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A Trip to Australia & New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand

Benbest
2004-03-28 14:52:43

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The Great Ocean Road winds along the south Australian coast from just below Melbourne to the western border of the state of Victoria. Reputed to be "one of the world's greatest drives", I was not particularly impressed. Veronica was good company, though.

Veronica is just over 40 years old and lives in Perth (Western Australia) with her 5 children. She works with prisoners as a corrections officer or probation officer. She is lively & enthusiastic about life. She loves anthropology, languages & travel. She has visited Singapore, Japan, Mauritius, Indonesia -- and has been to the UK several times. But her biggest enthusiasm is astronomy. Her interest in cryonics has a lot to do with her burning desire for space travel. She feel she was born a century too early. Unlike people whose discomfort with cryonics is associated with living in a frighteningly unfamiliar future world, Veronica said she has "no fear of the unknown".

We had a memorable stop in Apollo Bay, where we ate lunch at the Wild Dog Inn. This venerable establishment has a large photo commemorating the 1925 opening of Wild Dog Road.

The serious world wonder of the trip, however, was the Twelve Apostles -- twelve towering striated rock pillars just offshore from some steep cliffs near Port Campbell. Majestic grandeur results from stark enormity. Veronica noticed a sign about helicopter tours and was eager to take one. But September is still "winter" in Australia, and helicopters evidently only operate during the summery tourist season (December to February).

We made our way back to Melbourne in time for Veronica to catch her plane. I drove onward to near the Victoria/New South Wales border until I was too tired to continue and stayed in a motel. The next day I drove on to Canberra, the capitol of Australia.

Melbourne and Sydney, with 3.2 and 3.8 million people, respectively, account for more than a third of the population ...