Gosh this country is glorious as well. My favorite bits are these hundreds of cattle/dairy/sheep farms as tidy and huge as can be all along the sea shores where field run right to oceans, cattle graze on top of ocean cliffs, sheep dot fields across the streets from dunes and beaches - it's just incredible to see, pastoral and wild at the same time. I can't get enough and I'm sure Dan is getting weary of hearing me say it. And the eucalyptus trees everywhere, and the wallaby, kangaroo and koala signs along roads that tell you to be careful and watchful of them while driving. We have seen koalas and wallabies and emus in the wild so far but only one kangaroo and he had been hit by a car (the signs!) and he was dead. I'm still waiting to see a group hopping across fields as we drive by. And we have driven hundreds and hundreds of miles to pack as much in as we can.
We started our adventure in a suburb of Melbourne where we stayed our first night and then ventured to western Victoria along the Great Ocean Road which is comparable to the Pacific Coast Highway - absolutely stunning! We had to leave the coastline on that drive for just a bit as the road veered from the water for about 1/2 hour and took us through my first experience with vast forests of Eucalyptus trees (the smell!) and then those farms that appeared on rolling hills between tree groves and sweeping to the ocean cliffs. Back along the ocean road, one of our stops was the Twelve Apostles - amazing rocks formed from ocean water carving them from cliffs and numbering twelve of them - hence the name. You'll see the pictures below. We spent our second night in a tiny, adorable cottage outside of Port Fairy (a wee harbor town) on a potato and cattle farm. We woke up to noisy magpies outside the window on the fence.
"Apostles"
Our third day we ventured north into the bush and to gold country. Miles and miles of ranches/farms and neat little towns and then bigger towns made during the gold rush of the 1800s. The prosperous towns from that time still have the gorgeous stone or wood buildings that were the churches, court houses, hotels, and other municipal buildings still in use today. We stayed our third night in one of those in downtown Bendigo at the very historic Shamrock Hotel, the town that did the best during the gold rush so the downtown is regal. That town meant a lot too because my son Dane, who is currently a missionary for our church (we pick him up in 3 days!) served in that town for three months so I got to "walk where Elder Dane Sargeant walked" and I imagined his days there and what it might have been like for him. We crashed a Relief Society Enrichment meeting at the church building he would have attended (actually we were invited to stop by if we could) and met several women there who wanted to tell us about Elder Sargeant's impact on their congregation - those were their exact words and it was a thrill to hear about their experiences with him and to meet such delightful people who loved him.
One more thing - this is one of our first trips that has not been planned out according to where certain bakeries or food items are in a country - Dan is worried about this fact! We have only bought a couple items at one bakery in the town of Port Fairy, scones. We are basically eating heaps of eggs and bacon every morning, the best and meatiest bacon I've ever eaten (well New Zealand's was just as killer - similar growing and producing methods I imagine) and then I am addicted to their chicken Cesar salads always with a poached egg on top, and then delectable beef or lamb with veges (their spelling) for dinners. Heaps of meat. And lots and lots of Coke Zero on the road.
Loving the travel log and the amazing photos, it is fun to get a peek into Dane's world these past 2 years. It will be hard for Australia to part with him! Cheers :). Kris
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