Euhm... Plan C :)

Hello. For starters, happy newyear to you all and thanks for all the sms's/mails/blogcomments for the holidays and my birthday :)

Yes, we've had a change of plan again. Tomorrow we're leaving for Shepparton and not Mildura to do our fruitpicking. Main reason being that we expect to make more money there. The workinghostell in Mildura would cost us a lot of money for our accommodation (120$ /week) and we'd have to pay some extra costs too (busservice to work, administrative cost). The big plus in Shepparton is that we'll have the opportunity to have a roof over our head for much less money. Farmers there often have accommodation available on their land and like to keep their workers in good condition by giving them good accommodation and in some cases even 3 meals per day. Seeing as their main concern is keeping their workers in good condition and not making money out of them by charging a lot for accommodation, they keep their prices very reasonable (anything from 10 - 50 $ per week). Taking that into account we'll hopefully be able to make more money in the same timeperiod. Another plus is that Shepparton is 'only' 180 km's from Melbourne instead of 500 (Mildura) (cheaper to get there and back), and hopefully the temperature will be more bareble (although that's all very relative here... hot is hot).

Anyway... The 3-day tour we did was excellent. The first day we spent driving down the Great Ocean Road stopping every half an hour or so to enjoy the views and go for a walk or a swim in the ocean. The coastline is very dramatic and we got to see some amazing views. The morning of the second day was by far the best... and not just because it was my birthday :) After enjoying the sunset we got up early so we'd have the oceanbeach to ourselves when we payed a visit to the Twelve Apostels (http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/portcampbell/apostles.asp). It was an awesome sight, by far more impressive than the views most tourists get from the clifftop lookouts we saw the day before. One of the apostels looked almost close enough that i thought i'd be able to reach out for it... but our tourguide and the ocean (i got myself and my clothes quite wet running into the waves... but hey, the weather here being what it is that was not much of a problem) made it clear that that would not have been a very good idea if I was still planning on telling the tale :) After roaming the beach we drove on to a secluded bay with a beautifull beach where we went for a swim. I did my best to 'ride the waves' (gliding with the big waves and letting them drag you back to the beach) with my body... sometimes succeeded and sometimes got a mouthfull of salty oceanwater... After that we drove inland to the Grampians were we got to see some wildlife (kangaroos, wallabies, emu's and koalla's) and some views that made us think we were somewhere in the middle of Kenia instead of Australia. All very impressive and the scorshing heat did it's best to underline the arid landscape. No wonder Australia get's hit by massive fires every year (speaking of which: we're not near any of the fires raging around New South Wales and Victoria, so no worries there).

We got back in time to celebrate new year in Melbourne. The fireworks were unlike anyting we'd seen before. 500.000 $ worth of pyrotechnics go a far way in alighting the sky at night. But it was no where as mad as in Sydney where they spent 4.000.000 $ on their firework display... makes you think, doesn't it... After the display we wondered around in Melbourne and got into a club in the Southbank area of town (known for it's nightlife). We sort of sneaked in as the doormen were occupied with some troublemakers. It wasn't untill we were in and having a drink that we realised that we were rather underdressed (Or should i just say 'I was rather underdressed'... I guess flipflops and shorts is pushing the dresscode a bit). The doormen were denying entry to a lot of people who weren't dressed at their best... No need to say I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable... But I decided to ignore that fact and went on to enjoy the atmosphere. The doormen did give us a weird look as we walked out of the club, as in "how did u get in here?", but aside from that we got out without harm :) After that it was on to Federation Square and about an hour later we were on the overloaded tram home.

That's it for now. Next time you hear of me I'll be in Shepparton, picking fruit :)

David.