Great Ocean Drive

Set off for the drive the next morning. Was overall a good day except for a few minutes of showers at the near end of the trip.

There was some fabulous coastline and greenery on the way, but I must say, given the number of sites with natural beauty around Melbourne, I felt that the drive is slightly overrated as THE tourist destination.

The walks were good. We were short on time and in a rush to see the Twelve apostles before sunset, so had to whiz through. One of the good short walks was the one to Sheoak falls.

Twelve apostles was a glorious site, especially as we arrived exactly at sunset, fulfilling one of my long held desires to see the site at sunrise or sunset. Missed the last helicopter ride over the apostles by a few minutes, but we were in no mood to complain, especially as we had just survived a nail biting prospect of running out of fuel in the woods before we reached the nearest town.

Melbourne in winter

Had 5 days off and decided to visit Melbourne. Landed in the morning. After the tropical heats of Darwin, was nice to be in a cool country for a change. After a good long coffee, were joined by Sudhakar and set off to Yarra valley. The drive was beautiful. Being winter, the vineyards were just stumps of stick, but that did not stop us from wine tasting.

Came back in the evening and went around the CBD of Melbourne. Went to the 88^th floor of SkyDeck to see a bird-eyes view of the city in the night. Was an adrenaline filled feeling to be there on the top and watching the streets below.

Went back to the apartment with some take-away and opened a few bottles of very good Chardonnay we bought at Yarra, all of which we finished the same night. Must say, that was the best Australian wine I had so far.

Lunar Rendezvous

NASA is going back to moon and is sending the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as the first step before sending humans by 2020.
To commemorate this historic mission, it is giving us a chance to put our names to be placed onboard the LRO spacecraft on a microchip to send to the moon. I have put my name along with a million other people, and I have got a certificate to prove it..

They have extended the deadline by a few more days until the 25th of this month. So if you are as nerdy as I am, here is your chance to go to the moon...