Road Trip: SM3!

That's Sydney to Melbourne, and in 3 days! On Monday morning, very early, I left my hostel (thankfully!) to wait for the OzExperience bus on a nearby corner. Soon, the bus pulled around the corner, and the driver yelled out the window, "Hellooo, Annie!" I met Luke, a Steve Irwinesque tour guide, and hopped on the bus. I was the first one on, so Luke and I had a little chat on our way to pick up the others. I quickly learned that it was going to be a small tour - only three other travelers! To my surprise, we ended up getting along well, and the trip wasn't awkward at all. We first picked up Jess, a 19 year-old English girl who is traveling around Australia for several months and is determined to wear her bikini all the time, just because she's in Oz. Then, we met Martin, a recent university graduate from Holland, and Sukenya, an English IT worker taking a break from her career to travel.

We left Sydney, heading south to Canberra, the capital city of Australia. With a population of 340,000, it's an unlikely city to have the honour of serving as it's nation's capital. Well, there's a funny story: Back in the early 1900's, Sydney thought it should be the capital. But, Melbourne did, too. And the rest of Australia couldn't agree. So, they decided to make a new city for their capital, in a deserted place called Canberra between the two cities. As a result, Canberra seems empty, looks sterile, and isn't really worth visiting, with the exception of Parliament, that is.

Luke gave us his own tour of the Parliament building, complete with commentary on the current political situation here. The Australian crest, with the kangaroo and emu, were all over the building. Those two animals form the crest because . . . they can't walk backward! In other words, they represent a forward-moving Australia! We also learned that Canberra has some different laws from the rest of the country. Consequently, according to Luke, because marijuana, porn, and firecrackers are legal, the people there "smoke pot, watch porn, blow things up, and then go make decisions that affect the whole country!"

After spending a couple hours in Canberra, we headed on to Jindabyne, a small ski town, for the night. The four of us stayed together in the motel, and the room was delightful compared to my previous hostel! The next morning, we rose early to head up to Mt. Kosiusko National Park for a "walk." It was rather chilly up in the mountains, and I wasn't too keen to do the planned walk. Unfortunately for my legs, lungs, and extremities, we all set off on the hilly 10km return hike because Martin wanted to go. Eventually, the girls and I managed to get the bus key from Luke, and we headed back to the warm bus a little before the end.

That night, after much more driving along windy, rail-less, dirt roads, we arrived at our destination, Lakes Entrance, which is near 90-mile beach. Along the road, Luke waved to everyone he passed, even cows. I'm not sure if he did this because of inner enthusiasm or if drivers in remote areas wave to each other to ward off the loneliness of long drives. We stopped often, ostensibly to use the loo, but, also for Luke to take a smoke break! It was fine with me though, as loo stops provided a break from the roads, in addition to the loo.

Yesterday, we rose before the sun to get an early start. And to do martial arts on 90-mile beach with Luke. At least it woke us up . . . We headed on to Wilson's Promontory National Park, a huge isthmus off the southern coast of the continent. There, we did another little "walk" and had a picnic on a overlook. My favorite part, however, came after the walk when we walked around a plain in the park to search for native wildlife. We saw several wombats, some emus, and heaps of kangaroos!! I think kangaroos have superceded sheep as my current favorite animal. I fear a large stuffed animal kangaroo may be coming back home with me . . .

We pulled into Melbourne last night, and I was absolutely worn out, but ready for some city life. I switched hostels at Luke's advice; I'd made a reservation in St. Kilda, the part of town where ladies of the night are too abundant for my taste. While in Sydney, I stayed in King's Cross, a neighboorhood I preferred to avoid after dark. So, I was grateful for Luke's suggestion because I certainly didn't want that experience again. I'm staying in a huge hostel called 'Nomads Industry,' which lives up to its name - it is definitely an industry for nomads! I'm getting a little irritated with the whole hostel scene-especially with roommates who turn on lights in the early morning and with towels that smell like dirty feet. I have learned some tricks about hostel-staying though: Buy milk with a screw-on top. Fold-in tops result in spilled milk.

Today, I explored "Melbourne-town, the world's best town," according to Luke. I took a free tram around the City Centre to Federation Square, a big open area near the Yarra River, which runs through the center of town. I checked out the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria), and I found the Indigenous Art collection absolutely amazing. After that, walked up to the Melbourne Gaol, the oldest Gaol in all of Victoria. It was a bit spooky, and the tales of executed criminals made me cringe. I looked at as much as I could stomach, but I really wondered why I had thought the place sounded cool at all. After riding the tourist shuttle - also free - around some of the suburbs, I ended up back in Federation Square, where I went to St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral for an evensong service. It's one of the few places outside the U.K. where there actually are Anglican evensong services, so I felt lucky to have found the place!

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Phillip Island to see a parade of tiny penguins, and on Saturday I'm flying back to Christchurch. I've enjoyed Aussieland, where they really do say, "G'day, Mate!" and "no worries," instead of "you're welcome." They speak more slowly, and in a more chill way than do Kiwis, and I'm going to miss that. I'm also going to miss kangaroos and koalas - but I guess sheep in huge quantities are cool, too.