New blogger Evan King has been at the Ranch for five and a half years and is currently in Australia completing his field practicum experience for his MSW program through the University of Regina. His placement is with a community-based agency which works with homeless youth in a clinical setting.

It has been difficult to keep in touch lately since I have been transient. I have now completed my field practicum experience at Helping Young People Achieve, a non-profit agency which targets youth homelessness in South Australia. I am in the research portion of my placement and am completing it while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Australia.

The start of the road trip consisted of a stop in Handorf, a beautiful German town about 45 minutes outside of Adelaide, and a little bit of indulgence. Finish this to get a free T-Shirt? I think so.

A quick three and a half hour drive to Mount Gambier was how we started our road trip. Staying at “The Old Mount Gambier” was a unique experience. The hostel was made from an old penitentiary, with the rooms being old jail cells.

It was quite the stay, with stories of old convicts pasted on the walls and even some ghost stories based on convicts who were executed in the building to keep your eyes open at night!

Mount Gambier also has some great hiking and a famous lake. The picture does not do it much justice but it is a beautiful little lake with vibrant blue hues.

Next was the famous Great Ocean Road of Australia, a road which runs along the beautiful south coast of the South Australia border to Melbourne, Victoria. There are many viewpoints, including the famous “Twelve Apostles”. Even though it was rainy during the drive, the scenery was absolutely inspiring.

Tourquay, a town on the great ocean road, is a nice little city with some cute shops; and some drop-in surfing lessons never hurt. It was a great place to spend a night on the way.

When arriving in Melbourne a valuable lesson was learned. When they say 15 minute parking in the city centre of Melbourne, they mean 15 minute parking, or you may get a hefty, hefty fine. I wish I could say I didn’t know this by experience but here is the evidence.

Melbourne had tons to do, unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of time to experience the whole city, but I had the opportunity to experience an Australian Football League (AFL) rival game against two local “footy” teams. The game itself is a fast-paced, strategic and action packed game, which I can only describe as a combination of rugby and a casual pick up football game in a school yard field. I understand how they can fill stadiums which can fill up to 90,000 people - the game is a nerve-cruncher.  That’s the journey so far! Back to paper writing...