Day 106 - January 6

Craig and I decided that we might as well stay another night since there was a lot to do around Adelaide. After booking another night, we passed by a bunch of girls that were also from Canada, Saskatchewan: the non technological part of Canada. They were going to a winery that had Camel rides (insert camel joke here) and told us to join them. We said maybe.

We drove to the Central Business District (CBD) of Adelaide. All 'downtowns' are called CBD. We checked out the information centre to see what we could do. We asked about camel rides in wineries, but they didn't know anything about it. There were a lot of wineries to check out. We grabbed some pamphlets and headed back to Glenelg to meet up with Derek, a friend of Dan's (Dan is my colleague from my previous job at the Elbow River Casino).

Derek was a great guy to hang out with. We spent about 6 hours talking and drinking in the sun. He told us about his travels around Europe. From his stories it makes me want to travel around there too. He also talked about World War histories and how he's met an elite war veteren who was like James Bond. Craig, Derek and I had great conversations. It felt like we could all talk for a long time.

We parted our ways as we were going to get ready to meet up with Craig's friend Joel near the CBD. We went to Chinatown for a quick bite. It was sweaty and hot in the food court.

Adelaide reminded me of Calgary. The population is similar as well, with around 1.2 million. It wasn't as fast paced as Melbourne, more relaxed. The people seemed just as friendly too.

Met Joel at the Franklin hotel on Franklin street. He's a 23 year old Australian that Craig met in New Zealand and worked with. He was super nice and acted like a brother to Craig, where they would try and beat each other up.

Also met Joels friends: P'an-tau (PT) and Sophie (whom were a couple). Pt was in the army and Sophie was a cute Australian girl, seemed kinda shy but was talkative once you started a conversation with her. PT was a pretty cool guy and easy to get along with.

Day 105 - January 5

Ordered a Pancake surprise for breakfast at a small cafe in Halls Gap. It had a banana, a slice of pineapple, maple syrup, and ice cream on top. Breakfast of champions! I thought I took a picture of it, but guess not.

Went to the information centre and asked for other attractions in the Grampians. They told us to go to the Boroka lookout and the Mckenzie waterfall. The lookout was pretty cool.

The lookout to the vast of Australia... of nothing...

The Mckenzie waterfall was neat. It was a bit of a walk downwards to the base.

The bottom of the waterfall.

We kept climbing down past the barriers on giant rocks and the waterfall stream. If Craig didn't decide to keep going, I probably wouldn't have gone. He's apparently a bad influence.... In a good way.... I think...

This area was closed off as storms wrecked the walk ways, but that didn't stop us.

My new pet rock. I shall call him peanut.

They don't allow you to punch birds.

After the waterfall, we drove out of the Grampians toward Adelaide. On the way there we stopped in the small town of Horsham, pronounced hor-shum, not horse-ham. We asked if there was any interesting places along the way to Adelaide. They told us to check out the bat caves in the Naracoorte National Park.

The best avenue there is.
The best avenue that was.
The best avenue there ever will be.
(Brett Hart quote).

It was $16 ($20 for non students) for a tour of the bar caves. I asked if Bruce Wayne was in the bat caves. The worker said they hear Batman jokes everyday. Ruin my party.

 

It was pretty neat to be in them. The ones we went in were very vast! On some parts we had to use flashlights to see our way.

Bats in a box. Better than a dick in a box.

Not a real bat.

The entrance to the bat cave. On to find Batman.

There was only 4 of us on the tour.

My flashlight lit up some of the rocks around us.

We went into the Bat information centre to read on some more information. I caught Craig at the perfect angle.

What's this test tube thingy?...

Just catching my breath, wait a sec...

After that, we headed for the scenic route along the ocean to Adelaide. We past by a giant lobster on the way.

*Nom nom nom nom*
Damn, I just threw out 10 Litres of butter last night. Could've used that right about now.

I made it to Adelaide in 2 hours when it would usually take 3 hours. There were a lot of wide open roads so it was easy to cruise at 160 km/h, but when we went through towns, I slowed down to the posted limit of 60 km/h as speed cameras and cops would be posted there.

We past by a giant sign that I thought was funny, so I pulled a U-turn.

Calm voice: "Just a grassfire or..."
Angry loud voice: "A deadly inferno?!?!!"

Won't somebody please think of the children?!
(Helen Lovejoy quote [Simpsons])

We got to Adelaide by about 10:00pm and only found 1 hostel that still had their reception open: The Backpackers. It was in Glenelg. We stayed in a room for 6. Once again, Craig and I had the whole room to ourselves. This place had free Internet, which is always a plus!!

Our hostel.

Our room.

This place looked fancy for a hostel. Downstairs was where the common areas were located: reception/bar, kitchen, movie room. To get to your rooms, you had to go outside and enter through massive doors, then down a corridor to your rooms, which had 9 foot ceilings. The rooms were carpeted, had a giant mirror over the fireplace and very roomy for a 6 person dorm. These hostel rooms were the best ones I've stayed in, but the Warrnambool had the best common area.

Day 104 - January 4

Most backpackers check out times are 10:00am. Warrnambool Beach Backpackers was no exception.

One of the better backpackers I've stayed at.

We packed all of our stuff and was set off to the Grampians National Park. We headed toward Portland (the birthplace of Victoria) as that was where the turnoff would be for the Grampians mountains, according to Craig. Too bad he was sleeping until we got to Portland and we missed the turn towards the mountains. We spent about 30 minutes trying to find the turnoff and we kept passing a strawberry farm. I decided that it was a sign and that we should stop there. While asking for directions we also picked strawberries.

I picked the greenest strawberry there was. It was super tart! If you ever need a strawberry picker, I'm not the droid you're looking for. They also had strawberry wine. It was really good.

We finally headed toward the correct direction, Hamilton. From hamilton we went to Dunkeld. In Dunkeld we checked out the info. centre where they showed us the highest peak in the Grampians, Mt. William; elevation of 1,167 m (3,827 ft).

We climbed to the top of Mt. William. Seeing mountains was not a new thing for me, but being at the highest point of the mountain was another thing. The view was exhilarating. It was  a 360 degree view of the Grampians.

Fitting that I had a Canadian hoodie and he had an American Shirt. Shortly after I pushed him off the cliff.
Canada FTW!

At the top of the peak there is a dial that shows the name and elevation of the other mountains.

I pwn these mountains!

Break dancing on the dial.

In the distance to the right, there was either a controlled fire or lots of people stop, drop, and rolling.

We climbed down and drove toward the town of Halls Gap. It was like driving to Banff, but without snow. Halls Gap, like Banff, was situated in the mountains.

We stayed at Brambuk Backpackers Hostel where it costed $25 a night for a 12 person dorm. We had the whole dorm to ourselves. It looked like a military dorm with all the bunkbeds so close to each other.

Our room. So many beds to choose from.

 The main room.

We went into town and bought beef to make burgers. Craig put some burgers on the 'barbie'. There were 2 eggs in the 'free from other backpacker' part of the fridge, so we added that to out toppings. we also had avocado and Brie cheese with English muffins as the bun. It tasted awesome!

The chef at work.

That's one giant piece of meat!

<> <><>

 The meat is bigger than the buns. 

Luckily I can stuff giant meat in my mouth... wait a sec...

After dinner we walked along a path through a short field and the woods. We walked off the path into the field where there were a bunch of kangaroos.

This was the first time Craig had seen them. He decided to chase them. It was epic!
Warning! The following show features a stunt performed by an American. Any injuries or deaths that occur to him will be ignored.

I walked really close to a couple. If you slowly walk to them, they stay their ground.

Although we did hear of a kangaroo attack the day before, it's usually not a good ideat to chase kangaroos, especially Red Kangaroos, they're the largest.

We also watched an indigenous dance presentation.  They had special dances that were to keep bees away or to communicate with nature.