Melbourne, and the Great Ocean Road

  Melbourne, Australia
Monday, March 24, 2008

We found our city. Melbourne is a hip walkable full of delectable delights city. We spent two days walking around and could have spent many more. We saw some art exhibits, slid through tiny walking streets with cafes and shops lining the way, ate and drank some fantastic treats and saw a comedy show. The city is full of people and luckily for us great coffee, something lacking on this very large island.
We stayed with a friend who we had met about a year ago. Brad had arrived on our doorstep as a world traveler in Los Angeles and we were as hospitable as we could be with our tight living arrangements. This meant a small space on the couch when someone wasn't already sitting there or snoozing. None the less we stayed in contact and warned him of our coming arrival to his home in Melbourne. Brad being the gentleman and kind soul that he is was more than wonderful and opened his wonderful place to us. Unlike our cramped living he had a great spacey apartment which was close to everything with a great view of it all from his roof top deck.

Us and Brad

It was so refreshing to be in a city that we felt we fit in. I forget how much I like the crowded streets and tiny entries into hidden stores and resturaunts. All the people in their own lives with their own style melding together to sit over some coffee or a beer.

Street Art

After a quick visit to meet Jeff's family who lived in yet another cool corner of the city we had to be off, only having the rental car for 16 days with many miles to cover and much to see.
Our next destination was the Great Ocean Road. This shelf drops into the crashing Southern Ocean. There were incredible arches and coves that were endlessly sliding away into a unrelentless sea. The coast is known for its surfing and shipwrecks. Some patches are boardered by rainforest, while others have flat coastal shrubs ending abruptly at a cliffs edge.

Sheer Cliffs

As you travel along, this cliff seems to take over, making it look as though the previous land just fell into the water succumbing to the waves. The ocean drops away without much of a climb in the road and you twist along avoiding chasams of disapearing sandstone.

Perfect Curve

As you travel west the land reconnect with the ocean and you have this gigantice estuaries and sanddunes. The water calms too turning into a flat bay. Its as though the missing sand from all the cliff sides piled up into the gulf, who knows maybe so.

A break from the road