Where I left you last on the 29th... So the Pamper Night was not so "pampering." We ended up in a crowded room with awkward questions and conversation in the place of spoiling and great take away gifts. Jill and I ended up leaving early even before the raffle (which we did not win) and grabbed a cab home. Oh well. The poster was pretty.
May 3rd... John ARRIVED!! Got lost on the way to the airport to meet him. How many times have I made this exact trip? We got him all settled in and I took him on a great nature walk despite his subtle sighs. It was beautiful and I tried to find some great wildlife to impress him but no success. Something noteworthy did happen though on this little excursion. As we were experiencing our scenic stroll, I, feeling an adventurous whim, dared John to eat a piece of chocolate cookie that we saw on the path. Of course, he was like HECK NO! Me, employing my "knew you wouldn't do it" scheme, drove him to doing it and after about 2 small bites he made a funny face. Turns out it was a DOG TREAT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Totally made my day and I will never let him live it down.
Hey John, Remember that time you ate a DOG TREAT? bahaha.
After his appetizer, we decided to find a cool pizza place for dinner. Boy, did we succeed at Mojo's Weird Pizza. We got a great pizza topped with every random thing that your mind can conjure. One of my personal favorites, pineapple. What a great way to end Day #1!
May 4th... Early start to Queen Victoria Market where we got great food to cook for the week. I finally figured out that with guys, you must just take charge and buy whatever you want or else the whole trip is "Well what do you want?" "Well I dont know what do you want?" Therefore, I put on my charge pants and got it done! So much fun looking at all of the cool things and I practically bought every fruit in sight. Sorry for having to lug all of that back John. ALTHOUGH you refused to carry the bag on your shoulder like a normal human being because you would look 'girly.' We grabbed the tram back to LaTrobe to prepare for our sailing adventure. Sadly, I lost the pictures from it so I have nothing other than the picture of the boat that Chay provided us with.
The sailing trip was great other than it turned night and poured rain! Wish I had the wet and attractive pictures to show you of us :( John and I hung out at the back of the boat with the crew and John asked them every question known to man about the ship and such. Kinda cute. I stood there like a wet lump anticipating land and warmth. Once we arrived back at shore, I took my first train trip ever to a small suburb outside Melbourne known as Footscray, where I had my first African dish ever. We ate at a really neat African restaurant with the IES group and got some pretty interesting dishes. The bread was different and crumpet like. After dinner, we took a long cab ride back and finally arrived back at Bundoora. Tried a lot of firsts today! Can you say captain?
May 5th... Class ALL day. What a bummer. I took John with me to my classes and he got some extra sleep in ha. We passed notes like 6th graders and I did my best to pay attention. After class, we went to the grocery store to get even MORE food and made a fabulous dinner of steak and potatoes. Had a great desert of Tim Tams/John had a great desert of Tim Tams (Australian wafer cookie). It was a huge task ripping them from his paws. Watched Old School and then zzzzzzzz'. At the national park, we spotted around 15-20 wild koalas! I still stand by the title of being the first to spot the first koala although no one else saw it. 
May 6th...Werribee Zoo today? Nope. Our plans changed and we decided to spend the day in the city instead. The weather wasn't too promising and we didn't want to risk a day at the zoo in the rain. As we were walking to lunch, I discovered a large crowd assembling to our left and ventured to see what it was all about. Low and behold we ended up seeing Olivia Newton John and she performed her greatest Greece hits! We also saw Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins and learned about the Olivia Newton John Breast Cancer Foundation and her new cancer wellness center coming to Melbourne. We saw the Fame cast perform and I even managed to make it on the news!! Such an exciting show. 
After the show, we spontaneously hopped on the City Circle Tram and explored the city. This tram is the free tram that runs along the city circle and plays information on the speakers about the city throughout. It was a method of transport and tour all in one! We explored the Docklands and area around the harbor and then headed home. What a day of great luck and spontaneity! After we made it back to LaTrobe, I introduced John to some authentic Australians and we hung out Aussie style for the remainder of the night :)
May 7th... Today served as a day of rest and we decided to do laundry and work on some preparation for our Sydney trip. While we were waiting on the laundry, we played in the game room in Radford hall. I beat John AT EVERY SINGLE GAME IN THERE. EVERY SINGLE ONE. hahahaha. We played airhockey, pool, and ping pong. Anyone that is reading this... John could really use some pointers. After we finished our cleaning list, we explored campus and decided to go downtown to a great 90's spot and have some dinner and possibly a little dance. Turns out the dancing didn't work out. Think I must have 'intimidated' everyone with my moves.
May 8th...The day is Saturday. Didn't know it would turn out to be Doomsday. We rose early to head to Avis Car Rental to 
start our Great Ocean Road adventure. We decided to rent a car and drive along the coast ourselves would be more economically efficient and more fun so we researched car rentals and registered ourselves for a great little car. Little did we know that driving on the other side of the road is quite the contrary to fun. After soothing John's nerves, we finally made it to Avis and got our car. Of course, John wanted to be the driver. That lasted for a total of 5 minutes. As we were driving along, a lady politely tooted her horn and rolled down her window to notify us that one of our tires were going flat. GREAT. We pulled over and decided to take it back to Avis to get it fixed. After John's mental breakdown, we also determined that with this stop I would register to drive and take over. After we got the tire fixed, I stepped behind the wheel and we were off! Guys, you have to think about this. The gear shift is on the left side, blinker on the right and every single thing is BACKWARDS! I must admit that it was rather challenging. After we got out and about for a little, we began to search for the freeway. Did we find it easily? Of course not. We finally found it and headed in the wrong direction. 
After we got off on the proper exit, we got lost once again around the roundabout and had to stop and ask for directions. John's job= directions. John's directions= "I think once we see this road, we turn left. or maybe right. Don't exactly remember the road." Needless to say, we never found the Great Ocean Road and John became very closely acquainted with 711's. We finally made it back to the city and I decided to take us to St. Kilda for some lunch and a relaxing walk along the beach. What a way to clear the stress from the day! We had lunch at the Stokehouse, a great oceanfront restaurant and then got great treats at Acland Street Bakery. I got baclava and John got a macadamia tart. We took them to the park and had a quaint picnic of sweets :)
While we had the car, I figured why not get some use out of it! We can take it around the city and down roads that the tram doesn't usually run on. We explored Chapel Street, a posh urban hip scene and stopped for slurpees and Gaytime bars. YUM. There were soo many luxury exotic cars around to look at and we had a great time dreaming about things that we will probably never have. There were really great shops and neat buildings.
May 9th...Up with the birds for church! Me, John, and Jill started the day with a long awaited return of the lamborghini and John's walk of shame back to the tram. 
We arrived at church quite early and stopped for coffee along the way. The church service was great and we learned quite a great deal about integrity and took some rocks home with us as symbolic reminders. After church, John and I rejoined everyone in the narthex for coffee and cookies. After about an hour of socializing, we went to a great lunch at a really neat rooftop restaurant. 
We had great fish and chips and an even better view! After lunch, we explored downtown and ventured towards Federation Square. We noticed large amounts of people in green
walking in one direction and decided to check it out. We learned that there was the opening game for the Melbourne Storm rugby team that day at the new stadium 
in Melbourne. It was the first time that anyone has ever played on it! We stopped at the ferris wheel and contemplated riding. Instead we made an even better decision of getting jam donuts, our new favorite.
We walked around the park with our donuts and just simply enjoyed the outdoors and watching the kids play. After we devoured every morsel,
we decided to follow the crowd and see what this opening rugby game was all about. After we saw the stadium, we decided to inquire about tickets and see if we could possibly see the game.
We got tickets and had great seats!! It was sooo much fun and we almost figured out all of the rules. GO STORM!!
The stadium was fascinating and we got to be a part of its groundbreaking. Pretty neat to stumble upon if you ask me! The game ended late 
and we hopped back on a tram to LaTrobe to make a great dinner. We had chicken parm (John's ultimate Aussie obsession) and all the fixins. Very tasty. We have really turned into 2 chefs, I must say.
May 10th...Our last day in Melbourne before our Sydney trip. Do you think we took it easy and packed and rested?
Absolutely not. I was up at 6 a.m. to arrive in the city at 7:30 for a Great Ocean Road tour. Because we were unsuces
sful on Saturday, we decided that we must ultimately win the fight and actually experience this allusive Great Ocean Road.
For those of you that don't know, the Great Ocean Road is a road that hugs the coast of Australia starting in Torquay and ends in Warrambool. The route is known for its scenery featuring huge cliffs, ocean vistas, beaches, rain forests, and incredible rock formations. 
Jill and I were beginning to think it was a conspiracy because we have tried multiple times to make it to the phenomenom of the 12 Apostles (12 rock formations standing mid water- see pictures below). At least this time with a guided tour, we knew that we would see everything. 
After we almost boarded the wrong bus, we finally got on board and on the road! SO exciting! The first part consisted of an hour and a half drive to get on the actual road, which we chose to pass with conversation of the one and only Chick Fil A and the possibility of opening one someday ha. The first town that we arrived in on the tour was Geelong and then we headed to the world famous beach, Bell's Beach, in Torquay. In Geelong, we found some wild kangaroos!
At Bell's Beach each year, they hold the biggest Australian surfing competition. The waves were nothing that I have ever seen before and John and I watched in amazement at the surfers attempting 
to ride them. At this stop, we had tea and cookies :) The next place that we traveled to was a small quaint town called Anglesea that housed a beautiful light house, which I desperately wanted pictures of and John thought was about as interesting as a boiled peanut. 
We didn't actually stop here but just rode through and continued on our journey to our next stop, 
which was a place called Fairhaven. In Fairhaven, the infamous "Great Ocean Road" sign lives; and I made sure to get tons of pictures! Such a tourist. We also walked down to a beach and took in the views. Next stop... Lorne Beach and the Lorne Beach Otway National Park. Before we went to the national park, we stopped for lunch and John and I ate the lunch provided and then headed off in pursuit of some gelato. 
John, who's ice cream was better? haha We strolled in and out of a few shops and bought some post cards. Very cute beach town and it was so hard to get John to leave all of the cute clothing stores along the way!
The rainforest was fascinating. It was so green, full of life, and emitted a rather pleasant mist. We did not see any wildlife but did discover some amazing plant and vegetation. Some of the trees there were over 600 years old and were monstrously large!
Now to what I have anticipated seeing all these months here in Australia... THE 12 APOSTLES! Some background for ya... The Twelve Apostles are 
giant rock stacks that rise majestically from the Southern Ocean and are the central feature of the rugged Port Campbell National Park.
The Twelve Apostles have been created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland that began 10–20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.
They were breathtaking. The absolute most picturesque thing that I have ever seen.
Our last 2 stops were Loch Ard Gorge and London Arch. Loch Ard gorge is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 approaching the end of a three-month journey from England. There were only 2 surivors and we learned of their survival techniques and eventual rescue. The gorge is also a visible example of the process in action and was fascinating to see and learn about.
London Arch, formerly known as London Bridge, is the arch closest to the shoreline that collapsed unexpectedly on 15 January 1990, leaving two tourists stranded on the outer part: they were rescued by a helicopter. Fortunately nobody was injured in the event. Prior to the collapse, the arch was known as London Bridge because of its similarity to its namesake. Turns out, the 2 people that were left on the land mass in the middle of the water were business partners that were supposed to be at a conference in Melbourne but were having an affair and traveling Australia. Guess with the media coverage, they were found out!
The Current London Arch After the Split
Before the Split
