Great Dividing Trail

As I mentioned earlier, I spent the past 12 days hiking the Great Dividing Trail.  The GDT runs 190 km (118 miles) from Ballarat to Bendigo in the north central part of Victoria.  It was a very nice hike.  It is a well marked trail for the most part and no major hills or mountains to account for and I had to average about 19 km (~12 miles) a day.  There were many sections of the trail that were "closed" due to the recent flooding, but that didn't stop me from hiking those sections.  There were trees down across the trail or a creek crossing was a mass of downed trees and debris but it wasn't anything that couldn't be navigated around.
Day 1
After taking a train to Ballarat I started hiking just past midday.  While I was getting organized at the rail station in Ballarat a lady came over and asked me if I was an international backpacker. We chatted for a bit and she reflected the sentiment that I've heard a lot since I've been here about backpackers:  there are heaps of backpackers from Germany and France, but relatively few from the US.  She then asked me if I planned on traveling to Canberra, Australia's capitol.  When I told her I wasn't planning to she said, "That's fine.  Canberra's nothing but roundabouts and politicians anyway."  "Well I don't have much of a preference for either of them so I don't think I'll miss anything." was my response.  The day itself was pleasant, right around 80 degrees with overcast skies.  Perfect hiking weather.  The extent of the recent flooding that hit the area was evident on the hike.  There was one part of the trail that ran along the river and the high water line on the trees was a solid 10-12 feet above the level of the creek bed.  Debris was everywhere along the creeks.  Massive trees tangled and twisted into and on top of one another were further evidence of the recent fury of the creeks.  I camped along a creek at a campsite that was closed due to the flooding.  I saw an echidna and 2 kangaroos during my journey as well.
Day 2
Today was sunny and warm, in the mid 80s.  There was more evidence of flooding at every creek crossing; lots of trees down, grass flattened where creeks had overrun their banks.  I had a lot of road walking to do in the afternoon.  I road walked between farm fields.  There were heaps of rosellas (a parrot-like bird), and magpies and I saw and heard several kookaburras too.
Day 3
Beautiful day.  I hiked along an old railway bed that was used to transport timber to the mills in the 1850s and 1860s.  Along the way there were information signs talking about the region's history in the timber industry.  3 echidnas crossed my path today.  One interesting thing about echidnas is when they are spooked they either bury their head under a rock or they tuck under themselves and lie real still.  If you weren't paying close attention you could easily mistake them for a plant when they are in that position.  I guess if you have long sharp quills you don't really need to do much to protect yourself.  I came to Sailor's Falls, a nice little falls of about 25-30 feet.  I camped right off the trail in the park that Sailor's Falls was in.  I'm not sure if it was allowed but I didn't see any signs saying I couldn't.
Day 4
Warmest day on the trail so far.  Sunny skies and temperatures in the high 80s.  I didn't do too much hiking today, maybe 5.5 miles.  The trail passed through Daylesford and I needed to resupply so I took my time.  I was in no rush to finish the trail and at this point I'm ahead of schedule.  I treated myself to ice cream and bought some cookies to pack out of town with me.  I must have walked up and down every aisle in the supermarket twice today just as an excuse to get out of the heat.
Day 5
It was a hot day, in the 90s for sure.  I left Daylesford and made it to Hepburn Springs in no time.  Hepburn Springs exists because of the mineral waters that flow there.  The waters were discovered during the gold rush of the early 1850s.  When the gold was exhausted the town turned to the mineral waters.  I filled up a litre with some mineral water to drink for lunch.  It tasted pretty good; like soda water with a slight odor of sulphor.  The woods are swarming with flies.  I could hear them in the trees above me.  It sounded like the faint hum of electricity or the far away sound of car tires running on smooth blacktop.  The flies don't bite, they just annoy the hell out of me.  Every now and then one tags along with me for a while landing repeatedly on my face and sunglasses.  The first few days followed old rail and tram beds that were constructed during the timber boom.  Now I'm getting into gold mining country.
Day 6
A day much like yesterday.  Clear skies and hot.  I finally saw someone on the trail:  3 mountain bikers passed me in the morning and I saw a couple looking for sights to do metal detecting.  I passed by several ruins of gold mining huts and the couple told me they've found artifacts at sites such as those.  Not a lot of gold, but little brass buttons and pendants.  Some of which had engraving of shamrocks or Chinese writing, a relic of the Irish and Chinese immigrants who were lured into the bush at the prospect of finding gold.  Spent all afternoon at Vaughan Springs, another one of the natural springs in the area.  I've seen quite a few wallabies in the past couple of days.
Day 7
It started raining about 7.30 am.  Seeing how I was in my hammock I quickly grabbed my stuff and went into a restroom to wait out the storm.  Luckily I stayed at Vaughan Springs last night.  It rained until about 9 am and then it ended up being a pretty nice day.  The blackberries are starting to ripen and I grabbed a couple handfuls while hiking.  The trail took me by abandoned gold mines.  Again there were little information signs at each one talking about the machinery used and how the gold was extracted.  I made it all the way to Castlemaine, I didn't plan on it but I did.  I went to the rail station to escape the heat and watched some of the Australian Open.  I had trouble finding the trail leading out of town so I asked someone if he knew whereabouts the trail was.  He didn't, but when I told him what I was doing he asked me if I had found Jesus along the trail.  He then proceeded to tell me how important Jesus was to have in your life and in the next breath said Jesus isn't too happy with him at the moment because he is a bit of a pot head.  Needless to say he wasn't much help in finding the trail.  I camped by a creek in town with the plan of asking someone else for directions in the morning.
Day 8
I found my way out of town.  It turned out the road on the map that is labeled as Bourke Street is actually Happy Valley Road, which was why I wasn't able to find Bourke Street last night.  It was another nice hot, sunny day.  I passed more gold mining ruins and had my first significant uphill jaunt.  I climbed a little mountain and hiked through a pine forest for a bit.  It was a nice change of scenery from all the eucalypts and red gums I had been hiking through.  I stopped for lunch next to a cow pasture and was the object of intense fascination for 6 cows.  They came right up to the fence and didn't take their large, coal-black eyes off of me the entire time I was eating and reading.  I felt very much like an animal at the zoo.
Day 9
What a day.  Where to begin.  It started off in the middle of the night when it began to rain.  The way I set my pack against my tent allowed water to run directly into my tent.  I realized it a bit too late to save my sleeping bag from getting pretty wet.  It was a decent shower, complete with a bit of thunder and lightning.  In the morning I dried everything out real well.  Actually the sun did all the drying, I just sat around.  I wasn't concerned about time because I was only going about 9 miles.  Or so I thought at the time.  I started up Mt. Alexander, a mountain with granite outcrops.  Somewhere on the way down I lost the trail, in a big way.  The trail was in poor condition, it was overgrown in area and there were numerous trees to scramble over.  Once I realized I had lost the trail I did exactly what you are not supposed to do when lost:  I kept walking in the direction I was headed.  I spied a gravel track further down the mountain and commenced to bushwhack down the mountain through waist high weeds that hid branches and rocks that would leap up and grab my toes, causing me to trip and stumble my way down.  On the bright side I startled many kangaroos and saw an echidna.  I got to the dirt track and followed it down hill to a paved road.  I flagged a truck down as it was coming down the same dirt track I followed in hopes of getting directions to the trail.  My hopes were dashed as soon as I saw the two people in the car.  They were, as John and Katie would say, a couple of bucktowners.  The driver had a mullet hair cut and the closest thing to a country accent I've heard since I've been here.  He pointed in a direction to head with the closing remark of "That should get you to Sutton-Grange Road."  I didn't have many options at this point, so I placed all my faith in the "should" and headed off in that direction.  It was a very hot day to road walk on black asphalt, but I didn't have much of a choice.  I stopped another car to ask again for directions and this driver didn't know too much either, but he did offer me a lift for several miles.  I took him up on that lift and found a spot under a tree full of noisy galahs (another parrot-like birds) for lunch and to hash out a plan.  At this point I figured my best bet would be to hitch into Bendigo, pick up the trail where it starts in town and head south along the trail.  Not 10 minutes after I started walking I was picked up by another car.  Now, had Mr. Pot Head Jesus been with me he would have said that that driver was sent to me from God.  Alas, Mr. Pot Head Jesus was back in Castlemaine enjoying what I'm sure was a nice long toke at that moment and not with me, so I'll just chalk it up to coincidence.  The driver ended up taking me all the way to the Bendigo rail station, where the GDT starts in town.  He first said he could get me within a couple miles of Bendigo.  Seeing how I was about 8-9 miles from Bendigo by road I was more than happy to get that far.  Then he said he'll take me just a little further so I'd only have about a 5 minute walk on account that it was a pretty hot day.  Then he looked in the back and said "Aw hell, you've got a big pack with you, I'll just take you all the way to the rail station."  He was a real nice guy, we chatted about the absurdity of buying bottled water, the game of cricket, and the travels I've done while in the country.  He was a real saving grace.  I was getting very frustrated with myself at the moment he stopped to pick me up and when he dropped me off I had a fresh outlook on my situation.  I spent the afternoon in Bendigo hanging out in the town gardens.  I hiked for about an hour in the evening to camp, which is where I spent my last 3 nights.
Day 10
I did a day hike south along the trail to make up for some of the miles I lost yesterday.  I hiked about 14 miles round trip.  It turns out I didn't miss much, the trail was very monotonous.  The trail followed an access road along a man made water way leading to a fenced off reservoir.  Once again the them of the day was hot and sunny.
Day 11
I spent the entire day in the library.  I researched where to go and what to see and do when I get back from Tasmania.  It was very productive and saved me a day's worth of research when I get back to Melbourne.  I realized that there is a lot of Australia left to see and little time left to see it.  I will have to make sure I set priorities for myself.  Some places and sights will get scratched while others I'll just have to be content to see in passing. 
Day 12
I left Bendigo for Melbourne via train.  When I got to the hostel I had a little scare for about 20 minutes.  Before I left for the trail I talked to the manager of the hostel and she agreed to stow the belongings I wouldn't be taking with me on the trail.  When I got to the hostel to retrieve said belongings the staff working were not able to find them.  I initially was told my best option was to come back on Monday (this day being Saturday) and speak to the manager then.  When I explained to them that all I had with me was camping gear and dirty, sweaty clothes they allowed me into the storage room to look for my stuff.  After about 20 minutes of being assured repeatedly that "we've never lost a bag" and becoming more and more worried the safe was opened and there was the rest of my belongings.  The hostel was pretty booked and initially I was told there were no beds available, but the girl that helped me look told me that they always keep a few beds open for emergencies and set me up for 2 nights.  That catastrophe averted I showered, did laundry, and treated myself to a half gallon of caramel swirl vanilla ice cream. 

Bendigo, Victoria

A lot has happened and I haven't had the time nor the opportunity to write.  So this will be a quick little appetizer.  The full entree will come in a few days once I'm back (again) in Melbourne.  So after calling around 30 WWOOFing hosts looking for a place, I finally found one.  Only problem was it was out near the place Giulia and I just left.  So we decided not to take that.  Instead, Giulia wanted to travel on her own a bit and try to find a job in Adelaide.  That was a bummer to lose my travelling companion.  It was fun having someone to hang around with.  I thought it'd be nice to visit Tasmania, so after checking flights I found a round trip flight for around $100.  Which was awesome.  Only it wasn't for another 2 weeks.  I could spend 2 weeks and around $350 in hostel fees bumming around Melbourne, or I could find a trail to spend the time on.  I found a trail.  I left on January 18th to hike the Great Dividing Trail from Ballarat to Bendigo.  The Trail is 190km, ~ 118 miles.  I had 11 days to do it in, so it wasn't too tough.  But it was an adventure.  I'll blog all about it once I'm in Melbourne.  This will have to hold you over for another couple days.

Back in Melbourne

My time at Leon and Cathy's was fun.  Leon was quite knowledgeable about birds and when he found out I was interested in birds he didn't waste an opportunity to identify a bird or a bird call.  The work wasn't too bad either, general gardening/farming work.  For the first five days I was the only WWOOFer they had.  Then I was joined by another WWOOFer from Italy.  After spending my first month in Oz wandering around Sydney and Melbourne by myself and then going out to the middle of nowhere it was quite nice to have someone to hang out with.  So nice in fact that when the other WWOOFer, Giulia, told me she was leaving I joined her and went back to Melbourne.  Working on the farm was an enjoyable experience, but I sort of felt trapped being there.  It was about an hour from the nearest thing that could be called a town and their closest neighbors lived 4 km away.  It was just a bit too isolated for me to be the only WWOOFer there.  But I did get to see a lot of wildlife, including a couple venomous snakes.  Wallabies, an echidna, a koala, blue-tongued lizards, red-bellied black snake, and tiger snake were among the animals that I spotted.  The bird count was even greater and I even learned to identify a few birds by their songs. 
The past 5 or 6 days we've seen nothing but rain.  There has been a constant light rain with few breaks.  Though things are beginning to look better.  I finally saw the sun for the first time in several days yesterday afternoon and it ended up being a beautiful afternoon and evening.  Today has started off sunny and it's supposed to be that way all day.  The rains around Melbourne have been nothing compared to the rains that have fallen in parts of Queensland.  The extent of the flooding up north is incredible.  House have been lifted from their stumps and carried away by the torrent of water, towns have been turned into islands with floodwaters cutting off access to them. 
For now the plan is to find another host to WWOOF at for a week or so, and then spend a few more days in Melbourne.  It's been nice having a traveling companion, I am enjoying Giulia's company and getting lessons in Italian as well.  I have learned that if I add a vowel to the end of a word and say it with an Italian accent I have about an 80% chance of saying it correctly in Italian.  I don't know where I'll go after I leave Melbourne.  Could be Adelaide. Could be Tasmania.  Could be Perth.  Who knows.  I probably won't know until I buy the bus or train ticket to take me there.

Madalya, Victoria

After having a great time at Rocky Horror Picture Show, a New Year's party, and seeing a local band, I headed off to woop-woop (Aussie slang for the middle of nowhere).  I travelled 3.5 hours by bus to a small town called Yarram where I was picked up and travelled another hour to the house.  The hosts I'm staying with are Leon and Cathy.  Cathy is a fellow Midwesterner, hailing from Chicago, while Leon is an Aussie through and through.  They live on about 85 acres of land, most of which they allow nature to take its course.  They've got a fairly expansive garden, which is where I've been weeding and clearing away brush for the past couple days.  Their house is pretty neat.  It is off the grid, using hydro power for electricity and collecting rain water to use.  Leon and Cathy are both very interesting people, I can learn a lot from them. 
Their house sits in the hills of the Strzlecki (or something like that) Range.  From atop the Range it is possible to see the Bass Strait, the body of water separating Australia from Tasmania.  The wildlife is in abundance.  There are countless birds around, and since Leon knows a bit about birds I quiz him everytime I see or hear one.  Wallabies are a common sighting too.  On a trip into town I saw an echidna, a fox, a yellow tailed cockatoo, several wallabies, and a koala sleeping in a nook of a tree.  The koala was by far the highlight of the town trip.