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Did someone leave the oven on?
Entry 27 of 53 | show all | print this entry |
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Holy crap . . . it is smoldering here!!!!!! And we are by NO means exaggerating. It is around 35 degrees here today or more! It's not too safe to stay on the beach, although sitting in the water is all anyone is doing. People in the water weren't even playing games, just sitting in the shallow water enjoying the coolness. It was glorious.
Sorry we didn't write yesterday. We had a really busy day and then we were told there aren't any internet cafe's in Geelong. So we couldn't make an entry. Yesterday we got up and went down to a little bakery and picked up some breakfast and ate it on the beach. Then we left down the Great Ocean Road (we think this is just a title because very little of the road is actually on the ocean, the rest is in forest/bush area). We saw the twelve apostles. They were amazing! For anyone who hasn't heard of those, they are twelve (we can only see 6 from the view point and some have since collapsed) huge rocks/pieces of land separated from the rest of the cliff/mainland. They have made 100ft rock pillars sticking out of the ocean. You walk under the highway from the parking lot down this long path through bush/desert to get to them. You can't see anything until you round a corner and they take your breath away when they come out of no where. They were gorgeous! The surf there was crazy huge, but the cliffs are so big with no way down to the beach, they aren't surfed, probably because you'd have to hire a boat to get there. But surfing seems popular farther down the coast where the water is more accessable. It was sooo hot when we were looking at the twelve apostles that we didn't stay long (we got a lot of shots, but had we stayed much longer we probably would have had sunstroke). It was really deserty and there were annoying flies dive bombing our heads so we carried on. TJ thinks the flies were put there so people don't stay there all day looking at the beautiful scenery. We drove not much farther west to Port Campbell which is just a little surf town (the only one near the apostles). We ate lunch there at the "12 Rocks Cafe" (get it?) and found some great deals in different surf shops with Roxy/Billabong/Rip Curl . . . all the surf brand clothes on sale! We realized that we've entered Australia during their end of summer sale time!! Perfect for us, because our summer back home is yet to begin! TJ found 3 hats, all brand name, and paid $40 for all 3!!! (One hat would usually be $35 to $40 in Canada). We both got some other clothes too. We're now pushing the limits of our packs, but we're pretty happy about our bargain shopping. Keith would be proud! haha, can't pass up deals like those. Then we headed back down the GOR the way we had come. We were going to stay in Torquay (a huge surf town with the Billabong, etc. factory outlets there). But when we got there, a lot of the stores were starting to close and there isn't much else going on there and clouds were starting to roll in, so we continued on to Geelong. We decided to do that since we had to have our rental car back by 3pm the next day and we still wanted to see Queenscliff the next day. In Geelong, we searched and searched and searched (for probably an hour and a half to two hours) for a place to stay the night. It was now after 6pm when we started looking for places (way too late) everything was booked since it was Friday night! Poor planning by us. We ended up staying in the upstairs accommodation of a bar! Think of the most plain hotel room possible and this was plainer. All white walls, a bed, a tiny TV, an ensuite, but it was $90! The cheapest we could find! We checked with the Comfort Inn, thinking they would be cheap. But it was $130 for a standard room!!!!!! Crazy! So that's what we got stuck with. It was out of our budget, but Jess got to have a bath, which was amazing since we had our own ensuite and we got to watch the Bourne Identity on TV. So all in all, it was ok, but we were sad to pay so much. Not much you can do, we had to sleep somewhere. Lesson learned . . . find a place earlier! haha
Then this morning, we got up early since this place had no parking, so we had to park in metered parking (but the meter didn't start running until 9am, so we didn't pay overnight but had to be up early enough to plug the meter this morning), we checked out, then looked at some more surf shops with sales on. They have started turning into all the same stuff on sale from store to store since they all only sell a few name brands. We got some breakfast and headed out for Queenscliff, just east of Geelong. Queenscliff, according to the Lonely Planet guide, is notorious for all the shipwrecks they have "littering their coast", so we thought they would be visible everywhere. There is supposed to be over 200 shipwrecks, so we thought that was worth driving out to see. But when we got there, you can't see any, but the tip of one (we think . . . it may have just been a rock, haha). They must be too deep, but there were lots of ships just floating in the bay, so we think they were possibly diving to them, or fishing, haha, again, not sure. So that was disappointing, but it was ok. We drove back to the Melbourne Airport to drop off our rental car (a little early but we wanted to head into the city and get a place, as we said . . . lesson learned). On the way to the airport we saw a billboard advertizing a real estate website. It said "So easy to use, anyone can do it" and it was a picture of George W. Bush using a computer! hehehehe. We took a picture of it. After dropping off our car, we tried to find out where we could find cheap backpacker accommodation, and the airport info centre pointed us to a few. We called around and some were full or too expensive, so we ended up finding a place called "Oslo Hotel for Backpackers" and it was only $60 a night. So we took it, and shuttled from the airport to get there (cost us each $15). When we got there, the guy took us upstairs before we bought it, thinking we might not want it. He asked right off the bat if we were allergic to cats, TJ said he was and the guy laughed and said "well come and see if you'll want it". We followed him through the maze of the building, and our room is right beside cat litter and food (haven't seen the cats yet but you can sure smell them, yuck). But since we paid $30 total to get there and didn't know where else to go since everywhere else was more expensive or full, we took it. It's a little old and dingy, but ok. We have it for two nights. We'll be happy to move on that's for sure. There are a few hotel chains here that are pretty cheap. Just as cheap or cheaper than most of the hostels strangely. Formule 1 is only $65 a night for all of their rooms, with a TV, ensuite, it's really clean and since you have a room you don't have to worry about finding a locker for our packs. We'll have to keep our eyes out for these places for sure if there aren't any better options. After checking into our scummy room, we walked to get some food and to the beach. TJ found 3 "7 Elevens" within a couple blocks of eachother so he's happy about that. The slurpees aren't quite what they are in Canada (according to the slurpee connesouir) but he's content with them. We're in search of Wendy's so we can have their good salads, but have yet to see one. We'll put up pictures either tomorrow or the next day. This place has USB, but we're on our way back from the beach and weren't prepared. We're in Melbourne for two more days. Talk to you soon. P.S. TJ's parents should put TJ's cheque in soon. He's running low. Thanks. haha. Bye
 
Latest Comments (2)
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Hello (reply)
Feb 18, 2007 16:51 EST by bryan0
We enjoyed following you guys on the website, sounds like you are having fun. Love you guys from: grandpa and Pat
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hey (reply)
Feb 17, 2007 08:09 EST by loz189
Glad to hear TJ found his slurpees. Bit of warm weather sounds nice...
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