undecided on hostels again.

Anyway, we met up and then went into the CBD to see some sights before setting out for St. Kilda to watch the fairy penguins come in from sea. We had originally planned to go out to Phillip Island to see the penguin parade, but I am so glad we switched plans. We still got to see penguins but we saved a lot of money and time this way! You weren’t allowed to use flash photography near the penguins, so it was hard to get any decent pictures [seeing as they come in about 30 minutes after sunset]. But see? Aren’t they so adorable and small?

We had so much fun watching the penguins swim in from sea and climb onto all the rocks along the pier. They were so cute and sometimes so loud! Some of them walked very close to us as they wandered around. Definitely a fun experience.

St. Kilda marina with Melbourne in the background

We also stopped by Brighton Beach before setting out on the Great Ocean Road. The little beach houses there are so adorable and fun! [the second time we stopped by, some of them were open and people were using them. I saw things like surfboards and boogie boards stored inside]