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travel-log entries on
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
15 December 2005
at
01:45
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Day 169 (14th December 2005)
Left Warnambool around 10am and decided to head back along the Great Ocean Road so that I could stop off at a couple of things that I missed on the way up. Went to see a cove and stopped at a couple more lookouts and Erskine falls in Lorne. I then drove all the way back to Melbourne. I got back about 5pm and thought I would go and find "Ramsay Street" or "Pin Oak Court" as it is actually called in real life. It took me a while to find because it is in a suburb of the city called Glen Waverley. After some searching and a stop to look at a map in a gas station - I found it! I drove up the road in my hire car and took some pics..it's a much smaller road than I anticipated.
In the 7 days that I have had the car I have clocked up a staggering 2700 Kms (1700 Miles) that's equivalent to driving from Lands End to John O'Groats and then back again. I think I totally underestimated the distances here. Australia is a BIG place.
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
15 December 2005
at
01:38
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Day 168 (13th December 2005)
Well I left Adelaide this morning at 8am. I decided to take a slightly different route for the drive back as I didn't want to see the same boring scenery for 4 hours like on the way up. I took the road that runs parallel to the coast, at one place on the route there is a giant lobster on the side of the road. I then passed through the regions of Naracoorte and Coonawara. At Naracoorte I stopped to check out an underground cave. Some parts of the drive were really boring, I finally arrived at Warnambool at 5pm. I just chilled out there to get ready for the second part of the drive tomorrow.
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| Matt is currently in
Warnambool, Great Ocean Road, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
12 December 2005
at
08:13
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Day 167 (12th December 2005)
Got up at 7.30 this morning, that's really early for me. Today I had big plans, I first drove into the Adelaide Hills area to check out the biggest rocking horse in the world! Yeah you can climb it to the top. I did it and got the certificate to prove it! I then drove to the "Whispering Wall", it's a dam and you can hear people if they are talking at the other side! Then I went into the Barossa Valley and did some wine tasting at the infamous Jacobs Creek visitors center before taking a short scenic drive up to the Menglers Hill lookout point to grab some good photos of the valley and the vineyards. I then headed to the Seppelt winery where I went on a 40 minute historical tour and found out some really interesting facts about how the wine is produced and the history of the winery. Next it was a drive to a chocolate factory where I was able to try some interesting chocolates, I bought some chocolate with chillis in it. Yeah, I know it sounds disgusting but believe me it is actually really nice, obviously I tried it first! After that I drove to a small german settlement town called Hahndorf on my way back to Adelaide. Tonight is an early night for me as I plan to leave here early tomorrow morning to start heading back to Melbourne, it's 800Kms in total and I want to split the drive over 2 day's so that I don't get too bored. Next update when I am back in Melbourne....  
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| Matt is currently in
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
12 December 2005
at
08:04
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Day 166 (11th December 2005)
The weather today was the best I have seen so far in Australia, the temperature hit a massive 38 Degrees C, so I decided to check out one of the beaches in Adelaide at Glenelg. The place was buzzing with people, the beach and sea were completely full. In the late afternoon I went for a walk around the city, there was not much going on and there is not a lot to do really. It's seems a pretty boring place. Tomorrow I will be heading to the Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills....
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| Matt is currently in
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
11 December 2005
at
11:03
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Day 165 (10th December 2005)
Left the hostel again at 10am, this time the first stop for me was Tower Hill Reserve. Here I managed to get photos of emus, koalas and also got up real close to get some pictures of kangaroos. I then decided to head towards the Grampians, it was quite a long drive to Halls Gap where I got some lunch. I took some more good photos from the Grampians and visited McKenzie Falls. I then decided to head via Horsham to Adelaide. The road after Horsham was really boring. it was the same view for about 3 hours and during this drive (about 1 hour into it) I got pulled over by the cops and received a $270 fine. So I was pretty pissed off for the remainder of the journey. I was only doing 16Kms/hr over the speed limit of 110Kms/hr, I'm not happy at all about that, anyway I arrived in Adelaide at around 9pm, checked into a hostel and then went out for food. This time bumped into an Irish guy in Maccy's. He was meeting up with some other Ozzie guys to go clubbing and he kindly invited me along, nice chap! So I went clubbing in Adelaide and got back about 3.30am.....
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| Matt is currently in
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
11 December 2005
at
10:56
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Day 164 (9th December 2005)
Left the hostel at 10am to continue along the G.O.R. First stop was the Otway's national park, here I stopped to do a 20 min rainforest walk. When I got back to the car park I bumped into the two German guys from yesterday and decided to tag along with them for the day. First we went to check out another lighthouse at Cape Otway, this time we were able to climb to the top and get some decent photos from the top. We then went to a tree-top walk near Beech forest, it was pretty average really and not really worth the $17 it cost. Next was Lavers Hill to stop for lunch and then onto the main attractions of Gibson Steps, 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and finally Bay of Islands before heading into Warnambool for the evening. We did a hell of a lot walking today, after checking into the hostel I went for dinner and a few beers in an Irish pub with the two German guys. Leaving at 12am to go and get my all deserved sleep. Did loads of stuff today and got some real good photos.....
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| Matt is currently in
Warnambool, Great Ocean Road, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
11 December 2005
at
10:49
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Day 163 (8th December 2005)
I was up bright and early today, grabbed some brekky and jumped on the tram and headed into the city centre to pick up my hire car. As it turned out I managed to get a free upgrade on my hire car from a Hyundai Getz to a Mitsubishi Lancer. It's an automatic and has got a bit more poke! I left Melbourne city at around 11am to head towards Geelong and then onto Torquay where the Great Ocean Road (G.O.R.) begins. First of all I went to check out Bells Beach, this is where the Australian Surfing championships are held and it is the home of Quiksilver, Ripcurl and Billabong. There were a few surfers in the water and I tried to get a good picture, it was then onto Airey's Inlet where I checked out a lighthouse, in fact it was the lighthouse that was in a kids TV programme called "Round the Twist" maybe you remember it! I got chatting to a couple of guys from Germany at the lighthouse as we all wanted to go up it but unfortunately it was arranged tours only. So back in the car to pass though Lorne along the road to get to Apollo Bay. I got some good photos from various points along the road. I stayed at a backpacker hostel in Apollo Bay tonight. Apollo bay is a quiet place with only a population of around 1500 people and it seemed that most people were on first name terms. Early start tomorrow to continue the journey....
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| Matt is currently in
Apollo Bay, Great Ocean Road, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
11 December 2005
at
10:40
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Day 162 (7th December 2005)
Just spent the day today preparing for my week long trip along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide. I did some boring stuff like laundry and researching where to go and actually tonight believe it or not I didn't go to the bar....now that is a first!
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
07 December 2005
at
00:43
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Day's 158-161 (3rd-6th December 2005)
Oh it's been such a hard time - Not! Not much has been happening really. Over the weekend I had to change dorm rooms which was a pain in the arse but now I am back in the original dorm. Also went out on Saturday night to a few local bars with a Canadian and an Aussie guy and met some nice Aussie girls. On Monday I managed to get myself into Melbourne city centre and into the Melbourne museum, it was actually quite interesting and well worth the 6 bucks I paid to get in. Inside there is a section devoted to Aborigini and indigineous people with many exhibits, there are also science and nature sections, Australian history and also a human body section where you can get to see cut open hearts and brains and stuff. I've decided that I am going to head off and drive the great ocean road. I've hired a car for 7 day's from this Thursday to go and explore. I am gonna spend a few days on the great ocean road and then a few in Adelaide, stopping at the Grampians and various other places on the way. I am gonna be heading back to Melbourne though as I have booked a flight back to Sydney for the 22nd December.
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
02 December 2005
at
13:37
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Day 157 (2nd December 2005)
Still can't believe that it is December and that it is going to be Christmas soon. Should really start to be heading on but I have extended my stay in Melbourne until Wednesday. Today it was raining, in complete contrast to the heat yesterday so I didn't do much. Well actually I did do a lot, I went to the internet cafe for 3 and 1/2 hours and managed to upload a lot of photos to this website. Then I grabbed a feed and came back to the hostel. I did drink some beers but they were cheap ones we grabbed from the supermarket yesterday! Starting to try to budget but it is not working that well....
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
02 December 2005
at
13:28
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Day 155 (30th November 2005)
Not a lot happened today, in fact I can't remember doing anything! I didn't even drink any alcohol today, can you belive that? No I am not an alcoholic seriously....I think! I walked along the beach today, yeah I think that happened....am I loosing my brain?
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
02 December 2005
at
13:21
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Day 154 (29th November 2005) - THE 5TH MONTH MARK
Not much happened today (as usual) apart from the rudamentry trip to go get food. We tried hard at the trivia in the hostel bar tonight and managed to finish 4th. Well we didn't win the $100 top prize but came better than last week where I think we finished 6th...
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
28 November 2005
at
05:11
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Day's 150-152 (25th-27th November 2005)
Been chilling out in St Kilda, been on the beach with all the lovelly looking ladies. On Friday I went out to a night club called Revolver in the center of Melbourne and had a really good night. I have met some really cool people here in Melbourne and I am thinking of staying here a little bit longer, maybe another week or so. I am only in Australia for 3 months now instead of 4 as I managed to cancel my working holiday visa and applied for a 3 month visitor visa. This allows me to come back next year maybe for a full year, this also mean't that I now had an extra month of time to play with so when I was in Sydney I went to the Qantus office and re-scheduled all my flights. I also made a re-route. I have now decided to add Canada onto my list of places to visit, my last flight is actually now from Vancouver to London. I am now going overland in the States from LA - San Diego - Into Mexico - Las Vegas - San Francisco - Seattle - Vancouver!
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
25 November 2005
at
04:47
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Day 149 (24th November 2005)
Got up late today but decided to take the initiative to go and do something. I took the tram into the center of the city and had a walk around. I am liking Melbourne, it seems like a vibrant city but it's not too hectic like Sydney. The only thing I can't stand so far about Australia is the flies! They are so annoying and they swarm around and land all over your back and on your face and it's not nice! After walking around for a while I decided to check out the observation deck, this is a bit like Sydney's Skytower but not as high, from the top you can get good views across the city and I took some more great pictures. In the evening there was Karaoke in the downstairs bar, the whole place was packed out, so a group of us went to another pub to play some pool...another late night.
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
25 November 2005
at
04:42
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Day's 146-148 (21st/22nd/23rd November 2005)
Arrived in Melbourne and got dropped at the coach terminal in central Melboune. The place I wanted to stay (Base Backpackers) was located in a place called St Kilda so I had to catch a tram to get there. I arrived at 7am and dropped my bags in my dorm, I didn't want to disturb anyone so I headed out for a wonder around the area. Most of the places were closed but there are loads of nice places to eat and the beach here is really nice. In these few days I didn't really do much, in the evenings there have been trivia and a live band in the hostel, so just kind of been staying there as it's a bit cheaper...
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| Matt is currently in
St.Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
21 November 2005
at
01:53
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Day's 144 & 145 (19th/20th November 2005)
Spent the last two days hanging around at the hostel. I haven't been feeling too good - I can't hear out of my left ear as it hasn't de-pressurised from the flight and I have got a cold. Although last night I still went out. I went for a couple of drinks with a girl from my dorm, there was karaoke on at a bar called Scruffy Murphies. Some of the singers were pretty awful
Anyway (tomorrow) on Monday I am heading out of Sydney, I'm going to Melbourne by coach - it's gonna take 22 hours so it's a long one..
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| Matt is currently in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
19 November 2005
at
09:00
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Day 143 (18th November 2005)
Today I buddied up with a girl in my dorm called Zoe and went with her to the museum of contemporary art in Circular quay. I must say though that I've never seen so much rubbish portrayed as art...very weird! Then we headed to Bondi Beach, it was a really hot day today, the best weather I have seen so far. It was ideal for the beach! We got some good pics there and checked out some interesting sculptures on the cliff nearby as there was an art exhibition going on. In the evening I met up with the guy from Perth and some other guys staying in another dorm and we headed out for a night out on Darling Harbour. First going to Platoon bar and then onto the nightclub called Sublime that was open until 6.30am. We got back to the hostel really late at around 7.30am...but it was a great night
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| Matt is currently in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
19 November 2005
at
08:55
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Day 142 (17th November 2005)
The weather finally got better today and it was more like the weather I was expecting from Australia. I ventured out down to the harbour and got some photos of the famous Opera house and Sydney Harbour bridge. I met some Japanese girls and went with them up one of the turrets on the bridge to get some good pics of the area. Then I headed to the Skytower, again to get some real good pics across the whole of Sydney. In the evening I went to the bar at the hostel and then me and a guy I met from Perth headed out to another bar on Oxford road....all good!
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| Matt is currently in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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