Australia_Victoria

Victoria. Named after the former queen of England and therewith a memory of the colonial history of Australia being a former prison island. Nowadays cities like Melbourne are modern, trully Australian examples of urban life Down Under.
Snowy Mountains, Dividing Ranges etc... are things to check out. Other highlights include the Grampians and of course the famous Great Ocean Road.

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	Victoria is the smallest state on the main island but four times bigger than the United Kingdom. A very diverse region I explored by bus taking 4 days. The Grampians (900-1100 meters above sealevel) stand out in the hilly landscape of Victoria with it's pine tree plantages and grass lands where cattle farms stretch for miles and miles. Great spot for rockclimbing. Actually the Grampians are being visited every year by fanatic rock climbers from all over the world in the Halls Cap area where little expeditions take of every morning. The national park itself is full of wildlife and even the joungest unactive vulcano can be found here. It's crater is a habitat for emu's and koalas. Victoria has alos got a high number of encounters with the poisoness and aggressive tiger snake, so watch out for that one! Great Ocean Road is spectacular and a journey through time as the coastline is showing gradual erosion that is coast by wind and waves that break on the limestone, clay cliffs after a undisturbed journey of 3000 kilometers coming from the Antartic seas. The Bay of Islands, London Bridge and of course the Twelve Apostels are impressive to see and the force of the sea is evident. The land can't win! The Great Ocean Road ends in Torquay, which is the birthplace of surfing brands like Rip Curl, Quicksilver, Rusty and house to thye most famous surfing beach in Australia: Bells Beach. Used in the film Point Break (although that footage was actually shot in California and Hawaii) and most renowned from the Bells Beach Classic intrnational surfing competition in April. Waves can grow to be a 100 foot high on occassion. Normally they are still a good 12 foot high. Impressive. Melbourne has a convenient small center and therefor travelling is easy. Either walking or taking one of many trams or even the bike. Because compaired to Sydney riding a bike here isn't asking for a certain hospital visit, there are even a few bikepaths around! ...

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