Other than to say I drove the entire length of the Great Ocean Road,
the whole point of driving to Warrnambool was to see whales: they
roost or whatever you'd call it offshore this month. This will
definitely be an activity for when I'm old and frail at the earliest:
some local at the viewing platform is bragging that he saw all of 4
whales in the course of yesterday. I last about 5 minutes before
giving up.
The trails of Angahook-Lorne National Park are more to my pace. It's
a bit weird to be running through a rainforest that's not steaming
hot, but it definitely retains much of the allure that Costa Rica's
rainforests held. This rainforest with rocky trails leading to
massive waterfalls is a blend of ~equal parts Ohio's Nelson Ledges,
Pennsylvania's Rickett's Glen, and Costa Rica's rainforests near Mount
Arenal. It strikes me that I might be the only person in the world
who's experienced all 4 of these, and that feels pretty damn good:)
I burn much gas driving fast back to Melbourne; if nothing else, at
least I blew a lot on driving a car on one of the more scenic roads in
the world.
Feeling like I should at least attempt to save money, I decide I'll
forego tasty pizza and instead just buy the important parts myself.
It's all good until I start shopping. Not only do I take forever to
decide on ingredients, but a bottle of red wine that sounds decent for
$7 AUD is just too tempting to turn down. My bottle of wine, jar of
kalamata olives, loaf of wheat breat, and block of cheddar cheese set
me back ~$18 AUD, much more than the kickass pizza at nearby Porchetta
would have cost.
And I spend so much time selecting groceries that the 8 p.m.
Melbourne-Sydney bus is now full. Instead of "only" 12 hours, I'll
now have to take the 15 hour 9 p.m. coach. So I suppose the night
ends with me on the bus, having eaten a good deal of olive-cheese
sandwiches that aren't nearly as tasty as pizza would have been and
drank only a bit of what turns out to be rather shitty wine (from my
Nalgene bottle to be discreet) and struggling to figure out the least
uncomfortable sleeping position. Budget travelling definitely has its
downsides.