Sydney Road Trip - Days 1 & 2

Once again, we set on an adventure by car to the Australian wild, heading this time all the way from Melbourne to the big international hub of Sydney in the neighbouring state of NSW. This time we had a company of four, with S & Little E joining the two of us.

The journey started early into a grey, rainy morning, so the first day wasn't particularly photogenic.

The route for the day was roughly through the South coast of Australia, through Lakes Entrance and Cann river up North all the way to Bombala :)

On the way, we stopped by at Sale for the Australian favorite lunch - meat pie - and later briefly in Cann River in a weird local diner with bicycles and other miscellaneous items hanging from the ceiling. After almost six hundred kilometres and several hours of driving later, we finally reached our quiet bead and breakfast in Bombala. We pretty much got the whole floor of the building for ourselves.

jklhl

Klara Vappen, Bara Vatten

Today's officially Vappu (1st of May), which is the national labor day in Finland. It's also the biggest national student party of the year, with massive festivities, haalarit (Overalls) and copious amounts of alcohol.

Also, Vappu includes a selection of different culinary traditions - namely: nakkis (frankfurters), perunasalaatti (potato salad), sima (well, a sort of a home made mead) and munkkis (home-made donuts with cardamom). That's what we decided to do in Australia as well:

Happy Vappu!

Regards : Dark Munkkis & Light Munkkis

Helsinki On My Mind

In the last few days my nose has picked up a familiar scent here in the hoods of Brunswick. The lovely smell of roasted coffee reminds me of Vallila, one of my dearest neighbourhoods back in Helsinki, where the strong, sweet and toasty smell of the Meira coffee roastery fills the air every now and then.

Here in Melbourne the last days of summer are gone, whereas Helsinki is just about to wake up after a long, dark winter. One thing I love about the Northern homeland of ours is that the change of the seasons is so remarkable. Snowy and cold winter (as it's best) ends when the days grow longer and spring arrives with the first rains and the sun. Slowly trees dress up in green, birds come back singing and suddenly, going out without a jumper and a jacket is an option.

The first days of summer come unexpectedly. Finally, your toes can feel the grass, sand and rocks. Evenings are long and mornings start early. After a sunny summer day you can feel the warmth of the streets and the buildings and listen to the swallows singing. Summer turns into fall too fast and for a moment, autum gives a whole new colour for the city. Evenings are dark but warm and nothing feels better than putting on woollen socks and sipping a hot drink. Warm winds change to freezing breeze and one by one, all the yellow-brown leaves are ripped out of the trees. Everything turns muddy, cold and colourless. Until the land is frosted and frozen, and the winter starts again.

When we'll head back to the North, I hope that we can enjoy the last days of the summer again..

But for now - enjoy your springtime, Helsinki!

J

Great Ocean Road - part 2

Yes, there was no end to the Great Ocean Road, so we're back for the second serving!

London Bridge

Such an old story, actually the bridge kind of fell already - what's remaining of the cliff is an archway, which is slowly crumbling due to the waves.

The Grotto

For a bit cooler closeup scenes, the next stop was at the "Grotto", a smaller an arguably more interesting terrain formation. With the proper angles, it looks like a chinese blue haired lady - or, a chinese soldier from Mulan, according to J.

The Arch

Again, much like the London Bridge, Arch is a formation carved out of the shore within thousands of years. The cool thing is that the arch is intact. Such blue ocean.

Loch Ard Gorge

Another piece of coolness in the middle of otherwise dry sand land. Loch Ard Gorge is a small inland beach of sorts, with the waves hitting through a narrow opening the rocks surrounding the Gorge.

 

 

Sooooooooo cold!

Gibson Steps

The last stop at the Port Campbell end of the journey was Gibson Steps - a beach with Apostle-like upright rock formations. Besides the beach, also the way down to it is of interest - hand-carved in the rock wall by a fellow called Gibson, hence the name.

Steps for two

Aerials for two

Bandannas for two

The Other Two

Otway Lighthouse and a whole load of Koalas

On the way back, we decided to check out some the foresty spots for wild Koala spotting, along the Otway lighthouse (that was rumored to be next to a World War time bunker construction). 

20 bucks for entrance - Caesar votes.

A Whole load of wild Koalas - they still smell like pee

Back to Melbourne - and wtf on the road

The drive back to Melbourne was again long and winding, with tight and varying road keeping the driver at least partially awake. We also ran into a pretty local natural phenomenon on the way which we haven't encountered so close before: 

Bushfire!