Happy Easter to all and Happy Birthday weekend to Alexa!

Congratulations to U of Wisconsin (Zach’s school)  Badgers for beating Kentucky and winning a spot in the Championship game!

Also Kudos to John Robinson for orchestrating a great April Fool’s joke.. I hope it turns out to be a prophesy rather than a prank! We are going to The Great Barrier Reef next week.

Almost 9 weeks (21 days in Australia) of traveling and the lifestyle still suits us. Our camper van isn’t as roomy as the one we drove in New Zealand but we’re making do just fine. With a couple of modifications, the van is essentially the same Toyota model we owned in the nineties. Our kids should get a kick out of that! We are living in a Previa! At night, we pile our stuff on the driver and passenger seats and the back makes into a bed about 4 1/2′ x 7′. Good thing we like each other most of the time!

Hey! Have any of you OC residents wondered where the online toll paying idea came from? You can blame Australia! We’ve encountered the system in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. It’s been a hassle & time consuming to get online and register my cc so our tolls will be taken care of.

A local guide asked me what I liked best about Australia so far.  I answered: “The wildlife” without hesitation.  So much of where we’ve been in Australia shares similarities with California..but here we can spot a koala curled around a eucalyptus branch. It’s been so exciting to see kangaroos bouncing across the fields or appearing at the campsites. Last night at dusk I saw 2 kangaroos in a fist fight!  Today, at a place called Pebbly Beach, a wild kangaroo allowed me to pet him. At  the Great Ocean Road ( between Melbourne and Adelaide), we visited a golf course where at least a hundred kangaroos mill around the course grazing on the fairways. Golfers unwaveringly go about their game but have to be careful they don’t step on the roo poo!  Australia is blessed with multitudes of beautiful birds. I was so excited the day we were clumping along on an unsealed (down under term for dirt roads), came around a bend to find two Emu standing on the sand in the secluded cove. A short time later, we encountered the giant goanna lizard trekking alongside the road. Wild cockatoos are plentiful. At dusk the bird calls are amazing. I call it the ‘frenzy’. Flocks of Galahs,parrots, cockatoos,kookaburras,lorakeets,etc. Etc. engage in cacophony of chaotic bird calls.. They fly from tree to tree, move from branch to branch, squawking incessantly, fighting for their overnight position. The craziness starts to level off as darkness descends …. Each bird has to settle on a resting spot … and then silence.

On Kangaroo Island, we had our best views of seals and sea lions. I was on the beach with hundreds of Australian sea lions. We watched the antics of Fur seals and their pups on a rocky point on another part of the island. We were at one bay on Kangaroo Island where the Pelicans were double the size of any we’ve ever seen at home. They were regally ‘holding court’ and their ‘subjects’ were the seagulls surrounding them on the rocks.

In New Zealand, the traveller is enveloped in remarkable scenery at every turn. You are breathlessly in awe of the continuing beauty.

By contrast, in Australia the scenery happens when you arrive at the destination. We drove from Sydney to the realitively nearby Blue Mountains. Hum Drum freeway drive. I think to myself: ‘hummm… nothing too exciting going on here.’ We take the exit promising a scenic look out….then pow!! In front of us was a eucalypt forest-covered canyon so deep and massive  it dwarfs the scope of our Grand Canyon. It possesses an impressive rock formation – The Three Sisters, and a multi- layered waterfall higher than any other in Australia. The area is called the Blue Mountains because the oils from the eucalyptus trees combined with the sunlight cast a blue mist over the mountain range. We got even more breathtaking views from the glass-bottomed Skyway tram which shuttles passengers from side to side over a magnificent gorge.

Bobby had planned to drive The Great Ocean Road since he began the research for our trip. It is one place in Australia where spectacular scenery and the drive are intermingled. Miles of highway trace the line of the rugged southern Australian coast. It is reminiscent of Highway 1, however The Great Ocean Road provides views of stunning & unforgettable limestone cliffs relentlessly pounded by tumultuous seas. The signature sight of GOR is The Twelve Apostles—chunks of limestone separated from the cliffs by time and erosion create compelling isolated towers. The weather was cold and extremely windy the day of our visit. Strong wind is typical for the area. The coastal shrubbery is barren and twisted from the continuing pressure. My recommendation for any future GOR sightseers is to take some warm clothes with you! I got by with 5 layers on top including a neck scarf and 2 layers of pants. One of my layers was generously provided by my husband – his jacket. He’s resilient in the cold and I’m a wimp.

I feel the best treat of The Great Ocean Road were the detours.  Our first camp along the way was in Angelsea. As I described earlier, the must-see of Angelsea is the golf course with it’s resident Roo population. Erskine Waterfall -off a few miles on a bumpy unsealed road –  was completely ‘Avatar’ like picturesque.

We saw more Koalas off the GOR than anywhere else so far.  We spotted them on a side road to Kennet River and to Cape Otway.  Koala searching is most gratifying but looking for brown furry puffs high in the Eucalyptus trees is hard on the neck!

After the Great Ocean Road and Kangaroo Island, we be-lined for some big city flavor. Melbourne is fun and energetic and has something for everyone. It is a city that flourished during the Gold Rush of the 1800s  but seems to have kept its eye on the prize ever since. Bobby and I walked through the busy streets and the graffitied alleys of City Centre and historical parks with WW 1 monuments. We visited the botanical gardens and the cathedrals and corner pubs. Melbourne was hosting a comedy festival and comedians were performing in public squares around city centre. There was really a buoyant atmosphere all around.

One afternoon we focused on the Italian neighborhood. You might have seen the video I posted on FB. Bobby and I were salivating over the sheer extravagance of the delectables. The next evening we decided on Chinatown. We luckily asked a knowledgeable local for advise(randomly chosen off the boulevard )and found ourselves in one of the most favored restaurants in Melbourne’s Chinatown. I know we wouldn’t have found this gem on our own … A sign in red block letters SUPPER INN jutted out from an alley. A plain door under the sign opened to a  worn narrow wooden staircase. No embelishments at all. Crowds were streaming along Chinatown’s Lt. Bourke Street but this alley seemed ignored. At the top of the stairs there was a landing no more than 3′ x 2′ and another door. This door opened to the restaurant – one decent sized room packed with empty tables and chairs. We decided to ‘risk’ it and stay. As we were seated, people started to pour in. In minutes the place was abuzz! It turns out we arrived just prior to their dinner service and according to fellow diners, this is the best Chinese restaurant in the city.

On Good Friday I attended the Passion of Christ at Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was a seriously beautiful and moving service like non other that I have experienced.

We are really looking forward to getting back to Sydney. We have booked a few more days there after we turn in the camper van. We began our Australia adventure there and the 3 nights we had there just wasn’t sufficient  to experience such a fabulous city. We want to spend more time in the botanical gardens and hang out on the famous Bondi and Coogie beaches. Then we will top of our Australian exploration in The Great Barrier Reef and Dain Tree Rainforest.