Day 15 (Thurs)
After much discussion & thoughtful consideration, NaDave decided that we should travel to Tasmania for the Australia Day weekend (AUS's independence day). We each were getting Monday Jan 26th off as a Holiday & so what a great opportunity to tackle one of the destinations on our list! So er purchased our plane tickets....depart Melbourne on Thurs evening (Jan 22) to Hobart, Tasmania & arrive back in Melbourne late Monday night (Jan 26)! Exciting!
We also saw that the waves were forecasted to be 6-10 ft over the upcoming weekend. Neither of us has seen surf this big, so we decide it would be fun to head down to the famous Torquay beach on Sat/Sun (due south of Geelong). Also, Dave's bike was still at Nadine's apartment (after purchasing it in Geelong the previous weekend), so he also needed to get to Geelong in order to get his bike to his apartment in Bundoora.
Day 16 (Fri)
Friday was the 10th work day for each of us & Dave finally got keyed to his Sports Lab at RMIT! Work continued to move slowly as all of the administrative stuff was moving at a slow pace, but moving forward nonetheless.
Dave hopped on the Tram at RMIT, and ~2.5 hrs later, arrived at the Geelong train station...greeted with a big hug & kiss from Nadine! We were happy to see each other after our 1st 'real' weeks apart in Australia. We then headed out to buy groceries (& boxed wine!) for dinner. Over dinner we discussed our plans to bike down & camp overnight tomorrow near Torquay beach.
Day 17 (Sat)
We needed to test out our camping gear at least once before heading to Tasmania, so we packed our tent, sleeping bags & pads, swimsuits, towels, clothes, and accessories all into two backpacks! We were doing our best Sherpa impersonations!
It took us about 75 mins to bike down the ~20 miles to Torquay, but we arrived safely. We headed to the Torquay Surf Academy and each rented a wet suit & surfboard for 4 hrs. We got to the beach & the waves were crazy huge! The rip current was also ridiculous! The sound and look to the ocean was sooo intimidating! But nonetheless, we got out there, surfed a little, got tossed around a lot...but most awesomely, watched some of the locals ride the big waves. They make it look so easy!...we each realized we have a long ways to go before we can 'hang ten'.
After 4 hours of punishment by the ocean, we walked our rentals back to the Surf Academy, showered off in a stream of warm water that felt like gold, and then found a burrito shop off the main strip that had portions large enough for our appetites. We biked back to the coast to relax and enjoy the views with dinner. With the sun beginning to set, we hopped on our bikes and headed to set up camp.
So 1st things 1st...there is no cheap place to safely camp in Torquay. We looked all over, but no such thing! BUT, we found a sketchy (& free) public park about 10 minutes outside of town that a 'Lonely Planet' blog suggested. When we got there, another RV was parked, so we felt it was okay, but the toilets were out of order...so the trees would have to do.
We setup camp quickly, hung up our wet stuff, drank just enough boxed wine to make any bed comfortable, and then passed out with exhaustion. It was our first night in the Australian Bush (aka, woods/wilderness), and we each awoke at different times at night to hear sounds outside that we had previously only heard on the Discovery channel.
That Backpack is PACKED!
Torquay Surf Academy
Sunset burrito & wine dinner
Our Free Campsite
Day 18 (Sun)
We each woke up alive (woohoo!) and looked terrible! But at least all of our stuff was safe. We packed up, biked back into Torquay, and went back for more ocean punishment! We rented surf gear for 4 more hours, and had a little more success with the waves. But the weather was great & the amazing surfers were out again. We packed up our backpacks again for the return "Sherpa" trip back to Geelong. After 1.5 hrs on the bike (with a wickedly awesome tail wind!), we got back safely, and cooked up a carbo-loaded dinner.
During dinner, we watched The Hunter (recommended by Manny) to prep for our upcoming Tasmania trip. As Sunday came to a close, we also got ready for our free tickets to the Aussie Open on Monday evening!
We look terrible after camping! :)
Surfer Girl
Dave surfing (sort of)
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