Time is a funny thing. C.S. Lewis suggests that time is just something God created for humans to use as an x-axis. Perhaps in eternity time does not exist. Did you hear that? In Heaven, Justin and I will never be late to anything. Too bad airplanes don't travel by means of eternal time. After a week home in Atlanta in early September, I, the world traveler, made Justin and me miss our flight to a rehearsal dinner for a close friend of his in Washington, D.C.. We did finally make it to the after-party and of course the wedding, and in the meantime enjoyed exploring D.C..
Some good news did come of this: he told me that he was still willing to continue to the other side of the world with me. It was nice. Instead of tapping the aisle-adjacent person on the shoulder to ask if he could please unbuckle his seatbelt, put up his tray, undo his headphones, and stand up with his pillow and blanket so that I could use the bathroom, I simply crawled over Justin. Also it was fun to watch on-demand in-flight movies with someone next to me, even when the person on my other side rolled his eyes when we pressed "Play" at the same time for Pirates of the Caribbean III.
By the way, September 10th marked two years of hanging out with Justin. Unfortunately our plane flew right past this date. (At least we didn't have to get each other gifts!)
For the first 2.5 days in Melbourne, which was Tuesday Sept. 11th through Thursday the 13th, both Justin and I worked - he from my apartment, and I at the office. (I learned later that he spent some of this time watching AFL (Footy), Rugby League & Union, and Cricket, which explained how he suddenly knew so much more about Australian sports than me!) We met each other and my friends for lunches and dinners throughout the week, including one fun night of cooking with Nicki and Carson. Then Friday morning we discovered some Budget availability to rent a little hatchback Corolla.
First Destination: The Great Ocean Road; Victoria, Australia
I was so excited about reliving the Great Ocean Road with my boyfriend that I forgot to check the weather. In fact I had told him to pack shorts and flip flops for his entire trip. Well not only was it meowing and barking but it was also cold and windy. At least we made good time with the invisible moving sidewalk pushing us along, especially once we got to the
Twelve Apostles and London Bridge.
Our hopes were cloudy for seeing animals on this day because it was so rainy and miserable. Eucalyptus trees line the Great Ocean Road but the koalas seemed to be balled up elsewhere that Friday afternoon. Suddenly while we were coasting along a 2-lane rural highway at 100 km/hr, we saw a mid-sized furry brown figure on the distant left shoulder, just standing there facing us like a deer in headlights. Without words, I slowed down and Justin took out his camera. At first we thought it was a big wallaby, but it was definitely a small kangaroo. It had dark features and brick brown fur and was about 4.5 feet tall. Its ears were perky and its little arms were poised as if to say “what’s up?” As I got closer and slower I could hear Justin saying “stop, stop, stop!”, but I thought he was talking to the kangaroo. I didn’t process the fact that I should stop so that our subject wouldn’t be scared away until the first wild kangaroo Justin has ever seen hopped away nonchalantly into the thick brush lining the road. Needless to say, I didn't get the picture…
I’m glad I date a patient man. Heh.
Well our frustrations really cleared when Justin found some lumps in the trees at a rest area/local park. I thought I liked gum but then I watched these bubbas:
As we closed into our destination for the evening, the boy in the car requested a stop to examine some interesting-looking road kill. OK, it was actually interesting (especially to the Australians driving by wondering what the hell we were doing) because it was an intact echidna. It looked like a cross between a hedgehog, porcupine, and anteater. We stayed at Port Campbell, which was the tip of our teardrop-shaped excursion. We dined on seafood, steak, and wine and enjoyed the small, touristy town for the evening.
We continued our trip around southwestern Victoria on Saturday by taking the upper loop back towards Melbourne. On the way we saw several indications of wildlife, including “Whale Nursery” & “Wildlife Park” signs and hazard signs with shadow pictures of kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, and koalas. The idea of going to the whale nursery in Warrnambool was very enticing to us; I think we both had images of a big tank or closed partition of the ocean, complete with a viewing glass and whales swimming around that we could see. Anticipating ‘whales’ of sightings, we arrived to the viewing area that was a concrete and wooden deck, and then became a little confused. We looked around at some wild-haired teenagers who were taking part in a big boogie board competition. In front of us was a beautiful stretch of blue ocean, but there were no whales. Behind us were posters with facts about whales and whale spottings in this area during certain seasons. We saw a couple - that looked a lot like us - holding a pair of binoculars and having no luck. We went away thinking that at least the “Whale Nursery” didn’t try to sell us tickets or merchandise. And at least it was pretty!
The wildlife park sounded like a better guarantee, so we followed the little carved signs off the highway, past some fields, over a railroad track, and down a little dirt road. We pulled into the gravel driveway of a mid-sized red house with an old fence surrounding a backyard. For a minute we thought we were the only people there, but then an old Crocodile Dundee dressed in plaid and dirty pants came out, set down his feed bucket, and shook our hands with his rough, calloused ones. No doubt he was born and reared in the middle of nowhere because we understood few words of his Australian redneck speech.
