The Driver Hit the Brakes Hard and Swerved, Barely Missing a Kangaroo

We were deep in the Australian outback, and the sun was going down.  Those of us on the bus were tired and not paying much attention.  

The driver suddenly hit the brakes, and jerked the wheel.  He had mentioned there were a lot of Kangaroos in the area, and it's a bad idea to hit one.  We almost did.  

You have to pay attention when you're driving in Australia.  There are a lot of animals and they wander onto the road ... some of the kangaroos cam be six feet tall and weigh 200 lbs.





So we have made our way to the bush here in Australia and have been busy since our arrival on Tuesday from New Zealand. 


Today was a long day with a visit to the Great Ocean Road along the southern coast of the country, a place with a lot of history and many amazing views.  Then we went inland to visit a mountain range.  We were off the grid for a couple days.  

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The day started out in Melbourne and ended up tonight in the Grampian Mountains in the middle of ... well, it felt like the middle of nowhere.   
  

We landed in Melbourne for the first time; we had been to Australia a couple times, but in the Sidney area.  This was new territory for us.  We were full of anticipation of good things. 

For starters, we were going to see our friends Luke and Yana, and have a good look around.  We had been in contact with them ahead of time, knowing that we had a stop here on our Southern Cross trip around the world (I like to give our journeys a name).

Only there was a slight wrinkle in the plans - turns out Yana is pregnant and about to give birth to ... twins!  Like any day!   Wow, that's a pretty big deal!

But we had a great day with them, driving around the Melbourne area and visiting a winery and a couple of beaches and other sites.  Melbourne is a big city with a lot of things going on.  We loved it there.  It was great to see Luke and Yana. 

On the Road and Off the Grid 

Early the next morning, we left for a trip along the coast - on the Great Ocean Road.  It's an amazing highway built by hand a hundred years ago.  We were interested in seeing Australia outside the big cities, and off the beaten path.  

However, this time of year in Australia is peak season for holidays and tourists, so a lot of other people had the same idea.  There were a lot of people and buses out there.  But it was still great and we got to see some spectacular coastline and rock formations.   

However, it was a perfect day and the water color was a reflection of the clear blue skies.   It is an incredible stretch of coastline.
You can get pretty far out there - outback? - and once we left the Ocean Road, we were the only ones around.  And we stayed overnight in a mountain camp in a rather remote spot. 

The next morning we got up and set out early to hike in the mountains, visit some unique settings, and check out a waterfall and some amazing viewpoints.  All together it's been a great few days.  

You might think that the Australian bush is a dry, empty desert (I know I did) but it's a big country and there are a lot of natural wonders.  The southern coastline is rugged and really interesting, and once you get away from the ocean, there are tropical rain forests and jungles.  

We drove for a long way into the interior of Australia and made our way to Adelaide.   It was quite a ways, but distance is relative.   It felt like a a long trip, but we were sitting on a rather crowded bus.  At the risk of repeating myself, it's a big nation and and we barely covered a quarter of the way across.  

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We are five weeks into our journey.  Sometimes the days go by fast, and when you stop and look back at where you've been, it can be surprising. 

And this stuff does not happen by accident - it takes a lot of effort to make connections and organize travel plans.  And things don't always work out.  

For example, we had taken a side trip up a hill in Christchurch New Zealand, to ride a tram.  We thought we had plenty of time to get back to town, pick up our bags and get to the airport. 

Only we found out that the bus back to town takes an hour off for the driver to have lunch - ?!?!
So any cushion we had ... evaporated, and we had to scramble to find another bus to get us back to town, then find our way (on foot) back to grab our bags.  

This included speed walking in the heat of the day, and then finding another bus to the airport by pretty much running down the street.  We eventually made it, but it was a close call, and not the least bit fun. 

Things don't always work out smoothly.  But it's never a dull moment, and most of the time it can be wonderful.