Melbourne

Hey everyone!

Today we are sitting in an internet cafe in downton Melbourne, Australia. We have had a good time in Victoria thus far (I say Victoria because that is the state we are in and drove through much of it yesterday) and will have until tomorrow afternoon here.

We are staying with the brother of a Covenant student and an old roommate of Scott's. He lives southeast of the city in a suburban area. Our first day in we got things settled at the house, threw in some laundry (first time since LA) and headed to eat. We ended up going to St. Kilda a beach, a hot spot in the summertime. It was very cold and windy, the climate difference from Sydney was obvious. From there we went to a pub and watched some of the World Cup.

Yesterday was a great day...I knocked off a good bit of my Australia bucket list. We began by taking public transportation into the city and renting a car for the day. We grabbed some groceries for the day and took off. the weather was crazy...we began the morning with a crisp blue sky, which quickly disappeared behind a dark gray cloudy mess, which then turned into downpour. We probably went through that cycle three or four times. As we have heard, Melbourne gets four seasons in one day.

Anyways, the plan for the day was to hit Great Ocean Road and eventually get to the Twelve Disciples, the most famous area of Australia's coastline. On our way we saw beautiful beaches and coast...gorgeous blue water. We drove through a bit a rainforest and some wide open plains as well with great landscape views of the surrounding area. I feel as if much of what we saw was a small taste of what some of New Zealand might look like. Vast arrays of powerful views that really make you stop and stare.

On to the bucket list: We saw stopeed at a lighthouse gift shop where the lady told us there were hundreds of koalas in the trees around the area. And so we went on a koala quest and sure enough we found several just hanging out, sleeping. It was awesome to see them live in the wild. Down this same road, while looking for koalas, Joel spotted a field of kangaroos and screamed, "Dude, KANGAROOS!" We jumped out of the car and chased after them. They started flying in the opposite direction. It was incredible to be running in a field of about 30 or 40 kangaroos...and man could they jump. Once I stopped to think of what we were doing I realized if these things turns on us we would be in a world of hurt. There was one male that was much bigger and darker than the rest and he was off to the side staring at us. Pretty intense...but awesome!

Kangaroos! (video)

We finally got to the Twelve Apostles and they were worth the hype. Amazing! So beautiful...so stunning. Huge rocks sitting in the ocean off the coast, with giant waves of white foam crashing against them. They are located on the southernmost tip of Victoria and it was cold and incredibly windy. Possibly one of the windiest places I have ever been, almost got knocked down a few times. It was crazy to think that we were just a little bit north of the South Pole. The landscape at that area was pretty New Zealand-like. Beautiful.

Today we have gotten to explore the city. It is a cool place to be. So different for Sydney, but I like it almost as much. It is a bit more rock and roll and artsy, versus Sydney's more elegant and romantic style. There are a ton of athletic arenas here as well. We walked through the old Olympic stadium from 1956, the Cricket Grounds, the Australian Open stadium and park, a couple other arenas and another oval stadium. Pretty sweet. I like Melbourne. It has a good feel to it. Tonight, we are hoping to go to an Aussie Rules Football game in the McG Cricket Grounds. It is supposed to be a huge game, 65,000 people...should be great.

Not sure if I have time to say much more. I am really loving it here. Learning a lot about the culture and enjoying it. Joel and Scott say hey.


So long.

-b garrison