Great Ocean Road Adventures

Since I am already in the southern hemisphere I figured I should probably catch up with the people I know on this side of the world before heading back to Canada. I caught up with April and David in Melbourne and have a fair few friends in and around Adelaide that I would like to see so it only made sense to make that my next destination. I did however want to do some exploring in between so I booked a tour along the Great Ocean Road and through Grampians National Park that departed from Melbourne and ended in Adelaide.

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and made my way well before the scheduled pick up time but still managed to stress myself out that I had missed the bus when it was running late. While I was waiting I met a German girl named Britta who was going on the same tour so that helped calm my nerves about the delayed bus and helped convince me that the bus was behind schedule. Really that is the only logical possibility anyway, when have you ever heard of a bus running ahead of schedule? Never, that’s when! The bus was running about 15 minutes behind schedule but once I was onboard I wasn’t really worried about any further delays.

The first couple hours of the trip were pretty boring as we made our way out of the city and on to the Great Ocean Road. Once we made it to the famous road the day got much more exciting. We stopped for a coffee break at a place that I want to say was named Geoffreys Bay but I could be making that up (and the itinerary is vague and not helping me at all). Whatever it was called it was a beach along the section of the highway known for its iconic surf locations so while everyone else was drinking coffee and tea (gross) I was watching surfers ride the waves.

We drove through some pretty cool looking towns but unfortunately didn’t have enough time to stop and explore them We did however stop for pictures at an arch marking the beginning of the Great Ocean Road as well as a campground for some koala spotting. There seemed to be more parrots than koalas kicking around but I still managed to find one asleep at the top of a tree.

From there we made our way to Apollo Bay for some lunch. The sandwiches provided left a little something to be desired. I was going to say that I shouldn’t complain about free food but it wasn’t really free, I paid quite a bit to be on this tour so it would be nice if the provided lunch was more than one sandwich and a small bottle of water. Having such a small lunch though did leave some free time to explore the town before hopping back on the bus. I took a short stroll along the boardwalk then checked out some of the booths at that were set up for a festival going on in town.

Our next stop for the day was at Mait’s Rest in the Otway Rainforest. We went on a walk around a short loop, which was fairly uneventful aside from a really rude family we encountered along the way. About halfway down the trail there is a giant tree with a big hollow at the base of the trunk. This family thought they would take about 600 family photos followed by several photos of groups of two or three and then of individuals. You couldn’t even walk past them without feeling guilty about ruining their pictures. So we stood there for about 10 minutes waiting for them to finish up their photo shoot and when they finally finished they stood in front of the tree, blocking the trail, arguing about which direction they should walk. It was all I could do not to scream at them! It’s a freaking loop! Walk the opposite direction from the way you came!

The next destination was the one I was most looking forward to, the twelve apostles. The twelve apostles are a rock formation that were given a catchy name in an attempt to attract more tourists and it seems to have worked even though there are only really 7 rock stacks still standing and one of them has actually collapsed and is a tiny rock barely poking out of the water. I was given the opportunity to go on a 10 minute helicopter ride over the apostles for $95 and while I have set a fairly tight budget for myself I thought this was something I might regret if I didn’t do it and so I coughed up the money. If you are ever given this same opportunity I would recommend giving it a miss. Walk to the viewpoints instead. The apostles were particularly busy on this day and so they cut all of the helicopter rides short and didn’t offer to give the passengers any of their money back. I was pretty pissed off to be honest.  Especially since I had to wait in line for so long that I didn’t have enough time to explore the apostles from the ground before I had to get back on the bus.

We stopped at a few more scenic lookouts for some stunning pictures before veering of the Great Ocean Road and heading to Grampians National Park where we would be spending the night. Our hostel was just an old house that had been converted in to a hostel, and by this I mean that they put a whole lot of bunk beds in the tiny bedrooms and called it a hostel. It was pretty warm outside and the house didn’t have air-conditioning so sticking 4 people in a room designed for one person made for an unbearably hot night. The bunk beds were old and creaked and swayed every time someone on either bunk made the slightest movement so between that and the heat there was not much sleep involved.

Breakfast was served at 5:45am so this didn’t really help the situation any. When I booked this trip I must not have read the itinerary because the ridiculous o’clock wake up call was almost as surprising to me as the fact that we would be hiking up a mountain after breakfast! This was so not on my list of things to do. I am in terrible shape and this was made evident at several points throughout the day. Most of this hike was okay, but the last 400 meters were a scramble not a hike and I almost died about 6 times.  The views from the top were pretty spectacular though so I guess it was worth it even though I almost died a few more times on the way back down.

I was under the impression that we would be driving to the rest of the locations for the day so I was again surprised that we were actually going on a number of hikes. We covered approximately 12km over the course of the day and the last hike to the base of a waterfall included climbing something like 237 steps to get back to the bus. It was 37 degrees. This was not my idea of fun and while the things we saw were beautiful I was thrilled when the days activities were over and all I needed to do was sit on a bus for the rest of the day.

I arrived in Adelaide a little after dinnertime and since I was exhausted I had a pretty low-key evening. I did however have the most amazing shower in the history of the world. It felt so good to wash all of that sweat off! It was an action-packed couple of days and I super excited to try and catch up on some sleep in my air-conditioned room.

Fiji To Melbourne

I feel like so much has happened since my last update even though it has only been a few days! My lazy day ended up being much more social than I had anticipated. I opted not to make the trek into town; spending time on a bus in 98% humidity doesn’t rank too high on my list of things to do, and decided to hang around the hostel instead.

I spent a good chunk of the day relaxing in the café since they had both free internet and air-conditioning but when the power went out I headed back to my room to read. I ended up chatting at length with a couple of my roommates, a girl from Finland and another from Germany (I can’t remember their names because I’m a horrible person) before we decided we should all go out for dinner together.

The person who sounded like they were dying in the bathroom earlier that morning had checked out and since the bathroom wasn’t completely covered in either feces or vomit I figured I would never find out what happened in there but I was wrong. One of the girls who had just checked in to our room was actually friends with the dying guy and invited him to join us for dinner. It turns out he was actually having a seizure on the floor of the bathroom. He was very embarrassed and I felt like an asshole for assuming he was experiencing explosive diarrhea and not checking to see if he was ok after hearing those moans/screams but we were both able to have a bit of a laugh about the whole thing after a quick chat.

We went to the resort next door for dinner and ended up waiting over an hour for our food, which was pretty ridiculous. I know Fiji runs on “island time” but we ordered two burgers and two soups, and the amount of time we waited was not acceptable. And they staggered the delivery of the food so we weren’t even all eating together. It was a good opportunity to chat with some new people though so I guess it’s not all bad news.

The following day I had another lazy day. Part of me wishes I had done more exploring while I was in Fiji but the other part of me knows I went to Fiji specifically to relax so I shouldn’t feel guilty about it, especially since the next few weeks are going to be so action packed I’ll barely have a chance to catch my breathe in between adventures. I would have preferred to do my relaxing in the sun but didn’t want to get burnt worse than I already was so avoided being outside as much as possible.

When it came time to head to the airport I made my way to reception and asked them to order me a taxi. The receptionist proceeded to walk down the street and talk to someone in a car. She then walked back and told me that was my taxi. The word “taxi” did not appear anywhere on this car, nor did it have a meter inside of it so I was slightly uncomfortable getting into this strangers car and this feeling was only amplified upon the realization that my seatbelt didn’t work. The drive to the airport took so much longer than I remembered so I was starting to worry that I was right to be wary about getting into this unmarked car. I was probably minutes away from a major freak-out when we finally arrived and was incredibly relieved when he actually charged me the previously agreed upon rate.

The airport, much like the rest of Fiji runs on island time so checking in took ages but since I was nice and early (as always) I had plenty of time to spare after clearing security. The airport in Nadi is also quite small with very few shops and not many food options so the wait seemed to drag on. The flight wasn’t much better as it was lacking in entertainment even though it was a 5-hour flight.

The real fun started when I landed in Melbourne. I was able to bypass immigration by using the self-serve machine and while it was nice not to have to wait in line, I didn’t get a new stamp in my passport and that made me sad. After collecting my bag I joined the ridiculous line for customs. It looked like the line zigged and zagged for miles and I was starting to think I would be spending the night at the airport when after a zag I realized that most of the people I thought were in front of me were actually in a separate line and I was only minutes away from being able to leave the airport.

I missed the airport shuttle bus I was hoping to take thanks to the couple in front of me who felt the need to ask a million questions. I still don’t understand what they needed clarification on. The bus is $18 one-way or $30 return and travels from the airport to Southern Cross Station with no stops in between. It doesn’t seem like rocket science but they asked questions for a solid 5 minutes while the bus I had hoped to be on drove away.

Even with the lineup at customs and the couple who asked a million questions I still managed to make it to the station in time for my train to the hostel but only just. I ran through the doors and they closed about a second later. I was so relieved to be on this train. It was the last one of the night and if I didn’t catch it my options were to walk a kilometer in the dark in an unfamiliar area or get a taxi and I’m not a fan of spending money so I wasn’t a huge fan of either of those options.

The next day I woke up bright and early to meet up with my friends April and David. We all worked together back in Blackpool and it has been almost three years since the last time we saw each other so it was great to catch up! We started our day by taking a scenic ferry ride down the Yarra River and ended up in a hipster neighbourhood where we grabbed an ice cream. To be completely honest April and David did such a good job of showing me around the city I can’t actually remember everything we did. We walked through some of the shopping streets, checked out some awesome graffiti, ate some yummy pasta, and took a stroll along St Kilda beach. My favourite part of our day together was probably the evening. David has recently started to LARP (live action role play) as a hobby and it just so happened to be LARP night in Melbourne.

Since David is such a wonderful host he had originally planned on skipping this week’s session but I was so intrigued by the whole thing I pretty much insisted he go. I spent a good chunk of the day asking him questions about the different characters people dress up as and the different rules and I think he thought I was taking the piss but I really wanted to know more about it. It turns out LARPing is crazy popular and there were about 300 people at the sports oval by the time the main event kicked off. Some of the costumes were really impressive, others were funny, and most of the girls were dressed like prostitutes.  David told April and I that all costumes needed to be historically accurate so April and I had a lot of fun picking them apart while we were waiting for the action to start. We decided that as long as you had an interesting enough back-story you could dress up however the hell you wanted and no one would care. I also learned that the white tarp in the middle of the field was a bottomless pit and the pylons on the ground marked out a river and only people with a limited amount of armour are able to cross the river and others sink and die if they were to fall in. The fighting was much slower paced than I had imagined so it wasn’t much of a spectator sport in that aspect but it was still a great time!

After one round of LARP capture the flag April and I decided we had had enough fun for one day and she took me back to my hostel. I know I have done a terrible job of describing our day but I saw a lot and got to spend time with two great people so I was a pretty happy panda at the end of the day. I was also exhausted and needed to be at a bus stop by 7:15 so I grabbed a shower and crawled into bed.

Stranded On An Island

Loma, the lady who runs the travel desk must have made a hefty commission off the tour she recommended I go on yesterday because it was absolutely terrible and she convinced me it would be better than the one I was planning on booking. I was picked up bright and early yesterday morning in a van that not only looked like it was going to break down any minute, but like whole thing was going to complete fall apart. During the drive in the death van we drove past the luxury coach being used to pick up passengers for the trip I originally wanted to book.

After about an hour of fearing for my life we pulled into a resort. I assumed we were just picking up more people but we were instructed to get out of the van and check in. We were then ushered into a teeny tiny tin boat. I was told we would be travelling by catamaran and this was certainly not a catamaran, it was a crappy fishing boat. The resort had at catamaran, it was docked right next to the uncomfortable piece of junk I was sitting in and I have no idea why we weren’t using it.

We travelled by boat to Port Denarau, which is where I was lead to believe I would be catching the boat in the first place so I had a small glimmer of hope that maybe we would transfer to a nicer boat here. My stomach and the ocean are not friends so I was not thrilled at the prospect of being tossed around in this life raft while we made our way to our destination. Of course there was no nice boat waiting for us at the port, instead we baked in the sun for about 15 minutes while waiting for other people. I did however notice the lovely boat I would have been on if I had booked the tour I had originally planned on.

Luckily the water was calm because our journey to Beachcomber Island was not a short one. 45 minutes sat on a wooden plank is uncomfortable at the best of times so I was oh so very happy that we weren’t tackling massive waves along the way. We were greeted by a song by some of the staff at the island then ushered into a covered area where we were give our itinerary for the day. I was under the impression that aside from a set lunch time the day was mine to do as I pleased but it didn’t really pan out that way.

We started the day off with a kava ceremony. Once upon a time Fijians used to drink kava to welcome visitors into their home or village. Now it is used so locals can laugh at tourists as they try not to vomit after drinking it. It is a ground root mixed with water and it tastes like crap. The root itself is similar to pepper and while it didn’t taste like pepper while I was drinking it, I did feel like I had a mouthful of pepper that was slowly burning off my taste buds after I had swallowed.

 Once the horrible traditions were over I made my way to the snorkel rentals area to pick up my gear. When I booked the tour I was told this activity was included in the price so I was pretty pissed off when I found out that it wasn’t. It cost $5 to rent for half a day and $10 for the full day. I know this may not seem like a lot but when you have already paid $150 to learn that all it covers is transfers, and a horrible lunch; it comes as pretty shocking news. I complained to the guy running the rental shack telling him I was told everything was included he told me it wasn’t. I said that was crap and he took me to the office to talk to someone else to confirm this information. When we entered the office he started speaking in Fijian to the lady behind the desk so far all I know he was saying, “this stupid white bitch is pissing me off so just agree with everything I say”. So I ended up paying the money to rent the snorkel gear otherwise I would have had nothing to do all day.

I was also lead to believe that you could snorkel from the beach at this island. This was also not true. In order to go snorkelling you had to be shuttled to a coral via a boat that only left at specific times and only gave you 20-30 minutes of snorkel time per trip. I was feeling incredibly ripped off by this point. The snorkelling trip was okay. We saw quite a few fish and we even saw three reef sharks. Although I was exhausted by the end of it from trying to keep up with everyone else I would have preferred a longer, slower paced experience. We were on a tight schedule though and we needed to be back on the island for happy hour because who cares about snorkelling when you could be getting drunk instead?

During happy hour I learned that the cost for a can of coke was $5. Are you freaking kidding me? I mean I expect prices to be a bit hire since you’re literally stranded on an island with no other options but $5 for a can of coke is absolutely absurd! I decided to pass on the drink for a while and made my way to the food hall to wait for lunch.

I was hoping for something spectacular but preparing for something inedible. After what I paid to spend a day on this island I should have been able to order my own meal but instead it was a buffet of cold foods that should have been hot. Who wants to eat cold rice or cold chicken in sauce? Not me. But I did because I was starving and felt I needed to get my moneys worth.

After lunch it was turtle feeding time. During my snorkelling trips in Coral Bay, the Great Barrier Reef, and now in Fiji I have never seen a turtle and it makes me sad. I was pretty stoked for a guaranteed turtle sighting and horribly disappointed to find that they had 7 turtles in what was essentially a kiddy pool and were feeding the raw hamburger. There was a sign near the turtles that said once they reach a certain size they release them into the ocean where I sure they die of starvation as they are unable to find any cows in the ocean.  I don’t know why I was surprised by how disappointing this experience was, I had figured out early on that the whole day was going to be crap but I kept trying to stay positive.

There was another snorkelling trip after the turtle feeding but I decided not to go. I wasn’t paying another $5 to visit the exact same reef I had been to a few hours earlier. Instead I changed into some dry clothes and spent that $5 on a can of coke. I still had about an hour and a half to kill before the boat ride back so I spent it chatting with Mike and Dot. They are a lovely couple originally from South Africa who now live in New Zealand. We talked about travel plans and bitched about what a letdown the day had been. It was a great way to pass the time.

During the boat ride home the storm clouds started to roll in. I knew this was going to happen as it is the rainy season in Fiji and it rains every afternoon. I was pretty excited to be in this situation as neither metal or water conduct electricity so I couldn’t think of a safer place to be during a thunderstorm, except maybe the top of a really tall tree while holding a metal rod. I was sure we were going to die. Thankfully the storm held off until we reached land and we all survived, even the girl who wore long black pants and a black shirt to an island in 30+ degree heat, and I feel like she was just asking to die of heatstroke.

I said my goodbyes to Mike and Dot and loaded back into the death van for the ride back to the hostel that seemed to take about a million times longer than it did in the morning. By this point I had realized I had gotten a pretty nasty sunburn despite the fact I loaded up on sunscreen so I was feeling like a bit of an idiot for not using more or spending less time out in the sun.

Back at the hostel I bumped into one of my roommates in the reception area who told me there was half price pizzas at the resort next door so we made our way there for dinner. $7 for a meal in Fiji seems like a bargain to me, especially since I had just paid $5 for a can of coke so I was pretty stoked about this but I was also exhausted so after dinner I headed back to my room and read a bit before going to bed ridiculously early.

Today I woke up to the sound of what I thought be one of my roommates dying. The moans of pain coming from the bathroom were frightening and when they stopped and no one came out of the bathroom I was starting to freak out a little bit. Luckily no one died and someone finally emerged about 10-15 minutes later. I don’t know what happened in there, and I don’t want to but the noises I heard will haunt me for years to come.

After being woken up by a scene from a horror movie I made my way to breakfast where I decided I was still knackered so went back to bed. The whole reason for me coming to Fiji was so I could relax so why shouldn’t I get some extra sleep if I feel like I need it? I also look like a lobster and am trying to avoid going outside so that limits my options. I was contemplating catching a bus into town and going for a bit of a wander but from what I’ve heard the only thing worth seeing there is a temple and I’m not fussed if I miss out on that so I have decided to have a lazy day, inside, far far away from the nasty sun.

I fly to Melbourne tomorrow afternoon and have some time to kill after I check out so maybe I will head into town then, and maybe I’ll continue to be lazy. Either way my next post will be from Australia where hopefully I won’t get ripped off or sun burnt!

First Day In Fiji

Oh my goodness I have super exciting news to share, I was on Shortland Street! For those of you that don’t know Shortland Street is a soap opera filmed in New Zealand. It is a hospital-based drama and it is absolutely terrible but I am obsessed with it. Michelle, David, and Jakob occasionally see actors from the show around Auckland and when they do they text me to tell me about it and I get incredibly jealous. Especially since I hope and pray to bump into someone from the show every time I’m in town and it just never happens. It didn’t happen this time either because I didn’t actually get on the show (I did however learn that apparently it’s quite easy to become an extra on the show so I know what I’ll be signing up for next time I’m in New Zealand) I just found the actual street called Shortland St. and stood on it.  I tried to take a selfie so I could make this lame joke even lamer but I walked along the street for about 8 blocks and only found one street sign and it was way to high up in the air to take a picture with both me and the sign in it. Stupid short arms.

On a more serious note I am so glad I didn’t end up staying at my hostel in Auckland the first two nights I was booked in. It was so loud and my bed was so uncomfortable. There were drunk people yelling outside my window until at least 3am and once that stopped they were in my room instead. I think I got about two hours of uninterrupted sleep before I had to get up to catch my bus to the airport.

The Air New Zealand check in area was super chaotic and I was not prepared to deal with that sort of thing so early in the morning. I had to have someone from the airline check my onwards ticket but there were no check in desks open so figuring out who I was supposed to was a bit challenging. Turns out I needed to talk to some guy who had a computer in the middle of all the craziness. I tracked him down and eventually got everything sorted and made my way to immigration.

I was half expecting some sort of delay at this point. I received an email telling me I needed to be out of the country by the 14^th and since it was now the 15^th I was a bit worried I might get a stern talking to for abusing the privileges my visa allowed or something. Luckily clearing immigration was a breeze, and I mean it should have been, I arrived on the afternoon of the 15^th last year and I was leaving in the morning, as far as I was concerned I did not exceed the time I was allowed to remain in the country. I also made it through security without being randomly selected for additional screening; I always get picked so this was a huge shock. I almost did a happy dance but stopped myself because I knew that would likely end in a cavity search.

The flight to Fiji was relatively uneventful. The seat next to me was empty so I thought I would be able to curl up and catch up on some sleep but the stupid armrest was broken and wouldn’t go up. What good is an empty seat next to you if you cant get the armrest out of the way?  I ended up watching a movie I had already seen instead of sleeping but at least that helped make the time go by quickly.

When we landed in Fiji we had to pass through and Ebola check point. Yes that’s right and Ebola checkpoint, the biggest waste of time ever! You had to fill out a stupid form and hand it in and if you hadn’t grabbed a form as you were herded like cattle through the tiny airport then you had to go to the back of the line. This really pissed me off because the woman collecting the forms didn’t even read them! I could have checked the boxes that said I was in West Africa in the past 21 days and was experiencing symptoms and she would not have stopped me from proceeding through immigration. Hooray for making lines longer than they need to be in 30-degree heat, I love sweating my ass off with 15kgs strapped to my back for no real reason! Bunch of jerks.

Things got better once I cleared immigration. My hostel offers free airport pickup so there was a lovely man with a van waiting for me and a few other passengers so I didn’t have to stress about getting lost. I had read a few reviews online about the shuttle service not turning up so I was prepared for the worst and delighted when it didn’t happen.

After checking in to the hostel I went for a bit of a wander to get the lay of the land then grabbed some lunch. The food at this hostel is ridiculously expensive. I paid something like $20 for some fried rice and it wasn’t even good. I wasn’t a happy camper but at least I had a bit of food in my belly now and could relax so I did by lazing in a hammock on the beach until the storm clouds rolled in, then I headed to my room for a nap.

It was still raining when I woke up but luckily the storm passed in time for the fire dancers later in the evening. Watching fire dancers was on the top of my Fiji bucket list and I wasn’t sure where I would catch a show so I was pretty stoked when I found out I wouldn’t even need to leave the hostel to do it.

While I was waiting for the show to start a caught a guy whom was at least 15 years older than me blatantly checking me out. I didn’t really think much of it until he came and sat at my table. He asked if I was okay and said I looked nervous and lonely. I told him I was neither and I was perfectly fine. He sat down across from me and said normally he would ask to join me but it was big table. He then told me about the intimate table for two he had down by the ocean, I told him I was sitting where I was so I could watch the dancers and he left. I thought I had made it clear I wasn’t interested but apparently I hadn’t because about ten minutes later he was back. I didn’t look at him or say a single word to him but he kept lurking. He also made a douchey comment about the dancers when the males left the stage and the women started to dance. It was becoming clear that this guy was a chauvinistic ass who thought I was poor lonely girl who couldn’t handle being on her own because no woman can and he would swoop in and rescue me. Barf! He made a few more sexist remarks and I continued to ignore him. After about a half an hour he finally got the hint and left but not before making it clear that he was angry that I hadn’t been open to his rescuing efforts, and by that I mean that I hadn’t opened my legs to him after he grunted at me.

Most of the dance show was traditional dances from different Pacific Islands with a grand finale of fire dancing. It was pretty spectacular to see how these guys handled their flaming batons.  They each did a solo performance and then did a large group number at the end. Several of them dropped their fire sticks at some point during their routine but no one seemed disappointed that they had failed, everyone was just concerned that they had likely burned themselves pretty badly for our entertainment, and I thought that was kind of sweet.

After the fire dancing I made my way back to my room as I was afraid the creepy old guy would try again for a third time if I stuck around. An early night was probably for the best anyway as I desperately needed sleep.

Today I’m trying out this new thing, it’s called relaxing. It turns out it’s pretty nice! I woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and then spent the next two hours lounging on the beach in the glorious sun. I then made my way to the spa for a one hour Bobo massage. It apparently falls somewhere between a Swedish massage and a deep tissue massage. All I know is it wasn’t nearly as violent as any of the massages I had in Asia but there were a few moments when I thought I was being beaten with a rubber mallet.

After an hour of pampering I decided I needed to make some plans to do some snorkeling. The beach at the hostel is pretty gross so I won’t be doing any snorkeling here but managed to book a day tour to one of the smaller islands where I can snorkel and work on my tan. I have read some mixed reviews about this tour so please cross your fingers for me that it doesn’t suck!

With tomorrow all planned out it was time to get back to relaxing. I walked down the beach to a resort two doors down where I enjoyed lunch for about half the price it would have cost me here.  With food in my belly it was back to the beach lounger to get my tan on and then a quick swim in the pool before the storm clouds rolled in.

It’s currently the rainy season in Fiji and there are thunderstorms in the forecast for everyday that I am here. The mornings and early afternoons still seem to be nice and the clouds tend to clear in the early even so at least I’m not confined to my room all day long, but I do have my fingers crossed that the rain holds off tomorrow until my tour is over!