Snakes, Scorpians, and Tides, Oh My!

Thanks to the Victorian Labor Day weekend (different States celebrate Labor day on different days), we had a three day weekend to plan a hiking/camping trip.  I'd heard about the Great Ocean Road a good bit from friends, which is a two-lane highway that runs along the picturesque southern Victorian coast.  My cousin Ian took a tour bus along the scenic drive when he was in town back in October, and Lydia and I knew we to wanted to go (you can read Ian's post about it here).  With the new freedom of having the Golf, we figured the long weekend would be perfect to head down to the coast before it gets too cold.  While independently researching camping in Victoria, I stumbled across the Great Ocean Walk, which runs for about 40km parallel to the Great Ocean Rd, but actually along the coast (the road has some stretches that deviate from the coastline).  We figured it'd be worthwhile as our first multi-night trip in Australia.

Kangaroo tracks along the path, and Lydia's foot backwards

The trip was really unlike any other camping trip I've been on before.  I guess the closest I could equate it to was a long weekend up on the AT with Will back in 2010, except replace Appalachian forests with Australian scrub and brush and the threat of bear attack with stinging and biting creatures.  Unlike the AT, the Great Ocean Walk is a much more closely regulated hiking trail- Australia in general is much more of a nanny State than the US, which is both endearing and annoying.  To hike the trail, we had to submit "applications," which includes a $28 fee per night per camp site, with a requirement that you cannot stay at a given camp site more than one night and you had to hike East to West.  The application fee is nice in that it guarantees that there will be a camping site available, but annoying because... well because it was $28 for a camp site per night.  Since Lydia and I did the hike with just ourselves (so only one car), we circumvented the "one night only" rule by booking the same site two nights in a row, under different names.  There was some discussion around parking the car at the end then taking a taxi back to the trail head, but since we had never hiked (or been in the area) before, and I'm inherently suspicious of Taxis, particularly in non-urban areas, we opted to just hike in, stay two nights, and hike out.  We also somewhat overlooked the "East to West" rule, as the most convenient parking and prettiest part of the hike was West of the camp site... We figured if we got caught, we could always play the 'Stupid American' card.  Fortunately enough, we were never confronted with our transgressions.

View along the ride on the hike in

The 7.6 km hike in was incredible- the trail runs all along the natural ridges that adjoin the coast, so you're almost always 50 feet above the beach and within earshot and view of the considerable waves of the Victorian coast.  The landscape and flora changes abruptly throughout the hike- from dry brush, to coastal dune scrub, to Eucalypt forests.  The trail was pretty well-marked and labeled, and I had purchased a detailed map of the walk before we left Melbourne, so we made it to our camp site relatively painlessly.  One nice thing about Australia is there are no large natural predators- no bears to evade or coyotes to be wary of.  There's also no rabies on the continent, so if you were unluck enough to be bitten by a wallaby or Koala, you'd be in the clear.  Unfortunately the lack of teeth and claws have been replaced with well-evolved venom and stingers.  Bill Bryson muses in his book, In a Sunburned Country, about how unnecessarily potent the venom of Australian creatures are, and I have to admit that I too am amazed.  Why would a snake, who need only posses enough venom to take down a mouse or frog, in fact pack a venom potent enough to kill ten men in one bite?

Eastern Brown Snake

It just so happened that our hike included an otherwise unwanted encounter with an Eastern Brown Snake, the second most venomous snake in the world- second only to the Inland Taipan (also found in Australia, though fortunately not really in Victoria).  On our day hike we took a wrong turn and ended up in some overgrown tall grass.  When we had realized our mistake, we turned to walk out when about a yard away, directly along our exit, lay the brown snake, and it wouldn't budge.  At first I grabbed a few quick photos (after all, if it's not on Facebook, it didn't happen), then tried to jump around and stomp to get the snake to head for cover- no go.  I found out later after that part of the Brown's danger, aside from the potency of its venom, is their brazen attitude toward humans. After the passive attempts failed and impassioned insults didn't work, I resorted to strategically throwing sticks to get it to move.  It took a total of three sticks to encourage the snake to make his exit, two of which had to actually make contact before he'd slither away.


In addition to our not-so-friendly Brown, we later had the pleasure of sharing our camp site with an abundant number of scorpians.  While sitting back and relaxing as the sun set, we could see little critters scamper around our camp site.  Upon closer investigation, we learned these critters were actually little scorpians, out on the hunt.  We're not exactly suer how venomous they were, but we were quite happy to not have the displeasure of finding out the hard way.

Aside from the venomous critters on the trip, we were fortunate enough to bump into less nefarious creatures over the weekend.  We came across about a half-dozen swamp wallabies, which were always as surprised to see us as we were them.  While not particularly smart animals, we found them much more endearing than a deer or rabbit, but perhaps that's simply because we're dough-eyed Americans.  The swamp wallabies are about 4 feet tall when standing upright, and they're pretty skittish.  We found that they appeared to like the camp sites due to the availability of water (each site has a large container of rain water- quite convenient, but needs to be treated/filtered).  On more than one occasion, I walked around a blind corner where I'd find myself staring face to face with one.  Typically, they'd stare back eye-to-eye for 20 seconds or so, do an about-face (Kangaroos can't hop backwards), and spring up in the brush at a safe distance, where they cautiously and inquisitively watch.  It's kind of funny really- they just hang up in the bushes and stare at you, as if taking notes.  I kind of half-expected them to try and mimic our language at some point, given how intently they appeared to study us.

Echidna along the path

We were also fortunate enough to bump into an Echidna on the hike in, which are marsupial versions of the porcupine.  They aren't particularly gifted with hearing, sight, or intelligence, so they're pretty easy to sneak up on.  Similar to one of the wallabies we encountered, their "defense" (other than their spines) is to simply walk to the closest cover, stick there head in and pretend that since they can't see you, you can't see them, as if playing peek-a-boo.

Wreck Beach

Our adventures didn't end with the wildlife. We faced the challenge of having to gauge the tides for our Sunday hike along wreck beach.  The hike from the camp site is a loop around away and back to the coast.  It's the alternate route for thru-hikers when the tide is up, as the beach is supposedly impassable - throughout the 40 km walk, there are a number of "Decision Points" for hikers to take alternate routes depending on weather conditions and tides.  Before Lydia and I had left home on Saturday, we did have the good sense to check the tides, however we lacked the aforementioned good sense when neither of decided to write down the times.  Coupled with no cell phone reception to call the Parks Vic office or a wireless data connection, we were left to our own memories to try and recall from memory.  Lydia remembered it as around 1on, whereas I was convinced it was closer to 2:30.  We went with the assumption that high-tide was at 2:30, so that way we'd time it so we wouldn't be on the beach until after that time, to ensure that we weren't under the gun with the tides rising.  When we finally made it to the Wreck Beach, we were disheartened to find what appeared to be a high tide, and no one present who knew the actual high tide times.  We discussed it at length, weighed our options, and decided that we'd try and make a stab at making the hike.  If were reached an impassible spot, we could simply turn around and hike out the way we went in, so long as we left the beach before 4:00, to ensure that we'd have enough light for the hike back to the camp site.  Our strategy worked, where we managed to keep all but our ankles dry.  We did have a "rock scramble' where we had to climb over some rocks on the beach, but given what we had read, this was an obstacle even when the tide was out.

Lydia looking happy

Hanging by the second wreck

Aside from the imminent danger of drowning or being swept out to sea, the hike was pretty cool.  The water is absolutely beautiful and crystal clear, and along the beach you can see the remnants of two late-nineteenth century wrecks.  It's actually pretty perplexing that the ships ran aground where they did- the anchors are literally on the beach, which would imply that the captains either weren't very good navigators, or had been sipping on a bit too much rum - I'm sure that Italian cruise ship captain who's received international attention lately could better defend what appeared to be some significant oversights.

Because of our rule "circumvention", we were able to set up the second night on the best camp site, site #8, which had its own private bench overlooking the coast and ridge.  We enjoyed a dinner of Tuna Alfredo, followed by some Thai ramen, overlooking the Indian/Pacific Ocean (it's not clear to me which exactly we were looking at, and Wikipedia is not a great help).  Not to break tradition, we rounded out the evening with a bit of Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon and some Port (also known as Tawny here) over candlelight (fires are closely regulated in Australia due to the risk of brush fires, so we opted for the safer and easier option of tea candles).

Tuna Alfredo

Campsite on the ridge

On Monday, we cleaned up camp, and had a pretty uneventful hike out back to the car.  From there, we hopped in the Golf and headed 5km West to the 12 Apostles- a popular tourist spot along the Great Ocean Road which overlooks about 10 free-standing rock formations separated from the coast line.  The view was pretty stunning, which made up for the fact that there aren't actually 12 "Apostles."  We hung around for twenty minutes or so to snap some photos and see how many Japanese tourist photos we could be in, before hopping the car and taking the less-scenic (though much faster) route back to the apartment.  

"12" Apostles

Some more Apostles

To cap off the adventure, our route passed by a controlled burn which was pretty cool to see.  We got close enough to see the flames in the air, literally with the air on fire.

Controlled Burn

I think for the next trip, we'll head down to Wilson's Prom, the southernmost point in mainland Australia, and maybe with friends next time (who are better prepared in the Australian bush).  Definitely a good trip, and I give Lydia credit as a new camper.  We successfully survived our second camping adventure in Australia and are looking forward to more to come!

5 Minutes or less - Updates via pics/video

First drive home with the new car

We love to hang out in the park (Fitzroy Gardens) by our apartment

I love that I got to see Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open!

 Wikipedia: "Wozniacki competed at the 2012 Australian Open as the top seed. Wozniacki defeated Anastasia Rodionova, Anna Tatishvili, Monica Niculescu and Jelena Janković all in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters. As a result, Wozniacki will drop to World No. 4."

We loved going to Moonlight Cinemas - an open area movie in Albert Park

Classic movie popcorn plus cupcakes on from people advertising the TV Show New Girl

 

Before Nightfall

Post Sunset = Movie Time! (The new Mission Impossible)



We love going to Lilly Blacks for delicious (though pricey) drinks and a relaxed vibe:

We actually really dislike going to IKEA but we have been there far too much...

Matt loved finding the first Australian brewed beer that he found delicious: Alpha Queen!

There is a really cool fountain on our walk home from the city - though unfortunately it is under construction and not working at the moment :(

We love going to Victoria Market for fresh food, and the occasional live band!

The alleyways in the city are so cool - our favorite is DeGraves street for brunch!

US Foods in Melbourne

I miss going to the grocery store and recognizing brands. For example, I always buy Gold brand four. Maybe there is no difference in the quality of Gold brand flour versus generic flour produced by US grocers like Giant/Harris Teeter/Whole Foods or Kroger. But, I know I like it. My parents always used it. Brand recognition makes for quick shopping.

Even with the increased cost of living in Australia, perhaps I'm actually saving money when I grocery shop here. I don't have brand recognition and familiarity triggering me to buy pricier brand names for easily substitutable goods, which is a good thing. However, there is something nice about not having to google things continually while shopping.

Just the other day I went to buy corn starch. I'm used to corn starch being easy to locate. In the States it would have taken finding a red cylinder of Rumford cornstarch (not to be confused with their baking powder, which I also use) and grabbing it. 

My brother borrowed some cooking supplies for a summer semester at college. When he returned them, the biggest container of Rumford corn starch and Morton salt were amongst the pots and pans. It made me laugh - who would ever need this much corn starch and salt? But right about now, I did. I missed home.

Corn starch is mundane. Trivial. Something I read in recipes and grab without consideration. But now, I stood in front of boxes labelled corn flour - and new this was going to be another of those well-that-took-way-longer-than-necessary shopping moments. I searched and searched and corn starch was nowhere to be found. "Is corn flour substitutable for corn starch? What really is corn starch anyways?" I thought. "Could I determine the answer to these questions from the ingredients?" I wondered. I grabbed two boxes. One box of corn flour listed ingredients as "Maize Corn flour". Okay, way to repeat cornflour in the definition, not helpful! But at least I recognized maize as meaning from corn, which was on the right track. In contrast, the other box of corn flour said something about wheat and on the front noted that it "Contains Gluten", so now I was really confused.

After pulling out my phone to google Corn Starch vs Corn Flour ("X" vs "Y" is not an uncommon search for me to do while shopping here) and struggling with the slow data connection within the grocery store I discovered:

• Corn starch is a thickening agent preferred for certain sauces over flour because the sauces come out clear. (This made sense since I was attempting to replicate a Chinese meal I'd had in Melbourne, and the sauce was certainly supposed to be translucent).
• Corn starch, cornstarch, maize starch, AND corn flour are all names for the same thing - starch extracted from corn.
• Cornmeal is coarsely ground corn - and in some countries corn flour can actually mean finely ground cornmeal. However in the UK/Australia corn flour only refers to corn starch. {This was an issue when we were looking for cornmeal to make corn bread and actually needed ground corn not starch from corn.}
• Corn is an old word for grain. So, the word corn can actually be simply referring to grain, hence, Corned Beef Hash (Beef salted with wheat-kernel sized grains of salt).
• With the logic or corn <---> grain, Corn Flour in Australia can actually be Wheat Flour......You can extract starch from wheat the same way you can from corn.

After all this reading I realized I could buy Corn Flour, the one not made from wheat, and make my dish! I've decided at this point to chock up almost all grocery shopping experiences here as a learning experience. I rip away my assumptions - relearn - and in the process fill in gaps I never realized I had! I guess I also have to anticipate them being twice as long as expected.

All this exposure to new things on a daily basis can be really really tiring. From learning tram routes, to what a MYKI card is (a way to pay for trams). To getting comfortable with new phrases like 'Mackers' (pronounced Maccas, meaning McDonalds) and  'Ranga' (our new favorite a joking insult against red heads derived from the word orangutan). Even just having to learn to drive again - Matt has been a champ with the round abouts (I still need to learn!). Don't get me wrong, exposure to new things is also fun, and we love it here. But one day we got a nice reprieve from all this new stuff exposure.
With our trusty new a car, we took a trip to a magical world of imported US goods: USA Foods. I'd been to USA Foods once before, when a colleague drove me, to pick up some hot sauce for Matt's birthday. When we pulled up to the store we were pleasantly surprised that they had relocated down the block to a bigger and better location that was even more filled with delicious (mostly unhealthy) packaged goods.

Rounding one corner in the store I exclaimed "Oh my gosh, it's Rice A  Roni!!!!" My joy brought a laugh from a US Mom navigating the store with her family. She knew exactly where I was coming from. It's one of things things that you don't ever usually buy back home, but just seeing a familiar childhood brand made extremely happy. Just earlier I heard the same mom get excited by the Ben and Jerry's section and ask her kid if he saw Chubby Hubby anywhere in the freezer...

In place of the usual sound of parents saying "No", "Not today", "Put that back", "How did that get in here?!" to their kids for wanting to add Spaghettios and Capri Suns to the grocery cart, the parents themselves were wide eyed at the A&W root beer and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Of course - I couldn't leave without stocking up on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Thin Mints. The big display topped with USA Flags didn't help the temptation, but these are the candies I miss the most. Chocolate and peanut butter combos are definitely not a thing in Melbourne. Even the nice chocolate store by more work doesn't stock any chocolate/peanut butter truffles.

Lastly, I've realized my true dedication to Woolite. I am willing to pay twice as much as usual for it. It seems like Melbourne has NONE of the same cleaning products. I may not be as neat as Matt, but I definitely have my favorite, familiar, cleaning products. I got super excited when we saw this area:

We did however decide not to pay $15 for a box of dryer sheets. Speaking of - Matt realized that they don't sell dryer sheets in Australia, or at least in Melbourne. When we asked some of our Australian friends about dryer sheets they had no idea what we were talking out. If our current day jobs don't pan out, Matt and I plan to start a business to take advantage of these untapped differing markets. So far we are going to sell dryer sheets in Australia. In the US, we are going to sell hard liquor pre-mixed with soda in a can, like this Jim Bean Cola pictured on the left. In Australia you kind find something like this (Jack Daniels Cola is another popular one) at most bars, sporting events, and liquor stores. Some may say it isn't very elegant, but it is pretty handy!

Beyond just grocery shopping, the same food familiarity issue runs into restaurants as well. Sure, even when I'm in the United States I can't typically take a trip to Tequlia Rose in Williamsburg,Virginia for their white dipping sauce and chorizo chicken fajitas found at when a craving hits. However, there are solid Mexican food standbys in most US cities. For burgers, even if I'm not near Charlottesville, Virginia (home of the The White Spot and Riverside), or Austin, Texas (The Theta Burger at Huts Burgers is delicious), Five Guys will do the trick. If no Five Guys is around there is likely another local burger joint.


Enjoying a Five Guys Burger with Matt in Athens GA during our trip back to the States over the holidays

The Melbourne restaurant scene abounds with amazing Asian food, hidden cafes, delicious brunch spots - I could go on. However, it is lacking in some areas. I really miss going out for Margaritas (well, a standby Mexican place) or Burgers (well, classic Americana diner of some sort).

Let's start with finding Tex-Mex in Melbourne. Results have been rough. We discovered a vegetarian place called Trippy Taco's, which fills our goat cheese filled quesadilla desires. However, being vegetarian, there are no beef fajitas, or chicken burritos...etc. They also don't serve margaritas. Taco Bills was okay, but out experience has to be something akin to when Chinese people used to authentic home cooking try Americanized Chinese food (speaking of which, as amazing as Melbourne is for Asian cuisine, I can't find sesame chicken anywhere! It is simply a staple of Americanized Chinese food...).  Salsas, which even our Australian friends urged us to avoid, served incredibly disappointing nachos and burritos which were bland and stale. At Mad Mex, for some reason sour cream comes in liquid form. To Matt's credit - he has mastered cooking queso, enchiladas, and tacos. For this, I am forever in his debt.

On the burger front - while I can't say I haven't found good burgers, they are always a little different than what I'm used to. Beets are served on burgers. Beets. While actually surprising tasty, you can imagine that it doesn't quite fill that void of missing home.

So, you can understand how incredibly excited we were when our friends told us about a place called Misty's Diner. It is touted as serving all things American - with specials on Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. We decided to go as a group with our Australian friends and another couple they know. When we walked in, we were excited by the decor. Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley posters watched over us on the walls. There were diner booths with jukeboxes. The waitresses wore classic pink and black waitressing uniforms. Alongside mayonaise and ketchup (not tomato sauce) stood bottles of BBQ sauce (BBQ isn't even found here).

Slowly however things began to be amiss. My Girl wasn't on the Jukebox. The menu seemed like it was taking on, well, quite a lot. Everything was to the extreme: fried, huge, and/or coated in cheese. Matt said "Oh no" and pointed to a picture on the menu. I looked and saw fried mozzarella sticks, put between buttered slabs of white bread, and fried again. Oh dear. We sensed that this place was US food on crack.

Still excited, we ordered milkshakes and a Sierra Nevada for Matt. While I have to say that the shakes were pretty good (though they slightly curdled by the end of the meal) the rest of dinner was fairly disappointing. The fried pickles were, instead of sliced pickles, baby pickles fried whole. The stuffed peppers had a strange after taste and the fried mashed potato bites were...interesting. The gravy was peppered with grainy chunks of something. After the apps, we all sat back stuffed and feeling a little woozy. You know - that feeling you get after eating a random assortment of too much food that also isn't good for you. Like a bad buffet. Even with all this being said - I was still siked for my meal. I could understand the place being a little overzealous on the appetizers to show variety, IF they then had solid entrees. Well. My burger, if it was or wasn't, definitely tasted like a  frozen patty. Our fries, supposed to be covered in queso, were covered in a sort of tomato sauce with grated cheese on top. Matt's chicken fried steak. besides being chicken fried chicken and not steak, was covered with that grainy gravy and served with, at least what tasted like, instant mashed potatoes.

Misty, the owner of the restaurant, is the cut out pictured above to the left of the kitchen pass through and was actually also in the restaurant. While we did definitely appreciate the concept of the place, we weren't wowed by the actual food. However, we smiled to her nicely on our way out - and may be yet still be back back for pie. They apparently had blueberry, apple, and pumpkin but we were WAY too full. However, judging by the other food offered at Misty's we might be better off cooking it on our own. So far that's really been the only sure fire way to fill our nostalgia and craving for food back home.

The final score board-
USA grocery store: Awesome.

USA restaurant: Still looking for a good one.

Hey, this one doesn't make the wipers go on when I pull the turn signal!

So, after much to do, Matt and I have joined the LHT (left-hand traffic) drivers of the world...

... we now own a RHT (right-hand drive ) vehicle!

I was curious how Australian came to be drivers on the wrong left side...so read up on the history of traffic direction laws:

"Though originally most traffic drove on the left worldwide, today about 66.1% of the world's people live in right-hand traffic countries and 33.9% in left-hand traffic countries. About 72% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right, and 28% on the left.

Signatory countries to the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (1949)[16] have agreed to a uniform direction of traffic in each country. Article 9(1) provides that “All vehicular traffic proceeding in the same direction on any road shall keep to the same side of the road, which shall be uniform in each country for all roads. Domestic regulations concerning one-way traffic shall not be affected.”

In the past, several countries had different rules in different parts of the country (e.g., Canada until the 1920s). Currently, China, the United States and the United Kingdom each have territories which differ from their primary traffic rule. In China the bulk of the country drives on the right, but the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau – which were transferred to the country in the late 1990s – drive on the left. In the United States most of the country drives on the right side of the road, but traffic in the US Virgin Islands – like on many Caribbean islands – drives on the left side of the road. The United Kingdom drives on the left, but the overseas territory of Gibraltar drives on the right.

Australia drives on the left. The decision to drive on the left side of the road was made in the early 19th century in the early period of the British colony of New South Wales by Governor Lachlan Macquarie after the first road was built, and followed the British practice. "

But, I digress. More about our car! We love the Australian aspects: Note the steering wheel on the right, kangaroo on the registration sticker, and tag line for Victoria on the plate:

(In my attempts to showcase the liscense plate - "Victoria - On the Move",
I kept laughing at my lack of Vanna White skills)

 Because the car is a VW (German made), the wiper and turn signals aren't reversed! We had some issues with this when test driving cars. I think one guy thought I had never driven before (ok, the driving on the left side thing is more the issue, but it is the little things that count!). We definitely didn't even attempt to buy a manual. I bet Matt could learn, but I'm content with the current challenges of not accidentally turning right into on coming traffic...

In other law news, Matt and I can actually drive here on our US driver liscenses, without getting any extra sort of Victorian liscense or driving education. Since we have temporary visas, we aren't required to get a Victorian liscense (those with permanent visas do). So, without doing anything, we are both already full fledged legal drivers here!

While this makes it easier for us, it is a little scary! Matt is way more comfortable than I am driving on the other side, so he's been the only one really driving here, but we've both been looking up traffic laws to make sure we are aware of any differences. You have to wonder if everybody reads up on things like that...

Some things we have learned: You CAN'T turn left on red! You know, since you can turn right on red on the States.

The Melbourne CBD contains 19 hook turn intersections. They seem, to us newbies, quite tricky. Essentially the point of them is to help with potential tram/car traffic issues. Here is a quick video on the counter intuitive turn:

Also per wikipedia: 

"Australian states and territories use the "give way to the right" rule; in the absence of regulations specific to a particular situation, drivers must yield the right of way to all vehicles to their right. This applies to most uncontrolled intersections except for T-intersections. Give way to the right does not apply to merging lanes, in that instance vehicles must give way to any vehicle that is ahead. This is sometimes called zip merging. If lines are marked, vehicles are not zip merging but changing lanes, and they must give way accordingly."

We think this essentially means that if a car is trying to get into your lane, and they are coming from a lane to the right of you, you have to let them in. It's a pretty "nice" rule. Oh Australia :)

Figuring out the traffic differences notwithstanding, are so happy that our parking spot is finally filled, and looking forward to many exciting scuba diving and camping adventures...and a few runs to USA foods and Costco :)

5 Minutes or Less: Kiwi vs Aussie Accents

So Lydia and I are still struggling with pinpointing Australian accents; our Australian accent impressions either sound English, or like Crocodile Dundee, neither of which are even remotely accurate.  One accent that we know is different, but can't quite pinpoint how, is the Kiwi accent.  When I noted this to my coworkers, they immediately pulled up a few case in point YouTube videos to demonstrate the differences:

Official New Zealand Drink Driving Ad 2007

Beached Az Cartoon

Needless to say, the difference is not subtle and in the vowels... Thanks to my Aussie friends, we've been entertained for hours watching these YouTube clips.  "I'm Beached Az Bro!"