When Two Becomes Three

We've been waiting to make the announcement, and it is finally official MY BROTHER HAS JOINED US!! Apparently he just couldn't handle the stress of working life, and wanted to make my parents really proud, so he quit his job and flew to Australia to join us! It's been nice having someone else around (especially someone who likes to work-out, something we have been slacking on).

Tyler's arrival also means we are back to rocking it campervan style. Although 3 people in a van is much tighter, I'm sure we can make it work. We spent the first couple days with him re-driving the Great Ocean Road. The weather was much cooler this time so we got to go and walk around a lot more. As we looped back towards Melbourne we stopped at Grampians National Park for some hiking. Unfortunately, there was a high fire danger so we were limited to shorter hikes. The scenery was fantastic and we got all of our hikes in early, before the heat started to really sink in. We finished the day back in Melbourne to pick up yet another guest (aren't we just popular all of a sudden!).

Jenn flew over from Adelaide to spend the weekend. We decided to explore Melbourne since we've been around the city for over 2 weeks but haven't spent much time actually in it. We found a campsite close to public transportation and made that our base camp. I wouldn't recommend 4 people in a van for very long but we are cheap and on a budget, so we all squeezed in. On day one we walked ALL over the city: took a tour of the MCG (giant cricket stadium), watched a street performer in Federation Square, walked through the Victoria Street Market, and managed to wander through some sketchy parts of town in search of dinner which turned out to be amazing!!!

On day 2 we found a sports bar to watch the Broncos game at 9 AM (kickoff was at 8:30, but they didn't open til 9). The game was nuts and we probably should've gone back into town instead to save the stress! After the disappointing ending we headed back into town. Because the game went into overtime we missed out on a chocolate tour, so we made our own tour and stopped buy Haiges for some delicious treats. We walked around a little bit more and all decided we were done walking so we headed back to camp for an evening of cards. I was glad to finally use the cards we have been lugging around since day 1.

The next morning we dropped Jenn off at the airport and headed out of town. Melbourne was fun but we are ready to see something new. We are taking the interior roads to Sydney and then will hop back to the coast for some beach time. I haven't driven much, but I took a turn today and about 30 minutes in we head a thud, followed by a crash (and then raining glass). A passing car flung a rock at our side window and destroyed it!! Adam about had a heart attack, as he was sitting in the back at the time of the explosion of glass. Now we have a lovely plastic window waving in the wind until we can make it to Sydney to get it repaired. Like Tyler said...it wouldn't be a trip with out some car trouble!

You can see more pictures here