No Rules, Just Right

Originally posted April 29, 2016

I feel compelled to confirm what you may already have suspected:  Outback Steakhouse is in no way a representation of Australia.  The one exception is the first part of their slogan, as there often seems to be no rules at all here.  I was again reminded of this when we just got our cars.  We had arranged months ago to get a mini-van (perfect for visitors and triathlons) and a small car, which turned out to be a civic.  After hearing every week for 4 months that the cars would arrive “soon,” (because why would you work for more than 5 hours a day and complete your work at the car dealership when it’s a lovely summer day out?!) we were in a bit of disbelief when Honda called and said they had our cars last week.  The van was available first and Nate asked them to drop it off to him at his office.  At the predetermined time, Nate came downstairs to the street level, looked across the street and spotted a guy with a Honda Odyssey.  As he crossed the street, Nate did the “man head nod” to the guy and the said, “Hi, I think you’ve got my car.”  The man smiled and exclaimed, “Oh, brilliant!” and proceeded hand Nate the keys and then sealed the deal by telling him to have a nice day, then left.  It wasn’t until later that we realized Nate didn’t sign any piece of paper stating he got the car, nor did he receive any registration for it.  We are pretty sure anyone on the street could have just told the Honda guy they wanted the van and he would have given it to them!  After recalling this chain of events to me, I was excited to see what happened when they brought me the civic the next day.  The exact same thing happened. Jasper, the Honda representative asked if I was Ashley and handed me keys.   We did learn later than all registrations are electronic so that wasn’t an issue, but the casualness and lack of official documentation for the process was just mind blowing!

The other recent activity that made us realize just how few rules there really are was a dolphin swim excursion.  The Mornington Peninsula, a 1-1.5 hour drive from Melbourne is a magical area filled with fruit orchards, award winning wineries, precious towns with great beaches, and hot springs.  At the very tip of the peninsula is a town called Sorrento and then a national park that goes to the very end of the land with excellent walking tracks.  We heard you could swim with dolphins off boats near Sorrento and originally were pleased with the vision of a Seaworld-like encounter where the trainer lets you pet the dolphin who is barely considered wild anymore.  The logistics of what we actually did blew us out of the water (pun intended).  In the water surrounding the peninsula, there are about 100 bottlenose dolphins, but a unique species to the area.  They are quite large and, as we learned, extremely playful.  The boat trip went like this:

We arrived at the pier at sunrise where two crew members, Theo and Jess, handed you a wetsuit in exchange for cash or a credit card payment (no waivers, no documents, just a zip lock bag of cash).  We boarded a small boat with no actual seats.  You just grabbed your snorkel and plopped down on the front or back deck to watch the sun come up.  Theo explained to us how this was going to work and what to expect.  Once we got out into the water and the captain saw dolphins jumping in the distance, he yelled for everyone to get ready.  The back of the boat had a platform that lifted up and down, much like a moving truck has on the back.  The 4 self-declared “strongest swimmers” sat on the edge of the platform while the next 4 people stood on it behind them (like an elementary school class photo, except with lots of shivering and anticipation!)  Then 2 ropes with buoys on them were released to float behind each side of the boat.  The captain kept up at full speed as the platform was now lowered to the same level as the water, so the front row of peoples’ legs were dangling in the water.  Within minutes, the waters were swarming with dolphins jumping everywhere.  Theo yelled, “GO, GO, NOW, GET IN!”  We did as we were instructed, to jump in, holding onto a rope immediately as the current was incredibly strong, and the swimmers spread out along the rope.  Nate and I agreed this was no joke – neither of us had ever felt a current so strong.  You actually needed to hang on to that rope!  So, you are swaying around in the current on the rope, looking down into the deep turquois water, watching the dolphins swim around and play just beneath you.  It was amazing.  Nate and I had taken Isla along, so we took turns jumping in and swimming with dolphins and alternated holding her and watching them jump around at the water’s surface.  You then got to repeat this processes with seals who were also cute, but definitely a bit more smelly!  What a freeing experience though!

The other Sorrento highlight had to have been the Asian noodle bistro we ate at the night prior. It had excellent food and live music, but this live music may have been the worst singer we have ever heard…think American Idol reject reel so bad that you think someone must have double-dared them to try out.  We couldn’t believe they were letting this guy play.  Nate and I were trying to keep a straight face while our likely also tone-deaf daughter stared and danced the entire time.  We think she loved the music, which made us think this may just a be a preview of some godawful band she is going to like when she is 13 and we have to draw straws for which one of us takes her to their concert.  We’d love to keep exposing her to some good music, but that is no easy feat in this country!  I think even my usual Pandora station tried to pull a fast one on me and play that Tracy Chapman Fast Car re-mix again.  Thumbs Down, Pandora.  And you should have known better.
In other news, we had our first visitors!  My parents came for 9 days at the end of March and we had a blast showing them the sites and trying out a few new experiences as well.  In short:

- My Dad reported after the flight that he has never in his life felt so “airporty”
- They came to adore brekky here as well as the flat whites.
- We realized we must have really gotten used to high winds very often, because they were “blown away” by how windy it is most days here.
- Together, we had quite a lot of wildlife interactions including front row seats for all those precious little penguins exiting the ocean and coming up onto land on Phillip Island after being out fishing at dusk.  This was a freezing cold, super windy 8pm activity, but those little guys are so cute and we were so close, we wanted to just scoop one of them up and take it home!
- On our way back from the Great Ocean Road, we passed Bell’s Beach, where the RipCurl World Surfing Competition was going on.  We made it in time to see the last heat of the day and hang out for a bit.  It seemed like a really neat event that we plan to attend more fully next year.  In the true Aussie spirit of everyone getting a fair opportunity to attend big events, the world championships cost a whopping $10 to attend and $2 to park.  As we were leaving the competition, we looked up on the hill in the distance and noticed a huge pack of kangaroos just chilling on the hillside – a perfect way to end the week!