Monthly Trip Summary (2)

Dec; 9 2010 – Jan.8 2011

Summary of the second month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 2

Number of flights taken: 2

Number of posts added to our blog: 17

Number of marital conflicts: 1. On the night before we were supposed to arrive in Melbourne, after seeing a penguin parade on Phillip Island. We ran into trouble finding the campsite where we were supposed to stay for the night. It was cold, we were already wet because it rained on Phillip Island, and the rain just set off again. One thing let to another and before we knew it, I blamed Marc for the rain and Marc blamed me for the lack of campsites. We ended up arriving to a nice (if pricey) hotel in Melbourne suburbs at 1:30am. A warm and dry room helped us make peace :)

Best overnight stay: Probably Enterprise Hotel in Melbourne. It was perfectly situated downtown and the price was unbeatable. Once you passed through the main lobby, the building suddenly opened up again in an internal court with picnic tables and palm trees at the bottom and elegant iron galleries all around. What can I say – Melbourne is full of architectural surprises.

Worst overnight stay: The night after visiting Rotorua on the North Island in New Zealand. We thought we would find a reasonable campsite 10-15 km from the town. 2 hours and over 100 km later, we finally found a rest area on the road. It was too close to the highway: throughout the night I had the impression that trucks were running over my head. The next morning we discovered that we set up our tent practically in the industrial suburb of a town.

Best Call we made: Choosing to spend New Year’s Eve in Mildura and staying there longer then planned. Apart from all great things I described in a separate post, Mildura was also the place where I heard my first real-life “sheila”! Until then I didn’t think people actually say it in Australia, but after being personally referred to as a sheila, I no longer doubt that the word was not invented by Crocodile Dundee :)

Worst Call we made: Hiking in the Grampians under a blazing sun with 1.5 litre of water was a stupid decision. Marc looked pitiful and both of us had to ration water to make it to the end. No more afternoon hiking on a sunny day without a reasonable amount of water.