One last weekend in Sydney

We had one final weekend in Sydney before jet setting off to India, and it just so happened it was Easter weekend so our lovely hosts, Kiera and Dave, both had an extended long weekend and were able to spend most of it with us! We started the weekend off right with a little Good Friday afternoon backyard BBQ, and since Kiera and Dave have a dream of a backyard it was the perfect spot for it. We feasted of salad, potatoes and seafood (well chicken for Kait and I) and the beer, wine and bubbly pretty much flowed all night. After the sunset we decided to turn this backyard BBQ into a backyard bonfire which we kept going until the wee hours of the morning.  At some point during the evening Kait leaned over to me and said…. “You’re not going to like this but there is a…..”, she didn’t even get to finish telling me that there was a spider on me (I knew what she was about to say) before uncontrollable reaction set it. Unlucky for me, but apparently hilarious for everyone else my uncontrollable reaction was a full body half spasm – half dance looking thing that went on for about 30 seconds. I think at some point I even threw my wine glass half way across the yard (sorry Keeks :) 

Getting ready for the feast

Our amazing hosts 

Relaxing by the fire

On day 2 of our final weekend we had planned to go catch an Aussie rules football match (AFL), but due to some major procrastination at buying tickets in advance and getting to the stadium right before the game there was no longer and seats left together so we decided to forgo the game and do the next best thing – LAWN BOWLING! We headed off to the nearby Bavarian Beer café first so grab some lunch and litre beers and then grabbed a cab for the Paddy Bowls club in Paddington. After filling out our paper work, yes there was paper work involved, our new friend Hamish who works behind the bar got us set up with a round of ciders and a lane. 

Lunch and liters at the cafe

Getting rowdy at the bowls club

Beers at the bowls club

Look out Canada... we are bringing lawn bowling back!

To keep things interesting we decided to play girls against boys. I think until some point we were keeping score but after a few to many rounds of icy cold beers we kind of lost count. Although Dave will swear we had the spot of the day, I really think Kait takes that honor with a between the legs granny shot that thread the needle between 3 of the boys balls and hit the jack out of the way to steal all their points. Now I realize that most of you reading this blog has no idea what that means since no one plays lawn bowling, but just wait until we bring it back to N. America next summer…… then it will all make sense.

Next up we were off to meet up with mine and Kait’s friend from back home in Ottawa, Mikey B! We still hadn’t satisfied Jonny’s need to party back in Kings Cross, so tonight was to be the night.  It’s really hard to describe King’s Cross to anyone who hasn’t been there before, but essentially it is just a long strip of a few blocks that are littered with bars and late night food places, but it really has a vibe all its own. It’s one of those places where it would be common to see people stop to get a drunken tattoo or something along those lines. After a good pre-drink at Mike’s place we headed out to Kings Cross where the night continued again until late into the night. I wish I could give more detail on our night out in the Cross but it’s all a bit foggy.

So excited to see each other!

Reunited and it feels great!

Kings Cross Coke sign.... how you know you are home according to Jonny

When we woke up we were all feeling the effects of the previous day’s events so we made it a lazy Sunday and the girls took in an Teen Mom 2 marathon, hours of good quality entertainment, while the boys didn’t anything else…… but mostly they just napped.

The next day was our last day in Oz (tear) and our last day with Kiera and Dave (double tear) so Kiera kicked off the day by cooking up some delicious pancakes and then we all headed out to Bondi Junction, with the exception of Dave who had to stay home and study.  We ran our last few errands, had one last coffee and stroll along Bondi beach and came home to make one last family dinner before our flight out the next morning. After a 6am wake up call, some hugs and kiss goodbye the 4 of us clown car’ed into a cab off to the Sydney airport where we boarded our flight filled with trepidation and excitement about what’s to come – INDIA.

One last family dinner

Overall I think I am ready to leave Australia. I am so glad that we came. We had an amazing time here marveling at the scenery and catching up with many old friends and family, but something inside both of us still tells us that were ready to leave.  Sure it is partly because Oz can really put a dent in the travel budget, but I think it’s more to do with the fact that it is easy and familiar. It may sound crazy to some, but when we set off on this adventure we were looking to really challenge ourselves and to see and experience things we have never done before, so while it was been such a great trip, I am ready for the complete 180 we are headed for, I am ready for the wildly unfamiliar experiences and culture shock that India is sure to bring us …… well at least I think I am. 

OOO_Talia

Flying High in Adelaide

A visit to Adelaide doesn’t turn up on your average backpacker’s itinerary while travelling Oz, and it probably would not have on ours either except for the fact that I have family there that I rarely get to see. I was really excited to go visit my family but we pretty much had little to no expectations about the city itself. I actually didn’t know too much about Adelaide other that it was near wine country…….so at least there would be something to do when not visiting with the fam lol. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to see what a beautiful city Adelaide was with a myriad of parks and gardens sprinkled across the city, the Adelaide hills just minutes outside the city and a reasonable shopping and nightlife I would say it’s worth a visit (albeit maybe a sort one with some many other great Oz locations to choose from)

Looking down the river in city centre Adelaide

After an epic sleep-in following our 22 hour drive the day before, we started our visit with my cousin coffee from his local coffee shop and then a walk down the Rundle mall  (aka not actually a mall but street lined with many many shops) and then breakfast at the Belgian Beer café. After checking out more of the city we jumped in my cousin’s car and headed for the hills to visit and have dinner with my Uncle, his wife and another one of my cousins at their house just outside the city. It had been about 5 years + since our last visit so it was great to catch up again. On top of the great company, they also spoiled us with the biggest, most delicious home cooked meal that we have had in months. On top of your typical BBQ fare we also got to sample our first kangaroo and Jonny got a proper lesson on how to de-shell a prawn from an expert.  After dinner we headed back into the city to sample some of the local nightlife which ended with late night meat pies, a real Aussie favorite, and another epic sleep in.

The next morning after some more coffee from the local spot we headed out to the Glenelg beach to stroll around and have breakfast. We spent the better part of the day there walking out on the pier and playing mini golf before heading back to the city grabbing quick dinner and drinks with some of my cousin’s buddies and then calling it a night early. With my cousin at work the next day Jonny and I took it pretty easy just exploring some more of the city and the surrounding parks and sampling some of the local wines.

One of the local Adelaide Hills wineries

View of their vineyard

The next day was cousin was able to take off and took us for what hands down is probably one of the coolest things we have done on this trip so far – acrobatic flying. Tom is an accomplished pilot in the Australia military and while we is stationed in relatively sleepy Adelaide he has taken on a weekend job doing acrobatic flying sessions and we so generously offered to treat us to a ride. The weather wasn't the greatest in the morning so we decided to go out in the afternoon so instead we decided to go for a ride through the hills and stop at a winery. Tom obviously did not sample the wine since we was going to be flying later but Jonny and I did a tasting…… probably what we needed in order to loosen up for what was to come. After the wine we headed to the airport that we would be flying from and Tom showed us the plane we would be going up in – a TINY little 2-seater thing, including the pilot, called a Super Decathlon.  My old family van was bigger than this thing I swear! After Jonny and Tom pushed it out of the hanger onto the tarmac……yes I said pushed… Tom started doing all the safety checks and giving us the safety briefing. Jonny was going first since I still wasn't sure if I was going to go up or not (the whole nervous flyer thing was working against me).

Our ride for the day...eeek!

The boys pushing the plane out of the hanger

Goose??....nope Jonny

After being cleared for take-off they headed out for a 45min ride of Jonny’s life.  They did all kinds of crazy things….flying inverted, stall turns, went up to 4G, held at zero gravity, etc. – right up until  1 more trick would set Jonny into air sickness bag territory and then they headed back.  After their ride we were a bit short on time so there wouldn't be time to do anything acrobatic flight, which actually worked out perfectly for me, so I went for a nice, quick, totally upright flight above the city as we were edging on sunset – really an amazing day!

My turn in the back seat

Sun setting over Adelaide from the sky

After flying we headed back to my uncle’s house for another visit and wonderful home cooked meal of roast beef, since we won’t be seeing much of that in India where we are off too next. It was our last night in Adelaide but we arranged to meet again one more time for lunch the next day before we had to head off to the airport to fly back to Sydney so we held off on the goodbye’s until lunch. Up next a quick weekend in Sydney before we head off to – INDIA!

OOO_Talia

Great Ocean Road.... ALLLLLLL the way to Adelaide

After some great time exploring Melbourne and catching up with the hostess with the mostest Marci and her boyfriend Kristian we were ready to make the next leg of our journey.  We were off to the great ocean road and then on to Adelaide to catch up with some of my family. After much trial and turmoil trying to get a rental car, due to unfortunate dealings with “Adam” from the Campervan Relocation company, we were finally able to secure one with Avis instead (probably the most expensive rental ever) and took the 45 min ride outside the city to pick it up Thursday so we could hit the road first thing Friday morning.

The alarm bells rang at 5:30 am and we were on the road by 6:00 to make it to the town of Torquay for breakfast.  Torquay marks the beginning of the great ocean road and is famous for begin considered the “birthplace of surfing” (according to some anyway) as well as housing the headquarters and factory outlets for all the major Aussie surf brands, Roxy, Rip Curl, Quicksilver, etc. We stopped and had a quick breakfast in Torquay while waiting for all the shops and the tourist info centre to open at 9am. After a quick browse around the shops and a very informative visit to the info centre we hit the road for our 2^nd stop of the day just 15 mins down the road – Bells Beach.  Bells beach is the home of the Rip Curl pro, one of the biggest and the longest running surf competition in the world, which they were setting up for while we were there.  It is also known for its amazing waves….not for the faint of heart surfer.  Unfortunately it was a bit foggy when we arrived but we explored the beach from the overlying cliffs for a while and watched the surfers catch the early morning wave (well late morning I guess in the surf world) before heading back on the road.

Set up underway for the Rip Curl Pro

Surfer's strolling on Bells Beach

Surfer catching at wave at Bells

As we made our way down the road towards the town of Lorne the fog started to clear and it turned into the most amazing sunny day that we could ask for, just in time to reveal the amazing scenery along the road. The landscape and the drive really reminded me of the Highway 1 drive in California around Big Sur.  Never ending winding roads lined by rugged coast line and amazing ocean vistas. With scenic lookouts positioned about every 100 ft. and quaint Oceanside towns every couple of km’s it’s easy to see how some people take days to make the approx. 260km journey.

Getting started on the Great Ocean Road

Some early scenery on one of the deserted beaches

One of the many scenic lookouts along the way

View from Teddy's lookout

We spent the day cruising down the coast and marveling at some of the most beautiful natural attractions I have ever seen including amazing surf beaks, deserted beaches, shadowy rainforests and even a bit of local wildlife. Here are some of the highlights from the day – the pictures really don’t even do it justice!

Erskine Falls – a few KM in land from Lorne, the falls are about a km hike into the woods.

Mait’s Rest Rainforest walk – about a 30min trek through a rainforest with some of the biggest

Catching a glimpse of 100’s of Koala’s in the wild – heading town towards Cape Otway there are hundreds of the cuddly looking creatures up in the trees …..Just pull over and look up!

Natural Attractions of Port Campbell National Park – you can spend hours alone just gazing at the amazing feats of nature to be found in the national park including; Gibson Steps, 12 Apostles, London Bridge and the Grotto

Sunset over the Bay of Islands – Our final stop along the great ocean road was a great way to close out the day

After the last of our scenic stops for the day I took the wheel……yup that’s right I made my first left side of the road driving attempted. Overall it went pretty well, other than a few really tight hugs to the left shoulder and hitting the windshield wipers instead of the signal my driving shift ended with us still in one piece.  

Earlier in the week we had decided that after we finished the great ocean road we would just continue on the last few hours to Adelaide rather than stay overnight somewhere to avoid the hostel cost and have an extra day with the family. What we thought was only a couple hours’ drive from Warrnambool to Adelaide actually turned out to be an additional 8 hours’ drive…… after the 12 we had already spend on the great ocean road. So after many snack and redbull stops, many driver swaps and countless hours of being on kangaroo watch (this stretch of highway is notorious for the little guys jumping out in front of cars) we finally arrived at my cousin Tom’s place around 3:30am, dropped our stuffed and CRASHED! 

Melbourne... The culture capital of Australia (kinda)

Ah Melbourne… The culture capital of Australia. Don’t believe me? Just ask anyone from Melbourne..

Much like most of our time in Australia, Melbourne too was a stopover mostly to catch up with friends, a catch up that was much overdue with Marci Katz. I know she’ll be stoked to get mention in the OOO blog – and how can you blame her really.

1 week of getting a true taste of Melbourne via Marci Katz + Buts (Marci’s man) + Kink (Marci and Buts step-dog). The bonus……We get to do it through the lens of Marci herself, so you know there will never be a dull moment. And a dull moment is just about the only thing missing from the week – which lines up great with our trip motto “sleep tomorrow”.

For those of you that know Marci, if you’re wondering if her schedule has become any less busy since taking to Aussie life, you can rest assured that an action packed personal and social life is still the case. Luckily, she worked us in where she could and when she couldn’t, she just dropped the other stuff to fit us in anyway.

After arriving in Melbourne late Saturday afternoon via a quick Jetstar flight, we settled in at Marci’s hipster home in Abbotsford, an epic little hood west of the CBD (central business district as aussies like to call downtown). Basically Queen West in Toronto.

Upon arrival, it felt like we had nothing but time. A feeling that quickly vanished as we started to plan out our action packed itinerary. I thought I would summarize to shorten up this post and let your imaginations kick in a bit to fill in the blanks.

Night 1

An epic evening at a local hotel (pub) getting a first class lesson in footy (Aussie rules football) from no other than Kristian Butler – a local footy all-star himself. Can you think of a better way to learn the rules than watching the game, smashing pitchers (or jugs as Buts likes to put them), all packaged together with a little belligerency? I think NOT!

Day 2

We slept in a bit.... sue us. Can you think of a better way to celebrate sleeping in than with an afternoon of lawn bowling in St. Kilda? No you can’t think of a better way. Because that is the best way. Spring/Summer 2013 lookout, we are putting in a lawn bowling team…… And it will be LEGENDARY!

The bowls greens

The Balls.... that we bowled

Dont' step on my balls

The ball......rack or is it a sac?

St. Kilda champs

Day 3

Out of necessity we have packed pretty light for this trip… BUT when the opportunity for $40 custom jeans presents itself, all rational thinking went out the window. WE NEEDED 2 pairs of jeans each… WE NEEDED THEM. So we got them. 2 pairs of Burgundy and black skinnies later, our ride was pimped……By Xzibit, I really mean creepy Asian dude that felt me up a little too high in the inner thigh for “measuring purposes”. I know we just met and all… That said, it was well worth the new denim. Hit up Dejour Jeans in Brunswick the next time you’re in Melbourne - just do it.

The threads

The threads in action

Even Cedric got a pair... extra TOT

After a morning of having our inner thighs felt up too much, we headed to the CBD (I wish you could hear me say it in the Aussie way they say it here, it’s ridiculous) to do some downtown touring. For those of you that don’t know, Melbourne has embraced the café culture. You literally can’t walk 10 feet without another café presenting itself. So we got coffee-wasted and took to the streets, touring the various “lanes” (alleys between buildings filled with cafes and restaurants and shops) and pretended like we lived there for a bit.

One of the many cafes

The evening was something out of the ordinary for this trip so far.

Tals and I love the movies and unfortunately, in saving for this trip and with Tals unfortunate work/travel schedule, they fell off the priority list prior to the trip. So when Marci came across a 2 for 1 coupon for the movies (which are usually MAD EXI …..which means expensive) we were in. I started reading The Hunger Games a few days prior and the seeing the movie presented itself as an option for Monday night. If you can’t tell yet, we went to THG. And it was sick. So sick in fact, it has been a week since and I haven’t read where I left off in the book since – if some of you are reacting to this the way I know you are (mostly my Mom).. TONE IT. I just haven’t had time to read…… Ill finish it.

Epic hipster theatre

 Day 4

The double date of all double dates. Me and Tals + Marci and Kink (sorry Buts). The 4 of us headed to Kilcunda, a beach town just to the east of Melbourne (Kilcunda means ocean by the farm. it doesn’t actually, but it should), To spend the night and next day at the epic Butler Ranch. A home cooked meal, wine, pints and the return of mad men = and epic cottage-like evening.

Head East to Kilcunda

Self Titled

Day 5

The next day we headed to the beach for a few hours of bronzing, smashed some leftovers for lunch and headed back into the city for Melbourne Comedy Festival. Caught a show, smashed all you can eat dumplings at Shanghai Dumpling (thanks for the reco Keith), and amazing dumpling house that allowed BYO and then called it a day.

Day 6

Me and tals love travelling off the beaten track, so we went to Flag-anistan (Flangston) – basically, a seedy beach town known for daro (Sussie for derelique) sightings and banter. After dodging some “dodgy” characters we picked up our rental car for the Great Ocean Road, headed back to Abbotsford. For the evening we headed to Fitzroy, another great hipster part of town, and smashed $4 pizzas and beer at Bimbos with Jedda (Marci and Buts roomie).

Definitely a successful week in Melbourne thanks to great friends, a great dog and a long overdue catch up session.

OOO_JZ