After six months in Asia it was time to bid this beguiling part of the world a fond farewell. It had truly worked itself inside of us - permeating our thoughts, emotions, senses, feelings. We only truly realised the full impact of this after a few weeks in Australia. Working your way around a developed country feels more like 'visiting' than 'travelling' - the culture shock, frenetic energy and assault on your senses just isn't quite there. That's not to say Australia isn't an astounding country to visit - it is, it's just that it feels scarily like home - and that kind of messes with your head.
So, with our heads slightly frazzled, we decided to see what this great land had to offer...
After a couple of days in Sydney hitting the sights - ok, yes the Opera House and Harbour are amazing, the Manly ferry is a great trip, the coastal walks are breathtaking, Bondi is good fun and the burbs have a great character all of their own - we hired a car and headed out of the city, as we had come to the conclusion some time ago that adventure was best found outside of the main conurbations.
In true B&S fashion, the best antidote to the bustling city was to head to the Hunter Valley - one of Oz's premier wine regions - we gorged on delectable food, sipped, swallowed, gargled and drank our way through several fine wines and stayed in a gorgeous countryside lodge - complete with complementary cheese and port - it was heavenly! After larding it up, we drove three hours south west to the stunning Blue Mountains National Park - what a glorious, majestic place - great walks and astounding scenic lookouts - what a soul-cleanser!
After a swift plane journey we soon found ourselves in Melbourne - a sophisticated, easy-going, cultural, livable city with plenty to offer. We hung out for a few days and then headed on a tour of beautiful Phillip Island - a wild and stunning island with fascinating and comical penguins providing great entertainment as well as the opportunity to feed orphaned baby wallabies. The recent wildfires had destroyed so much of beautiful Victoria - it was shocking to see and unfathomable to comprehend what it must have felt like to be confronted with such a ferocious natural force. In true Aussie spirit, things were being rebuilt, reinvented and reinvigorated but the threat of worse fires in years to come is very real.
Our time in Melbourne was wonderfully rounded off visiting friends Jag and Shane and their beautiful three children. It had been five years since we last saw them but it was like picking up from where we left off. They have a beautiful home and a wonderful family - it was a priveledge to be part for it for just a few days.
Next, it was time to venture off to drive the famed Great Ocean Road on our way to Adelaide. The drive was fantastic, bringing back happy memories of a similar sojourn down Highway 1 (also known as the 'Big Sur' coast road) in California a few years ago on our honeymoon. We made several stops along the way, but the highlights included: a beautiful, desolate beach at Wye River Creek which we stopped at for lunch on our first full day, superb views over lovely Apollo Bay from a viewpoint shared with a majestic white horse (we also got to stay in one of the most amazing 'hostels' there - a purpose-built YHA costing a million dollars with all mod cons, resembling a Philip Starck-inspired cube - we couldn't quite believe our luck!), the awe-inspiring rock formations of the 12 Apostles and London Bridge, and of course, the powerful Southern Ocean crashing on to the beaches below all the way down the coast.
Leaving the coast road behind, we drove on to Adelaide, stopping en route to visit the picturesque Barossa Valley (yes, more wine...), home to many of the wineries which produce the lip-smacking New World wines so popular across the globe. We stayed in a cozy little cottage and sampled some great reds, along with some waistline-expanding food - glorious! Arriving in Adelaide itself, we further indulged our growing caffeine addiction, then headed straight for a two-day odyssey on Kangaroo Island, one of the last remaining truly untouched areas of Australia, with world-renowned wildlife. Arriving at the ferry port, the sun burning our skin, we headed straight to see fur seals frolicking with their pups on the beach, spotted koalas up in their gum trees, indulged in a spot of sand-boarding, and watched rare Echidna (like a punk porcupine) work their way across the open pains. We camped out overnight at the tour company's cottage set in miles of natural vegetation, spending the time dodging kangaroos and wallabies, tucking into a proper Aussie BBQ, replete with kanga burgers, then went to spot penguins coming home at night and fell asleep watching the stars twinkling above us. It was fantastic - a real getaway and more fuel for the soul.
Returning to Sydney, we spent our last night in Oz reminiscing about the best bits over a glass of wine in the Sydney Opera House bar, looking out over the sparkling lights of Sydney Harbour and it's famed bridge - for all our lauded musings about 'visiting' versus 'travelling', perhaps after 8 months on the road, turns out this visiting lark is actually rather good.
Next stop, New Zealand - time to be blown away by breathtaking landscapes...
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