theflailingtrail

What a long haul. As we’ll discuss in another post, I just spent 3 months living in the Australian Snowy Mountains! And although it was lovely (or was it?) it’s time to move on. So move on we did!

Although we wanted to take our time and see Tasmania on the way down, I ended up getting a job interview so we really hauled a** to get here. We packed up, and headed out first thing to make the 7-8 hour drive to Melbourne, where we stayed for a single night at City Edge, a cigarette smelling but still awesome budget option (we paid 100 for a one bedroom apartment, full kitchen, parking included). Sad as it is, the ONLY thing we did in Melbourne was take a walk through the beautiful Botanic Garden, and then get an extremely overpriced zucchini tart to share on the way out. We do hear from probably half the backpackers we meet that Melbourne is their favourite spot in the country, but time was not on our side.

Also, a picture from the gardens!

But the fun only BEGINS now. Exhausted, we set out from Melbourne to the Grampians, but we don’t head inland just yet. First we see our bucket list Great Ocean Road. This drive was LONG and enduring, especially on the front bearings of our car which we wanted to get changed back in the Snowy Mountains, but we extended our 5 hour drive to 7 hours so we wouldn’t miss this.

We arrived at Green Lake that night, and weary and grumpy decided to sleep in the car. This is after we discovered that Ararat is a skin walker town (no offense to the locals, this is about the small town Australian vibes, not the really kind people we met). Now hear me out. Ghost town. As is much of Victoria and South Australia. There are tons of businesses and houses, and yet, no people. Everywhere we went it was just us. The businesses that hadn’t closed down were staffed with people who pressed their noses to the windows as we went by, and once in a while there was a road worker who may or may not have been placed to convince us the towns are real. Each restaurant had a blinking, lonely staff member, and an array of empty tables and chairs. We crossed a street called my own name, and then immediately found ourselves at the door to a business named my aunt and uncle’s names. Suspicious? Anyway, we went to the grocery store for quick food before sleeping extremely uncomfortably in the back seat of the car which was too full to put our seats back. Now before you come for me, Ararat is very cute, and I’m being a silly goose, but I tell the story as I experienced it, and I experienced it as a writer of books does. (Did you know I’m a writer of books?)

The lake was pretty, the camp site had hit water and showers, and our car had enough gas to get us into the Grampians. And the Grampians, I tell you, are Wonderland.

Every evening the mountains lit up red. Every night the sky became a wash of glittering milky way. The birds and frogs sing from morning ’til night. The air smells strongly of flowers. The hikes to the climbing walls are gentle and kind. The climbs themselves require trad gear so we knew we’d be limited with our sport only travel bags.

And next to the campsite… An olive orchard with delightful samples! I didn’t want to leave, but after a day of climbing, and a day of summiting one of the mountains, we said our goodbyes.

We visited Arapiles just on our way out, and wished again that we’d brought a trad rack, despite the chaos of traveling with a trad rack.

And then… We crossed into South Australia, via a country road that looked to be a prison for bits of grain, and eventually found ourselves in Adelaide. And here we are! And here we will be for the next five months. Will we find work? Will we lose all our savings? Will we be okay in the future or regret everything? Who knows! But I’m here and I’ll let you know how it goes.