Picture day takes us out on the town and along the Great Ocean Road
At the University of Melbourne, people live in "colleges" - they're basically dormitories with fancy names, and occasionally they are aligned with a certain Christian denomination. I lived at the "Baptist" college, although none of this stops the drinking and casual sex that occurs at pretty much every college. Anyway, these colleges throw balls throughout the school year, and it gives everyone a chance to dress up nicely and drink a lot. It's fun. I went to a few, and it was neat because I got to wear flowery bow ties and cummerbuns. Unfortunately, dancing and drinking means things fall off, and I usually ended up stomping on my bow tie and really messing it up. Anyway, here's a bunch of us off to one of the balls:
Check me out! This ball was held on the other side of Melbourne, and we all walked home drunk at 1 o'clock in the morning. It's a ridiculously safe city.
In 1992 my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Yay, 'rents! They decided to take a three-week vacation to Australia to celebrate, and they were in town for my spring break. This meant I hung out with them instead of going to the interior of the continent with my Tasmanian travel buddies, and therefore missed flipping over in their car (yes, they really did flip over, as I mentioned here, but no one was hurt). My parents and I went around Melbourne, visited Philip Island and saw the fairy penguins (but didn't get good pictures because you're not allowed to use the flash because it scares the little buggers), went to Ballarat to check out the gold fields, and drove along the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the great drives in the world. Here's a map of the area of the Road:
The first picture is of Bell's Beach, one of the great surfing places in the world. It is here that the final scene of Point Break is set. Nik just posted a paean of praise of this movie, and I mentioned that one of the reasons it's excellent is because the final scene looks nothing like Bell's Beach. Nik pointed out it may have been in Oregon. It doesn't matter where the final scene was filmed, because the beach is still beautiful.
See?
This is my father on the beach. It was kind of chilly.
In order to get down to the beach, we needed to do some climbing. There I am!
Along the Great Ocean Road stand the Twelve Apostles. They are eight limestone formations right off the coast. They are very dramatic. If you have heard of them, you may have been told there were nine apostles. Well, one of them fell down recently. See them before the rest disappear!
Here's one picture of them.
Here's another photo of them.
More traveling with parents pictures next week! Remember, people, I'm giving books away! How can you pass up free stuff?
Check me out! This ball was held on the other side of Melbourne, and we all walked home drunk at 1 o'clock in the morning. It's a ridiculously safe city.
In 1992 my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Yay, 'rents! They decided to take a three-week vacation to Australia to celebrate, and they were in town for my spring break. This meant I hung out with them instead of going to the interior of the continent with my Tasmanian travel buddies, and therefore missed flipping over in their car (yes, they really did flip over, as I mentioned here, but no one was hurt). My parents and I went around Melbourne, visited Philip Island and saw the fairy penguins (but didn't get good pictures because you're not allowed to use the flash because it scares the little buggers), went to Ballarat to check out the gold fields, and drove along the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the great drives in the world. Here's a map of the area of the Road:
The first picture is of Bell's Beach, one of the great surfing places in the world. It is here that the final scene of Point Break is set. Nik just posted a paean of praise of this movie, and I mentioned that one of the reasons it's excellent is because the final scene looks nothing like Bell's Beach. Nik pointed out it may have been in Oregon. It doesn't matter where the final scene was filmed, because the beach is still beautiful.
See?
This is my father on the beach. It was kind of chilly.
In order to get down to the beach, we needed to do some climbing. There I am!
Along the Great Ocean Road stand the Twelve Apostles. They are eight limestone formations right off the coast. They are very dramatic. If you have heard of them, you may have been told there were nine apostles. Well, one of them fell down recently. See them before the rest disappear!
Here's one picture of them.
Here's another photo of them.
More traveling with parents pictures next week! Remember, people, I'm giving books away! How can you pass up free stuff?
posted by Greg | 3:10 PM
4 Comments:
Pilgrim/Heretic said to say HI!
Love the photos.
Beach-a-rific... I want to go. Can't you give away a free trip here instead?
No, because I'd take that trip. Hello Yankee Transplant. Y'all come back now, y'here?
When we were watching "Point Break" the other night, we noted how the only way you could tell they were in "Australia" at the end was the sign that said Bell's Beach and the guy who says "Mate" a lot. It definitely looked more like a West Coast beach than the one you're showing. Damn cheap producers!
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