Melbourne- clocks, an unusual sale and square

Before I left Tasmania, as I had little time, I drove up to the top of Mt. Wellington far above the capital city of Hobart where I sadly discovered that the view is pretty much the same whether one hikes or drives-

I then flew to Melbourne, which is an interesting and lively city and which appears to have some sort of complex re Sydney.  One of its most famous rendezvous places is 'under the clocks', a pretty early 20th century Edwardian building-

Melbourne is somewhat famous for its shopping and indeed one can find almost anything for sale there.  Exactly why someone would want the below is not clear to me, but obviously you can get a great buy on one of these here-

It seems in its effort to keep up with Sydney that is fancies itself a bit like Paris-

But it does have a pretty profile from certain perspectives-

Apparently, in its effort to 'outdo' Sydney, it held an architectural competition designed to create a square that it thought might create its own 'Opera House'.  Unfortunately, by my walking guide's admission, it actually only created the 'world's ugliest square-

San Marco of Venice it ain't.  Then it apparently tried street art-

Quite a descent from Michelangelo. Insecurity can make you do some strange things.

But it is a city possessed of a vast and dizzying array of different shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, which are actually not all that expensive.  I thought it a fun city.

Moreover, I finally found a place that appreciated my cycling skills-

Hiking in Taz

After leaving Port Arthur, I headed for Wineglass Bay in eastern Tasmania to do a hike of Mt. Amos, a mountain roughly 2000' above the bay.  Tasmanians claim Wineglass as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  You can be the judge-

I had my picture taken there, but in an odd pose-

The next day I traveled to the mountainous center of Taz to hike what is probably the most iconic hike in Tasmania/Australia- Cradle Mountain, which sits at the beginning of the reknowned Overland Trail (a 6 day hike thru the Tasmanian wilderness).  It is not common to get clear weather at Cradle Mt, but I was very lucky-

While the climb to the summit does not involve a huge amount of vertical- maybe 3000' or so- it is quite difficult as the top is a very steep jumble of boulders and it is goes on for maybe a mile or more-

I did hike a small section of the Overland Trek, tho apparently to do the entire thing, you must go thru some wombat manure-

And you can't carry any of these with you-

While at Cradle Mt, I took time to do an evening walk and it was not hard to see Wombats and Wallabys (small kangaroos essentially)-

Sadly, I have never seem so much road kill as driving around Tasmania.  It is constant and likely occurs mostly in the evenings.  I did have a Wallaby cross in front my car one evening and stop in the road- true 'wallaby' in the headlights.

On the way back to Hobart, I saw one interesting sign-

What I want to know, is where is Upper Crackpot?  

Tazzie and the convict trail

 I left the mainland and flew to Hobart, Tasmania, or ‘Tazzie’, as some call it.  One the plane ride over, I had a long conversation with a Tazzie native who, naturally, wanted to know about Donald Trump who Australians seemed to think was ‘crazy’.   He was, like some I have met, very knowledgeable about U.S. politics, more so than most Americans.  It was interesting to get his perspective, which was thoughtful, and then, learning I was going to be doing some hiking, stated “You know, we have a lot of deadly snakes in Tasmania.”  What else is new.

 After a short stay in Hobart, I went to Port Arthur on the southern coast and home to an historic convict settlement.  In the mid-19^th century, Tasmania, or Van Dieman’s Land as it was then known, was one of the main outlets for the transportation of convicts and Port Arthur- on an easily guarded peninsula, was where the British sent the most hardcore convicts for very hard labor.  They have preserved there the old convict site which operated from about 1834 to 1873 or so. 

Port Arthur was one of the first places to replace corporal punishment with solitary confinement, though it was originally done to force a prisoner to meditate on his transgressions rather than as punishment.  The ‘Separate Prison’, as they called it, was unsurprisingly something of a grim place-

After the closing of the prison, in the late 19^th century, one fellow bought it and proposed to turn it into a hotel.  I am no Trump as a developer, but I am not completely surprised the place did not take off as a hotel-

Port Arthur did still maintain the convict galley ship for authentic convict tours of the harbor, so I grabbed an oar-

To stay consistent with the theme of the day, I stayed in a B&B which was originally part of the convict trail.  The owner was very nice, tho the accommodations were naturally Spartan (free port and sherry for the inmates)-

 I then departed and headed for the east coast of Tazzie.  I did see some curious things along the way, including these freeloading goats-

From the Yarra Valley, I went down below Melbourne (pronounced 'Melbern' by residents one fellow told me) and went along the somewhat famous Great Ocean Road, which runs along the Southern Ocean for over 100 miles headed west toward Adelaide.  The GOR is supposedly one of the seaside drives, right up there with Big Sur in California and some of the Riveria drives in France and Italy.  I guess I will be the one to decide that. 

The first 40 miles or so of the GOR was nice and impressive, as I said, but actually less so, I thought, than some of the WA coastal tours I had done.  Until I came upon the highlight of the Road- the '12 Apostles'.  Wow!  On a picture perfect day, I must say I have never seen anything like these stunning pillars of the coast (I 'm sure my pics don't do them justice)-

Initially, I only counted 8 at most.  I assumed that the Romans had executed the other 4.  But it turned out that they were 'round the bend' or hiding in the catacombs as it were.  

If you go to Australia, I definitely recommend not missing the 12 Apostles.  Far more impressive in my view than Sydney harbor.  This put the GOR up there with the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland for me.

 

Yarra Valley, the beginning of the GOR, and driving in Australia

The Yarra Valley, about 40 miles north of Melbourne, was the next wine region I visited.  Went to one winery where they had a croquet club.  Would have joined but the competition looked fierce-

The Yarra specialized in chardonnay and pinot noir.  I found the chardonnays better, but many of the pinots were new and maybe that hurting their showing.  

Spent some time rolling through the Victoria countryside and for those interested, it was pretty, much of it this rolling cattle country-

After leaving Yarra, I journeyed some 3 hours south to ‘The Great Ocean Road’, a route touted- eponymously I guess- as one on of the world’s great seaside drives.  And, when I got to it, after having already thousands of miles in Australia, I found this helpful sign-

Now they tell me.  No wonder all those people coming the other way on the freeway were honking at me. 

But the Aussies have signs for everything and most every animal. 

Apart from the Kangaroo, I was never sure what the others were, but I have not seen them yet in any case.  Of course, most of the incidents- and they are regrettably frequent, appear to happen at night and I have not driven much at night. 

In some parts, particularly WA and the Outback, they have these things called ‘road trains’.  I know this because it says ‘Road Train’ right on them.  They are usually 3 semis hooked together and about 37 meters long (well over a hundred feet).  Try passing one of those in your 90hp Kia- you need about 5 miles of clear visibility.  I passed quite a few…and it is not a stress free experience when you see a car coming directly at you after you think you have gone by but are only really half way there. 

But as Craze might attest, one of the hardest things to adjust to is the blinker being on the opposite side.  Usually when I make turn, I will hit the wind shield wipers by mistake initially.  After a while, of course, you adjust, but I have noticed that when I am under stress and trying to change lanes or make a tricky turn in traffic, I almost invariably revert and hit the wind shield wipers thereby only causing additional panic, as well as now adding limited visibility.  

But the worst part of driving here is the seemingly omnipresent speed cameras.  They are on every major highway and many minor ones and cause me- an inveterate speeder admittedly- to constantly be staring down at my speedometer to make sure I am not going 1km/hr over the limit.  A big pain and not exactly freedom if you ask me.  Unsurprisingly, few people speed here.  Depressing. 

Did a short hike along the GOR and saw this house overlooking the ocean which perhaps made up in function what it lacked in charm-

The Mount Everest of Australia...

 Drove from the Blue/Misty Mountains for about 6 hours to reach the base of Mt. Kosciuszko, the highest mountain on the continent of Australia.  The Everest of Australia, if you will.  I started out at primitive base camp-

 My vehicle is not the truck, btw. 

And decided to do the hike without oxygen bottles or even a mittens or goggles. I took a good 10 minutes to acclimate and stretch and then began my climb.  I soon reached camp 1 and then started in earnest over the very rough and barely marked terrain-

As befits a rugged explorer,  I was pretty much alone in this vast and silent terrain with little help of rescue in case of an accident-

(They were repairing the trail).  

Despite the poor visibility and rugged terrain, I marched onward where, strangely amidst that hostile and desolate terrain,  I stumbled into some other valiant, tho somewhat elderly (late 70s), mountaineers who kindly offered to take a picture of me amidst the clouds and swirling snow-

They were Aussies, who taking time out from their survival hike, handed me a piece of Australian fruit cake- a traditional hiking gesture according to the man (alas the Australian version is no better than the US version, tho it was a kind gift)  asked me about Trump.  For the most part, they appeared representative of what the polls- according to the quite liberal Australian Broadcast Corporation (which I listen to in the car)- had reported about the Aussies- that 70% had wished for a Hillary election.  They asked whether every Muslim in the US was likely to be deported and if I was worried about being let back into the U.S….

I continued onward seeing the summit up ahead-

Finally reached the harsh, deserted and desolate roof of Australia-

The route I chose to hike was not particularly difficult, but it was long- 22km and there were actually very few on that trail.  Most people took a much shorter route via a chair lift. 

On the way down, I did run into a famous river, tho ‘the man’ from there was nowhere to be seen (an Aussie movie reference for those not in the know).  Not exactly the Mississippi here-

The good news is that I returned from the summit of the Everest of Australia before 3pm, stowed all my gear,and in time to continue my drive to my next wine region, the Yarra Valley just outside Melbourne.