Does this not look exactly like the Tuolumne River? Okay, well maybe this has a bit more foliage than Groveland...but it's nice to imagine I was back at camp, even if it was only for a few minutes.










This was the day it rained twelve inches in two hours. Oh, rain. How I miss thee.











When Laura and I were on our way back from the Healesville Animal Sanctuary, we had to wait an hour and a half for the bus. We were exhausted, having spent the entire day on the tram and the train and two different buses just to GET there, and having walked around the sanctuary for hours. We decided it would be an excellent idea to sniff eucalyptus because we thought it would wake us up...and then we remembered that it puts you to sleep...which is why koalas are never awake. Whoopsie.



I loved this building so much. The other windowsill was filled with tacky porcelain figurines of Disney characters and random animated mice. Rest assured that my future home in Australia will have NONE of those.














My standard breakfast. I've currently overloaded on vanilla yogurt, and summer produce is getting rarer and rarer to find in good condition, but at one point this was what I used to break my fast. If I correctly recall, that was one hell of a nectarine. Plus the yogurt here is incredible because it's thick and when you take a bite, it doesn't punch you in the throat saying "Hi! I'm sugar! Let's be friends." It's wonderful.

My first koala in the wild! We passed this little friend on our way through the town of Lorne on the Great Ocean Road. Laura had just promised anyone $3.00 if they made a viable koala sighting, and literally seconds later we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road and a woman was standing, looking up with her camera. It was too perfect.












After waking up from our first night of camping, we went on a short amble to Stevenson Falls. If it weren't for the exotic birds, giant tree ferns, and eucalypts, the Otway National Forest could have been Yosemite. The river that ran along the trail looked EXACTLY like the South Fork of the Tuolumne River, and at certain points along the way the air smelled like Mountain Misery (I could have sworn on multiple occasions that I even saw the kit-kit-dizze, but alas - not in Australia).









Miraculously, after a string of grey days, Saturday was HOT (33 C - about 96 F) so it was gorgeous for the 12 Apostles (of which there are only 9 or 10 remaining). They're gigantic rock stacks that used to be attached to the cliffs, but have been eroded over time by the water. They were stunning! Well worth the 300+ mile drive.






After the 12 Apostles, we drove to Johanna Beach to relax in the sun for a few hours. You can't tell in this picture, but this beach had probably THE biggest waves I have ever seen. Obviously nowhere near the waves you see in those extreme surfing documentaries, but these were massive. I mean absolutely humongous. The surfers were getting pounded. It was amazing.

From my balcony - the hardest downpour I have ever seen in my life. It rained a foot in 2 hours.











This is for you, Mama! Chocolate Henriettas at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.










We found this really pretty garden with an amazing lily pond, and there was this perfect climbing tree with branches that stretched out over the water. In this one I'm trying to recreate the scene in Dirty Dancing when they're dancing over the creek on the log. All I need is a Patrick Swayze.







One of the gang of rainbow lorikeets that convene in the eucalyptus tree next to my balcony every evening. They are surprisingly elusive little things. I think they know they're being watched.