ChadVegas's Melbourne Madness

Tourists, backpackers, and exchange students come to Australia daily. All with an interest to see the country, some organize their own travels and others join organized group tours. I was lucky enough to experience something a little different --I got to travel with a local family.

Last weekend, I left my Sydney home and ventured south to Melbourne (pronounced "Mel-ben"....tricky, I know!) for a visit with the White family (Lynda, Jess, and Ally). Jess had been an exchange student in the U.S. a few years back and she stayed with my Uncle and Aunt in San Diego. The White's were kind enough to welcome me in to their home in Melbourne and treat me to an authentic Aussie sight-seeing adventure.

The Whites plus a goofy looking kid on the right

Friday morning, the four of us climbed in the car and began our Great "Great Ocean Road" Road Trip! The Great Ocean Road is located in the most southern part of Victoria and the road is known for both its World War I connection (built by returned servicemen) and magnificent coastal landscape.

Ally contemplating...

As we drove along the Great Ocean Road we made several sight-seeing stops. First, we trekked down a steep path at Erskine Falls to discover a large waterfall. We hopped around the river rocks, and this time I was fortunate to remain coordinated enough not to fall in to the running water :). Next, we continued our trend of natural phenomenons with the 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles is one of Australia's better known attractions. The apostles are limestone "cliff-islands" that sit alone in the ocean. These cliff-islands were originally connected to the land years ago, but the waves ate away at their limestone bases at a rate of 2 cm/year. First a natural rock bridge is created as the waves eat away at the softer limestone, and then cliff-islands form when the bridges collapse. (Fun fact: there are actually only 8 Apostles at the moment. 4 have collapsed recently, but new ones are forming) Additionally, we continued our road trip a little further beyond the 12 Apostles and discovered other arguably more impressive rock formations. A few pictures are shown below.

Erskine Falls

Cool Lighthouse

2 of the 12 Apostles

Sunset

A lesser known discovery

The next morning, we got back in the car and headed northeast this time. We arrived at the Otway Fly Walk trekked through a rain forest. The fly walk is a large metal walkway that allows you to trek through the rain forest from a tree-top perspective. This was our first experience with heights on the adventure. Additionally, throughout the road trip we spotted several animals in the wild. We spotted a snake, a kangaroo, and my favorite....4 koalas (one was a baby). Now I have held a koala at an Australian zoo, but it was so much more cool to find one yourself in nature.

Spiral Tower at the Fly Walk

Marsupial

The final full day of the Melbourne Madness excursion was spent in the city itself. The White family took me around the historic city and showed me several of Melbourne's highlights. We first elevated up 88 stories of the Eureka Tower to the Edge sky deck (our 2nd experience with heights). This is the largest tower in Melbourne, and as expected, it had great views. One of the pictures below shows the "Edge Experience." This is an all glass room that slides out above the city!! When you look down, it literally looks like you are floating above the city. Also, while in the city I visited my first ice bar called Minus 10. Like the name suggests, the bar was actually minus 10 degrees Celsius. The four of us put on large coats and gloves and then entered the frostbite challenge. Fun fact: the glasses we drank out of were actually made from ice! At the end of the visit we were able to bash them in a rubbish bin.



The weekend was awesome and I as I think back on the trip, everything just continues to get better. The White family was so genuine and fun. We laughed at inside jokes throughout the whole weekend stemming from reality tv, to wii games, to awkward waiters (he was great!), to goofy nicknames. I could not have asked for anything more from a weekend excursion. I am very grateful for the experience. I look forward to one day providing a similar act to traveling college student in the future.