a patrick foley kind of day.

jeff has had a bit of time to explore the local area outside of melbourne, but i haven't really had much opportunity.  this saturday, we decided to go for a hike or bushwalk somewhere, so we broke out the guide book and i chose french island.  it was a patrick foley kind of maneuver because i knew nothing about it and said, "let's go, it will be fun."  the only thing we knew about french island was what our guide book told us, which was essentially nothing except where to catch the ferry.  we gathered the necessary sunscreen (sun is very strong here), a bottle of water, and an extra sweater.  and off we went.

huge pelicans at the ferry.  huge.

another ship at the dock.  not ours.  our
captain had long fingernails that were
painted black.  i don't think
he had a hook for a hand.

we arrived at the ferry port in time to have a meat pie and a coke...just as yummy as you would think (this is another very patrick foley-like thing...if there would have been beer, it would have been perfect.)  once we were on the ferry, i started to read the brochure i picked up in the ticket/meat pie shack, where i find the following text:

"french island is a curious phenomenon lost in time, which has no power poles, no sealed roads, no shopping strips.  with no local government, no churches and no main electricity or water, self-sufficiency is a necessity for the approximately 90 residents that live on the island..."  

so i recommended that we go to an island without running water.  brilliant.

we arrived at the tankerton jetty expecting to see information of some sort...nope.  we walked off of the dock and watched our ferry drive away - not knowing what the day was going to hold (except no working bathrooms).  we found ourselves at a "welcome center" (and i use that term liberally) and a nice local woman told me which "bush walk" we needed to take - which was listed to take 5.5 hours (our return ferry was exactly 5.5 hours from then...coincidence, i think not.)  we set-off on our 14km bush walk, and it was beautiful.  probably the first time in my life that i was around so few people.  the bulletin board at the "welcome center" warned us that there was no water on the bush walk, and that we should have on gators or thick socks to ensure we don't get bitten by snakes.  I had on thin pants, no socks, and thin-soled running shoes...jeff had on thin pants, ankle socks, and hiking shoes.  awesome.

the only map that we had.  we took a close-up of our trail on the
iphone so we could make sure we were going the right way.  

this is our walk.

in addition to having no running water, french island boasts the most dense disease-free koala population in the world (many of the ones on mainland australia apparently have chlamydia), so we spent much of our time craning our necks looking in trees that may or may not have been eucalyptus.  we followed a road for quite some time, saw some beautiful scenery:

lava stone beaches.  not so good on the tootsies.

one of four rivers on the island

much of french island is an 11,100 hectare national park
for patrick, that's 27,428.1 acres :)

then came across this:

kangaroo keeper-outter

we assumed that we were supposed to go through, and that this was some sort of kangaroo keeper-outter.  so, through we went.  after this gate, things went downhill...we saw a snake, and when i say saw, i mean we both almost stepped on it.  jeff actually did the "mom-seatbelt-arm" at me so i wouldn't step on it.  i screamed and threw the camera at jeff to take a picture - nope, didn't happen.  we think it was a copperhead - one of two brands of snakes on the island.  after that run-in, it was awfully hard to crane our necks up to look for koalas, considering we had our heads down making sure we weren't stepping on any more snakes.  we waded through swamp (i was convinced that there were leeches in my shoes), bush walked, and finally made it to a road less traveled.

once on this fine piece of road, we were able to continue our koala searching...until i saw snake number two.  we didn't get a picture of that one, either because i ran to the other side of the road.  finally, we see this:

he's in the center of the picture.  hard to see in a picture,
imagine what it's like in real life.

then, we run into this:

the general store on the island.  we met the proprietor on the
ferry back to the mainland.  nice bloke.

then we see this:

all doped up on eucalyptus

i may or may not have clapped my hands to wake him up.

there's the cute little fella

all in all, a great day.  the feet are a little sore (not from the non-present leeches in my shoes), but we got to see clean koalas!!

very happy to be getting back on the ferry to running water.

Melbourne Marathon

the melbourne marathon was last sunday morning, so we headed out to cheer on the runners.  we are really lucky because the course runs right out the back of our condo, so we didn't have far to go.  we were around the 17km mark, and headed out right at 7.30 to see the lead runners.  we were really surprised to see this:

that's right...no one out there supporting.  it was probably about 10 minutes before the lead runners came through, and not a soul out there supporting.  the lead runners came through, then about half an hour later, people actually came out to start supporting.

lead runners coming through 17km in 54:47.  fast.

we stayed around for a while, yelling and cheering - that is not so much the norm here.  most folks looked at us like we were crazy.  jeff's boss was running, so we cheered for him, too!

jeff's boss in the blue.  way to go!  

one of the bonuses of getting up to support was that we had this view all to ourselves.  totally worth it.

out the back of our condo

Where I Be.

or is it...werribee?  so, today we ventured to the werribee open range zoo.  and when they say open range, they mean it...take a look at this:

yep.  that's a lion in front of a jeep.

we chose to ride around the "zoo" on this.  and if it looks like it is open air, it is.

our safari-bound ride

we got up close and personal with quite a few non-native Australian animals:

he's a one-hump camel

hippo times 2

Jeff struggles with whether or not this is a hate crime.

that zebra (pronounced like Debra) is biting the other zebra
(also pronounced like Debra)

these are mutt-giraffes...no pure breds here.

his legs are too long to let him eat grass like a normal animal
or is his neck too short...

a rhino appears to be charging us in the rain

stretching monkey in a tree

silhouette of a monkey

and then wandered into the bush to scare up some natives, as well.

wallaby.  or midget kangaroo, we're not sure.
i wonder if midget kangaroos like to be called little 'roos

there was this curious sign:

we always thought that a legless lizard was a snake.
if you thought that, you were wrong too.

with all of the wildlife sightings, i think this is jeff's favorite picture.

A Sporting Saturday

this past saturday, a fellow Geelong supporter and i attended a footy finals (playoff) game between the Geelong Cats and the West Coast Eagles at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds).  the cats dominated winning 117-69.  Geelong is moving on to face the Collingwood Magpies in the Grand Final this saturday. go Cats!!!!

Geelong vs. West Coast @ MCG

me and LT in our Geelong "jumpers"

following the footy game, we met LT for dinner and then headed over to AAMI Park to watch the Melbourne Storm take on the New Zealand Warriors in another finals match.  this time a rugby league match.

the cool things:

      -  the stadium.  it looks like a bunch of soccer balls mashed together and has lights on the outside which respond to crown noise on the inside.

      -  the New Zealand haka ritual performed pre-match by the Maori (original New Zealand settlers).

not so cool things:

      -  Melbourne, heavily favored to win ... lost 12-20.

      -  rugby league.

quick rugby lesson.  there is rugby union and rugby league.  rugby union is the world cup rugby currently being played in New Zealand.  there is strategy to rugby union.  rugby league is a ridiculous form of rugby played in the NRL.  there is no strategy whatsoever.  a team literally runs into the other team to be tackled 5 times and then kicks the ball to the other team.  hopefully at some point you cross the line for a "try" during the course of the game.  that is it.

Melbourne vs. New Zealand @ AAMI

an unfortunate update to a previous post, the Wallabies annihilated the US (67-5) in the rugby union world cup.  LT has to pay up on her bet.

Waitakere Ranges

the second day in New Zealand, i took a drive out to the Waitakere Ranges to drive the Scenic Drive Road and do some hiking.  the landscape was spectacular and worth every bit of the treacherous terrain, sandblasting, and mud skiing.  the Waitakere Ranges are not far from Auckland on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.  i had planned to to hit 5 or 6 spots in the Ranges park and then head up to another park further up the coast, but i got conned into a trek on Coman's (i'm certain the guide has a typo as it ought to be Conman's) trail brought the day to a close.

as safety conscious a people as these folks are when it comes to traffic laws, obeying road crossings, etc. ... safety concerns do not follow them into the bush.  if you caught the season of Ice Road Truckers where they sent the drivers to navigate the narrow cliffside roads through the mountains of India, i can relate.  well as much a person in a toyota camry with no cargo on a sunny day can relate to the driver of a box truck carrying 8 tons of cement in blizzard conditions ... but whatever.  here's my narrow, waterside, washed out, cliffside road.  it's much more intimidating behind the wheel.

i am on my side of the road

then there's the hiking "trails".  you know it's a good trail when you feel like you've accomplished something.  when returning to the vehicle uninjured seems like a pretty solid accomplishment.  when these thoughts come often:  "are they serious?", "where did the trail go?", "don't overthink it, just go", "what can i hang on to to stop me?", "i'd feel better about this if i had cell phone reception".  and when you get to use hiking maneuvers that would make baer grylls jealous.  this is where Conman's comes in.  a ranger described it as a locals favorite.  the map says it's an excellent, adventurous track with magnificent views.  adventurous in New Zealandnese means steep!  not all bad ... except when water has determined said steep track is the path of least resistance to the valley.  steep terrain, water, and slick mud do not an easy hike make.  i skied on mud in shoes.  this trail ended my day.  it got late, i got tired, and now i had to de-mud my shoes and pants in the hotel shower.  the aussie's are particularly opposed to allowing foreign dirt to enter their country. so weird.

i see a trail ... and then it's not so much a trail

and to the left of the trail ... shouldn't there be a fence or something? 

and here's a bunch of pictures.

Ninepin Rock, Whatipu

Lion Rock at the center of Piha, a surf beach

trail up Lion Rock

Piha from Lion Rock

the little seal that could

he swam out of the cove through that.  he's the black speck in the white foam near the center of the picture.

Kitekite Falls

Karekare, another surf beach