More chillin!

3rd day in a row got up and hit the beach, got back, had a shower and then had a nap for a couple of hours. Well, big mistake because I have still not heard the end of it!!!! Old Man!!!!  After it was a nice lazy sunday just chill’n out!

Just chillin

I got up again and went walking believe it or not, Later Linda and I went to town for the day, checked out the mall, bought a fish for her empty fish tank at the pet shop and rented a few movies. John and Judy’s grandkids and some of their friends came over so Linda made me “tea” at her house and we watched a couple movies.

Winery tour and beers at Victoria hotel

I woke up bright and early to go walking with the girls this morning, it’s a very nice walk they do. Afterwards John and I put up 4 sets of very nice wooden venetian blinds in Linda’s house. In the afternoon Linda took me out to a couple of winery’s for some tastings at Mclaren Vales, where there are many world renowned winery’s!!!, There are about 68 cellar doors where you can go and taste the wines for FREE!!!! In about 3 hours we only went to 3 winery’s and I was feeling pretty good. Linda was driving so she just had a little sip of her’s then gave the rest to me. Then she took me up to a great bar on the side of the “hills” that overlooks Aldinga beach and the other little towns called the “Victoria Hotel” and we enjoyed a beer and the great views. Then we went back to Judy’s for “tea”, Aussie for “dinner”???

Settling in

Every Morning Judy and Linda walk about 6 km’s down the beach and back at 7:30.

I tried to wake up and go with them but I could just couldn’t get out of that comfy bed. Judy and I hung out around the house and I got settled in. 

Off to Judy's at Aldinga Beach

I caught the train to Wallunga station and there was Judy, I was so glad to see her!!!

She took the scenic ocean way home to Aldinga Beach even though it was raining and cloudy out. I couldn’t wait to see it on a sunny day, and I didn’t have to wait long! See introduced me to her husband John who is just as great as she is, she took me to my room which is HUGE with a comfy queen bed and own sink right in the room. Went and hung out in the garage with John and we drank some of his home brewed beer!!!! Sweet!!! Talked about fishing and golf!!! Sweet!!! Made some great fish and chips for dinner!!! Sweet!!! Their pretty 28 year old neighbor Linda from across the street came over and we met, had some great red wine, Sweet!!! And had the best sleep of my vacation yet!!!! OH SO Sweet!!!! 

Too many hot days to go out again!!!!

Again it was blistering hot out, 37 degrees!!! I had my six dorm room all to myself so I stayed in my aircon room pretty much all day and got my hockey fill by watching highlights from the whole season so that was a great day!!! Later that night called Judy from the cruise and we came up with a plan for me to catch the train and she would meet me at the station and pick me up tomorrow, so that was great!! 

Torrens River park picnic

Another 35 degree day so we all had enough sun the day before so Yael, Nafer and Simon from Scotland went to the park and had a picnic. We found a nice big tree and  the girls and I sat in the shade while Simon “wanted a tan” and sat in the blistering sun with a long sleeve shirt and pants??? I asked him how exactly he was going to achieve this “tan” with clothes on and he said the world wasn’t ready to see such a pasty white body!!!!hahaha. It was a nice relaxing day chilling out in the park!!!  Later on that night we went out for chinese and for the 1st time ever I ate my whole meal with chop sticks so I was very impressed with myself!!! Afterwards we went to the bar where I met the great Aussies who took me surfing they were not there but it was amateur night it you want to call it that because everyone who got up there was very talented and rocking it!!!  For a Monday night the place was just packed, you’d think it was a Saturday night, but apparently every night is party night “down under”. 

Glenelg Beach

Caught a tram to and went to Glenelg beach for a day in the 35 degree heat, so hot!!! with Yael and Nafer, from Israel, and Nicole and Lenard, from Germany. The tram stopped 2 stops short so we had to walk but that was ok because the Christmas parade was on so we got to see Santa. They had their parade on Nov 21 which I thought was a little early, but I would expect nothing else from these crazy Aussies, hahaha. We had a great day at the beach!!! as you can see!!!

Surfing at Middleton Beach

Got to bed about 3 am and they said they would pick me up between 8:30-9am. I crawled out of bed and down to the lobby, passed out on the couch for a half hour and then they showed up Tom, Kate, Amber, and Ben. We headed south and they said we might see Kangaroo’s and sure enough we did, my 1st wild Kangaroo’s, 3 of them!!! They took me about an hour south of Adelaide, took me the scenic way to the surf spot between Port Elliot and Middleton on the south coast and I got up surfing for the 1st time ever, O YEAH!!!  it was so exciting and I was so pumped. Afterwards, they took the scenic coastal road to Port Elliot and went to the world famous bakery there and then to the Victor Harbour lookout which was very beautiful. After another very scenic drive back to Adelaide on there “one-way express way”??? Weird right, google it!! They dropped me off back at the hostel. Such very nice people the Australians are, especially these ones!!!

Except I left my sandals on in the picture and I look like a dork, haha!

Bike the Torrens River

About 14km’s to the beach down one of the nicest bike trails I’ve ever ridden on. Along the Torrens river the whole way down to the ocean where I could ride along the beach on the sand and the water was warm enough to swim comfortably so that was nice to have a swim and cool down a bit before heading back into town. What a great ride!!! Later that night a roomy of mine, Lenard, a great German guy went out for a couple beers to a bar down the street, so Lenard took off and I started chatting with some locals. After a few beers and some laughs, a couple, Amber, and Ben,

invited me to go surfing the next day!!!! how could I say no right!!!

FREE bike rental, Sweet!

Right by the hostel there was “Bicycle SA” where you could borrow a bike for free from 9 to 4:30, I found out about this later in the day after relaxing most the day. I took a bike out for around an hour and a half, went around town and down by the river for a little ride. The lady at the bike shop said I could go all the way to Henley Beach following the Torrens river to the ocean so I knew what I was doing the next day.

Adelaide Central YHA------Can't download new pics??????

So I ended up paying $38 for my ticket,$32 for my baggage and $15 because I was over by 1 kilo. So $85 to fly about 800km’s is pretty cheap I figure, right. I guess not everything is crazy expensive here!!

I checked in at Adelaide Central YHA, had a nap and went for a walk around the city.

??????

So one more time not knowing where I was going to spend the night again!!!  The next morning I went to the maccas to use the internet to check out options for touring the great ocean road. One way relocation deals, tour bus deals, camper/car rentals, and landed on buying a plane ticket to Adelaide!!! The weather was not going to be the best and the ocean was still freezing so I decided to drive the ocean road in the summer when I could swim and surf, so I am going to have to learn how to surf in Adelaide. I had called Judy (the nice lady I met on the ship) the day before to tell her I was driving the ocean road and she said I could call her anytime I get there, maybe sooner now than I had told her the day before. I planned on staying on Kangaroo Island south of Adelaide, there’s a hostel there and a kangaroo refuge there I found on help x-change so will see what happens. I checked in at Melbourne Central for one last night cause it was right next to the bus terminal that goes to the airport.

Melbourne Oasis YHA

I figured I had better stay at Melbourne Oasis YHA before they close it down in the new year, I don’t know why cause they were fully booked the next night and gave me the boot. I decided I better start exercising again cause I hadn’t for far to long, so I went for a run in the park!

Melbourne Metro YHA

I went up to another hostel, Melbourne Metro YHA, which was nice but I was put in a room with 7 other guys. And I thought 5 other’s was stinky, WOW!!! Needless to say I got out of that room as fast as I could.

Melbourne (Blog's not letting my post new pics!!!)????

Thank goodness I bought that GPS because there was no way I ever could have made it to the car return place by looking at a map, and even the GPS wanted to take me down a one way street. I ended up walking to the hostel which was about 10 blocks away, and as I found out the GPS had a walking mode on it. I just put my stuff away and went for a walk around town. The restaurant next door had specials for $5 pizzas so that was a nice change, cheap food!!!

I was actually sitting in a Maccas checking e-mails and what not and a man and his wife seen my tattoo and asked where in Canada I was from, I said Kenora and mentioned the cruise and sure enough he came over on the same ship, small world eh!!! 

Melbourne has a free bus that takes you around the city where you can hop on, hop off at various stop all over which is great, cause free is great! I spent a day doing that checking the sights. Stop by the very impressive Victoria market which is supposed to be the biggest market of it’s kind in Australia. They also have a free city circle tram, so I got to ride on my first tram which was interesting. Fun fact: Melbourne has the biggest tram network in the world!!! Later on I went up the tower Eureka 88 which is the tallest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne at night

I ended putting on about 1500km on the car during my travel’s, and I only caught my self driving on the right hand side of the road about three or four times which is pretty good I think. Mostly going really slow coming out of parking lots or trying to take pictures while driving!!! 

Melbourne

 Should have stayed longer on the island cause the day I drove into Melbourne it was like 28c and cooking, don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining one little bit. I love it!!! and Melbourne is a great city. 

Phillip Island

Drove to Phillip Island next and stayed for 2 nights, drove around the checked out the sights, world famous surfing beach, grand prix circuit, heritage farm, sea lions and others. I took this picture on Cape Woolamai surf beach with my tripod!! Wow, can you spot the tourist!!!!

Lakes Entrance

Continued down the coast to Lakes Entrance, weird name for a town but that’s exactly what it was! The entrance to a bunch of lakes.

Narooma

Drove father down the beautiful coast to Naromma the next day, the picture is out of the Maccas there, so nice!!!

My sweet ride!!!

There’s me in my sweet Toyota Corolla Hatchback at some nice little coastal town, between the Gong and Narooma.

Cliff side bridge

Between Sydney to Wollongong the was a cliff side bridge which was so cool!! 

Sydney rent-a-car, to the Gong.

I rented a car and drove south through the Royal National Park which was an amazing winding road through the jungle, made it to Wollongong(the Gong) and  slept my car in a Maccas (Ozzie for McDonalds) parking lot!! This picture is from the scenic lookout above the Gong.

Back to Sydney

I was told at Bondi to stay at Sydney harbour YHA and was glad I did, first off I got put in a co-ed room with some cute Swedish girls, bonus. And the room didn’t stink like 6 guys in a small room like the room in Bondi, double bonus!!! The girl at reception said I should go check out the hostels 1st birthday party. So I go down there(they were gonna have it on the roof but it was raining) and there is a giant tub filled with ice and free beer!!!! a bunch of snacks and hotdogs, it was great! I met alot of cool people, staff and backpackers. Afterward we went to the pub besides the hostel. 

Next day got switched rooms with a bunch of guys again, O man, one dude had the smelliest feet ever!!!Words cannot even explain! Walked across the harbor bridgeand back and then the Melbourne Cup was on and they literally shut down the city for a few minutes while the race takes place, it’s very big here. So I put $5 on “So you think”, the only horse I heard of on the news and a couple Ozzie’s I was with gave me a hard time about betting the favorite, whatever. My horse came in 3rd place and I lost my $5, they lost also.

Made me switch rooms again cause I am never trying to plan in advance at all, and apparently when you do this they have to toss you from room to room. Got ride of smelly feet dude at least, that night they were having a private party for tour guides and what not for the backpacker convention coming to town on the weekend, so myself and another fellow Canuck, Evan went up to try to get free beer again. At first they didn’t want to let us in but we said we were Canadian backpackers and that’s all it took!!! And the owner told us not to tell anybody else. So 2 out of 3 nights I  got free beer at this hostel, best hostel ever!!!  This picture was off the roof of the hostel!!!