Wow what a crazy week this past week has been. I feel like so much happened, I am going to write as much as I can as there are areas of the week that I don't remember too much of lol.
To start off Taariq (Ryans brother) came out and stayed at the hostel on Wednesday night. We had a blast. We went to Base and then drank under the palm tree. It was really good to see him and catch up. Though I knew if I saw him we would be drinking and Bonnie and I were living at 7am the next morning to do a two day road trip on the Great Ocean Road. Let me tell you how I was cursing him the next morning. I almost didn't make the bus, Bonnie was standing out on the street corner shaking her head at me, but I made it with time to spare.
The trip though rainy and a little cold was really good. We saw so much stuff. Our first site was Warrnambol to go to Logan Beach where you can go whale watching but unfortunately for us due to the time of year we didn't get to see any. Our next stop was Tower Hill Volcanoe. I was thinking cool, I can stand on the edge and look into a volcanoe...not so much. We actually drove into it. This thing is massive, car parks, picnic tables, hiking trails, eucalyptus trees, ponds and amazing wildlife. We saw Koala's up in the eucalyptus trees, emus off in a field, and wallabee's. We got so close to the wallabees, probably about 10 feet it was really amazing. The koalas were awesome. I reallly just wanted to hold one and take it with me, they look so cute and cuddly yet are far from friendly, they are very unsocial animals and don't like to share their trees with other koalas. The emus we couldnt really see too well they were a few miles away so we didn't get to see them up close and personal. We drove to the Bay of Islands, The Bay of Martyrs -can't remember the total history about that one. The Grotto was this big blow hole thing. The waves would come up and shoot all this water up through the rocks, but if you stood down in the bottom of the The Grotto when the waves came up they would come rushing through this cave, it was really awesome. After that we went to London Bridge. It was named that because the formations of the rock actually look like London Bridge and you could walk across it. Some years back when people were walking out onto there was a huge crack and everyone literally had to run for their lives to make it back to land. Everyone made it back in time except for two people who stuck on the part still standing out in the water. The people were out there calmly waiting for the rescue helicopter to come out and get them. A while after that they see this helicopter and they are relieved until they see it is the News trying to cover this story. Instead of waving at the camera they duck and cover their faces refusting to let the world see who they are. Turns out, they were two married people, not married to eachother. They were having an affair and took the day off work to be together! How crazy is that lol...gotta love the tour guides they tell you all the good stuff. She taught us about Emu's, Koala's and Kangaroos...I felt so educated after we got back. After that we headed to the 12 Apostles for sunset. We had to run from the bus because we only had three minutes till sunset, we got there just in time. It was so beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen...it really took my breath away. We then waited about a half our after the sunset to see the penguins come into shore. They are no bigger then a 12 inch ruler so they were litteraly tiny little specks but you could see them when a wave washed up onto shore there would be hundreds of little specks that would waddle up into their grassy homes. You are not aloud to take any flash photography because it was discovered that the flash was actually blinding the little things so unfortunately I got no pictures but the memory is there.
We then headed back to the hostel and had the biggest dinner we have had in a long time. Hot dogs, steak, chicken burger, salad, pasta salad. We were so stuffed but it was so amazing, eating like that is a luxury for us right now. After that we went straight to bed we were exhausted and I was still a little hungover from the night before...so we were asleep by 10 and up by 7 the next morning to continue on our journey.
Our first stop the next day was the Loch Ard Gorge, my favourtie spot of the whole trip. The story goes: there was a ship that capsized in a bad storm. One of the deckhands survived the wreck and swam to shore only to hear screaming and shouting in the distance. He saw a young woman clinging for her life on floating parts from the capsized ship. He swam out in the storm to get her and they swam back to shore...found a cave and stayed there. When they awoke he went to get help only to find that the beach that they were on was surrounded by rock with no way out. He scaled the wall to get out and get help. Now it doesn't seem like a lot but when you are down on this beach looking at this rock you wonder how in the fuck he did this considering the only way down onto the beach now is by steps that have been made. What happened to the young hero and his damzel in distress you ask? After loosing her family in the wreck she went back home fell in love and got married. Our hero not so lucky. He married, had two sons that he lost both at sea, he himself survived two more shipwrecks but died in his forties. I have never done a guided to like this and when you hear the stories of the places that you are seeing it makes it that much more awesome and a little more appreciative of what you are seeing. Our next stop was the Gibson Steps going right down onto the shore but unfortunatly they were closed due to high tides. Another little story. Years back a gentleman actually fell off the 35 meter high cliff and survived. How? Dude was drunk lol
Alright next stop was Maits Rest Rainforest...really fucking cool. It had this cozy tropical feeling to it even though it was cold and wet. We took pictures inside trees and learned about the Black Snail which is the only carnivorous snail in the world. It shoots out a poison and passing bugs and then eats them.
Once we actually got on the coast Jude put the Beach Boys on. AMAZING! I sang the whole time. She turned the music down at one point and I was still singing away word for word. Everyone looked at me "how do you know all the words to all the songs?" guess my age showed there lol
Due to the fact that we didnt' get to go down the Gibson Steps our guide, Jude, took us to this park where we got to see koalas sleeping in eucalyptus trees (one even peed mid sleep). There were also these birds that eat sunflower seeds, they come right out of the trees and onto your hand to eat the seeds. It was amazing...I actually held a bird...nevermind bird a WILD bird...definaty conquering that fear. We then headed to Appollo Bay for an awesome lunch and then off to the "Around the Twist Light House" some light house from a popular tv show in the UK. Our last stop was suppossed to be at Bells Beach but there was a Rip Curl surf competition going on so we couldnt go so she took us to a golf course where kangaroos hang out at night. We pull into the course and there is a sign that says NO PARKING TO WATCH KANGAROOS we stopped anyways because there were kangaroos right where we pulled in. Yay I got to see a kangaroo...finally...I was gonna ask for a refund. Then it was a two hour drive back...Bonnie and I were exhausted but super excited to get back as it was the begining of her birthday celebrations and I had hooked up VIP at Base Bar for her Bday. Plus as much as we hated to admit it we kind of missed the hostel.
We got back with barly enough time to get ready as it was a long weekend and the bar was only open till 11pm. We had a $50 bar tab and about 21 drink tickets. HURRY UP! We got ready grabbed Lily, Ian and Elias and went to the bar. Talking about chugging back drinks lol but it was worth it. There was live music that night and we wanted the musician to sing Happy Birthday he said No worries. Lily tells him but you have to wait because she has gone to the toilet. Over the mic you hear "Alright everyone Bonnie has gone to the toilet but when she gets back we are all going to sing Happy Birthday to her"! After that we went back to the hostel drank some Goone and went to bed.
The next day we head down the street to the Botanical Gardens with boxes of goone. What a day...well what I remember of it. Getting drunk on goone is not the best things for one body especially when you proceed to do this for the next 4 days. Plus it was long weekend because of Easter and Anzac day so it was a five day long weekend meaning all the guys were off work and would start drinking goone in the am. I even woke one morning with a glass of goone beside my bed and the guys told me it was a sign and to start drinking. But let me tell you, I was in such a good place. We partied, had a great night and I ended up going back to Base that night because Ian said he had tickets so a few of us went over. Everyone was there that night whether they new it or not. It took my buddy two days to find out if he was even there. The next day same thing except after a few hours at the park I came home and went to sleep for a few hours and then of course got gooned up later that night. The next day Lil and Lily surprised Bonnie with a chocolate cake, party hats and horns and Bonnie and I ended up in a cake fight. After that a whole lot of us headed down to the park AGAIN and just talked goonish gibberish it was awesome. Partied back at the hostel and Adrienne put me to bed before midnight as I was done!
The next day I took the train out to see Dallas for the night. He made up our famous Mac n Cheese with veg and tuna from California. It was so good...it tasted exactly like California...plus it was the first time I had Kraft Mac n cheese since I left home so it was heavenly. We watched a Buffy Marathon on tv and then watched a movie in bed and went to sleep. We chilled out the next day and then I headed back to the hostel. It was so great spending time with Dallas and taking a break, I was afraid I drank to much goone and was gonna wake up dead.
Last night was pretty chilled out a few drinks and then I fell asleep in the tv room. Today well. Last night I called home and cried...just got really homesick and overwhelmed. I talked to my mom for awhile and she told me to take a breath and I would be fine. Today i feel 100% better! I do tend to get homesick and sometimes think about coming home. I often ask myself how I am going to do this for two years but to be honest I am so incredibly happy out here and I am making some incredible friendships with some awesome people. So to finsh off tonight is Girls Night! We have hooked up drink tickets for Base. We are gonna dress up HOT, do our make up, put on heels, me my extensions and let her loose on the dance floor lol.
Love you all xox
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