It’s nice to be home. I took four out-of-town trips last month, ending with back-to-back Austin visits, and now I am ready for some rest. I get to spend a week and a half settled before I fly to New York for a week with MJ.
Once I’m home from that, I’ll have another week to unpack and repack before jetting off to Australia for a two week vacation. Southern hemisphere, late summer: beaches, highways, big coastal city, maybe even some desert. I’ll be landing in Melbourne, meeting up with Stefanie, and taking trips out from there. I plan to drive the Great Ocean Road, go surfing, maybe go explore some of the southern islands.
The Rover is unwell; its engine oozes thin white smoke after it’s been warmed up – some kind of coolant leak. I dropped it off at the shop this afternoon, so I’m back in a rental car for the weekend. This time, I opted for the damage waiver.
As has become usual lately, I stepped off the plane with a batch of new clothing sketches in my notebook. There’s nothing to do on a plane but read or think, and I guess airport people-watching followed by enforced thinking time gets my brain in the right mode for fashion design. I’m spending the evening on a new project: an experiment, with silk and flowing lines.
If you like wine, and you’re able to do it on one of your travel vectors, I *highly* recommend the Rutherglen region, on the NSW-Victoria border. It’s an almost completely flat wine growing region, with a bunch of small wineries that mostly make (mostly *very* good) dessert wines.
So you can rent a bike, and do tastings at half a dozen wineries in maybe a five mile ride. A *wobbly* ride, but a really fun one.
Did that with my now wife. One of the most fun days I ever spent.
Oh: and an a cheap Aussie travel tip: trailer parks (there called “caravan parks”) will usually have on-site vans for rent, much more cheaply than any hotel. Often very nice (sometimes not…). Super-cheap if you’re travelling in a group of four or so. You might get away with $5 a night a lot of the time (each).
Comment by Guyren — February 1, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Ha! I was driving down the Great Ocean road just last month.
It really is one of the worlds great drives.
Make sure that you take both water proof clothes and swimming cozzies; the weather can change in a few minutes.
Comment by Gerard Hammond — February 2, 2008 @ 4:16 pm