Aftermath

I spent gobs of money in Melbourne on Saturday when I stumbled upon a street of outdoor stoors. The whole street! I could spend all the money I ever earn on outdoor stores and book stores. It's like crack.

On a less lighthearted note, I took the scenic route out of Melbourne, which turned out to also be the area burned by the bushfires. I should have figured it out when I looked at the map, but I wasn't looking at suburb names- just highway numbers. I drove through Whittlesea and West Kinglake. West Kinglake was missing half the buildings in the town and as you drove out toward the north along what you could tell used to be a really pretty drive, there were some driveways where the only thing standing at the end was the mailbox, and then next door a whole house and yard would be standing, still green even. I didn't take any pictures, for obvious reasons. Two months on and the only structure on many of the properties were outfitter tents and those big garbage boxes used by contractors when renovating a house. I made a donation to the red cross tin at the next gas station I stopped at and drove on, not stopping until I got to the border of New South Wales and then slept in the car.

I had plans to drive all the way to Sydney yesteday, but when I woke up I still wasn't feeling particularly travelish. At 11:30 I saw a sign for the road to Canberra (Australia's Capital), which was only another hour down the road to the south so I turned off the freeway and got to a cheap little B&B by 1:30. Instead of checking out the sights, I did my laundry and watched Law and Order all afternoon. It was nice to have a afternoon to veg out for once.

This morning I feel like I have my gogo juice back so I am going to check out the Australian Parliament House and hit the road to Sydney by noon. Tomorrow: New Zealand!

-A.