Daily

Late night blogging

Camping crepes

Bend and stretch

Wallabies

Wallaby #1

Wallaby #2

Wallaby #3

Wallaby #3 part 2

MOREGOR

Apostles/actual major landmarks

Actual major landmarks up closer

For Eben, from Adam, with love

Actual major landmark cont.

New (illegal) campsite complete with cow stampede and good-looking husband

Living off the land/illegal campsite

Grazing in the grass/illegal campsite

Great illegal campsite photo compliments of the husband

The stars are breathtaking and beyond down here.  It’s like going from a clear night in Minneapolis to a clear night in Houston (MN) and then that same increment of increase in breathtaking times two to a clear night along the coast in rural Victoria.  It’s inspiring, I’d say. 

In other news, for mothers and such who are interested, we’re camping tonight in Warrnambool, which is the end of the Great Ocean Road, and tomorrow or the next day we’ll head up to see the Grampians National Park because everyone says it’s really great there.  And in the meantime, we're staying safe and having fun and wearing sunscreen and avoiding sharks and riptides.

Sundance

BDAYETC

Dear folks who read our blog,

Today will be the first installation of a “NEW TECHNIQUES AND OBSERVATIONS” (based on our traveling learning experiences) segment we will be incorporating into this mish hodge mash podge blog going on here.  Today we have for you one new technique and one new observation (related to both each other and to traveling) to share.  They are these: you don’t have to brush your teeth with a toothbrush everyday (new observation) and you will still have squeaky clean teeth and minty fresh breath if you perform dental hygiene like this (new technique): floss twice everyday (especially after eating broccoli) and simply use your index finger to apply toothpaste to your teeth and then let sit for one minute after which you swish it around your mouth like scope and then spit every morning and every bedtime.  I learned this because I am terrified of receding gums (caused by vigorous and frequent brushing) and because using toothbrushes (especially sonicares) is very inconvenient while living out of a camper cruiser.  MORE NEW TECHNIQUES AND OBSERVATIONS TO COME…

In other news, today was my birthday and these are all birthday things that happened:

Bday skype

Bday waterfall and bday such

Bday campsite with bday medieval tent

Bday campsite beach and bday duckface

Bday campsite beach hazards

Bday campsite beach #2 and bday camera lens nose smudge

Bday stir fry

Bday husband camera trix

The Great Ocean Road

The day we bought our beautiful home on wheels was the day we put in our one week notice with our landlord, which didn't leave us much time for planning our next move, but now it seems like everything is falling into place.  Well not exactly falling, more like an unfortunate chain reaction of events starting with the innocent action of slipping on a banana peel and finishing with an entire city block leveled. But with a little hard work and a lot of debating we have decided to take an adventure on The Great Ocean Road.  We have been told by many that it contains some of the most beautiful coast line in all of Australia and this time of year is prime beach season.  So we packed all of our belongings into our trusty Landcruiser and hit the open road.  It's a good thing I spent most of my formative years driving a beat up conversion van, as our new rig does not have the tightest handling or the most power to make it up the hilly victorian roads.  If you want to get somewhere in the Landcruiser, you best plan ahead.  Traveling experiences aside, the vehicle makes a great home.  The bed in the back is pretty comfy and the curtains Justina made make for great privacy.  I guess it goes to show that home is what you make it, and ours just happens to have 4wd.

Camping in the Cruiser by the Beach

Sunset by the beach

More sunset by the beach

Russian for Helen and Nicole by the beach

Bedtime for bonzos by the beach

Goodmorning for bonzo by the beach

Cooking up a continental breakfast storm by the beach

Breakfast by the beach

Continental breakfast storm close-up by the beach

Hardcore by the beach (complete with dolphin yin yang and beach crab boogie boards)

The beach

Water Sports

There was no skid board.  You probably aren’t disappointed because you don’t know what a skid board is and that’s because I made it up.  It’s actually called a skim board, if you/Adam want/wants to get technical and precise with spelling.  I jumped the gun on the inventory list when I copied and pasted from the gumtree ad onto the last post.  There wasn’t a fishing gun or a football or a volleyball either.  But there was a harmonica and the snorkeling gear does work.  We did some casual snorkeling in the bay after Adam scrubbed the flippers and goggles and breathing tubes down to reduce our chances of getting hepatitis or worse.  After discovering that not being able to see past my arm in the murk of the deep end seemed to be leading toward a panic attack, I decided to hang out like a jelly fish in the shallow water where I could be sure there wouldn’t be any surprises between me and the ocean floor.  I was having a great time until I was blindsided by a herd of exercising athletes butterflying toward me at an alarming rate (imagine being chased by a blood-thirsty pack of seals).  Although the initial fear-paralyzing moments felt like a lifetime, I quickly transitioned from jellyfish mode to panic stricken escape-mode.  I made it to safety untrampled, eventually, but moving as fast as possible in knee-high water while hyperventilating out of a snorkel tube wearing flippers and foggy goggles is really unpleasant.  

Disinfecting

Bizkit Bonus

Landcruising on the beach with Bizkit

Roughing It Cont.

Guess what.  We bought a Landcruiser.  A Landcruiser converted into a camping rig, complete with necessary camping features like a built-in mattress, sunshed canopy, fishing poles x3, fishing gun (shark defense), 4-person tent, lots of useful maps, portable camping cookers x2, 25 litre water tanks x2, full kitchen equipment, snorkeling sets x3, camping chairs x3, camping table, skid board, quality acoustic guitar, a football, and a volleyball.  But most importantly (most importantly according to people like Adam who foresee off-roading through soggy fields circumstances to a certainty), it has 4-wheel drive.  So anyway, we’re going to live/camp out of this thing while we travel through the South and Western Australia area and beyond.  Because we like each other so much and that’s just the sort of thing people do when they’re on trips like this.  Not to mention, in the interest of the travel budget, it’s a pretty smart move.  Minus gas expenses and the luxury of a kitchen, bathroom, and sitting-up-in-bed room, it sure beats paying rent.  But it’s not all rainbows and red balloons.  I do have two minor misgivings: firstly, I will probably (over 50% chance) crash and burn when it’s my turn to drive due to several contributing factors (brain conditioned to drive on the other side of the road, left and right confusion, memory like a goldfish, manual transmission, history of car accidents both minor and major, out of driving practice etcetc), and secondly, what if we can’t find a shower for two weeks or something.  Otherwise, there aren’t any noteworthy concerns that come to mind when considering living out of a dinosaur suv for three months in the boonies of the most predatorially life-threatening country on earth with a minimal amount of survival skills (I’m only speaking for myself here) and only a fishing gun for defense.  What I’m trying to say is, if you have anything to say about this lifestyle decision and you aren’t my mom I already beat you to it so shut your pie hole.

There she is/jk about your pie hole

Anniversary mini penguins

 In celebration of our one-year engagement anniversary (if I were going to make excuses for celebrating a one-year engagement anniversary, I'd do it here), we went to see the mini penguins.  At dusk, you sit on this dock and watch the mini penguins scurry out of the water into the rocks.  No flash photography allowed OR ELSE.  White flashes increase the heart rate of the penguins which indicates that it stresses them out.  Live and let live.  So the mini penguin monitors carry around red flashlights (mini penguins don't perceive red light) to shine on the little buggers so you can take pictures.

Sitting on the dock of the bay blahblah

Wasting time/I know what it is you saw

Wasting time/scuffle with the flat iron

Wasting time/post card melb

The big moment/ahoy, mini penguin!

CUTIES

THIS JUST IN

I just found a wallet.  NO JOKE.  Outside the library not even ten minutes ago.  I returned it (probably not worth mentioning right here at this point that there was no money inside) and was reminded that the best things in life are FREE.  Free like the joy you feel when returning an abandoned wallet with no money in it to the rightful owner who is in an electric wheelchair.  Better luck next time.

Back Alley Art

Nye Schwenwhyee

Pre 2012

T-minus several seconds 2012

On the 2012 money

That's a hitchhiker's thumb if I've ever seen one/2012!!!!!!!

Back to the grind (wallet hunting grind)

Since nye is prime conditions for finding a wallet on the ground, that was our general plan for the night.  Nicole, Helen and my plan, anyway.  Adam wasn't that jazzed about it because he's a stickler for the law, but I had no clear intentions for what would happen after we found the wallet, so legally I think it's probably okay to just look.  I figured we'd cross that bridge (the abandonedwalletontheground bridge) when we got there but unfortunately, we never got there.  Helen got to the abandonedfivecentsontheground bridge and she crossed it decisively by picking it up and putting it in her pocket.  Anyway happy new year even though it's old news better late than never.