The Wanderings of a Devonshire Boy.

Canberra Day Out

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 07:11:59 +0000

After an amusing roadtrip that lasted 9 hours, and an uneventful but very pleasant nights sleep on Maz’s driveway (which we’re now calling home!) we headed into Canberra to do some more culture vulture photographing with our newly acquired tour guide in the form of Maz’s housemate!

First stop was Mount Ainsley - a hilltop viewpoint with 360 degree views over Canberra and the surrounding area.
There are some intesting facts about Canberra which I’ll banter down now if you’re interested;

Canberra is a purpose made town - they couldn’t decide on whether to make Sydney or Melbourne the nations capital....so they simply built a new location!
The centre of Canberra’s architecture is the layout - it is designed as a triangle, with the Parliment building at the top and 2 bridges forming the side axis
The city was designed to have 3 ornamental pools, however these are now merged to create Lake Burley Griffin
It’s Australias version of Amsterdam - with Cannabis having a low crime rating, housing the only legal Australian red light district, and being the only place in the country you can buy hardcore porn!
(the last point is merely the result of drunken banter with some locals...very true but probably not something in the guide book!)

Second stop was the Australian War Museum.
It’s an impressive purpose built building with a long stretching road opposite (rather ironically leading up to Parliment Square - perhaps serving as a reminder to the people that run the country “before you make a bad decision look out the window and think”!) and contains heaps of paintings, pictures and relics from all the wars where Australian lives have been lost...which is more than you may realise.
It was an incredibly interesting, informative and good day out, despite being rather sobering. But definitely something you should visit - the most poignant feature being the outdoor corridor plaques which contain the name of every Australian life lost in every war....right up to the present day.

Now time to lift the spirits back up with a BBQ with our lovely hosts and plenty of cold beer :)

x

Heading for Canberra...

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:55:14 +0000

So after a great couple weeks partying, van pimping, rude bin men illegal parking awakening and roatripping in and around Melbourne its time to semi start the East Coast carnage....backtracking up the never ending Hume Highway via Canberra and Sydney.

First stop Canberra though....with a couple days catch up in the company of Mirianne (@fillingthepages) where BBQ’s, van tweaking and culture vulturing are in order.

Wandering Around Melbourne

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:54:27 +0000

Got back on the photography side of things today with a good old walk around Melb’ to take some nice architectural shots.
Actually started last night with a wander do the breakwater to watch the fairy penguins come in. There was a nice storm rolling in and combined with a sunset it created some rather good lighting and long exposures.
Today I wandered around the CBD, shopping malls, along the river and up to the Skytower.
I do rather like the vibe in Melbourne and I can kinda see why alot of my fellow travellers have got ‘trapped’ here. It’s very laid back, and has all the attractions of a large city but nestled amongst a beautiful coastline - but with house prices rising $70,000 in 3 years you better get in quick if you want to live here!
The suburbs are beautiful too...with a large Pom prescence in the coastal communities, a heavy arty based influence in places like St Kilda with its cosmopolitan cafes and hippy like night market.

Enjoy the shots :)

x

The Great Ocean Road

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:54:07 +0000

So with Leslie all kitted out he needed a trial run.
So what better trip for a Devonian surfer to take to christen his house on wheels and get back on the surfari than down Australias infamous Great Ocean Road - a 560km roundtrip along Victoria’s coastline to Port Campbell.

For this test we decided to push Leslie to max capacity - so Me, Kez and Kat were joined by Kty Lou and Amy.

The first day was suitably delayed by an Australia Day hangover...but we were sooned loaded, kitted out with food, put on some acoustic tuneage and hit the road.
First hurdle was exiting Melbourne...which after being lost so many times proved pretty easy :)

Our initial stop was Torquay, somewhere I was particularly excited about. Torquay has 2 things going for it surf wise. Firstly is the fact it’ next to the infamous Bells Beach (home of the Ripcurl Pro....which hopefully I shall be shooting in March) and secondly is the fact its the birthplace of Ripcurl and Quiksilver...and therefore has the factory outlets!
Cue a detour to surf village...basically a shopping centre with nothing but surf labels and surf culture on the brain!
First off I was immediately drawn to a huge red sign outside the Quiksilver store...it simply said “50% off EVERYTHING in store”. This was pretty sweet given the price of surf clothes these days and the fact I was lacking clean clothes!
Secondly...and more expensively...was the Ripcurl store...where I went slightly overboard :S
I constrained myself to merely browsing the other shops (including Billabong, Reef, Oakleys....) bought some much needed straps for the surfboard and noticing the evening light and favourable offshore wind headed straight for the beach.
And in mid January, in nothing but boardies and a rashie, I had my debut 2010 surf...only a foot or so...but it was much needed and I left with a tasty smile on my face!
A quick mission down the road, and a setting sun, we managed to find a free camping spot, lost the kitchen virginity and bantered over a glass of goon :)

The second day started with an early rise and on to do the touristy thing at the Twelve Apostles. The 12 Apostles (if, like my mother you don’t know about!) are a series of rock pillars along the coastline standing solo in the sea. They’re a testament to the erosion around the coastline, and the recent recent collapse of 1 has sparked up the global warming debate again in Oz. More amusingly a formation known as ‘London Bridge’ had its archway collapsed due to erosion....stranding 2 people metres from land with a turbulent sea and a formidable drop the only things around them.
Of course coastguards and the inevitable TV crews descended onto the scene - but the two strandees were reluctant to be filmed. Days later it emerged the pair were actually having an affair and didnt want their partners to find out!
CLASSIC!
We spent the day wandering around the surrounding area, chilling in beautiful coves, meeting Bob the Echidna and eating cold pasta salad.
Of course the trip home saw a detour for another surf...a a lush horseshoe bay with a tasty shorebreak and right hand point :)

And after a rather arduous drive back to the city, in time to hit the St Kilda Night Market, we arrived back in Melbourne.
Fun Times and stoked for more surfing roadtrips :)

x

Australia Day :)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:31:27 +0000

Australia Day....the one day of the year that the whole of this great country fills eskys full of booze, cracks out the BBQ’s and has a little bit of a party.

....so when in Rome...!

After a good lie in we crawled out of our van (cheekily parked on a residential street in St Kilda!) busted out the goon, donned the Aussie flag transfers, loaded the esky full of food and wandered to the beach.
Obviously during the walk there was the obligatory stop to the liquor store for a bag of ice and a crate of Tooheys, then we picked a spot on the sand, were joined by Miss Kty Lou and cracked on with the drinking.

What followed was a day of suntanning, drinking, banter, sandwhiches, 30 second broken brollies, more drinking, ice, more drinking, policeman warnings, numbers given, dates made, pubs hit, old travel friends met, beers downed, muchies eaten, and general fun times had.

Australia Day, In Australia, done the Australian Way :)

x

The Coaley Household

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:52:57 +0000

So after a few days partying in St Kilda with Hubsy and Linzifer (who are now in the middle of nowhere picking grapes in 38degree heat for the next 5months!) and a couple extra nights abusing free parking spaces in residential areas we headed over to see the Coaleys, who I haven’t seen since they immigrated in 2006.

There was muchos stress due to my lack of Sat Nav in the van...although Barry the iPhone bailed us out yet again...and as we rolled into the outter suburb of Cairnlea there was much anticipation in the van!
Rolling through the streets the houses were getting bigger....and we were pretty stoked when we pulled up outside - seems the exchange rate did them good :P

We were greeted by and ice cold beer and a pimpingly good BBQ courtesy of Dave :)

The next couple of days were spent relaxing in the pool, stressing over trips to Bunnings, eating epic BBQ dinners and fry ups, sleeping in a proper double bed, actually showering on a regular basis and pimping out Leslie the van!

Dave did an awesome job of boshing out my fold out kitchen idea on the van, and the girls got cracking on some trippy as curtains for the back....it’s all slowly coming together.
And now we have a working cooker too....after muchos stress....but its done and set for some proper road tripping....
Lets see if it holds out :P

Was great to see the Coaleys again, banter about Devon, tales of the original £10 Poms (Dave was one and still has the certificate showing he went to school on the boat over here....which took 6 weeks!), ups and downs on Aussies life and why they’ll never return to the UK!
....i don’t blame them....i love Oz and they have it pretty sorted out here.
Seeing their eldest Erica this week for some party carnage in the city and more catching up.

Big thanks for their hospitality and feeding us like kings!hahaha!

x

Stoked for Jan 26th...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:44:21 +0000

For me at least Jan 26th is going to be the most epic day of 2010 so far...and it’ll definitely be a contender for day of the year altogether!

There are 3 events I’m pretty stoked about.

First off is the Apple “Look what we’ve created” Event.
Now this year I’m uber stoked in all my geekiness for this event - there have been rumours for months about what they’ll unveil and most of the insider ‘leaks’ are pointing towards the mythical “iTablet” ...a 13” touch screen notebook version of a Macbook which fills the middle ground between the iPhone and Apples Macbook range.
From what I’ve read on the forums and blogs (mainly from the vaults of www.iphoneblog.com) it will have a simplified version of the Mac software, and may well be a pimped out version of the iPhone OS. Bring on the app store too!
Word has it that the new device is set to do for magazines and books what the iPod did for music...should be interesting! Although all i want is a scaled down version of my Mac in a smaller package...fingers crossed it runs Photoshop and Word!
So a large chunk of my savings has been firmly put aside and my Macbook is ready to be sent home as soon as the Apple store has them in stock :D

Second off....and significantly more travel blog related is the fact its Australia Day!
Along with pretty much anyone in Oz at the mo I’m pretty stoked for this...it’s gonna be a day of all day goon related carnage....I can see it already!hahaha!
No firm plans for it yet...but frantic text messaging to my Melbourne based travel companions suggests that a beach party and BBQ is in order :) Sweeeeeeeeet!

Thirdly (and on par in the suspense levels with the iTablet) is the launch of the STA Travel Internship.
Having run successfully over the last few years within the US arm of company the STA Internship is basically the most traveltastic job you could hope for. More adventures than your bank balance can afford and more exciting than reviewing street mimes for a Lonely Planet Guide the Internship will see 2 lucky backpacker types jetting around the globe on an STA funded all inclusive tour. From what I can gather as well as being a publicity stunt to drum up awareness for the company it will also serve as a great guide for people planning Gap Years - showcasing many countries on the well trodden backpacker trail but littered with unusual experiences, soaked in culture and being brought to you by the many mediums available to a modern day travelling.
I myself will be prepping YouTube Channels, twitter accounts, facebook, blogs, podcasts and such like in an attempt to win one of the soon to be sought after places, I just hope that the selection process is set up to weedle out boring culture vultures and that a mainstream source will finally provide a decent social media written by honest fun loving travellers for fun loving travellers.
Stoked!
Good luck if your entering!
...well not too much good luck because your my competition!hahaha!

Woop Woop roll on Tuesday.....!

:)

x