Living it up in the land of milk and honey

G'day from Australia - maybe it is not quite the land of milk and honey but it is certainly the land of boxed iced coffee and ice cream! Yes, Ive been getting my fat on, storing up for my trek in the Himalayas. I leave for Kathmandu tonight and start the trek around Annapuna in a couple of days so I thought I would take this opportunity to fill you in on my little adventures in Aus before my next blog which will hopefully have lots of pretty pictures of tall mountains and Nepalese stuff.
I was pretty tired when I got back to Aus at the start of the month so I decided it would be a really good idea to get a bad cold then share it with my friends so they could give it to their friends etc. Sorry about that Nicole and Erin. Fortunately, Nicole was gracious enough to keep me around a few days despite my obvious status as a vector. I did very little, mostly hung out at University of Queensland and gawked at all the first years, wondering if I ever did/wore such obsurd things. I did - it was just a long time ago. I am getting old :(
I did get to do a hike up Mt Warning. I had hiked this small but stunning mountain about 6 years ago with school friends. It was good to return there with Craig (my soon to be trek mate), Nicole, and both of their respective partners. We cooled off after the hike by hitting the beach! Isn't Australia great!
On the 11th I finally motivated and got myself down to Sydney/Wollongong to visit another friend there. We did a bit of diving at some small islands off the beach in front of
his house and spent the weekend in Sydney with his brother and his Irish wife. This was perfect as it was the weekend before St. Patrick's Day and there was a big festival on in a park downtown full of people wearing all manner of green and a couple of very confused looking Irish wolfhounds. We did a few nice walks along the bay and visited the botanical gardens in the city so I could meet and greet a wollemi pine. This is an extremely rare tree species known mostly from fossils that are very very old. A few hundred of these trees were re-discovered in the mid 1990's in a remote valley west of Sydney. The location is kept secret and I would have to hobnob with some serious tree geeks to get there, so I decided to just go see the one that was planted in the gardens. It is pretty cool. I can't find the picture of it though, so stay tuned and it will turn up eventually.
After a week in Sydney/Wollongong, I headed down south to Melbourne. Just a quick complaint: Jet Star IS A TERRIBLE AIRLINE! Do not fly with them! Long story...just be warned!
Other than Jet Star's abominable treatment, my trip to Melbourne was great. I stayed with James and his girlfriend (a fellow yank) Vicki in Fitzroy, a very funky fun part of Melbourne with lots of good cafes and artsy stuff. We did a few bike rides along Melbourne's awesome riverside bike lanes and we enjoyed plenty of splendid Melbourne food. They both worked as English teachers in Japan a while back, so they are something like Asian food coneseurs.
While in Melbourne, I really wanted to see the Great Ocean Road again. I had driven it 6 years ago but didn't get enough of it then. I rented a car and had a very very long day of driving but as you can see from the photos it was worth it! I visited the Otways National Park where there are huge eucalyptus trees and tree ferns as well as gnarled old beech trees. From there, I continued down the coast to the 12 Apostles, where I saw splendid ocean views, sea stacks, and (surprisingly) an echidna. I continued along and stopped at all the view points till I got to the bay of islands. I finished off the drive in Port Fairy, where there is a small island, Griffin Island, which supports the largest nesting colony of mutton birds (a type of shearwater) in the world. They all fly in together at dusk. It is pretty spectacular. I also saw plenty of other birds, including black swans and herons; a couple of wallabies, beautiful beaches, a lighthouse, and a really great sunset on my walk around.
I headed back to Melbourne that night so I could spend the weekend with James and Vicki in Rosebud. James and I did some diving off Portsea and Rye piers. I was really keen to see a weedy sea dragon, which I succeeded at seeing, plus a puffer fish, a huge ray, and lots over very very big snails. We did a night dive at Rye Pier and saw a couple of tiny rays, a pregnant yellow seahorse, heaps of fish, crabs, and several dumpling squid, which are really really adorable.
I returned to Brisbane on Monday and met up with my PNG co-worker Jeff at the airport for dinner and lots of chatting while he endured a 6 hour layover on his way back to England. I have really missed Jeff and Chris after spending 3 months working with them and enjoying their company in PNG.
My flight departs for Nepal at 1159 pm so I have some preparations to attend to. Looking forward to seeing you soon, hopefully.
-Cara