Melbourne to Perth: 5 Queens, 2 cars, and 2,128 miles (Part 2)

Day 2 & 3: More Great Ocean Road and Coorong National Park, SA

After our first night's camp at Johanna Beach and a life changing meal for Mat "Fish" King of veggie burgers, we continued down the Great Ocean Road towards our next night's destination. We had 2 nights planned for Coorong National Park in South Australia. Coorong National Park is an amazing white sand, 100 km beach, separated from the mainland by salt lagoons and flats. 4 wheel drive is a must, since the only way in and out of the park is to drive through the massive sand dunes along the beach. Fish's late(R.I.P.) 95' Mazda Bravo truck would be our ticket to camping amongst the dunes.

We hightailed it through the 12 Apostles in order to arrive at the park by sunset. 9 hours later and Rage Against the Machine filled we arrived. We left our valuables in Aimee's late(R.I.P. I wasn't kidding when I said we blew up 2 cars on this trip) Holden at the park entrance and took off into the dunes. We found a spot nestled in between 2 massive dunes and erected camp just in time as the sun set. In proper celebration of getting to our first major destination with no hiccups, we got drunk.

12 Apostles

The road in

 Salmon Fishing

The moon and the sun

The next day we went on a walk about in search of emu and firewood. We wandered across a giant salt flat littered with old fossilized coral. Some of them rose out of the sand 3ft! We located some old drift wood and noticed some gigantic dinosaur like prints in the sand. We followed them up a nearby sand dune and about 50ft away an emu took off running. It looked super awkward running across the sandy landscape, like it didn't belong, like it was on the verge of hitting a speed fast enough to take off flying, yet it never left the ground. It's head bobbed in and out of the bush as it ran over the next dune. Just as soon as we saw, it was gone. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of it, but I did get an amazing picture of Scott Bryant "National Geo Photographer of the Year" making some plants work for the camera.

   

Melbourne to Perth: 5 Queens, 2 Cars, and 2,128 miles

Sorry, it has been a while since I have written anything. After getting to Sydney and visiting my friend Kate, I flew back to Melbourne for an epic New Years Eve down in Sorrento. Some of my mates rented a place on the beach. Hung over days turned into "sloppy pickled" nights as we partied until the sun came up just about every morning. Fried brained and sore eyed we headed back to Melbourne to help my friend Aimee and her boyfriend Fish prep and pack for their move to Perth. Scott, Aimee's brother, Michael, and I decided to tag along. We left Friday morning, the 10th of January.

12 days, 2,128 miles, 20 tuna wraps, 2 people and 2 cars less than we started with, stained with red, sand in every crevasse, we made it to Perth.

Day 1: The Great Ocean Road (again)

 Veggie Patty mash-up 

 Veggie Patties

Johanna Beach Camp

More to come!

A Tracy Chapman Christmas Special

We hit the road early in order to find our camping spot for Christmas. After spending the last 3 Christmases on the go, this one wouldn't be much different. Call me the grinch, but I never really enjoyed the holiday season, so being on the road doesn't bother me too much. Anyways, I jumped in the front seat and Joana took the wheel. She had a fantastic Christmas spirit as she was already wearing a Santa hat and had prepared an 18 Christmas song playlist. Both English and German. And if anyone knows me well, they would know that I despise Christmas music. I wouldn't mind it, except for the fact that in the U.S., as soon as Halloween ends, every store and most radio stations start playing it. 2 months of the same 20 songs on repeat. There is only so much Mariah Carey someone can take before "all anyone wants for Christmas" is to invent a time machine, go back in time, and physically prevent her from ever being born. In light of my new company, I put my ill mannered Christmas spirit away, and placed a pair of red felt antlers on my head.

Looking in the mirror at what a "dashing" reindeer I looked like (pun intended), I saw something moving across the right antler. I took them off and inspected the movement. It was a small black spider with a red mark across its abdomen. I showed Joana and in a shrill tone she yelled, "That's a red back spider, it's super poisonous, get rid of it!" In a bit of panic the antlers and the spider were hurled out the window. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign.

Further down the track, "Give Me One Good Reason" by Tracy Chapman came on. Joana explained how Tracy was her favorite. I didn't know she had such a huge following in Germany, but Joana had even seen her a few times in concert. Tracy's bluesy voice was fantastic compared to the xmas stuff. Song after song we listened to. Besides sounding like she had a sex change, she was amazing. We listened to her all the way to Narooma, NSW. There we found our campsite and a bbq. We made lemon grass marinated chicken, a greek salad, baked feta and mushrooms, and a nice glass of scotch to wash it all down.

After dinner came presents. Since I had just met these guys, I didn't get presents for them and I didn't think they would get any for me. I was wrong. They had all purchased each other gifts to remind them of their travels together and to my surprise, they got me gifts as well. From our conversations in the car they had remembered that I liked dinosaurs and gummy worms. I got a 3D dinosaur puzzle and gummy worms. This simple act of giving and caring really hit me. Again it made me realize how awesome traveling is. Making friends while traveling is very similar to speed dating. You skip all the bullshit and get to the real stuff. It's all about getting to know each other as fast as possible so you can spend as much time with each other before you head off in separate directions. It's amazing how fast you can become friends. In the case of Joana, Aki, and Svenja, we had become friends.

Another glass of scotch, some imitation eggnog, and a beautiful sunset, I went to bed feeling great. Satisfied with the day and my new friends, I fell asleep. Until I was woken up by the all too familiar sound of rodents fighting outside my rooftop tent. The nasty screeching stopped and it was quiet again. I was dozing back off to sleep when I heard tiny little nails scratching their way around my tent. I could see possum shadows outside my tent. PTSD set in as I remembered previous battles with rodents and small animals. From hand biting gerbils, 2 flying squirrel attacks, and an epic battle with a mischievous monkey, I was well versed. I flicked my headlamp on to see a tiny arm and paw reaching in through hole in my tent. Like a horror film, I half expected it to rip open the rest of the tent yelling "here's Johnny" as it chewed both my legs off. I through my pillow at the wall and the hole only to hear a screech and the pitter patter of padded hands fleeing the vehicle. Merry Christmas to me, I survived another attack!

The Caravan

The Monday sun had risen and so did I, from my lovely perch atop our travel van.  I slept in the penthouse, which was a very cozy pop-up tent attached to the roof of the vehicle. It turned out to be quite comfortable compared to the floor I had been sleeping on for a few weeks (not bagging on you Justine). As I climbed out of my ceiling sleeper I realized, that yes, the sun had risen, but it was blocked out by a lovely “Victorian day” grey. Bananas and cornflakes, quick teeth brush, slather of deodorant, and we were off in search of the sun.

My first leg was with Joana. She was 24, blonde, blue eyes, German, and had many stories to tell. Joana had a pretty extensive travel record. She had even spent 10 months as an opare in the U.S. where she had dinner with the Obamas’. She was recently in between jobs so she decided to travel Australia. She told me all about her family, about holiday traditions, and about how she also left someone behind. It was extremely inspiring listening to her “Why not?” attitude towards travelling and new experiences. Earlier in her trip she had met Svenja, a recent high school graduate, who was still so new and green to the travel scene. Joana took her under her wing and together they drove up and down the East Coast with a few other travelers. 

My second leg was with Aki. He was 28, German/Ukrainian, and a rapper. He was full of questions about the U.S. We discussed our policies, governmental issues, and social environment for young adults. He was very upset with the types of pressure that society has placed on people our age. Germany seemed to have the same social construct as in the U.S. You go to school, get a girlfriend, graduate, get a job, get married, buy a house, and have kids. Everybody’s dream right? He was so upset with it that he rapped about it. It was extremely impressive. Check him out on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpU0EWipBks

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

Goodbye for now Melbourne. Things change, people change, and after 2 and a half weeks, I needed a change. I packed both my bags and in a matter of three hours I found myself a ride to Sydney. I needed to get back to the traveling basics. I came to Australia to travel, so that’s what I was going to do.

In St. Kilda I boarded a Jucy Traveling Van driven by two lovely German girls. Joana and Svenja had been driving around for the last 3 months living out of their van. They had been up and down the eastern coast meeting new people, sleeping in rest stops, and surviving off of bread and noodle rations. A young German/Ukrainian dude my age named Aki, had just joined them as well. He was a freshy, only being in Australia for about 3 weeks. I completed the caravan of 4 and away we went, bound for Sydney. We left Sunday and intended to arrive on Friday the 27^th.

I traded the concrete jungle of Melbourne for the real jungle. As I watched the buildings disappear into the grey out the back window, my stresses also started to disappear. I turned around, looked forward, had a moment of clarity, which I would soon have more of, and thought with a smile on my face, “At least you tried”. I tried.

We made it two hours out of town before we decided to set up camp at a rest stop. All of my previous car travel experiences were that of busting nuts to get to your destination as fast as possible, even driving through the night. This would be a bit different. We had 6 days to get to Sydney; we were going to take 6 days to get to Sydney. Flustered at first, my travel instincts and thoughts resurfaced. “It’s not necessarily about the destination, it’s about the journey.” “Just go with it, let go, and just be, Jamie!” The travel bug had worked its way back up to my brain.

It was time to get to know the people I would be traveling with for the next few days. And take some time to figure out my new camera.

Rime of the Ancient Fisherman Jamie

Went on a journey Wednesday down to the Mornington Peninsula to go fishing. It was a fun-filled morning. We caught octopus, squid, cuttlefish, pinkies, leather jackets, flatheads, parrotfish, some crazy poisonous fish, and a monster stingray. 

We also managed to snag an albatross with a 5 ft wingspan. I was worried we were going to become the real life version of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". That's the last thing I needed was another bad omen. I already have a few proverbial albatrosses hanging round my neck. I did not want the real thing. As we slowly reeled in this giant bird, as to not hurt it, I found myself in a day-dream sequence paralleled with my favorite poem… 

And in a sappy sitcom, end of the episode summation, we all have our albatrosses. If you have no idea what I am talking about then I suggest reading it! 

    

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173253

Don't worry PETA, the albatross ended up getting untangled in a matter of minutes. Which is a good thing, because I didn't want to end up haunting people for the rest of my life telling them encrypted tales of misery and regret. Then, unharmed, the albatross departed, only after leaving us a giant slimy poo. I guess that is why its call a poop deck.

Anyways, we took the fish home and cooked up a massive fresh fish Thai green curry.

 

New Camera

Just got a new camera! Nikon d7000, it's a bit of an upgrade. My other one was stolen from a friends house along with all of the other equipment a few days ago. All my friend's stuff was stolen as well! Anyways, here are some fun new pictures. I am still trying to work out the settings though.