Adelaide:
I only spent a day and a half in Adelaide. I flew in early in the morning and then had a good time walking around to figure out where I was. I wish I would have spent a few more days there but I still had a good time. The first day I just walked around and tried not to get lost. All of the female hostel rooms were taken while I was in the city so I had to go in a mixed room. It wasn’t too bad. The first night I was in a room with some German guys who didn’t talk to me. The second night I was in a room with a guy from Spain and the rest were girls. This guy’s bed was insanely immaculate. Another girl in the room and I with and I wanted to take a picture. The second day I got up with a mission of going to see a doctor. I needed to get rid of whatever was going on in my lungs. I thought it was entirely asthma related but I ended up being prescribed an antibiotic, inhaler and an asthma medication. I am not entirely sure why the doctor thought I have a bacterial infection but I decided it probably would not hurt to try the antibiotic. I suppose I can kill anything else I might have picked up. I have been on that for the last few days and feel better but still think I will need to use the asthma medication.
After the doctor my other goal was to go to Haigh’s Chocolate Factory. It is a small chocolate factory in Adelaide. They offer free tours and have discount chocolate. I signed up for a tour and headed out. I had to walk for about 15 minutes from the free tram. The tour was fun. It was not anything too exciting. We started out in a small room where they did an overview of the history of there chocolate. It started out as a family business in 1915 and has remained so. In the 1940s the first son who inherited the business decided the chocolate needed to be of higher quality. He wrote to several chocolate makers in Europe and asked for lessons and only 3 of them wrote back. Two said no and one said yes: Lindt. He was able to go and study with them for several months to improve his chocolate. The results were great because the chocolate was really delicious. You could actually watch people make the candy. The most interesting thing they were making was Easter eggs. They had a machine that would spin them so the chocolate would distribute evenly. Also, I was surprised to learn that any of the novelty chocolates they sold like molded fish or eggs were all wrapped by hand! Apparently it takes a lot of skill because the chocolate melts quickly in your hands. I bought a few chocolates to bring home as gifts.
After the chocolate factory I found some lunch and then made my way back to the hostel. I had to check into a new mixed room because the other had been booked previously. I didn’t care because they at least had a room for me! The day before they were all sold out of female spots.
The hostel offered a free tour of the parts of the city the night I was there. We went down and toured the really awesome open markets they have. I wish I could have spent another day or two to get to enjoy the markets more. They had all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables and pre-made foods. We were able to sample a few things that were really delicious. The tour guide pointed out several inexpensive places to eat. After the markets we went to this arts festival that was going on. There was a parade that started that night. We waited for a while but ended up not being able to see very much so we moved on. An Australian girl and I broke off from the group when the tour ended and went over to the festival to get in. There were too many people! It was free to get in and the line wrapped around the venue so we walked around instead. We found this really fun candy story. The outside had a really cute animated picture. The inside of the store was a bit of a let down. They had some unusual candies but the displays were really poor compared to the outside of the building. Eventually we found a Middle Eastern restaurant to have dinner. The food was delicious. The girl I was with was interesting. She was in the city for a music conference because she teaches music in Melbourne.
Saturday, Feb 25:
I booked a tour on the Great Ocean Road. I thought about renting a car but in the end I decided this might be easier and less stressful. If I had someone to go with I would have gone for the car. I actually met some people in Adeliade who would have wanted to rent a car but at that point it was too late to back out of the tour.
This tour is the only overnight tour I have booked. The tour was 2 nights and 3 days. We started in Adelaide and left at 6 am. We drove for several hours and had a break in a few spots. We stopped at a farm that breads white kangaroos! They were really awesome to see. I guess the breeder once came across a white one and just started to breed them. He sells them to zoos and other things. Eventually we got to a waterfall that was really beautiful. We had to hike down to it. It wasn’t much of a hike but the heat was intense. Victoria is not as humid as the other states I have been in but it is really hot.
The first night we stayed in a place called the Grampians National Park. The mountains are beautiful there. Our accommodation for the night was really fun. They were small cabins within the National Park. Outside of the room were wild kangaroos! I went and took a few pictures of them. I found a mamma with a baby in her pouch. I could not photograph it because she kept moving but I was surprised by how big the baby was. I was told the babies will try to climb in until their mothers finally kick them out. There was a little walk that had hiking trails behind the kangaroos that was beautiful.
We started out the day with a hike early in the morning to a place called Pinnacle Point within the Grampians National Park. The hike was more strenuous than I thought it would be. The random staircases they were able to install along the trail surprised me. The hike was only 2.4 kilometers. Once we got to the top the view was really beautiful. Everything was really green with lots of trees around. There were a few large cliff drop offs. We stayed there for a while and then headed back to the bus. I feel like all you do is get on and off the bus on tours. The bus for this tour is not very nice.
We road on the bus for a couple of hours and then stopped to get lunch. After picking up our sandwiches we went to a beach were the Great Ocean Road starts. The water was freezing but so clear! It was the Southern Ocean. The sandstone formations that line the Great Ocean Road started there. They were incredible to see. I have never seen such unusual sandstone creations. Some of them were just breathtaking and looked faked because they were so amazing.
After staying at the ocean for a few hours we started going to look out points. We kept getting occasional rainstorms, which made our adventures from the bus interesting. Some of the stops were just breathtaking but of course my camera died when we started! I didn’t even think to charge it the night before. One of the girls on the tour told me she would give me pictures. I also felt like several of the sights were things better enjoyed to view because when you take pictures you don’t really get to see it like you do without a camera. We went back later in the day to see the 12 Apostles during sunset. It was so gorgeous! I was really impressed with the sunset. We stayed there for a while and after the tour guide was kind of in a rush to leave but we took our time getting back to the bus. I was not very impressed with this tour guide. He was a bit disorganized throughout the trip. The first night dinner took 3 hours longer than he said it would to prepare. He was not very good at telling us what we would be doing during the day.
Monday, Feb 29:
Monday the tour started out by driving for an hour or so. We drove to a rainforest. The rainforest was really interesting because it stays cooler there. We went on a self-guided tour that was fascinating because there was a skywalk during part of it so you were above sections of the rainforest. They also had a neat lookout you could climb up and get an even higher viewpoint. I enjoyed all of the mist in this rainforest. You could hear many different birds but I was only able to spot a few. I was surprised by how different this rainforest was from the more tropical one I went to in Queensland.
After the rainforest walk we rode on the bus for a few hours with a some stops to see different things along the way. We finally made it to a little town where we had lunch. We were able to spot wild Koalas near the park we had lunch at! They were living in trees next to people’s homes. I think the only reason I would want to live in Australia is so I could have a Koala in my backyard. They are so cute and lazy. Along the street we were on were wild parrots. Several other tour busses had stopped there and they gave their passengers food to feed the birds. The birds would land right on people. I got the privilege of having a bird poop on me. That is the second bird in Australia who has pooped on me!
After lunch we got back on the bus and went to a famous surf beach but the tide was low so no one was surfing. We went to some surf store outlets. They had all of the famous brands but everything was still ridiculously expensive. I didn’t buy anything. I guess that most of the famous surf brands like Billabong started in Australia. After the outlets we headed into Melbourne. It took us about 2 hours to get into town. The tour driver just dropped us off in a general area and we were left to find our accommodation. Luckily I only had to walk about a block to get there. I think overall the tour was worth doing but it would have been nice to have more freedom along the way. The nice thing about tours is you don’t have to plan anything you just do what you are told to do!