We found a good Thai food place to eat, and planned our walking tour for the next day.
Our traipse through the city the next day brought us first to the fish market, the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. Ryan had read about a local delicacy, Moreton Bay Bugs, so being the adventurous eaters we are, we tried them, and they tasted like a cross between lobster and crab, without the abundance of meat. We continued to explore Sydney, and ended up at the Opera House (didn't get to do a tour inside though).
Sydney is a big city, and while we were thrilled to actually see the famed sites, we were also ready to get our Jucy Campervan and head to the country.
Getting our campervan the next day turned out to be a headache. First we had to catch the train, then walk to the office, and finally listen to a half an hour lecture about getting all-inclusive insurance because of car robberies/burnings in Byron Bay (we're going there), and kangaroo collisions. We finally got into our brand-new Jucy (albeit 1999 vehicle) and headed south to Bateman's Bay along the coast.
The next day we saw our first kangaroos in Pembula, a coastal town, and free-camped outside of Rosedale. There are "rest areas" that may have toilets, bbq's, tables, and info stations, so Oz is full of places to stop and sleep for free, which is great.
Melbourne was our next big city stop. We took the train from our tourist park into downtown, and walked along the Yarra River, people and site seeing. We soon realized that people love to dress up in Australia, all the time it seems. Kiwis are much more casual compared to the Ozzies! We took in the views from the 2nd tallest building in Melbourne, then ate dinner in the area known as Docklands. We were pleasantly surprised by a Cirque du Soleil-type performance put on free every night for the unveiling of a giant Christmas advent calendar. It was a lovely way to end our stay in Melbourne, and got us in the Christmas spirit.
Next, we started our way along the Great Ocean Road, which starts in Torquay, the surf capitol of Victoria. Although the surf wasn't great, we still checked out Bells Beach, and a ton of other breaks along the coast. Further westward, we spotted our first koalas, and lots of them at that. Right off the road, they sat in the trees, sleeping or eating. A fact we read in a book - Koala's brains are the size of walnuts, because scientists believe most of their energy goes to breaking down toxins in the gum leaves they eat, not to brain function. Cute, dumb critters though:
The free camp site we stayed in that night had koalas in the trees right above us, and to our surprise, they are quite noisy and make a sound like gorillas!
We free-camped again the next night, then drove to Adelaide. The Brownhill Holiday Park we stayed at was inside a reserve, with lots of good trails where we took a hike. What little of Adelaide we saw, we liked, as it had more of a small town feel. But it was time to put ourselves to the ultimate test, and drive the Australian Outback. Flies, heat, long hours in the car...oh, and it poured rain the entire first afternoon and night we were out. Evidently it hasn't rained like that in 15 years!
As we drove to Coober Pedy the next day, both sides of the road were like lakes. Coober Pedy, or "White Man's Hole in the Ground" in Aboriginal terms, is the opal mining capitol of the world, and home to underground living. Half the population lives in carved out homes in the earth, which keeps them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. So of course we had to stay 6.5 meters underground at Radeka's Downunder Dugout Motel.
We took a tour of an opal mine, and "noodled" for our own opals (not very successful). Finally, we added to our new experiences and tried kangaroo, camel, and emu for dinner. Kangaroo tasted like a cross between veal and venison, camel is a sweeter red meat, and emu tasted duck-like. Sad, but not surprisingly, the beef portion was the best.
Next it's off to sacred Uluru (Ayer's Rock), and more outback driving. As we write this, little bits of sandstone fall off our walls every now and then.
Didgeradoo!
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