Magic Melbourne and Great Ocean Road

Because of my postponed flight I arrived at Melbourne Airport at about 2 pm on Monday. Customs went alright – they weren’t even interested in seeing my printed visa. But they were very interest in Ebola-related information and a declaration that NO organic material whatsoever (shells, sand, food, drinks, wooden objects) entered Australia. If you do not answer truthfully to their questions the fine will be enormous! That is why I had sent anything organic that I wanted to keep home earlier and could answer NO to all of their questions. I took the skybus to Southern Cross Station (the hub in central Melbourne) and it even provided a free ho(s)tel-shuttle for the city. But I realized quickly that I was no longer in la-la-land but in a quite expensive country (not that I had not known this before…) The skybus cost 18 AUD$ for a 20 min-ride and the hostel cost around 35-40 AUD$ per night in a 6-bed dorm! It was a little more expensive because of the Australian Open held in Melbourne at the time, but still: come on people: a DORM bed and you pay more than 25 EUR…? I mean… (I have obviously stayed too long in Asia… where it’s 6-7 EUR…) The hostel – Home at the Mansion – is situated in the very old former Salvation Army training building. The stairs were making charming creaking sounds and everything seemed to be made of wood. My first 24H in Melbourne (meaning the first evening and half of the next day) consisted of turning up at least 4 times at the mobile/internet shop and other shops looking for desperate help in getting internet. My borrowed WIFI-device was definitely not working and nobody could tell me why (probably because it’s from Europe) and so I couldn’t use my already purchased SIM-card. So finally I bought a new (locked of course) wifi-device. I am really curious what will happen later in New Zealand. It will also not be working, because it’s locked. But YES, after feeling I seriously needed to hit somebody at stupid-internetshop (which employees were all seriously stupid and not helpful!), it finally worked. As if all this trouble was not enough I got stomach problems, which made even shorter walks a little unpredictable. In search of a bathroom I landed myself in the Public Library where I discovered that everybody could use 15 min internet for free AND I visited a free exhibition about Melbourne’s Bohemians (including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). The next morning I had subscribed to a free bicycle tour around the city center. This was sheer luck, as the bike company was just starting up and making promotional tours for the hostels in town. A usual tour like this would normally cost 45 AUD$. It might not be that much worth but it was really good, especially as I had not seen much of the city until now and my attempts to use the circle tram line number 35 would be fruitless until the last day. Steve of the bike company gave us all special 60s-style bikes with female names on it. They were all famous Australians under which Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett. Mine was Dawn Fraser, a famous swimmer. We first went to the Old Exhibition Hall, the Parliament, saw the tennis courts (Austr. Open!) from a high bridge, went to Federation Square with its summer seats and the big screen for the Open, rode along the Yarra river until the Docklands and back stopping at 1-2 parks over a lot of hills, which really killed me as it was 35°C… After a definitive needed relaxing I was on the move again to see the first Richard Avedon exhibition in Australia (or so it said there). His photographs are mighty impressive!!! And the one of Elizabeth Taylor wearing a feathery thing around her head from the ad at the bus stop was not even the most impressive! I loved it! In the hostel I met a German girl at dinner that I chatted to a lot (we didn’t even exchange names…that happens a lot on a trip, you just chat and that’s it – nobody asks the name as there is a moment when it feels almost too late). She and a French guy and me went to the park next to our hostel when it was dark and we met some really cute possums (not opossums). In the dark they looked like tiny kangaroos. They were coming toward me, sniffing at my (very worn) sandals and one even behaved like he was wanting to climb me. The French guy commented: “She is not a tree…” At first Thursday was not quite spectacular. I tried the circle tram again – it didn’t come and the sun was burning down on me, so I decided to just return to the hostel and relax, prepare something to eat and be done. When it was around 5 pm I tried to leave again. It was still too hot but I figured I’d go to St. Kilda beach and there would be a sea breeze – and so there was. I had a tonic at a bar with a cute French bar guy and then checked out the beach: it was very crowded. But as I didn’t want to go swimming but visiting the Twilight Market I headed onwards. The market was just starting when I arrived but they had some nice little stands with all sorts of alternative and organic stuff as well as food from all over the world. I walked a round and then sat down and did some people watching. When it was time for sunset I headed off for the pier for some penguin watching. The little guys let me (and 100 more people) wait for a long time. At first one little guy appeared and walked up and down in front of us at the very tiny beach strip. He didn’t want to go home into his rock nest it seemed. Another little guy a while later did the same. He just stood there, one meter away from me, looking a bit lost and every now and the shaking his little wings. He was sooo cute! When I was walking back I saw several more penguins between the rocks. They must have returned on tiptoes, because O hadn’t noticed. The next morning I had to get up very early to catch a bus to Avalon airport (which is 50 min from Melbourne and only serves Jetstar, a low-cost airline). I left the hostel at 6 am and was ready to get my rental car at 8 am at the airport, but nobody was there. All booths were empty and it seems that local people here just turn up when they have finished breakfast and not when office time starts. But anyway, I got a blue Micra, which looked practically new. My first hour (or so) was pure stress. Keeping to the left of the street was not the big problem, as I had practised that in Bali on a scooter. But trying to manage the indicator without instead hitting the window wiper function was difficult and also putting in the gears on the left side drove me mad, as I never got the 2nd gear right: I nearly always hit the 4th, which made the car go slow on practically every traffic light. The map I had of the Great Ocean Road was not very detailed, so I had to follow my instincts and the few signs that were there, but safely reached the road for Colac. I had decided to take a normal road to the end of the Great Ocean Road and then do most of it the next day, but just reaching Colac, enjoying a coffee and scones with jam there I decided otherwise. So I just took the inbetween-road from Colac (which is halfway to where I originally wanted to go) and turn south. Like this I would do a small part of the ocean road twice, but I could just do the recommended stuff (e.g. the Twelve Apostels) this day already. The way from Colac to Lavers Hill took me through very different landscapes. It was a mixture of the Great Plains of America, the German Black Forest and rainforest with some silver leaf forest in between. I followed a sign to the Triplet Waterfalls carpark. Again the landscape just switched from fields to rainforest – quite special. The car had to stay and I walked the 2 km down and up a lot of steps until the waterfall, which was quite spectacular and huge. I lingered a while before heading back to the car and further until Lavers Hill and westwards. When reaching the coast I could and did stop every 2-5 minutes for another spectacular rock formation or cliff beach, under which the Gibson Steps (which lead to a beach), the Twelve Apostels – 12 cliff rocks that have slowly been crumbling away until they were left standing in the ocean for themselves, Loch Ard Gorge and the London Bridge, a flat big rock reminding the viewer of the actual bridge with an arch underneath it. It was quite exhausting climbing and running around, but it was totally worth it! In the meantime I had reached Port Campbell, where I had booked another hostel bed for the night. I claimed mine and headed on westwards to see more until the sun set. The next morning I saw my first kangaroo. It was sitting next to the road and looking innocently at me before it turned and hopped away into the bushes. My first destination for today was an old lighthouse. On the way there would be koalas promised my map - and there were. Real very cute koalas, hanging around in the trees, one mummy grabbing her baby, just 1m above me. I didn’t want to leave and they made me sooo happy! The lighthouse itself would have cost 20 AUD, so I skipped it. I had seen enough cliffs and sea for free the day before and would be today. Although the hillbillie-guy at the counter gave me some quite useful tips what not to miss on my way. I stopped at the Maits Rest, which was a quite easy 1km-tour through rainforest with huge trees, which were several hundred years old. Unfortunately I slipped and hurt my ankle (not the first time, they can be pretty weak), but was not sure if I could finish the round through the forest. But I just walked on, not listening to my stupid foot. Then another thing made me quite uneasy. I had been experiencing major problems with my stomach the last days and I needed a bathroom as in NOW… so I quickly duck behind one of the huge trees… I really had to see a pharmacist and I promised myself I would in the next bigger town of Apollo Bay. There the pharmacist listened to my story and told me she would rather I’d see a doctor. She insisted and so I went around the corner to Dr Lawless (yes: lawless!). It turned out the doctor was around 100 years old. I asked her what she would charge me and she said: 100$. To which I answered: Wow, that’s quite expensive. She: Okay, 50 $. Finally she told me I would be rather cheap off with my 50$... I still found it quite expensive and am really curious if my travel insurance covers anything, as Dr Lawless gave me a handwritten(!) paper in which she stated what I had and that I just paid 50$ in cash to her. I can’t really read it so I doubt my insurance can. But I got some antibiotics and it seems to be working. The next 150 km on speed 50 to 80 km/h along the coast were not quite spectacular apart from the great ocean views and it was of course sunny. I didn’t stop much, because I was a bit on a tight schedule now. I did go to the Anglesea golf course where there were a bunch of kangaroos known to hang out – and they really were, lazing on the grass. After that I enjoyed 20 minutes of famous Bells Beach’s surfers and on my last meters, as is typical, I got a bit lost because I was pressed in time. How could one ever imagine that an airport is not hugely advertised on signs. I had to find the way on my own then, as well as a gas station before handing over the car. The plane was off course late – Jet Star again - but this time luckily only 20 minutes. So – off to Sydney!

beautiful BALI

I arrived in Bali later in the evening when it was already dark. I had asked about the taxi price earlier so when the taxi guys wanted to give me a high price I insisted on mine and walked away. And tadaaa, it worked. I arrived at 9 pm at Big Pineapple Hostel in Sanur when the reception was already closed. Luckily a girl from my room showed me where I would sleep. Upper bunk of course with a horrible way of climbing and all possibilities left for throwing everything down at all sides of the bed. There was no A/C, but only a fan, which somebody put off in the middle of the night and it got sooo hot. The hostel is a party location. Lots of youngsters, partying loudly all night, watching TV and jumping into the pool next to our dorm door. Bloody fantastic. I feel kinda old but then I have never been a party person and this might just not be suited for me anyway. But what really annoys me is that when you get to the big table in the center of the open-built hostel, that either everybody is staring at their mobiles or when I try to talk to most of them they just look at me like: who are you? There are a few nice people though of course. After arriving and dropping my stuff on the first night I went to a small street food restaurant, where I got some rice and vegetables for 1,50 EUR (20.000 Ind. Rupee). The next morning I joined 2 girls for breakfast at exactly the same restaurant as the night before. So it was rice and other stuff again and a coffee (also called Kopi here). The girls and me didn’t really enjoy each others’ company and it was raining a lot, for which I luckily brought my Batman-like poncho. Afterwards I just relaxed a little and then went for a walk around, dropped off my laundry and stuff like that. The area around the hostel is not that beautiful. Because of the heat when you walk through the streets it smells badly because of all the junk that has been dumped there. Each house does tiny spiritual offerings, which are eaten by animals of course (I saw several small rats running around). Offerings can be anything: food (often rice), a bit of coffee or also a cigarette. I was told that Hinduism tells everybody to share what they have and live together in harmony. Offerings can be done in round, flowery, triangle or square shapes which all have different meanings. In the afternoon I went to the beach (again not the best and most beautiful route), where I met an American named Joshua, who planned to be instructing divers in Indonesia for the next 2 years. And at the café where had a coffee and a beach lounger I also met Blacky who was spreading his touring flyers on the beach. He is a Balinese rastaman and seemed very nice. The car on his flyer looked very peculiar (jeep-style) and the price was okay. So I stared at his and another guides flyer for quite a while until I finally decided on choosing Blacky. I asked him if we could have an individual tour up to the North and if he could drop me in Ubud later (center of Bali) so I didn’t have to take another shuttle. Sure, that was fine with him. I told him I had to think about it a little but booked the next morning at my hostel. The night was quite horrible as first the people were behaving strangely again and then when I spent my time watching a movie (there is a cool open air movie area) and had went to bed in the middle of the night there some crazy people loudly singing, putting the TV very loud and then jumping into the pool all the time. Thanks a lot, guys. Anyway I woke up quite early and went to do some working and finishing my Malaysian blog post. I had some trouble getting the mails to my colleague and had nearly decided on a taxi to Starbucks, which they say has great wifi, but then I managed. There was a big cockroach trying to climb up my foot….baaaaaaaaaaaaaah! After lunch I went to the DHL only to find out that the guys couldn’t send out regular mail stuff so I kind of cursed Bali in front of him, told him this had already been a shitty day but then also apologized because I didn’t mean him personally of course. I was just so pissed in general that nothing worked around here. I think I’m gonna get back there and apologize again… Finally at 2 pm I headed off for the beach again, booked a surfer course and then a beach lounger again at my favourite bar. Joshua was there again as well as a German couple I had spoken to for a while last time. Joshua introduced me to Carla (who I think named herself after her beauty products, because they also were named Carla). They got me into having my nails done. She cleaned them and painted them (toes and fingers) pink with flowers. Sooo girlish. But I have to admit that with my mini-sun tan: pink is my colour. The rest of the day was quite calm and nothing really happened, especially not at the hostel after dark. On Wednesday I had a rather special day and for the first time in Bali I had fun all over: I made a trip to the North with Blacky in his VW Kübelwagen jeep with open front window and open roof and playing very relaxing Reggae music. He picked me up at about 9 am and dropped me in Ubud, in the center of Bali at about 5 pm. The daytrip only cost 500.000 (32 EUR). At first Blacky got me to a quite touristy Balinese dancing show, which took one hour. It was fascinating, although I did not understand the whole story that was behind it. In the beginning there was a huge beast called Barong (the good spirit) with a clapping mouth and 4 feet (two people under the very hairy costume) approaching cautiously. After its bit a monkey came on the stage, which’s actor was sooo good you could really take him for a monkey, scratching itself everywhere and moving the head. After a while a few human people entered, obviously royal persons, 2 brothers, then their father and mother and finally their sister, all in beautiful costume. They were all attacked by a two-footed beast called Rangda (the bad spirit, who had also a lot of hair). Now everything went haywire, but all the fighting and acting was done in an impressing manor. When Blacky and I went back to the car it was surrounded by silver tourist vans and was really an eye-catcher. And if this was not enough, the car had a built-in sound-device: it could moo like a cow!!! And Blacky used the button quite often, so people were always looking at us and laughing, smiling or waving. Our next stop, which we did very quickly, was a waterfall, beautifully set in the jungle surroundings, after which we went through lots of villages, where you could see hundreds of family temples. Blacky told me that every family has to have their own family temple – and they are huge! In front of every of the temples were long bamboo sticks with braided dried leafs around it. I was told that there are 1000 temples alone on Bali and that the Balinese Hindu culture is an aspect of everyday life, viewable also in the streets: in front of every house, mostly on the sidewalk, you can see small offerings differing in shape and content. There are small triangle, rectangle, round and flower-shaped braided baskets containing mostly rice, flowers, but also other food, sometimes a wrapped candy or even a cigarette. Share what you have is the thing on Bali. On the next stop – a rice terrace valley surrounded by trees – I was the only tourists and so all the selling women came on to me and shoved their postcards into my face. I said no, but ordered a coffee with one. Then we visited a rather big Balinese temple. As Blacky and me had both long enough clothes we just put a shawl around our waists. Usually the shorts-wearing tourists are made to wear a sarong. Finally at 2 pm we reached the Batur volcano with lake next to it. As the road up there costs money, Blacky went on a totally crumbling 1m-wide road through the fields, which seemed quite adventurous. It had been raining and we were pretty far up, so it was rather cool but dry. We stopped at a restaurant with lake and volcano view which was really awesome! The restaurant sat on the volcano rim and the rest of the rim and the top of the volcano were covered in clouds. I had some chicken and Blacky had some fish from the lake. He seemed to try to eat with fork and knife (they don’t do that around here – they use spoon, fork and probably hands), but when I got my hands to rip the chicken apart, he also did that with his fish. ;-) For “dessert” we were at a coffee plantation and tried (well, I did) different sorts of tea and coffee: ginger, ginseng, vanilla, cocoa and other sorts. I also had a kopi luwak (weasel coffee). The beasts eat the coffee beans and when they are out of their body again they are cleaned and roasted as the usual beans. It costs me 50.000 (about 3,50 EUR) to try a cup. It was okay, but I wouldn’t buy a kg for 170 US-$. It is not that good. On the way to Ubud we passed through a town. Suddenly Blacky stopped and told me: hey, I don’t like you anymore, get in the back. I thought “WTF??!” but he was just kidding. No, just go standing up in the car, because parking in this town is expensive and to see the rice valley that they have here, just stand up and watch. And so I did. Lastly he dropped me in Ubud at my hostel “Happy Mango Tree” and we said our goodbyes. After checking in and making myself comfortable for a little while I went to dinner with three Scandinavian girls (Sandra, Sarah and Ronja) from the hostel. We had drinks and tapas in Havanna bar, where they had a real latin music band consisting of Indonesians, who played quite well. Next day I was hanging out in the mango tree all morning, had breakfast there, rent a motorbike, and had lunch at a cheap place on my street. Then I took the motorbike, went to the post office and sent out my hopefully last package home. Then I bought a ticket to Sanur and saw the monkey forest. Lots of cute little monkeys are running around there or hopping onto people if they come to close and/or carry bananas. After I met up with Meiyu at the palace and we went by motorbike to Bali Buda Café, an awesome veggie/vegan food and smoothies place, where the menu came as a newspaper. Then we checked out 2 fancy yoga places – one in town and one in the middle of some rice fields up on a hill, where I almost couldn’t get up with the motorbike: lots of holes and totally steep. In the fields we met Ted, an American who was taking photos there. I found him a little too self-centered but quite okay and so we three went out to dinner later. But before that I had the most amazing massage: 1.45H (for only 14 $). One hour full-body massage, then a scrub, then they smeared yoghurt all over me and after that I had half an hour all by myself in a giant bathtub with flowers of 6 different colours. I couldn’t get up the next morning to do the rice-paddy-yoga course…but instead hung out half the day at the hostel with several people, including Meiyu, an English girl who was travelling for 2 years and some Dutch guys. In between I felt a little miserable (probably the heat) and I also talked almost 2 hours to Tina in New Zealand, catching up on things and deciding about our rental car. It will probably be 10 days with a sleeper van (which will get VERY cozy, as the bed is only 1m wide) and after that a normal car as we want to continue travelling together and not get fed up with each other through a too small car and too less personal space. Finally I headed off to the city center on foot, visited the palace temple complex and then endured a lot of hellos and what-are-you-looking-fors on the market. I came home with a light beach bag and a light black dress though. At 6pm my shuttle bus drove off to Sanur and dropped me near the Big Pineapple (so I had stayed just in a sort of fruit salad: pineapple and mango). I went to cheap dinner with some nice people and went to bed quite early, because of my amazing surfing lesson the next day. The driver picked me up at 7.30h and the course started a little later with some theory and then we headed out with a boat to the riff off-shore. The weather was very bright, not much wind (perfect for surfing, I was told), but we had to wait around for waves. I actually managed to stand up and surf a while several times. Yeah – I am a cool surfer girl! After 2 hours it was over, but it really feels a little addictive, so I was thinking about taking another lesson. After I got back I rented a motorbike – again – this also feels very addictive! Although I have a helmet on and no wind in my hair, it still feels like it. When taking a tour around Sanur and hanging out on the beach a little I was stopped by the police. And for what? For STOPPING at the red light and not go straight to the left. Crazy country. But I merely received a warning because my paperwork was right and I really HAVE a motorbike driver’s license. I even got used to driving on the left side after a while. Wow! That might mean that I am ready for driving in Australia and New Zealand as well.

Epilogue: Eventually I did take another surfing lesson, this time on a smaller board. It was so much harder keeping your balance on this one and the waves were much higher even though there were lots of longer pauses in between. After that I quickly showered in the hostel and me and a German girl called Hanna took a taxi to the airport. The paperwork went really smoothly so I had some time to spend my last money. And then, just before the gate opened, Jetstar informed us that the flight was canceled and would be scheduled for the next morning. Okay…PANIC! Where do I sleep? I have no money left (and don’t wanna get more Ind. Rupee for this)! How do I get my baggage? Jetstar was a bit chaotic on informing everybody (very big airplane=many people), but I was quick and managed to get my stuff done and catch a transportation early. Two hours later I sat in the arranged and free of charge Bestwestern in Kuta. Transportation back to the airport: 3 am in the night. But it’s a nice hotel. I can manage to spend some hours here and I already had a very nice chat to Paola from Melbourne - we had dinner together.