Without a map, we made our way out of Adelaide (which is a city that seems to go on forever). Before long, we were back on the road. It felt strange to be on our own again. With a drop dead date to get to the boat to Tasmania, we wanted to make time. We stopped for lunch in a typical Aussie town, Coonalpyn, at Peg’s Shoestring Kitchen. We were the only one eating Peg’s special cuisine (tuna salad sandwiches with chips), but as we waited for our meal, we browsed through her selection of magazines- from August 1997!
On the wall was this saying:
“If you love something, set it free. If it returns, you haven’t lost it; if it disappears and never comes back, then it wasn’t yours to begin with. And if it just sits there watching TV, unaware that it’s been set free, then you probably married it”
We got into Ballarat, an old mining town, and using our LP, stopped at what was listed as an inexpensive hotel/bar. It was in the middle of major renovation- and we gulped at the room rates—upwards of $200. At 6 PM, and no other recommendations in Lonely Planet, we took to the streets and found another hotel/bar that looked a bit more affordable. Using our “Rules of Hotel/Pub Accommodation”, we checked out the room and asked the question, “What time does the bar close?” The owner told us that the closing time wouldn’t be a problem, but that we should know that it was the night of the local colleges’ “Pub Crawl”—1200 college freshman would be making their way across town, stopping in groups of 300 at the local pubs- ending with a huge blowout complete with band. With no other options, we decided to chance it and made our way to a Thai restaurant recommended by the owner. Dinner was absolutely heavenly.
We hadn’t seen much evidence of the pub crawl as yet. We got back to the hotel and decided to stop for a drink at the bar. Prices were great- specials for the pub crawl had wine at $2 a glass. I was all for leaving before the first group of 300 arrived, but John convinced me to take a front row seat by the door and watch the show. It was amazing- they descended like locusts on the bar and we were immediately surrounded by Aussie 18 year olds—already well on their way to being “pissed”. We were shocked to find that a few of these 18 year olds actually wanted to talk to us. They were probably just as shocked to see two old farts sitting around on this particular night.
We found ourselves adopted by a 20 year old girl named Kirsti with a larger than life personality. She had us in stitches telling us about her nursing education – she “loves blood and guts”. During the summer, she would work in a nursing home and she had stories of giving showers to 92 year old guys who would proposition her. She talked with us the entire time allocated for this pub….and then, came back – dragging along her ‘hot guy” from her high school and one of her roommates. We can’t remember laughing so hard. It was a great way to get back to OZ- on our own. Made us miss Jean and Gordon though—they would have loved this place!
“If you love something, set it free. If it returns, you haven’t lost it; if it disappears and never comes back, then it wasn’t yours to begin with. And if it just sits there watching TV, unaware that it’s been set free, then you probably married it”
We got into Ballarat, an old mining town, and using our LP, stopped at what was listed as an inexpensive hotel/bar. It was in the middle of major renovation- and we gulped at the room rates—upwards of $200. At 6 PM, and no other recommendations in Lonely Planet, we took to the streets and found another hotel/bar that looked a bit more affordable. Using our “Rules of Hotel/Pub Accommodation”, we checked out the room and asked the question, “What time does the bar close?” The owner told us that the closing time wouldn’t be a problem, but that we should know that it was the night of the local colleges’ “Pub Crawl”—1200 college freshman would be making their way across town, stopping in groups of 300 at the local pubs- ending with a huge blowout complete with band. With no other options, we decided to chance it and made our way to a Thai restaurant recommended by the owner. Dinner was absolutely heavenly.We hadn’t seen much evidence of the pub crawl as yet. We got back to the hotel and decided to stop for a drink at the bar. Prices were great- specials for the pub crawl had wine at $2 a glass. I was all for leaving before the first group of 300 arrived, but John convinced me to take a front row seat by the door and watch the show. It was amazing- they descended like locusts on the bar and we were immediately surrounded by Aussie 18 year olds—already well on their way to being “pissed”. We were shocked to find that a few of these 18 year olds actually wanted to talk to us. They were probably just as shocked to see two old farts sitting around on this particular night.
We found ourselves adopted by a 20 year old girl named Kirsti with a larger than life personality. She had us in stitches telling us about her nursing education – she “loves blood and guts”. During the summer, she would work in a nursing home and she had stories of giving showers to 92 year old guys who would proposition her. She talked with us the entire time allocated for this pub….and then, came back – dragging along her ‘hot guy” from her high school and one of her roommates. We can’t remember laughing so hard. It was a great way to get back to OZ- on our own. Made us miss Jean and Gordon though—they would have loved this place! 
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