More Melbourne Moments
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^ Lizzie hopes that by changing the date of this post, no one will notice that she still hasn't finished posting about Australia, despite the trip taking place three months ago! *hides in abandoned live journal shame*
I'll just pick out a few highlights from Melbourne as I could easily type on about this part of the trip for days. One of the things I really enjoyed during my time there was going up to the observation deck of the Rialto Towers, one of the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the Southern Hemisphere. I don't know what it is with me and these towers, whenever I'm in a city with one I seem to get drawn to them like a hedgehog to a busy highway. They are so fascinating for me as I get to see the city from the sky, so amazing and beautiful and somehow quite moving too. To see so much life going on below with the city sounds and traffic swirling up quietly from street level, to see the complete size of the place you're in too.
A few days later me & Anna took a coach tour along the Great Ocean Road, one of the sights we saw was the 12 Apostles, a spectacular formation created from erosion of the cliffs over hundreds of years. Though sadly all this erosion has led to four of the pillars collapsing since the site received it's name.
^ Here you can see our little mission mascot from the trip, Klim in front of the cliffs. :)
^ Some of the pillars, complete with grey tinge that most of my photos from an Aussie winter seemed to include! It was quite amusing to try and take a photo like this actually and try to make out that no one else was there, I was sharing the walkway around the cliffs with at least a hundred other people.
For an interesting comparision, and to give you an idea of how beautiful this site really is, check out the photos in the link below!
http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=12+apostles+australia
It was a great day, despite a very early start and spending most of our time being driven around in the tour bus. We got to see some amazing sights, learn the history of the places we drove through and the history of the road itself. (One of those "it was hacked out of a cliff with pickaxes in the olden days stories" tehe). At one point we stopped off for lunch at a koala sanctury, and though we were told that we'd be lucky if we saw any we were in for a nice treat. We wondered around and managed to spot some, saw one eating and even saw one jump from one tree to another. Very rare as they sleep for over 20 hours a day! I was a happy chappy for this, and to drive on the Great Ocean Road too has been a dream of mine for a long time. Granted it was not quite how I pictured it, (think sun, a convertable and an American Road trip style journey!) but the feeling of being there was special anyway.
...That Sunday armed with a tram and a map Anna & I managed to find the venue of a 21-20 gig (which is a band I quite like). 21-20 has a member of Lucy De Ville (another band I like) in. The set was great and the night was made even better when, thanks to the kindness of someone we met in Tassie, we got to meet Brett Swain! Most of you might recognise the guy as the actor who played Kim Timmins in Neighbours. Two gigs, two car rides and a Mexican meal later I can quite safely say that me and Anna had one of the best nights of the trip!
^ Anna & I with Brett Swain and Shaun Gardener (Lucy De Ville/21-20 band member)
Much, much too soon the day had come for me to take my flight to Sydney before I started flying home to England the next day. I was so gutted and disapointed to be going home so soon, I can't convey how much sadness I was feeling. I had made it to a country I'd dreamed about visiting for over ten years, and I could have had another month out there. I still kick myself for it, I wanted to go Cairnes and skydive and sea kayak so badly! Leaving Anna in Melbourne was the worst, watching her walk away was awful and I prayed that we could meet soon in London as planned. I missed her as soon as I was on the bus to the airport.
It seemed to take forever to get home. (Four days!) From Sydney I flew to London via Bangkok. Then I stayed the night at the house of a very kind mate of mine from uni before braving British Rail to get back to Kendal the day after. Was so shocked to find England collapsing from a mega heat wave, especially as Aus was so cold! All those melting roads, grass fires, broken air conditioning on trains that make water leak from the ceiling of the carriages...crazy!
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With Australia, I have an overwhelming feeling of not being done with the place, I need to go back and finish what I started! Sooo one day I might just get me a working visa there and I’ll see you all in a few years! I need to see the parts I didn't get a chance to visit before and of course, I had such a great time out there I don't think I could stay away for too long anyway. I guess I've become another Brit who had fallen for the place, so for whenever the day comes that I make it back, well I look forward to it already!
love & hugs
xXx
~
^ Lizzie hopes that by changing the date of this post, no one will notice that she still hasn't finished posting about Australia, despite the trip taking place three months ago! *hides in abandoned live journal shame*
I'll just pick out a few highlights from Melbourne as I could easily type on about this part of the trip for days. One of the things I really enjoyed during my time there was going up to the observation deck of the Rialto Towers, one of the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the Southern Hemisphere. I don't know what it is with me and these towers, whenever I'm in a city with one I seem to get drawn to them like a hedgehog to a busy highway. They are so fascinating for me as I get to see the city from the sky, so amazing and beautiful and somehow quite moving too. To see so much life going on below with the city sounds and traffic swirling up quietly from street level, to see the complete size of the place you're in too.
A few days later me & Anna took a coach tour along the Great Ocean Road, one of the sights we saw was the 12 Apostles, a spectacular formation created from erosion of the cliffs over hundreds of years. Though sadly all this erosion has led to four of the pillars collapsing since the site received it's name.
^ Here you can see our little mission mascot from the trip, Klim in front of the cliffs. :)
^ Some of the pillars, complete with grey tinge that most of my photos from an Aussie winter seemed to include! It was quite amusing to try and take a photo like this actually and try to make out that no one else was there, I was sharing the walkway around the cliffs with at least a hundred other people.
For an interesting comparision, and to give you an idea of how beautiful this site really is, check out the photos in the link below!
http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=12+apostles+australia
It was a great day, despite a very early start and spending most of our time being driven around in the tour bus. We got to see some amazing sights, learn the history of the places we drove through and the history of the road itself. (One of those "it was hacked out of a cliff with pickaxes in the olden days stories" tehe). At one point we stopped off for lunch at a koala sanctury, and though we were told that we'd be lucky if we saw any we were in for a nice treat. We wondered around and managed to spot some, saw one eating and even saw one jump from one tree to another. Very rare as they sleep for over 20 hours a day! I was a happy chappy for this, and to drive on the Great Ocean Road too has been a dream of mine for a long time. Granted it was not quite how I pictured it, (think sun, a convertable and an American Road trip style journey!) but the feeling of being there was special anyway.
...That Sunday armed with a tram and a map Anna & I managed to find the venue of a 21-20 gig (which is a band I quite like). 21-20 has a member of Lucy De Ville (another band I like) in. The set was great and the night was made even better when, thanks to the kindness of someone we met in Tassie, we got to meet Brett Swain! Most of you might recognise the guy as the actor who played Kim Timmins in Neighbours. Two gigs, two car rides and a Mexican meal later I can quite safely say that me and Anna had one of the best nights of the trip!
^ Anna & I with Brett Swain and Shaun Gardener (Lucy De Ville/21-20 band member)
Much, much too soon the day had come for me to take my flight to Sydney before I started flying home to England the next day. I was so gutted and disapointed to be going home so soon, I can't convey how much sadness I was feeling. I had made it to a country I'd dreamed about visiting for over ten years, and I could have had another month out there. I still kick myself for it, I wanted to go Cairnes and skydive and sea kayak so badly! Leaving Anna in Melbourne was the worst, watching her walk away was awful and I prayed that we could meet soon in London as planned. I missed her as soon as I was on the bus to the airport.
It seemed to take forever to get home. (Four days!) From Sydney I flew to London via Bangkok. Then I stayed the night at the house of a very kind mate of mine from uni before braving British Rail to get back to Kendal the day after. Was so shocked to find England collapsing from a mega heat wave, especially as Aus was so cold! All those melting roads, grass fires, broken air conditioning on trains that make water leak from the ceiling of the carriages...crazy!
~ ~ ~
With Australia, I have an overwhelming feeling of not being done with the place, I need to go back and finish what I started! Sooo one day I might just get me a working visa there and I’ll see you all in a few years! I need to see the parts I didn't get a chance to visit before and of course, I had such a great time out there I don't think I could stay away for too long anyway. I guess I've become another Brit who had fallen for the place, so for whenever the day comes that I make it back, well I look forward to it already!
love & hugs
xXx