Rental Cars, Driving on the "Wrong" Side and Panning for Gold

After two days in Melbourne, I took my life in my hands and hired a car.  I've never driven on the "wrong" side of the road before and I was more than a little nervous.  

My wheels

Rent the smallest car possible - check.  Make sure it's an automatic because trying to learn to drive on a different side of the road and having to deal with trying to shift with my left hand is a recipe for disaster - check.  Figure out the insurance thing - if the CDW is required in Australia, get the rental agent to indicate as much on the rental agreement - well, I tried but ran into some communication difficulties.  

Head out on the highway, heading for adventure,  whatever comes my way. . . 

Adjusting to driving on the left-hand side of the road wasn't actually too bad - easier to do when you're driving on a highway with rumble strips to warn you when you are too far to the left.  However, harder to do when driving in the midst of a high wind storm!

I took it easy the first day and only drove for an hour or so.  My destination was Ballarat, a former gold mining town to the north-west of Melbourne and home of the Eureka Rebellion.

When I was planning this trip, Ballarat wasn't part of the original itinerary.  However, after reading some brochures and my Lonely Planet guidebook, I decided it was worth a detour.  One of the perks of solo travel is being able to do what you want and to change your plans on a whim!

The main draw for me was Sovereign Hill - a re-creation of an 1860s gold mining township.  Lonely Planet describes it as a "living history museum" and it certainly is that.  I was really impressed with this recreation.  The layout, the attention to detail and the sheer number of staff dressed in period dress going about their 1860s lives is amazing.  I've been to historical villages in Canada (Doon Heritage Crossroads comes to mind) and Wales.  I also went to another historica village here in Australia a week or so later.  They all pale in comparison to this one.  

I loved wandering into the different shops along the main street: buying an apple custard turnover in the baker, a pair of warm (although not-so-1860s-authentic) gloves (when the guidebook says that the town is "notoriously cold in winter" - believe them, even if it had been warm in Melbourne!) in the millner's shop, viewing a demonstration in the blacksmith shop and checking out the wares in the tack shop (if it hadn't been only the 3rd day of an 8 week trip, I might have purchased a few souvenirs for the horse-lovers in my family!).

One of the highlights of the village is the river where you can pan for gold - sometimes even successfully!  I had to laugh at the sign that said "No panning beyond this point.  River not seeded" - takes a little away from the authenticity when you know you are panning for seeded gold and makes it more disappointing when you don't find any!

Panning for gold.

The village doesn't downplay the injustices and inequalities of a gold mining town - the tent village set on the outskirts of the village for the Chinese miners contrasts sharply with the near-opulence of the main street and some of the other buildings.

Despite the cold and the rain, it was a great way to spend an afternoon.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go on a underground gold mine tour.

The village closed at 5 so I went back to my accommodations to get "rucked up" for the evening.  Travel tip:  flannel PJs under your clothes can make a decent alternative to long underwear when in a pinch!

As part of a package deal, I was able to eat dinner in one of the restaurants on the main street of the recreation village.  One of the disadvantages of solo travel is eating by yourself in a restaurant.  It's usually not too bad (and most times a good experience) but I found this particular evening more difficult.  I was at a solo table near the entrance to the restaurant.  The other tables were beyond mine, filled with families and groups of friends.  I felt very conspicuous and out of place.

Sovereign Hill puts on an amazing sound and light show at night, telling the story of the Eureka Rebellion.  The "Blood on the Southern Cross" show is unlike anything I'd seen before.  You start in an auditorium at the entrance to the village where there is a brief audio-video introduction to the 1854 rebellion.  After the video, the audience walks out into the village, stopping at different points, such as the river and the asseyers tent, as the spectacle continues.  You then get on a tram that takes you to a covered theatre with a view on a section of the village only seen if you attend the show.  Here, the battle of the Eureka Rebellion is brought to life through narration and sound, light and special effects.  After the battle, the trams take you back to the main street where you enter the town's theatre and one of the participants of the rebellion stands on stage and recounts the aftermath of the battle.  It was worth the detour just for the sound and light show!

I was able to get accommodations right on site.  About $50 got me a private bunk room (enough beds for 6 people but I didn't have to share).  In some ways, though, you do get what you pay for - the room wasn't heated and it was VERY cold at night!  Thankfully, there were 5 empty beds so I just borrowed a blanket.  Also, the bar-lounge at reception had a warm fireplace and free WiFi and the receptionist very kindly gave me a tea bag, some sugar, and a couple of cookies.

Melbourne

I landed in Melbourne on July 2, about 20 hours of flight time and two days after I left Canada.  (Gotta love crossing that International Date Line!)

Tail-wing webcam.

I flew Qantas from LAX to Melbourne.  What a great experience!  The flight attendants were super attentive, there was actual leg room, and the movie selection was good.  One of the coolest parts of the flight was the tail wing webcam.  It was a surreal experience watching the take-off and landing of the jet I was sitting on.  A jet, by the way, that was a double-decker!

I arrived at my hotel, the Travelodge Southbank, at about 9 am.  I was very thankful that my room was ready and I could check in immediately.  I didn't plan to stay long, intending to get out and take advantage of the day (and beat jet lag as soon as possible!), but being able to drop off my stuff was great.

Speaking of arriving at my hotel - the SkyBus shuttle service in Melbourne is amazing!  My return ticket cost $28 and included the shuttle from the airport to the Southern Cross Station and from there a shuttle direct to my hotel.  Return hotel pick up simply required booking a pick up time the day before.

Melbourne is a great city for tourists.  It is pedestrian friendly with lots to see and do.  You can pay the fifty odd bucks for the typical double-decker hop on / hop off bus or you can ride the free tourist bus that hits all the key locations and includes both recorded and "live" commentary about the city.

Flinders Station and the Melbourne skyline seen from Southbank.

A few highlights for me:

• The Shrine of Remembrance, initially built to honour WWI veterans from the state of Victoria, is awe-inspiring.  The building is impressive, dominating the surrounding area.  The inner room of the shrine is designed so that at the eleventh hour on Remembrance Day, the sun's light passes over the word "love" in the inscription "Greater love hath no man than this."  In the gardens surrounding the shrine are memorials for WWII veterans, war horses, and the Lonely Pine, remembering the massacre at Gallipoli.

The Shrine of Remembrance

• Wandering through the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Luna Park, St. Kilda

• Spending an afternoon at the shore of St. Kilda.  I walked through Luna Park, wandered along the beach, spied some tropical birds in the "wild," spent some time watching and waiting for Little Penguins (also known as Fairy Penguins) on the pier, and then enjoying a glass of red wine (atypical for me - I don't usually like red!) while conversing en français with my waitress, a girl from France here on a working holiday.

• Marvelling at the infamous Melbourne hook turn:  to turn right at some intersections, you have to wait in the far left lane until the light turns amber, at which point you advance, only making the turn when the light turns red, proceeding as if you had already been part of the  flow of traffic heading in the direction you are attempting to go in.

Enjoying my first Australian taste of the ocean at St. Kilda

Whimsy and Organized Tours

Ready for a helicopter ride
over the 12 Apostles in
Port Campbell

I've been in Australia for 12 days now.  12 days of freedom from any strict plans, free to go where whimsy dictates.

That ends tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am joining a tour up the east coast.  It's going to be amazing but it's going to be a very different experience from the last two weeks.  The schedule is jam-packed with lots of sites and activities.  Very little room for whimsy or a photographer who likes to take a million and one photos in the hopes of getting that perfect shot.  ;-)

I'm hoping that my tour mates will be amazing, too.  The tour is aimed at 18 - 30 somethings - it could be great, it could be h - e- double-hockey sticks on earth!  I did my research and the tour doesn't have the reputation of being a "party tour."  I'm hoping the cost will mean I'm more likely to meet people who are truly interested in seeing the sights and appreciating the experience. Joining a tour as a single is always an interesting proposition:  who will I be rooming with?  Will there be a "kindred spirit" on the trip?  We'll see.

The next 17 days.

In the meantime, my current hostel room is immediately above a rather noisy bar / dance club so I'll be awake for a while!  I'm going to put up a post or three giving you some insights into the different adventures I've had so far and the different areas I've visited.

Kangaroos Play Golf?!?!

I finally saw my first "wild" kangaroos today!

The first time was off in a field near Bell's Beach.  They were at quite a distance and the iPhone just wasn't up to the task.  The "real" pictures will come later.

However, later, I got a much closer view of them!

Did you know that kangaroos like golf?  One particular group of kangaroos likes to hang out at the Anglesea Golf Club:

When golfers come along, they just hop out of the way and then go back to calmly munching on their dinner.

I heard the kookaburras laughing today - they sounded a bit like the witches from Macbeth cackling over their cauldron.

Tonight I'm staying at the Great Ocean Road Cottages & Backpackers YHA.  The wind is rustling the leaves of the gum trees - the sound is very soothing.  The rain comes and goes, bringing with it the scent of eucalyptus.  The scent of fresh rain-washed eucalyptus is quickly becoming one of my favourite things.

Apparently, koalas like to hang out in the gum trees at this hostel.  Maybe I'll see one or two on my way out tomorrow.

Random Jet-lagged Musings

Flying 15 hours isn't so bad . . . at least not when you can sleep through a good number of them.

I learned that in Australia, eucalyptus is called "Gum." Ever since, I've had that song stuck in my head:

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, 

Merry, merry king of the bush is he,

Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,

Gay your life must be, ha ha ha."

Here's hoping no one actually catches me singing it!

I realized later that the first Australian wildlife I encountered was likely a kookaburra.  Pictures to follow.

For the most part, eucalyptus doesn't match my understanding of the plant.  I'm used to the stalks we use in decorating.  Here, most of the eucalyptus I've encountered has been trees.  I finally smelled eucalyptus this afternoon when the rain brought out the scent.

Driving on the "wrong" side of the road isn't so bad - at least not when all you have to contend with is a motorway that has rumble strips to warn you when you're too far over!  The real test will come when I drive the long and windy Great Ocean Road. . .

Oh, and taking that first drive in a major wind storm just adds to the adventure!

The Australian accent has, so far & with apologies to my extended family, been much easier to understand than the Welsh accent!

It's only the 3rd day of my trip and I've already got blisters on one foot.  Of course, these blisters would be on the foot that I didn't hurt just before leaving on this trip!  (On a brighter note, the bruise on the other foot is gone, even if the pain isn't!)

The savvy traveller, who packs lightly, *might* run into a situation when wearing flannel pjs underneath one's clothing is a viable alternative to the long johns that were left at home . . . 

Speaking of wildlife, it's my third day here and I've yet to see a kangaroo or a koala (although I did see "crossing" signs for both!).

One small suitcase,8 long weeks . . . 

This could get interesting! 

 

My Great Australian Adventure

The pretext? My brother and sister-in-law were supposed to be in Australia this summer. They live overseas so I don't see them very often. What a great opportunity to see them and a great excuse to justify the money and time involved in travelling to Australia (not that I ever need an excuse to travel. . . )!

 I say "supposed to be" because, the way things often happen in my adventures, they ended up coming home to Canada, instead! However, my ticket was already bought, a couple of tours already paid for, and my bags were . . . oh wait, who am I kidding - my bags weren't packed, not even close, but the idea was there! - so I was still Australia bound.

I left home on June 30 arrived in Melbourne via Los Angeles on July 2.  Due to crossing time zones and the International Date Line, I more or less skipped Canada Day entirely.  I spent two days in Melbourne and am currently on a detour to Ballarat before driving back down past Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road.

 My goal is to try and update this blog at least once a week. Doesn't sound like much but that should mean at least 8 posts as I am here for 8 weeks.  I will be travelling (criss-crossing, really!) most of the continent, although I am skipping the West Coast - I will save that for the next time when my brother and sister-in-law really are in Australia!

I hope you'll follow along on my Great Australian Adventure!

 
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5 Days in Africa

Today is my fifth day in Africa. It has been and continues to be a major adjustment. In some ways it doesn't seem that different and in many other ways, it is definitely a whole new world.

In the villages, the poverty can hit you in the face at one moment and then seem non-existent in the next. People are well-dressed, many have cell phones, they pay for transportation by Boda Boda (bicycle), Pik Pik (motorbike), or matatu (a large size van that may be crammed chockerblock full of people), even in the small villages they buy Coke and other soft drinks that could be considered a luxury. However, people live in huts that may be made of tin or clay with thatch roofs, they work from sunup to sundown to provide food for their families, and leisure time activities are next to non-existent. (Of course, life in the cities is different).

African villages are not what Canadians think of when we hear the word "village." Here, a village is a series of compounds, each compound housing a family. A village might have one or two shops providing supplies such as mangos, peanuts, bread, eggs, and pop to the villagers.

Family also means something different here. Usually, a man will have at least 2 or 3 wives, each in their own house within the compound. If the husband dies, the sons must build their own houses (huts) and move out of the mother's house. Once the mother dies, the house is left uninhabited, perhaps used only for cooking or storage. Oftentimes it is left to fall into disrepair.

The compounds are another sign of the discrepancies in the spread of wealth in Africa. One compound may have strong, "modern" houses built of concrete blocks while in the compound right next door, the houses might only be built of mud and thatch.

On Wednesday, I was outside the Health Clinic compound watching the cattle being herded by as they were taken down to the pond to water. The school children were coming by, also. They stopped to say hello to the Mzungu and have their picture taken. One boy asked if I had a pencil I could give him. I didn't have any with me that day so I asked him to come back the next day.

It was a difficult experience on Thursday, when I went out to greet the children and hand out pencils. At first only a handful of children were around, but within seconds there was a crowd of children around me. It became difficult to figure out who had already received one and who hadn't. They kept pushing and shoving, crowding around me, trying to get my attention, and have me give them one. I finally had to give up and go back into the compound. At that point, one of the clinic workers suggested I count the remaining pens and pencils and have the guard allow only that number of children to come in, a few at a time to get one. This worked well. I only had one pen left after this and suggested that this one girl (in school uniform) who was holding a baby be the the one to come in and get the last pen. The clinic worker said that the girls shouldn't be given the pens, only the boys. I found the whole experience difficult on so many levels - the extreme joy of the children in receiving something as simple as a pencil or a pen - that they were thankful for such a small thing but at the same time the knowledge that they were so thankful because to them this "small thing" was a very large thing - and the worker's comment that only the boys should receive the pens. We are so blessed in Canada - both in riches and in rights for all - that this experience was beyond my comprehending.

If you take out a camera here, you are liable to be swarmed - the children (and the adults) LOVE to have their picture taken and then see the results. They don't understand that they need to stand back from the camera so I'm often needing to back up and ask them to stay put. (This also makes it hard to get a "candid" shot - they seem to have a sixth sense of when the Mzungus are around and have their cameras out.) Dad, Ed, Boniface, and I were in Bondo to purchase electrical supplies. While the guys negotiated with the shop, I wandered around a bit. I was taking a picture of an older woman selling dried corn kernels - she had a wheelbarrow full of them. In the shop behind her was a small child and his mother. His mother called me over and asked me to take a picture of the child, then of her and the child, and then just of her. She kept doing different poses and asking "One more, one more." Then, she went and stood with a friend - "One more, one more!" - and then another friend joined them - "One more, one more!"

The heat here is something else. Because we had such a cool July in Canada, I wasn't used to heat and humidity so coming here was, and still is, a major adjustment.

The brightness of the sun is a challenge for me - both because I'm heat-sensitive and am having problems with the heat, but also because it makes it VERY difficult to take pictures - the sky is so bright while the people, buildings, trees, and animals are darker, more neutral tones - it's hard to properly meter to get a picture where you can make out the bottom half of the picture without blowing out the highlights in the top half!!!

Today we got up early and drove into Kisumu. At Hippo Point, we went on a boat ride on Lake Victoria. Titus, a marine biologist, was our guide and was able to tell us all about the flora and fauna of Lake Victoria. In terms of flora, we saw sausage trees, papyrus, mangrove, candelabra trees, and water hyacinth. Fauna included cormorants, egrets, flamingos, kingfishers, and hippos!!!!! Pictures to follow.

Lunch and souvenir shopping is next on our list! Later!