Leaving the Tent

Once we were settled in our new temporary home, we began to relax and explore our surroundings. Wye River is hours away from Melbourne, accessible by bus to those of us lacking an automobile. The town consists of the Big4 Holiday Park, a pub, and a small general store, both wildly overpriced. The nearest town is a half hour bus ride, or over an hour to a town with decent prices. Luckily, we caught a ride into Torquay for groceries with Sharna and Damo, 2 of the permanent caretakers at the campgrounds, and got enough food to last us weeks!

We worked when the park was busy, mostly on the weekends. Kent spent his Friday and Saturday nights as security guard from 10:30-2:30am. We lazed on the beach when it was sunny, occasionally going for a dip in the "refreshing" (cold) sea. We indulged in rotisserie chicken and chocolate cake for Kent's birthday. We played board games and card games, cooked barbecues, and explored the local area. Sharna and Damo took us to see glow worms along some deserted trails one night and another time We picked wild blackberries and made pancakes. We prayed our tent wouldn't blow away when storms came through, and I gave Kent a haircut. We made some awesome friends and exciting traveling plans.

After making our furtune as casual cleaners and security guard, we couldn't wait to begin exploring the rest of this huge continent. We joined forces with Hannah and Emma, 2 British girls who were also working with us at Wye River, and we arranged to see the rest of the Great Ocean Road and the State of Victoria, and make our way to Adelaide via car rental and campervan relocation.

Picking up the rental car in Melbourne, we made our way along the southern coast until we reached Port Fairy. There were some beautiful sights along the Great Ocean Road, our favorites being the 12 Apostles and the Bay of Martyrs. In Port Fairy we had a treat because all I wanted for my birthday was fish and chips! We found a great "fish and chippery" right on the wharf and indulged in battered flake and yummy chips (fries).

From Port Fairy, we turned north toward the Grampians National Park. In a town called Hall's Gap we found accommodation and close encounters with kangaroos who wandered into the campgrounds looking for food. After the 4 of us enjoyed many gin and tonics, music, and card games, Hannah, Emma, and Kent presented me with my homemade chocolate birthday cake, which was absolutely delicious, especially with Kent's homemade lemon zest whipped cream. I even had a candle to blow out!

The next day we toured the Grampians including Baroka Lookout, the Balconies, and MacKenzie Falls. With a short stop in Ballarat, we continued back to Melbourne to pick up the next vehicle, a "relocation" from Melbourne to Adelaide in a Maui 4x4 pop-top campervan. But that is an adventure for another day...

Living in a Tent

Our journey to Australia has begun! After going through customs, we jumped on a bus that took us to downtown Melbourne. We had heard great things about the City of Melbourne, so we began our journey there, and loved it. There is a river running right through just south of the CBD where everyone comes to enjoy the great weather, go for a run, or eat at one of the many waterfront restaurants. There are beautiful beaches just a short tram ride away, and plenty of museums, culture, and nightlife to keep you entertained for years! We stayed at a great hostel and met some awesome people. We went to the markets, libraries, restaurants, beaches, and bars. Unfortunately, staying in the city is also hard on the wallet, so we decided to try to make use of our working holiday visas, which allow us to get short term jobs while traveling the country.

It wasn't easy finding jobs amongst the many other backpackers looking for work. Most jobs available in the city were door to door sales and other commission based work (not our bag, baby). We finally saw a posting on the hostel message board for work and accommodation at a Big4 campgrounds about 2 hours outside of Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road (a popular tourist drive along beautiful beaches). After a phone call, we were all set to start work the following week!

We hopped on another bus headed to the Great Ocean Road. We arrived, set up our puny 2-man dome tent and luxurious air mattress, and were all set to start work the next morning. We tried to sleep through the sounds of wild pigs and monkeys, and midway through the night realized we were sleeping on the hard ground, thanks to the inability of the air mattress to actually hold air. We were not very cheerful upon waking in that cramped tent, but we headed down to start work and tried to put on a smile. Turns out the "wild pigs" are actually koalas (seriously, try to find a youtube of the noise) and the "monkeys" are actually kookaburras laughing. By the end of the 8-hour day, we returned to our campsite to find Grahm, a resident/employee of the campgrounds, setting up his 2-room tent for us. Our new found friends and coworkers managed to hook us up with a real mattress, linens, pillows, towels, an icebox, and a table with chairs. There was no trouble smiling now! We quickly set up our new home and converted our "old" home to the closet. We are camping in style!

The setup we have is great. There is a beautiful beach with great surf right across the street, and our coworkers are so generous and fun! Koalas live in the trees around us and kangaroos hang out in the field about 100 meters away from our tent. Life is good.