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The Winter Olympics... in Summer? I left Belmont the next morning and headed west along the Great Ocean Road, an amazing drive which is something like the Oregon Coast Highway. I'd read a lot of literature claiming that Australia's Great Ocean Road was the finest ocean drive in the world, and yes, it's certainly a nice drive. But sorry, nothing tops the Oregon Coast Highway. Anyway, the most scenic part of the Great Ocean Road is a section called the "12 Apostles," with the Apostles being a series of sea stacks that dot the coastline. It’s a beautiful area and was a glorious day, and I decided that the Apostles alone were worth a visit to the state of Victoria.
Around 3 p.m. that afternoon I pulled into the seaside town of Portland, the oldest city in Victoria, dating back to the 1830s. Since this town shares the name of my hometown in Oregon, I decided to spend a night there (even though it didn't start with the letter "B.") I ended up staying for two nights, actually, trying to get caught up with my website and spending part of one day watching the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.
The Olympics coverage here has been a lot of fun to watch because the focus, of course, is on the tiny Australian team. It's a small team because, well, there isn't a whole lot of snow or ice in Australia. The television feeds of the Olympic broadcasts here are the same as in the U.S. but the commentators are Australians, who are all quite proud of their diminutive team, and understandably so. Unfortunately, though, Australia had never won a gold medal in a Winter Olympics – at least, not until short-track skater Steven Bradbury took to the ice.
As you may have seen, and in what was probably the most unlikely victory of the entire Winter Olympics, Bradbury won the gold medal when the four competitors in front of him bumped into each other and tumbled to the ice on the last lap. As you can imagine, this country went berserk after Bradbury's gold medal – and then again a few days later when aerial skier, Alissa Camplin, won Australia’s second Winter Olympics gold medal. For a while, the papers here were joking about the “juggernaut” Australian team having won more gold medals (2) than that like-sounding alpine country, Austria (1).
The best part of the Olympics coverage, though, is the hour-long wrap-up show called "The Ice Dream" which is broadcast every night after the 11 o'clock news. This light-hearted spoof is hosted by a couple of hilarious middle-aged Aussie guys named Roy and H.G. who've been stationed in Salt Lake City during the Olympics, apparently for the sole purpose of poking fun at the Olympics and (especially) Americans. On last night's show, they made fun of the fatty American diet and their studio desk was overflowing with all sorts of good ol' American food, like fried chicken, pizza, greasy hamburgers, and anything else with lots and lots of FAT.
Their upbeat show is broadcast all around Australia and is really popular, among both Aussies and Americans. It's interesting to see how other countries view America, and I haven't laughed so hard in months. It’s obvious that Aussies don't take themselves (or anyone else) too seriously, and that’s a refreshing attitude, compared to the intense, litigious, and nose-to-the-grindstone attitudes that are so prevalent back in the U.S. NBC's multi-billion dollar Olympics coverage, as slick and polished as it is, doesn't hold a candle to Roy and H.G.'s "Ice Dream."
I left Portland the next morning after driving by what is, quite seriously, the biggest tourist attraction in town: the aluminium plant. And no, that’s not a misspelling. What we call “a-LUM-inum” in the U.S. is called “al-u-MIN-ium” here. I don’t know why they added an extra letter, but there are a lot of things about Australia that I haven’t figured out yet.
I continued heading west along the coast in the morning and in mid-afternoon reached the small seaside resort town of Robe, located in the state of South Australia. Robe is a great town, the motel room here is nice, and the fish and chips at the local café are really good (there's that innate American craving for fat, I guess). As a result, I decided to spend three days here. I've been getting caught up with my website in Robe when I haven't been eating those delicious fish and chips. Tomorrow morning, though, it’s on to Adelaide.
Above left: A trail through the rainforest at Mait's Rest in Otway National Park, on the south coast of Australia. These ferns reminded me of New Zealand. Not surprising, I guess, given that it's the same latitude as Auckland. Above right: The best part of the Great Ocean Road is the 12 Apostles, a series of sea stacks along the coast.
Above left: Cliffs at the 12 Apostles. Above center: Here's one of the 12 Apostles. I counted only 11 of them. Above right: The Apostles viewpoint. There were lots of Japanese and Germans here, but not many Americans (or, surprisingly, Aussies).
Above left: Because of its name, I decided to spend a night in Portland. In fact, I spent two nights here and watched the last of the Winter Olympics. Above center: Crossing into my third state, South Australia. Above right: One of the crater lakes near the town of Mt. Gambier. This is sort of like Crater Lake in Oregon but it's much smaller. For reasons that are unknown, these lakes change color throughout the year.
Above left: The South Australia countryside near Mt. Gambier, with the Pacific Ocean in the distance. Above right: The harbor in the pleasant resort town of Robe, where I'm writing this update. Time to get some more fish and chips!
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