This was a grand experience. I will talk mostly through pictures here, after I give a general intro. It was the Great Ocean Road Trip organized by the RMIT. The people: 5 of us (SM included) + a British girl whose name was something like Tunisia (she was of Indian origin but was born and brought up in Srilanka) + a Thai family of three + 2 American girls + 1 Dutch girl (who is half Indonesian) + team leader Jim (originally Egyptian) + guide and driver Pete (the lone Aussie).Pulkit and Kartik were determined to score as social beings this time. So they chatted up the others, right from the word go. Even Jai who chose to be quiet so far, joined in. SM’s intentions of chatting however were as usual not noble. And his PJs were unparalled today. I was the quietest one of us IITians. That was because, it was pretty evident that the others were not too interested in speaking to us. It was more like a Q & A session with the Indians asking all the questions. And the girls answered appropriately and in a friendly manner. But, I wonder if they even knew any of our names at the end of the day.
The target of the day was Pulkit. He is basically nice but for the fact that he whines a lot, and that 76.45% of his sentences end with ‘man’ – I want to do this maan; I will like to go there maan; shit maan; why maan; You should be more cool, maan; How come anyone like Nadal, maan! The last of the sentences was especially not taken in good spirits by Kartik and SM, and that gave them more reason to make fun of him, so that the next time Pulkit said “I like it cloudy rather than sunny, (man)” they prompted him that his next statement would be “Why does the sun even exist ? How come anyone like the sun?” Also the high hair cutting prices were already taking a toll on him. The hair falling on his ears caused interesting interference phenomenon, that made him hear “There is a power-cut” when I actually said “I went to a bar-be-que” and when Darcy said “I am half-Indonesian”, he heard, “I have never met an Asian”
Pete was a funny chap. He liked his job, and was very informative as well. He talked to us over the microphone. From him we learnt that Kangaroos are super muscular beings. If a car at 100 kmph, rams into one, more harm would be caused to the car than the roo.
This bird at one beach grabbed the attention of Kate, and since then we sort of wasted some 15 mins over it. It seemed hale and hearty but the fact that it didn't move even when we went very near it was a cause of immense concern for the girls. So much so that Jim had to call up the Wildlife Protection Team for support. Jai summed up the feelings of us Indians "Ek chiriya hi to hai. Kahe itna nautanki kar rha hai?"
Koalas sleep for 20 hours a day. The remaining 4 hours they eat.
These birds were out in the open. They flew down from the trees and ate seeds from the hands of the tourists. There were a few ducks too, who weren’t paid as much attention and were hence envious.
The walk in a coniferous rainforest where we found this fungus. This is a habitat of carnivorous snails as well although we weren’t lucky enough to see one. Pete said that once he had two British tourists and when he had informed them about these snails, one British asked the other “What’s a carnivorous snail?”. The other one replied in a whisper, “It’s a snail that eats humans!!!” The Aussies enjoy tremendously in making fun of the British.
The twelve apostles of which some have collapsed over time. All these rocks are formed by deposition of dead organisms.
We went on a short expedition to a cave at Lockard Gorge. Most people weren’t that artistic in jumping over the crags and gaps and rocks and water. But I, the agile and nimble footed being that I am, made to the cave with ease and grace. Nah! Just kidding. Me too was in a similar situation, full of spirit though, and even when the high tide waves made me wet upto the knees, I dragged myself on.
London Arc, which was once a bridge but once when a married couple came here some years ago, it collapsed and they were left stranded. The media reached the place before the rescue team. But it was seen that the lady and the man were hiding their faces. Everyone wondered why. Turned out that they were married, but not to each other !!!
(Pete gave us these details)
Poor fellow Jim had to take most of the group photos.
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