How a volvo and a penguin conspired to get me...‏

I am just finishing up my last few days here in Melbourne. Had/having a fantastic time - this was a bit of a different vacation for me, more of a city break with cafes and culture - less danger one could say (I typed that line before Friday night - I wonder if I jinxed myself??)...

Shelly was busy Wednesday so that left Traci and I to venture on our own out into the great Metropolis of Melbourne. Armed with several maps and our wits we tackled the tram system. I wouldn't say that it won but we did spend a great deal of the day walking...to compensate for the confusing trams. I think Traci wanted to wander through the picturesque gardens that highlighted our guidebooks. I am thinking that those photos were taken in the spring/summer when it's warm out. Now it is chilly...and dreary. It's really hard to believe that this state has been in a drought for 15 years as it has rained almost every day that we have been here. Despite the precipitation Melbourne remains in Level 3a water restrictions, this means that you have little hourglass timers in your showers, no rinsing plates before the dishwasher (scrapping only), you save the water that you use to warm up the shower to water your plants etc...

The highlight of the day was actually a trip to the Melbourne Museum to see a horse. Not just any horse - a taxidermied horse named "Phar Lap". He is a hero around here. A star of horse racing from more then 50 years ago, his stuffed body is on display. What's even more astounding is little kids, whose grandparents weren't even alive when this horse ran are so excited to see him...they run up, stare in awe and then get super excited to take a photo of this dead horse. Australians are a different breed.

Oh what a find i have for anyone coming to Melbourne. It's an Italian restaurant named "Brunetti's". it is amazing, we have been there twice and would gladly squeeze another visit in if possible. It has amazing coffee, desserts too pretty to eat and scrumptious savory entrees - all served by surly Italians. The gelato is unbelievable as well. You simply must go...if you ever find yourself in Melbourne and in need of gaining 20 lbs or so.

Friday we tackled an iconic part of Melbourne...the Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes. These are huts or rather shacks that are painted obnoxiously bright colours and rest all in a row on Middle Brighton Beach. Rarely does one ever go up for sale; they are usually passed down in a will from generation to generation. However, one recently did go on the market...starting price $125,000. This seriously is a shed that has the square footage of a dining room table. No power, no running water, no windows. You could use it for changing into you swimsuit or maybe, I don't know, storing sandcastle making equipment so you don't have to lug it back and forth. Australians are a different breed.

We moved up the beach after that to the bohemian trendy area of St. Kilda. I am willing to bet if you close your eyes and try and imagine this upscale retro area you could conjure up a pretty similar picture; shops selling organic pet food, a run-down amusement park where you enter through the mouth of a giant clown and 200 cafes per block. Yep - that's St. Kilda. After a yummy lunch we all decided to split up and go our separate ways for the afternoon - plan was to meet back at Shelly's for an 1815 departure for dinner reservations. I decided to give myself a walking tour of St. Kilda and accidentally wandered into the Albert Park area. For race car fans this is where the Melbourne Formula 1 races are held each year, they close down certain areas of the park for the course around Albert Lake. I became the resident authority on the subject and ended up answering several questions for a group of French tourists who were wandering aimlessly around the park searching for the race track. I am not entirely certain that I gave them correct information but I figure, they're not going to know any better. Besides that I all could think about was finding a washroom while they we drilling me with questions about "turn 2" and "course length". Unfamiliar with my surroundings, I decided to return to the only clean, public washroom I knew of - back on the St. Kilda Pier (a mere 2 km or so away).

Feeling much relieved and yet a little tired I decided to rest with a cup of tea at the end of the pier. Well guess what lives at the end of the pier....FAIRY PENGUINS!!! Yeah!!! I was so excited. It turns out there is a small colony of these little critters that emerge from the ocean every night at dusk and waddle into their burrows in the breakwater rocks. Now here is another dilemma...dusk will mean too late to get back to Shelly's. I have no phone to let Shelly know I'll be late (and to confess I actually don't have her number). Plus she will worry. But...I would love to see penguins in the wild...hmmm you see how I was torn. As I sat pondering my options a little odd noise shrilled from behind me, a penguin!! In early I guess. I watched him in his burrow for...well lets just say a while...I think he wanted my to stay with him, I could sense a bond between us. A quick glance at my watch told me I was going to be late if I didn't get moving, so I bid farewell and took off down the pier and hopped onto tram 16. What luck I thought, tram 16 was waiting for me, that's the tram I am supposed to take home...hmmm...why is it going the wrong way...oops - trams run in both directions. No biggie I thought, I'll just hop off and get on the next number 16 in the other direction.

It seemed like such a simple plan. According to the schedule which I read 50 or so times, tram 16 comes every 10 min. I was cutting it close but I was confident that I wouldn't be late. 15 min passes, a second number 96 passes....I (armed still with my guidebook) give directions to a couple getting off the 96. More time passes, another 96 tram shows up. I guess word got around about me and I start giving more directions to fellow wayward travelers. We are now at the 30 min mark and no tram has shown up. I don't know what to do or who to call. I just keep standing there giving directions to people. I now start to fear that I will be known as that crazy girl with the messed up accent standing at stop number 103 waiting for tram 16 that everyone but her seems to know will never come. I'm afraid to leave, what if the tram comes? It's now dark (so any extra downer is that the penguins were just a 10 min walk away from me waddling up onto the beach - they are now tucked away in their burrows) and I have no idea what I am going to do - so I (as anyone who knows me or has even met me knows) work myself into a panic of epic proportions. I start making contingency plans for the worst case scenarios; plans to sleep in the bushes, survive on the 1/2 a box of smarties in my bag...and then, like a bright light from above, 41 min late, TRAM 16 shows up.

I know what you’re thinking...finally a happy ending. But no - not yet. So I toss the driver an annoyed glare and take my seat on the infamous number 16. Now I have to tell you a little bit about the tram system here in Melbourne. It is very extensive, they usually come every 5 - 10 min or so, allegedly, and the stops are every 50 m (approx 100 feet or so). You simply push a button when it's your stop; if you miss your stop not a big deal you could get off at the next one and walk back in about 1 - 2 min. There are about 100 stops between where I got on and where Shelly lives, obviously the more the tram stops the longer the journey takes. No tram in the history of trams has ever stopped at all stops...until that night. Did you ever see that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is on the subway and there is an internal running dialogue of her thoughts?? That was me on this f#%)$*ng tram. It would have been funny if I wasn't freaking out the whole time about being late. One guy got on and then rode it 1 stop and got off. 2 kyphotic old men with canes, slowly got on, sat down and rode it for 2 stops. Just after they got off I glanced out my window as our sadistic tram driver moved along at 1 mph and saw, I am not making this up, the two hunched over old men moving faster then the tram across the road. Then we stopped. I have no idea why. We just sat there; Australians are too polite to question anything. (Say what you want about Americans - that tram would have been overturned and set on fire by now). After 8 min or so we started up again. Stopped 4 more times and then oh my, shift change. A new tram driver gets on, does a safety check or something and then we're off - for another 100 feet or so.

After a large portion of my life we reach the end of the line (literally and metaphorically here) and I dart off - well not really because first I had to help and old man lift his shopping trolley off the tram. But after that I am away, running as swiftly as I can - only 8 short blocks to go, 2 major streets to cross and I am only 15 min or so late. I must have been a site, huffing and puffing down the street, like a giant maraca - because of the 1/2 box of smarties and a pocketful of shells in my coat. Then I see the last turn to make, road to cross. I am feeling a little better, still anxious because I am so late but excited to see the end in site. I glance across the road then sprint across like a gazelle/moose. Guess what...Australians drive on the left. I didn't even see it coming. One minute I was running like a strong breeze, next I was on the hood of a Volvo.

The next few minutes were all a blur. I remember the driver apologizing profusely for whacking me with his shiny car. I was apologizing profusely for scratching the hell out of the paint on his shiny car. He offered to drive me to the hospital or my destination. I was still so flustered that all I could think was I have to go!! I assure him I am fine and take off. He just stood there stunned, staring at me.

So I made it back to Shelly's (who of course was very understanding and not at all upset that I was late - she was just worried) changed and then headed to the city for Melbourne's own little Italy, Lygon St. Here we met Shelly's loud and hilarious brother, on vacation from Queensland, ate pasta and drank wine. I drank extra wine.

Our final day in Melbourne was spent with a fine tradition - taking in a game of footy at the cricket stadium. Watching Australians enjoy the sport is as much fun as the game. We were cheering for the St. Kilda Saints - all decked out in our red/white/black scarves as they took on the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Footy, or Australian rules, is a sport that you simply have to see to believe. I am amazed that there aren’t casualties at the end of it all. I remember asking a local last year about the pads - they tackle each other hard and frequently. He looked at me and said "ah they're not Americans, they're men". Australians are a different breed.

A security guard came to our section at one point because a member of a bachelor party was getting a little rowdy - the security officer asked the man to join him on the steps. They had a little chat and then the guy returned to his group; so civilized. The opposing fans tease each other and then acknowledge a good play by their rivals. The opposing fans shake hands/high five at the end of the game. I saw tea bags as litter. Australians are a different breed.

Well despite all my rambling I have only covered a small portion of what I had the chance to see/experience in this amazing country. Thank you for reading (I wonder how many of you actually made it to the end???). I am off to bed to prepare for my 3286 hr flight home - it's one of those weird things where I land before I ever take off - it will surely mess with my mind. If it's anything good, I'll call and tell you what the future holds...

Take care all and special thanks to Shelly, Traci, Chris, Martin and Jason for an awesome time.

Why are koalas not as excited to see me as I am to see them???‏

Well we made it back safe and sound from our Australian safari in lower Victoria! Anyone who listens to me ramble knows that one of my goals is to make it to 100 of the "1000 places to see before you die". Check off number 75 (I think - around there anyway).

Early Monday morning Traci and Shelly dumped my fever ridden body into the back of Shelly's Subaru and we set off for adventure down the "Great Ocean Road". This stretch of highway is referred to as one of the most picturesque in the world, and rightly so. It is a stretch of road approx 200km that weaves along the coast of the Southern Ocean and through the temperate rain forest of lower Australia. We started in the world famous surf town of Torquay (home of Rip Curl and QuikSilver) and infamous Bell's Beach - home of the Rip Curl Surf tournament. I wanted to grab a board and hit the waves but Traci and Shelly pointed out that there was still much to see so, reluctantly, we pushed on.

After some random stops at anything marked "historical marker" or "lookout", plus a 45 min beachcomber/tidal pool exploration stop we finally reached a small town of Lorne. It was here that we met a cute little Australian woman who altered our whole minibreak. You know what it's like when you plan a trip - somehow you are going to make it to all the highlights, cover 1000 km a day, stop everywhere and yet still have a relaxing day - we all tackle too much. This woman took one look at our plan, scoffed at our ambitions, muttered some cute little Ozzie phrase and then set about telling us what to see. It servers as a reminder to all of us - locals know more about what to see then guidebooks.

It was because of this awesome women that I was able to see one of the coolest things ever - koalas in the wild. She gave us directions to an area behind a caravan park (read: trailer park - they have them here too) that locals say are renowned for these fuzzy little marsupials. At first disappointment was felt throughout the car until Shelly, eagle eye that she is, spotted a little fuzzy ball about 50 feet at the top of a gum tree. We parked the car and set off on foot traipsing through the Australian bush (nothing too dangerous in Australia eh?). Soon we were surrounded by adorableness. Everywhere we looked Koalas were eating, climbing but mainly sleeping. There were so many that had then been a dangerous animal I would have seriously been worried. A few hundred photos later (we had to abandon the safari as twilight set in) we headed off to try and find lodging and food (read: beer).

We were able to secure a room in the somewhat abandoned town this time of year, but I imagine quite the hopping place in summer, of Apollo Bay. After short stroll down the boardwalk and we decided to dine on the only restaurant in town. A few beers later and I came face to face with a dilemma...I wanted to eat something different and local - 'Roo, but I also wanted to ensure that I would spot some in the wild. After struggling with this dinner decision, and mainly fearing bad karma - I opted for the chicken schnitzel.

Early the next morning, to ensure an maximum amount of daylight for adventure, we set off down the highway. Planning to work off upcoming breakfast, we had a quick little trek through the water soaked rainforest in search of, and I am serious here, carnivorous snails. Not sad to say that we did not come upon any of these little buggers. More wildlife treated us on our drive back to the coast, a few koalas, kookaburras, Scarlett rosellas (bright red budgies) and...kangaroos. Well kind of...Shelly spotted 4 large grey kangaroos, pulled the car over, we scrambled out of the car and made eye contact with these massive animals. Then something spooked them...it could have been our scent, the noise of the camera turning on...or Traci yelling "Oh my God, they're hopping, THERY'RE HOPPING, THEY'RE HOPPING!!! Hmmm not sure what it was...so the pictures...well you will have to use your imagination, but it was awesome to see them hopping, Traci was justified in her excitement.

We next stopped at Cape Otway - "Australia's Most Significant Lighthouse". Ummmm I am not sure why it is the MOST significant. it's pretty. it has fantastic and i mean fantastic, scones. and i met a guy there - the man who sits at the top of the lighthouse and tells you stories, he begged me to find him a job. Apparently Canada is reinstating it's lighthouse keepers - he wants me to e-mail him when I see the jobs posted. (Attn: any Canadian friends who may be reading this and have any pull with the coast guard - he has tremendous amounts of experience and I think he may off himself if he is forced to entertain tourists much longer. His name is Pat).

The most photographed portion of this historical road is an area referred to as the 12 Apostles. The Southern Ocean carved away the shoreline leaving 12 towers of layering limestone (only 8 remain). They are quite spectacular but look as though they may topple over at any point in time. I took a few photos that I will pass on soon enough.

Our last stop for adventure was the canopy tree top walk through the Beech and Blackwood forest. We climbed up and walked along a series of walkways at a height of 47 metres/150 feet above the forest floor. It was awesome but the slightest breeze made you say a little prayer. As sunset came again we climbed home and headed for Melbourne, a brief stop at McDonald's rounded out our adventure - I had the sweet chili chicken wrap and Traci dined on the Tandori Chicken wrap (for those who follow my other adventures I like to try McDonald's in all these places because they all have different foods - interesting too me).

Off to tackle the city on our own today, as usual sorry for the rambling, thanks for reading and special thanks to those who wrote back!!

Finally a country where you can get a decent cup of tea!‏

I write to you from a very funky and ultra modern flat in one of the most hip and funky cities i have ever been - Melbourne Australia. I am in the land down under visiting an old friend from Harborview in Seattle (Shelly). Traci and I embarked on Wednesday from Seattle and ended up in Melbourne a few days later after layovers in both San Francisco and Sydney.

Melbourne is an awesome city. It has neat little alleyways, an amazing public transportation system and more coffee shops then even, dare I say it, Seattle. I cannot help but feeling out of place here as I stroll around in my Old Navy inspired wardrobe - women walk by in coloured tights, vintage jumpers, fur hats and skinny jeans all complete with the attitude to pull it off. I sip my "flat white" coffee quietly nestled in my fleece jacket with my runners/tennis shoes on, watching in awe.

It is autumn here and the leaves are changing and there is a chill in the air. My body responded immediately to the fall season by contracting a horrific cold. So I am sniffling my way through this amazing city with a runny nose and a throat soothed only by tea and slurpees.

Our first day here after our 14.5 hr international flight and combined 3 hours of domestic flights was spent napping and showering before a night on the town. My Canadian friends are definitely going to question our first stop, we went to a bar called "Chill On" - for a handsome some of money, you are dressed in a parka, boots and gloves and then placed in a giant ice freezer where the temperature is a brisk -10 C. Drinks are served to you in glasses made of ice. You sit on fur rugs on top of ice. The walls are ice. I think you get the picture. made me chuckle to think back to the times I would complain about bitter cold back home - who would have thought if you just serve a cocktail you can make a mint!

Today was a bit of a slower day because my head feels like it may explode. Breakfast at a trendy little restaurant and then shopping at an artisan market. We took a cruise down the Yarro river and sipped coffees in more then one of the many little cafe's that Melbourne has to offer. We strolled down alleys covered in graffiti commissioned by the government. One of the highlights of my day was photographing a riot/protest. There is a huge demonstration currently taking place in downtown Melbourne - Indian students are protesting 2 recent unprovoked attacks against Indians. Police on horses and others decked out in riot gear are on hand to try and control the situation that was escalating out of control. We saw the students unsuccessfully try and storm the train station and then react by throwing lit candles at the police. Similar to my last time in Cusco when Barry dragged me away, Shelly and Traci stopped me from getting close enough to get any decent shots.

Sorry for the rambling. I am a little high on the most powerful cold medicine the Chemist (pharmacist) would sell me. We are planning on hitting the road tomorrow in search of adventure down the Great Ocean Highway...

more to come,
amyleah