Quite the 28 Hours

Getting up before 9:00 has been challenging since the age of six. Yesterday had all the markings of a marathon. Leaving Lori at the third Olovo Hotel  this time in Melbourne (unsolicited pitch - if you are ever traveling to a place served by Olovo, book your stay there. You can thank me later) I climbed aboard the tram at 7:45  heading toward the car rental place. Full disclosure - I arrived tat Thrifty 10 minutes late since, in my early morning stupor, I had lined up at the tram stop only to realize that I was on the northbound platform on the wrong side of the road, forgetting that everything in this place is backwards.

Car in hand, metaphorically speaking, it wasn’t a dinky toy, I headed back to Olovo to gather my beloved and her luggage, which was becoming heavier every day, replete with pamphlets, maps, guides, brochures of every place we visited, walked past, thought of, planned to see but didn’t get to, menus, business cards, boarding passes, swipe cards, bottle labels, candy wrappers, matches, place mats, used straws (not the plastic kind), and other unimportant stuff. Plan A was to traverse the entire length of the Great Ocean Road. It was great. This next bit of info may not come a surprise to the seasoned traveler but in order to access that road we had to drive to the coast. Happily the way to the water went directly through Geelong (pronounced je-long), the home of Olivia, one of the most endearing and fun (to tease) volunteer travel mates from our Laos/Cambodia expedition of three years back. Olivia is now hitched to Josh, 

who she was dating when we were last together.They have recently purchased a new house, have a puppy and are looking forward to having a family together. Ringing their bell and spending an hour catching up with old mates resonated so nicely. We had a similar experience in Sydney a few weeks back, having lunch with Jonathan who we did volunteering with in Peru years ago, also with his new spouse Anna. Apparently, Lori and I inspire people to wed, being the portraits of matrimonial bliss that we are.

We arrived in Adelaide at 2:30 AM today, having covered 1,000 or so kilometers in the process. Here's how - 

With fears of impending death from head on collisions finally put to rest, I decided to double down on 'fear of driving off a cliff'. 

The Great Ocean Drive is exactly that - great; both in terms of length and grandeur. It is a long and winding road that does not lead to my door. It runs along the coast offering up vista after vista of magnificent cliffs, 

turquoise water breaking over limestone shoals 

and otherworldly vegetation, or as some say, begetation.

Below is what caused a 45 minute traffic delay through the town of Lorne, named after my old, dear friend. See 2,500 salmon wannabes complete the annual Pier to Pub Crawl. Sponsored by AA.

The ride extends 243 km, which may not seem so far when driving on the 40, 87, the M1, etc. But when it is single lane around some serious curvature, up hill and down dale, driving on the wrong side of the road, which, given that the edge of the cliff was crumbling under my left tyres has two meanings, it ain't exactly pedal to the metal. We zigged and zagged our way through and about. (Hey, I'm stahtin' to gab like 'em. Apparently, the Lingo ate my Diction) We covered about two thirds of the GOC in a few hours. Done properly it should be a three day adventure/beauty tour.. 

We turned inland at The Twelve Apostles. 

A famous, and justifiably so, landmark in the Indian Ocean. Sedimentary rocks, mostly limestone and some sand, I'd hazahd a gess. Columns of eroded rock just offshore standing about 50 meters tall. Here comes the fun part. There are now Eight apostles, with Davey, Peter, Mike, and Mickey having been eroded out of existence and ending up dramatically crashing down into the sea and the Earth, towards Hell. If these rocks are not the perfect metaphor for religion as practiced by most individuals on this good planet, then shut my mouth and call me a wallaby. 

Two of the 12; Bert & Ernie

PS To this point we have been in Oz for just over a month and have seen exactly ZERO kangaroos. For those wanting a visual recapturization of the entire drive, Lori has a picture of every cave, every wave, every bluff with none of my guff. So pull up for a viewing session that will make the 11 hours driven by me to this point feel like the intro. 

North and then west through the vineyards of Penfolds, Coonawara, Lindeman as the sun began to set, around 9:00, celebrating 12 hours of togetherness. I was feeling grand and felt that we could get ourselves to Adelaide on time to check in for a few hours of sleep near the airport and catch the 10:25 to Alice Springs. From where I am writing you this now. I do not recall many or even any times in my life that showed a temperature variation between home and here as we are presently experiencing. App says Montreal -22. It was +42 an hour or two ago. This is the original $64,000 question. Did you ever wonder why 64 is such a popular number? 8 squared - the Chinese like that. A great song sung by Paul, squares on a chess board, my age, enough of that.

So this long and boring schpiel is supposed to stylistically reflect the dark, long, late ride from Keith to Adelaide (9:06 PM- 2:15AM, grand total 17 hours). Keith, boasting a population nearing 1,500, was the largest stop off point between us and the suburbs of Adelaide. But they do have police. Spoiler Alert - They have not cost me money, I have not been arrested. Doing 87km in a 60km zone at home may land you an obstruction of traffic flow citation. In the State of Australia it will land you a $400+ fine, 6 demerits, 

and an automatic breathalyzer test, which I passed with flying colours following a wonderful conversation with a man who was both an officer and a gentleman. Let me off after an interesting conversation. He imparted unforgettable advice. When I asked him, in the tune of Steely Dan, if the 'roos come out at night. He replied: "Don't swerve". And to not put too fine a point on the matter, he added the following "Go right through them". How bout them Saints, Stevo!

Landing back in Oz from NZ the other day, I was non-too pleased seeing a New Zealand Aviation Security Service label affixed to my bag. Like myself, this particular suitcase has gone places. Having seen these cute leashed puppies in the hands of not equally cute customs officers gave me pause for concern. 

PSA - if you carry a plug-in battery pack when you travel - hand luggage. The love letter from the NZASS advised me that they had confiscated my charger. Some hypocritical customs agent who is also probably selling confiscated weed out of his basement as well as charging devices at a rate that likely rivals Apple. Could have been worse.

And we saw two kangaroos on the road to Adelaide. More precisely, we saw two live kangaroos and about a dozen on the road.