Travel Bug

I've only been on one big trip so far, but I am developing the travel bug. Too bad I have these things called classes. I'm thinking somewhere around early May I would like to travel again...but where!?

If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments box. I'm already going to Queensland next week so I'd like to go somewhere else. Tasmania sounds fun. So please leave suggestions or email me (ashleyby@sas.upenn.edu)!

Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island

This was by far, my best weekend in Australia.

Saturday night began by creeping out at 7am for our tour bus to pick us up. Luckily, our driver (named Campbell- although everyone called him Camel) arrived on time. Beth, Lisa, Devin, Devin’s mom, and Bethany all came.

Our day began by driving to the coast of Victoria, and making our way to the Shipwreck Coast (Great Ocean Road). We started by seeing the 12 Apostles (only a few of which remain) and they were so beautiful. I’ve seen pictures of them but seeing them in person leaves you breathless. I didn’t realize just how tall they were. Next, we headed out to look at some more structures on Great Ocean Road. The view was spectacular. Finally, we went to see what remained of the London Bridge structure of Great Ocean Road.

Later that evening, we arrived at Apollo Bay, where we would stay in a small house for the night. We had an Australian BBQ (which consists of meat and bread—Camel was sweet enough to get potatoes and salad for me). We also stopped by the Apollo Bay Music festival that night, where we say a man strumming a guitar while his over-sized stuffed Kuala played the drum. Finally we retired for the night and got ready for our early morning wake up.

The next morning at 8 am, we left the house and began our long drive to Phillip Island. We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures. At our first stop, we fed the birds and they were so cute: one came and sat right on my hand as I fed him. We also saw some wild Kuala’s there. Apparently, it’s illegal to pet Kuala’s in Victoria but Camel said he would let us do it if we paid him $500 to keep silent (I decided I would just look at them). As the mini-bus rolled along, we came to an open-zoo range where we saw tazmanian devils, emus, kangaroos, and donkeys. They even had two albino Kangaroos. I got to feed the Roos and they are so sweet! One (that was taller than me) got a little upset when I took away the food. He grabbed onto my hand and as I moved away, he grabbed my purse...talk about pick pocketing!

We continued our drive to Great Ocean Road and stopped for Pizza. Shortly after feeding the wildlife, Camel surprised us with Crocaroo Pizza (Crocodile and Kangaroo). Needless to say, I went for the cheese pizza.

Our final destination was Phillip Island. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but the mini penguins were so cute. They are, I believe 20 cm or smaller and you could barely see them coming out of the water. When they finally came out, they waddled slowly ashore, making sure to travel in groups of at least four. If there weren’t enough penguins, they would wait until more arrived and slowly, in a group, they made their way into their homes.

On the drive back to Melbourne, everyone slept...except me. I sat listening to my iPod, reflecting, ‘it’s amazing to be in Australia.’