Sent: Thu 10/3/2002 11:50 PM
Less than two weeks left in Oz!

Hey there my beauties!

Let us start this one off with something I forgot to tell you about Adelaide! On Friday night, one week ago, we saw a mighty bicycle brigade screaming and ringing through town! It reminded me of San Luis Obispo! We were on foot, but whooped it up with them as best as we could!

Okay, so we left off in Victor Harbour I believe on our way to Mount Gambier. The landscape was as lovely as anything we have seen thus far. Beautiful country drive and charming farms. The landscape has become a bit sandier here, lots of limestone too. We came upon a great bunch of pink lakes just north of Lake Alexandrina. The colour is no ordinary pink either, it is literally the colour of pink lemonade! I haven't figured out what causes it, but my guess is either high salinity or something to do with the lime in the soil. I will try to figure it out.

Drove further through soldier like forests with thier perfectly engineered lines and angles. Forestry is the areas major industry. Along the way we came upon the Great Lobster. Probably had to be my favorite gimungus thing this far.

When we finally got into Mount Gambier, we discovered another tiny little country town that was built on top of some extinct volcanoes. Our first stop was to the old craters which are now filled with beautiful bright blue lakes. The colour is brightest blue right now, and supposedly changes over the next few months to a dark grey, then back to this lovely blue in a years time. Next we checked out one of the many caves in the area, which happens to be located right in the center of the town! Its called Cave Park and is literally a giant hole in the middle of town that has stairs going straight down into it! They have landscaped to sides on the way down. Strange but interesting.

The next day we drove from Victor Harbour to Port Fairy. Passing into Victoria, we stopped first in a tiny little town called Nelson. It is a little fishing town. We saw Black Swans on the river and Emus in the fields. Later we drove to Portland to wander around for a bit. We met some locals here that were absolutely fantastic and if we had been spending the night there we would have insisted on taking them to the local pub.

But we were off to Port Fairy! Along the way we saw great flocks of Galahs and Cockatoos and a new bird with a scarlet breast and dark blue wings that looks like a parrot, I discovered later it was called a Crimson Rosella. Port Fairy turned out to be an excellent little town, very quaint. Lovely old architecture, saloons, etc. I can picture a dirt road and horse drawn buggies before the current asphalt main street.

The hostel we staying in was lovely, one of the oldest buildings in the area. Though it was the worst nights rest I have had in a long time. I told Jeffrey that I felt like we were sleeping in a barn and we came to find out that I wasn't so far off. We were in fact sleeping in the old horse stables!

The next morning we hiked up Tower Hill on our way to Warrnambool with our brekky. Its another old volcanic crater that erupted 30,000 years ago. The land was then so abused for so many years that the native landscape was forgotten untill a dusty old 1850's painting of the landscape was discovered. Now it is a wildlife preserve. We saw more emus and many, many Black Swans. The Swans are magnificent birds, all black with red beaks!

Jeffrey is starting to get very worried about going back to Massachusetts, and more and more frequently brings up a conversation about how he is going to freeze to death, he thinks that I am trying to kill him. He keeps trying to persuade me to move to Florida instead.

We stopped in Warrnambool because locals told us we must go to Logan Beach to see the migrating whales. We were so lucky because there was a big old momma whale with her new calf. They were so graceful and beautiful to watch. Thank goddess that Jeffrey picked up some binoculars early in the trip! We ended up seeing four Southern Right Whales. They were almost whaled to extinction here on this stretch of coastline and are still critically endangered! They are called the Southern Right Whale because they are found in the South and they are the "right" whale to hunt because they are slow, rich in oil, and float when killed. Seriously, we read those exact words!

We are now traveling the infamous Great Ocean Road. Along this scenic coastal highway we hiked around such wonders as the Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, London Bridge and the Arch, and oh, yes the mighty Cheese World (we didn't actually stop here!) They are all great rock formations climbing out of the ocean. Great towers, arches and caves.

After a quick lunch in Port Campbell, we travelled further towards the Twelve Apostles. I finally discovered what the name of one of the birds we had been seeing along the coast was called, the brightly coloured (green, red, blues) deafening flocks of parrots are actually called Rainbow Laurekeets. Down the road, we hiked around the Loch and Gorge which is the site of an old shipwreck and then on to a stunning 100 meter deep blowhole. Later, we saw the great Twelve Apostles. The area is reminding us more and more of the lovely California Coastline. Exhausted, we spent the night in Apollo Bay.

We realized why we have been feeling so tierd lately when we went back through my journal and realized that we haven't stayed in one hostel for more than one night in a full month. It will definatly be nice to settle in one place soon. We head back to the states in less than two weeks and on one hand we are happy to be going home to see family and friends, on the other so sad to leave this country with its amazing people and sights. This trip has been wonderful.

Miss you all, more from me later (I will try to be less sleepy next time!) A huge thank you to my lovely friend Marya for all her wonderful efforts putting together the Rebel Down Under web page. It's spectacular! You warm my heart lady!

Love, love, love to all of you, Rebel

Sent: Tue 10/1/2002 12:52 AM
Oz times a tickin'!

Oh! Time is officially running out here in Australia, insert Rebel's grumpy face here!

We spent a little down time in Adelaide, I think we were tierd because we didn't do anything too adventurous, except putter around town, read and rest. Who knew traveling could be so exhausting? While on one of our little walks around town we came to a pedestrian mall and in the middle of it was a very contraversial sculpture of an enormous set of balls! They appear to be made of stainless steel. I liked it, very good statement! But, I am a bit on the strange side!

After a couple of days of rest we arranged for another rental car for seven days to travel to Melbourne. We got a great deal through the hostel owner on an old clunker he had.

The temperature has changed drastically down here. From around 36-37 C to about 5C. Unfortunately the coat, pants, and sweaters have gone back on! Our last night in town we went to a comedy show. It was pretty funny, the best part was when a guy got up in the middle of the comedian's performance and walked out. The comedian just watched him leave quietly, then had us all agree to help him out when the guy came back. Whe he did, the comedian starts in like we've been discussing it for a while..."So, who here rally likes to shove big cucumbers up thier asses?" The whole crowd went wild and all raised thier hands, until this guy, looking around the audience, gives up and raises his hand too! Then the comedian singles him out and calls him "one sick fucker!" Hilarious! Even the guys mum was in on it!

Next day we drove a bit North of Adelaide up into the Barossa Valley for some wine tasting. This area, it has been said, produces wines comparible to Robert Mondavi's! Which gives me sweet memories of my lovely friend Shane C. Green! We drove up there through green rolling hills, along serpentine roads lined with great trees (Eucalypts up to 10' in diameter!). Along the road curved a rushing river lined with granite and the colour of seafoam. The hills are clad in vinyards and spring flowers (bright fields painted red, yellow, white, and purple) and they are often dappled with sheep. We rode along the road in the middle of a parade welcoming the arrival of spring. It was full of classic cars and motor bikes and the dress of the era.

The participation in the parade from the towns and those in between is unbelievable. People parked all along the road (which was made into a one way street for the event) they set up couches, tables and chairs with picnic baskets and wine. All were grinning and waving hands and flags wildly at the vehicles. I felt like I had been invited to a party!

A bit later, we stopped for our own brisk picnic in the town of Angaston ( I like the name of the town, it reminds me of AC/DC!) before heading into the Barossa Valley. On our way we added to our list of giant whatevers with a giant Rockinghorse and the Tin man from the Wizard of Oz! We ended up buying wine from a dozen local wineries after some lovely tastings. We decided to splurge a bit that night on a bed and breakfast/winerey. We have been staying in Backpacker Hostels the entire way.

Neither one of us had ever stayed in such a nice place before. Lovely gardens, huge room, absolutely everything we asked for or could want. On top of it we got fruit baskets and the wineries own champagne. We drank the champagne in the spa in our room filled with about 3 feet of bubbles! We woke the next morning to a 10:30am breakfast, got the best table in the house, set and waiting with fresh fruit on it for us and overlooking the gardens. Best part? It only cast $140.00 Australian, that is about $70.00 American! It was hard to leave and head back to the hostels again!

That day we drove South along the coast to the Fleurieu Peninsula and then on to Victor Harbor where we spent the night. The landscape was very similar to what we had experienced the day before with the exception of how it is give a very geometric look with the trees that have been planted to be farmed. Perfect rows, no undergrowth, and strong, straight edges against softly rolling hills. All overlooking the ocean.

And that would be about all I have time for today folks the computer clock is ready to boot my ass off. I love you and can't wait to see you soon.

My love, Rebel