Just Mucking About…

We were sitting at a cafe in St. Kilda being harassed by the waiter about what we’d been up.  Tired and not looking to make conversation with a complete stranger (honest truth and for those that know me…please pick your jaw up off the floor already!), I just let him know that we spent the day mucking about.

It was a beautiful day in Melbourne but I was done playing turbo tourist.   I just wanted to hang out and explore good eats and great cafes so the day was filled with coffee and food with a touch of shopping.  It really didn’t amount to much other than having a great time with my Melbourne buddy.  As far as being a tourist, this day might be seen as an epic fail but it was exactly what I needed.

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Grampians Are Closed? What?

Kangaroo in the morning light

Today was another day that started at the crack of dawn and brimming with excitement, I couldn’t wait to hit up a mountain as the sun came up.  The coolest thing about this day was that the kangaroos were all hopping about at this hour and so a photo shoot allowed me some time to wake up and get myself together for the hike up a mountain.

As we turned one corner and then another, the incline got steeper and steeper.  By the time we hit the summit, I found out that there was no waterfall at the end of yet another gruelling workout. Maybe I should have spent less time napping the day before and more timing listening to the driver ramble on about the activities and changes to the itinerary but seriously – WTF!

The images of the waterfall was what sold me on the Grampians and it turns out that the majority of what we were supposed to do was closed until end of November (possibly longer due to reasons that I missed due to napping).  It would have been nice to have known this information when I booked the tour but as I sat there on the summit basking in the morning sun, I realized that life could be a whole lot worse.

Total Hard-On For Helicopters

My Helicopter

At the Twelve Apostles, there’s an optional helicopter ride.  I think I may have just heard the tour guide say helicopter and I was the one screaming, “hells ya!”  At first, it was just me but as helicopter time drew near – others on the tour joined my enthusiasm (don’t want to take credit but it was most likely to my never-ending jabbering about how awesome it was going to be).

It may have only been a 8 minute ride – ok, mine might have been a little longer due to something or

The View

other but truth be told, I couldn’t really tell you as I wasn’t paying attention to the dude running beside as he explained the safety procedures and how I was really luckily to have scored a longer ride.

Regardless, I was able to board the chopper without getting cut up into bits and then we were off (I forgot to mention that they were holding the helicopter for me and that’s why I had to run to board it…small and insignificant detail).  The view from above was absolutely stunning and to me, hands down, this was the highlight to the Great Ocean Road part of my journey.

A Pot Of Gold

No Meal Is Ever Complete Without Dessert

I refuse to write anything about the train trip as it was everything that I had imagined.  It was while I was trapped on the train that I realized that I was better off taking the refund and attempting to find another way from Adelaide to Melbourne as anything else would have been better than a wasted day.

This feeling might be related to the lack of real food on the train.  Spending the day eating a bag of rice cakes since they were more appealing than what’s being sold on the train is a sad state of affairs.  What made it better was the food that was awaiting me in Melbourne.

There was a buffet called Kitchen Workshop in the Casino that my Melbourne buddy wanted to try out.  Even though we only had an hour left to eat – we had hit the jackpot.  Yum!  It was a solid 45 minutes of power eating before we were so stuffed that it was time to head home.   Nothing else to say other than a beautiful ending to a rather horrible day.