Krista Grothoff

So we decided we'd take a road trip. Originally we were going to take a bus trip to Sydney and back, but when we found out they'd cancelled all of the interesting bus routes, we broke down and decided to rent a car. Keep in mind that Christian not only hates to drive, but hadn't brought his driver's license, so this means that poor little old me had to drive the rental car all over creation! I'd never driven on the left-hand side of the road, and hadn't driven a stick-shift in YEARS. Even when I did drive a standard, the gear shift was (of course) on the other side, so it was... entertaining.

The worst part, of course, was that I had to start out driving in an unfamiliar city! I was terrified, shaking, and made all sorts of interesting driving decisions (no comments about fast braking, Christian!), but we made it out of the city. At this point, Christian decided the driver needed a break. (I was nearly crying I was so wound up... I think Christian might have almost wished he'd brought his license along anyway!) We stopped off at Monash University for some food and a walk around campus. Even with the impending rainstorm, the campus was really pretty to walk around. Outside of more struggles with the ATMs of Australia (don't ask) and Christian's discovery that there would be no Internet access that day, it was an enjoyable break from road fear.

After that, more driving through the rain. Our goal was to make it to Paradise Beach before dark. Christian decided we'd go off-the-beaten path a bit through Holey Plains State Park, even though there was what looked like (from the map) a very short patch of unsealed road we'd have to drive on. The rental agency, of course, has instructed us not to do this, so the goody-two-shoes driver wasn't exactly happy, but we drove on. We got to the park, and the first thing CityGirl driver discovered was that it was one-lane road through the park. This made me sort of nervous, since the road was a bit windy and the park rangers kept passing me and looking at me like I was a freak for driving so slowly. The worst thing was that I'd entered what my old friend Grant used to call "safety mode" - my adrenaline had been going for so long that I was freaked out about everything. Add to this that some Australian-friends-of-mine-who-shall-not-be-mentioned decided to fill my head with visions of evil snakes and spiders everywhere, and I was actually afraid to get out of the car when we stopped. Yeah, yeah, I admit it was stupid NOW, but I think Christian was either perturbed or amused at how much it took to get me to go walk around with him.

Anyway, at some point after we got back into the car, we hit the "unsealed road" - this turned out to be a narrow, winding stretch of mud frequented by massive logging trucks. If I'd been wound up before, this was really driving me nuts! Rain, mud, windy roads, and logging trucks. Mmmmmm. Looking back on it, I had fun underneath the terror, but I do recall being awfully scared to drive over a dubious-looking little bridge covered in mud and water. Anyway, the drive through the park ended up taking a looooooooooooooooooong time; yes, this was my fault, and yes, this was a recurring theme when we ended up driving on twisty roads.

Christian did take some nice pictures though :) Oh, and I should mention (this is for Christian's benefit because I'm evil) that the web page for Holey Plains State Park has the following warning: "Most tracks are narrow and winding so please drive slowly and use only sign posted tracks" (I'm trying to tone down my "Big Chicken Girl" image here!)

After we got through the park, I was dead tired and not too happy to still be driving. Some of the same Australian friends who'd put me off about snakes and spiders also warned me about kangaroos jumping in front of cars at night. Don't get me wrong, I know deer and other animals do the same in the US, but I don't see very well at night and didn't want to drive after dark. Unfortunately, it took me forever to get us through the park, and it was starting to get pretty dark by the time we were headed toward the beach. We drove toward Seaspray, hoping to find a place to eat and either a place to sleep or a place to park the car and pass out for the night. Seaspray, though, was so small we basically missed it while driving through it, and after some convincing of grumpy Krista to drive further along the coast until we found some place with food, we plowed on.

Click here to see the pictures!

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