tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7106643013501872002.post-31954181236953420102008-10-21T23:36:00.000-07:002008-10-22T00:07:26.120-07:00Last Friday I woke up at 2:55 am to finish gathering my stuff and walk to the train station. A friend and I took the 3:30 am train into Sydney for my flight to Melbourne (southern coast of Australia). The plan was for my 4 friends already down in Melbourne to pick me up from the airport at 7:30 when I got in. After many distressing phone calls and text messages, 9 am rolled around and still no one. In fact, the girl I had ridden the train with took a later flight and had already arrived at the airport so I decided to just take a taxi with her into the city. Wouldn't you know it, 10 minutes into the taxi ride my friends call and tell me they are on the way. Once I finally met up with them we took off for the Great Ocean Road, the most beautiful scenic drive in the world. And it definitely lived up to that billing. I think one girl summed it up best when she said "wow, God is really good. Just look at how amazing this is. I could never think this up." The scene changes from farmland to beautiful views of the ocean. Then it turns into these rolling hills like we were in Scotland or Ireland. Finally you drive through a forest before coming back to the ocean. We stopped at several lookouts along the way to just admire the beauty. We also spent a little time hiking with a small but nice waterfall as our reward. After that we attempted to tour Australia's oldest lighthouse, but it was closed. All was not lost, though, as we spotted a whole clan of wild koalas. After spending time taking pictures one of the girls asked "I wonder if koalas stay in the same tree or move around?" Not 3 minutes later we saw a koala on the side of the road. We got out to take pictures and the koala proceeded to walk within about 2 feet of us on its way to another tree. Fortunately it was only about 8 feet up so we all got great pictures with the wild koala! To top it all of, the same girl jokingly commented "I wonder what it would be like to see a baby koala?" Just 5 minutes later we spotted a mother and baby koala in the tree. Now it was starting to get creepy haha. We got out to take pictures and the koalas actually climbed down the tree towards us. We thought perhaps the mother would be hostile in protecting her baby so we jumped in the car. The mother koala (with the baby on her back) proceeded to circle the car and gnaw on our tires. We were being held hostage by a koala! After a few minutes she moved on, though, so we opened our doors and sat just a mere few feet away from this adorable baby koala. The culmination of the trip was the 12 Apostles, rock formations existing because of the ocean water corroding the cliffs until sections break away. It's the most famous icon of the Great Ocean Road and we planned it so we arrived in time for a beautiful sunset. We drove back to our hostel and checked into our room complete with an oceanside view. Not a bad first day!<br /><br />The next day we took our time driving back to Melbourne. We stopped at Bells Beach where Australia holds its annual surfing competition and watched some surfers for a while. Then we moved on to an actual beach where we could lounge and enjoy (if you can call your body going numb enjoyment) the water. We got back to Melbourne and checked into our hostels as our group had shrunk from 5 to 3 as two flew back that night. We decided to venture to the Italian district for an amazing Italian dinner followed by gellato. I then left those two and met up with the girl I mentioned earlier whom I had taken the train with to hit the town. We went to a club where the bar was in the middle of an alley. A little dodgy for Americans, but I later realized that's just how Melbourne is.<br /><br />The next morning that same girl and I went on the penguin parade tour to Phillip Island. We had some interesting foreigners who made the trip pretty fun. We stopped at a sanctuary to feed more kangaroos and pet wombats and koalas on the way there. Then that night we sat on the beach and waited until groups of wild penguins made their way in from the ocean to their burrows. The penguins are actually Little Penguins, the smallest species of penguins in the world, so we were really fortunate to have a group waddle like 6 inches away from us because they were kind of hard to see. After severals groups make their way up the beach you can walk around the boardwalks and watch the penguins "socialize" with each other. We also saw penguin mating haha. It was really neat to see these animals in their natural environments with no human intervention and just witness their antics.<br /><br />The final day we just toured the city. A neat city, but I'm told it's more of a European taste. I did play my first slot machine at a casino and lost $1. We got drinks for playing, though, so I maintain that I came out ahead on that trip! The best part is that my parents will get to share this experience when they come!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7106643013501872002-3195418123695342010?l=mlally.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Matt Lallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284807409648192147noreply@blogger.com0