Whats up in OZ?

I managed to survive a week in Melbourne before heading out to my first wwoof host.  As excited as I was to make it to Melbourne, the city itself was a bit of a letdown.  Its not like I have a NYC bias (I do, but even taking that into account).  Melbourne just seemed very bland.  I stayed with friends of mine and they were awesome, but I didn't feel a vibe in the city.  Its also ridiculously expensive.  I had a good time, but was ready to move on.

Trish picked me up to bring me out to my first farm of Australia.  I got to some pretty rural places in Oregon, but this really took the cake.  I was a nice 6km bike ride from the closest town, which had a coffee shop and a supermarket that closed at 2.  The cover of the local newspaper had a picture of a horse buggy breaking down on the bridge stopping traffic for 2 hours.  Echuca, the big town, is known for their steam paddleboats.  I guess I've been looking for different cultures than those I grew up in.  From selling diamonds in NYC to working on a farm in Nowhereville Australia is about as far as you can get.

This place was a real, though small, farm.  Yes I helped tend to their garden, and do some other outdoor chores (help building a brick sidewalk, landscape gardening etc).  But the main things going on were the cows.  They were great.  The fences on the paddocks; not so great.  Everything is electrified (to keep the cattle in) and I managed to shock myself on them twice (once pretty bad).  Nothing like going out in the morning when its barely above freezing and gripping the handles of the fencing wire to find out that there is a crack in one (which allowed it to conduct energy).  To top it off, it was very wet.  7,000 volts will certainly wake you up in the morning.  All in all, it was a good 2 weeks.

I made my way back to Melbourne and met up with a random CSer for a road trip.  Coming to Melbourne, everyone talks about the Great Ocean Road.  On the CS Melbourne board there were usually 2-3 threads a week organizing road trips there.  Every Aussie thats been there raves about it.  So Heather and I decided to rent a car and see what the fuss was all about.  I have to say that I was very unimpressed.  I would put it well below my holy trinity of road trips (Amalfi Coast, North Ireland and the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur).  Only about 25% of the drive is actually against the coast.  The rest you go through farmland and bush.

That said, we still had a blast.  Taking a dip in the South Ocean was an experience (it was as cold as the water diving off the pier in Muff, Ireland), we saw tons of koalas.  Just make sure to keep away from the fish n chips shop in Port Apollo (it will be a reminder of your trip the next week).  To top it off, we arrived at Port Fairy and saw that the International (well, Oz and NZ) Sheepdog Herding competition was starting the next day.  We camped out on the beach and checked out all the border collies in action the next day.  It was amazing watching the people who went to the competition.  I felt like I was in the deep south at a Walmart.

Speaking of deep south, that is where I am now.  After the road trip I caught a ferry to Tasmania.  It doesn't get much farther south than this.  It is really beautiful and the first city I've been in is quaint (there really is no other word for it).  I am considering chilling out here for a couple of months.  I am planning on wwoofing some more, but I may get a room in an apartment and maybe find some work for a bit.  So thats me in a nutshell.