L & L Australian Adventures

Patience Wins Again

My patience has gotten me through many different situations in life, though in some extremes even I have been a little worried about how long it will last. As we drove out of Geelong I wouldn’t say we really had a clear plan of how the rest of the weekend was going to go except for the basics. We wanted to do the Great Ocean Road drive and then see the Twelve Apostles. Sounded like a great plan…

We would be passing through several little beach towns on the way so we would have many options for a place to stay for the night. We drove along and stopped in a beach and surf town, Torquay. We took several pictures and then noticed the time and decided we better get going if we wanted to find a hotel or bed and breakfast to stay in. You’ll see from the pictures below we didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry at the time! We were having too much fun balancing on a fence and laughing when we fell or jumped off.

We drove to the next place on our list, Lorne, which is a very popular beach town. So popular that we later found out that in the summer season everywhere along the Great Ocean Road is booked out far in advance. We only saw “No Vacancy” signs as we passed each place. We decided to check out my new travel books to see if they had any recommendations for accommodations. I found a bed and breakfast in Apollo Bay and gave them a call. The man told me they had vacancies and to drive on up. So knowing we had a place to go to if we decided to made it feel less stressful for the next part of the drive but it was still very far from where we were at that moment.

The book also recommended stopping off to see a great area to spot koalas so we stopped to check it out. We parked the car and walked up a road where we spotted several throughout the trees. I expected to see them low in the trees so I could get a good look but they were all very high up and it was difficult to get very many good pictures. We tried. The best was a mom and its baby. The mom kept her eyes on us the whole time.

We continued our drive and kept our eyes peeled for any vacancies along the way. Nothing!!!! We started getting a little worried as it started to get dark and later into the evening. When we made it to Apollo Bay, there was a carnival going on and lots of people out and about at little restaurants and shops. We pulled in the driveway of the bed and breakfast and walked around not seeing where to go inside so I called to say we were there. The man who I spoke with before informed me that they gave the room away and that we were too late. I told him we drove all the way there because he had told us there was a room. UGH! This is where being patience sometimes bites you for being too nice. We decided we didn’t have time to argue so we got back in the car to examine our possibilities. The man did give me a number of a possible place but she was booked out too.

We drove around for several minutes and found nothing. We tried one more street and noticed a little motel had a Vacancy sign so we stopped. Luke went in to talk to them and they said they didn’t have anything available but they gave us the name of a woman who might. By now, Luke and I are starving and just want to know we will have a place to sleep. We knew we could keep driving but we might not have any luck especially with it being so late. We called a woman named Joyce and she said she had a room available at her bed and breakfast! She was at the little carnival so we met her there. We followed her to the little house and she showed us around. When I think of bed and breakfast I think of cute and quaint…not really what I was thinking at that moment we walked up to this one but it was a place to sleep and it had a bathroom so I wasn’t going to complain. She showed us where our sheets were so we could make the bed. Hmmm…red flag again. We went back into town and only found one place still serving food so we ate and headed back to the sketchy B&B.

The pictures below are from the next morning in the daylight. Imagine what it looked like at night. Just as sketchy and a little creepy!!! We made our bed and got ready to go to sleep. We turned on the TV to watch the Australian Open for awhile before we fell asleep.

Read the next blog to see what adventure happened in the middle of the night!!!

Torquay

Balancing act

Balancing Act

Koalas in the wild!

Koala Mum watching us closely

Grrrrrrr!!!

At least it was a place to sleep...

Our path to our room

Even sketchier at night

We didn't give you the dirty up close picture of that corner with the couches...

From the front. Doesn't really scream "Bed and Breakfast"

The Nash Box

The first time I probably heard about The Nash Box was on one of the first couple of dates Luke and I went on over 7 years ago! In the past when he has talked about his experience in Australia, The Nash Box is always brought up. I’ll explain The Nash Box in a minute.

Luke and three of his good friends decided to study abroad in Australia their senior year at K State. They believed they were going to be living in Melbourne but ended up about an hour away in Geelong at Deacon University. I have always loved hearing Michael and Luke discuss their adventures over here and Melissa and I always asked when they were going to take us on a vacation over. I guess Luke took that comment a little too far, didn’t he?! ;) Actually, when I’ve asked him in the past, he assumed we would make a trip to Australia in many, many years from now so it’s pretty crazy that we would end up living here 10 years after he had his first Australian Adventure. The adventures of course, are quite different. 10 years ago the dollar was what Luke refers to as “everything was basically half price.” Living the college lifestyle is also much different than being grownups over here now. But I continue to ask him questions daily about what is was like when they were here.

We rented a car and drove into Geelong. Luke’s eyes lit up when we got to a familiar area and he was the one talking nonstop this time! J All of the stories and names started coming together for me and it was so cool to finally see it all in person. We briefly walked around and then went immediately to The National Hotel. I’ve probably mentioned it before but most pubs are called “hotels” and if you see a place that says “Hotel” it might only be a pub or it might be a pub and a hotel. Anyway, this place reminded me, smell and all, of my favorite little college bar in Baldwin City, the Salt Mine. It was obvious that this was a place where the locals had been hanging out for years and there was no need for much upkeep because everyone still loved it.

At first we were worried they weren’t serving lunch but when we went inside we found out they were. We went to the back bar area and the chef came out to take our order. We told him Luke’s story of living there and how his friends ordered a Nash Box off the menu several times a week. He mentioned that the chef Luke referred to was a little Asian woman who always used too much spice and that he doesn’t cook the same way. We took our chances and ordered our noodles “hot” and hoped for some good spice. When Luke and his friends talked about ordering the Nash Box “hot” they said they would just guzzle water the whole time because it was so spicy. For those of you who love spicy food like me, it’s that awesome spicy flavor that burns your whole mouth but you can’t stop eating it because it is so good! This is what I was looking forward to experiencing though it wasn’t quite as excruciating as planned. Luke said that it was just as good as he remembered it although we didn’t get the spice we were looking for. It didn’t matter to me though- I was just so excited to finally experience this and I thought it was excellent!

We walked around after lunch and Luke showed me all the places he used to go to. The golf stores, bars, restaurants, book stores, the building they lived in, the bakery below that kept them smelling fresh bread early every morning. We even walked around to the back of their building so he could show me where they would climb up the fire escape to get in sometimes. One of the ladders was down and we noticed an open door several stories up but we decided not to chance it though I bet it would have made a good blog!!! Next we made it to the Carlton Hotel which was a pub they frequented for dancing, drinking, and a good time! I can only imagine the stories from here that I haven’t heard!! We walked down to the Geelong waterfront and took some fun pictures. When we decided to drive out of town, Luke drove me by the university and then another little bar they visited often called The Ponds Hotel. Hmmm…no wonder he loved it over here!

We made it!!