Australia Xmas and New Year 2007

For Christmas and New Year I decided to go to Australia. After a long and hard year at work, I needed a break.
First stop: The Great Ocean Road. I booked a tour on the Wayward Bus, 4 days traveling from Adelaide to Melbourne. The tour left on Xmas day so I flew to Adelaide on the 24th, spent half the day looking at the wonderful museums there (although I don't think much of Adelaide itself - have never quite found the "heart" of it). I visited the immigration museum, and the Adelaide museum of Art, where the exhibit a lot of Australian paintings, some of which I really liked, and also a special exhibit of art from the Tiwi islands. The delightful lady on the desk also let me in at the student price :-)

The trip was amazing. I took the hosteling option, which turned out to be really great and social! We had a few big nights out Aussie style. Our guide, Ben, was great at arranging lunches and dinners and sociable places (namely the pub!).

The Wayward Bus











Under the official Great Ocean Road sign











We stopped at some wonderful lookout points on our way to the Ocean Road. The first 2 days out of Adelaide really showed us some amazing geological features. The reason this coastline is so dramatic is because it is made of limestone. A jointy rock, easily eroded by wind, rain and sea.



















Umpherston Sinkhole was formed by the collapse of a chamber of a big cave system below Mount Gambier. It was named after James Umpherston who started to cultivate it and lived on a property nearby. He arrived in 1860. The sinkhole has recently been transformed back into the garden James created.
The depression is fertile, with more topsoil and more moisture than outside, which makes it an ideal place for a garden.




London Bridge, Great Ocean Road
Recently the "London Bridge" fell away from the main land and is no longer a bridge. Interesting story of 2 people trapped on it when it actually collapsed. They were rescued 7 hours later hiding their faces... later found out to be 2 people having an affair....












Apollo Bay - My favourite point on the G.O.R. From above this rock looks like a seahorse. The bay is inaccesable by land and totally beautiful.












With the 12 (or now 8!) Apostles













At the 12 Apostles site I took a 10 minute helicopter flight to view the coastline by air. It was spectacular and well worth it! Gives a totally different perspective.


































Always a treat for me, we stopped at a wildlife refuge. I saw a wild Koala! And also hiked up a hill to find 2 kangaroos!. Never fails to impress.





















And so we crossed the border into Victoria and onto our final stop, Melbourne. Bye bye Great Ocean Road! I had an amazing time :-)















After being dropped of in Melbourne, I headed straight for the airport for a flight to Sydney. On December 29th I met up again with my good friend Chris, whom I met working as a park ranger in the Grand Canyon 10 years ago! We had some wonderful drinks overlooking the opera house and even managed to get a very good photo!













New Years Eve, Sydney style was spectacular! Jeanette and I headed down to the harbour and were lucky enough that her flatmate, Holly, had got tickets to the Opera House forecort! Our view was 100% Bridge and nothing in the way. Absolutely awesome!