Americans – They don’t always kill you!

I was looking for a ride. Or at least I think I was [I generally am confused at all times about what exactly I’m doing.] But I didn’t know where I wanted to go to from the lovely Adelaide or when or how… normally the biggest challenges in a gypsy’s day are working out what to have for lunch. I was ill-prepared.

I returned the call. I accepted. It was set to be a five-day trip to Melbourne in a rental car. By the description, it sounded like five days of fine dining and luxury hotels. It sounded terrifying.

I packed my bag and bid farewell to the Homette (soon to be a great hostel in all of Adelaide – ask for Shane) and O-bahned (the must-do transport experience in Adelaide) into the city thinking that I really should have taken the time to call mum and write a will before heading off on this daunting new adventure.

I walked and walked and walked a little more and took a deep breath. There they were – Nils and Hannah and our Hyundai Getz.

But as it turns out they were German. I should have seen it coming; the whole world seems to be turning German these days. Also instead of the 60-somethings I’d anticipated they turned out to be 30ishers. Fortunately, I was not alone – they’d conned Dutch Max into coming too. The 4 of us squished into the teeny two-doored car with our massive backpacks – it made us closest companions immediately!

We drove. We drove. And drove a little further. Almost half an hour down the road we reached the Maclarenvale wineries and the wine tasting began.

I can’t possibly imagine a better road trip to Melbourne – Great food, great wine, great company, great experiences… the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians, white kangaroos, dead kangaroos, a billion beautiful beaches and lots of lamas. How do you beat lamas?