Adelaide, the great ocean road and Melbourne

The last week I experienced a lot of pearls of life. Though at some times it was quite tough the things I've seen and experienced were totally worth it.

First of in Adelaide Brendan and I biked a lot. Quite close to our hostel there was a bike renting place and best of all it was free.
Adelaide is a small city and its nickname "the 20-minute city" is totally true as you can (especially by car) reach every place the city has to offer in that time. The city has quite some biking lanes (not as in the Netherlands of course) however at times those lanes suddenly stop and change in bus lanes and suddenly you are surrounded by buses which is quite scary.
The first day Brendan and I went to the Adelaide museum. It was a big museum which has a lot to offer and we enjoyed ourselves.
The second day we went to see the botanic gardens, just as in every other town.

Finally it was time to rent a car. A girl named Jillian joined us and we went to rock the great ocean road. Jillian and I mostly did the driving as Brendan was not allowed to (not 21 yet). The first day we saw some salt planes near Meningie and some sinkholes and crater lakes at Mount Cambier. At this time I greatly enjoyed having a car because otherwise I would never have come at those places even though they are worth seeing (not more than one hour though).
We ended our day by going to the tower hill reserve near Port Fairy. We hoped that we could spot a koala or two because Brendan hadn't seen one yet, however we couldn't find the entrance and instead we were given the most beautiful sunset ever with a view of the ocean and tower hill. And with that view engraved in our mind we had a wonderful sleep.
The next day we woke up early in order to have enough time to see everything that was worth seeing. It was a good plan however 15 km outside port Fairy we had a tire blowout on the freeway. Luckily I could stop the car safely outside of the road and did not lose the control of the car. Getting the tire replaced took a while and after about 3 hours we could continue our journey. Though it took a big bite of my mood driving on the great ocean road made me happy again.
Though we saw the necessary attractions on the great ocean road such as the twelve apostles, London bridge, the arch etc. we were a bit disappointed by all of those. They all were a bit too touristy. Though we were mind blown by our last part of the great ocean road. It looked like the way I pictured New Zealand to be, steep rolling hills and curvy roads where driving faster than 50 km/h would be an unwise decision. We eventually ended up in kennet river in the hope to find some koalas. We walked around a camping ground and we found two of them sitting in two trees about 2 m above our heads. We also noticed that quite some king parrots joined us and 5 minutes later we found out why. Apparently all the tours go past this place and they all bring seeds with the to feed the parrots. Lucky enough we got some seeds as well and those parrots sat on our heads, arms and shoulders. At this time I completely forgot about the car and was in euphoria.
After this we set of to Melbourne.

Melbourne is a nice city, at first I didn't think much of it but it actually is quite the opposite. It is a very active town with lots of activities and the first two days I enjoyed myself at the Fair festival (a festival promoting fair trade and ethical products and ways of thinking) there was loads of free food and nice performances.
It also is a town known for its gravity but not in a bad way. In a lot of alleyways there is a lot of street art and those people have some real skill.
Oktay and I also went for a drink in a underground bar that only local people know. To get there you have to walk through one of those small alleyways with lots of curves and I knew then why only locals know it. It was a nice though a bit creepy, as there was a hospital bed in the bathroom and you could buy syringe cocktails.
Oktay, Jasmin and I also did some gravity ourselves. It was offered to us by a artist and now we all have our own tag in an alley in Melbourne.
The last day in Melbourne I spent some time in a museum of moving images. It focused on games and movies and Brendan and I had a lot of fun there. You could do a matrix shot of yourself (the one that Neo dodges bullets) and you could play Mario kart. Afterwards we said our good-byes. And I still went on a short tour through Melbourne where I saw some penguins.

Yesterday I went to New Zealand and I actually was lucky to still get on the plane. Apperently you need a return ticket to actually be allowed in New Zealand. I didn't have one and I barely got one in time. I think I never been so nervous in my life. Though now I am in New Zealand and met up with Sally (Dutch girl from blue mountains) that lives here. She cooked a lovely meal last night and today we shared some "kruidnoten" in the museum in Auckland, as it is the 5th of December now!