Staying With Friends

Australia so far has been very busy, very hot, and very fun.  After landing in Melbourne and spending an hour in line to go through immigration we picked up our rental car and headed downtown to our hotel.  The next day we toured around the central business district where we visited the Queen Victoria Market and walked around federation square.  That afternoon we called our new found friends Paul and Ruth and headed out to their place in Patterson Lakes.  They graciously allowed us to stay with them and proved to be outstanding hosts.

Our first night at their house we took a ride around the neighborhood in their boat and looked at all the Christmas lights that were still up.  The next day they took us to the Innocent Bystander cellar door for lunch and then on to the Healesville Sancturary to look at native wildlife.  Julie made the journey on the back of Paul's Harley while I chose to ride in the car!

We celebrated New Years eve at their house the next evening and had a great time with their friends and family eating great food, playing card games, and watching an awesome fireworks show from the back yard.  The first day of 2013 was relatively tame as we were all a little sleep deprived but we did manage to catch the Hobbit on the big screen.  On Wednesday we joined Ruth and her sisters for a morning of walking along the coast near Phillip Island and after lunch Julie and I drove around exploring the area.  Tuesday was a day for diving where Julie an I got to see weedy sea dragons, sea horses, and a huge sting ray for the first time along with several other outstanding sea creatures.  It was our first diving experience in cold water, we quickly missed to 80 deg water of Thailand and Fiji!!!

We can't thank Paul and Ruth enough for letting us invade their house for 6 days, showing us so much of the area, and allowing two strangers into their lives.  I hope someday we can repay the hospitality shown to us by our new friends.

12 Apostles

After leaving Paul and Ruth to get on with their lives we headed along the southern coast toward Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road.  The scenery was absolutely outstanding but with air temperatures approaching 115 degrees Fahrenheit we only ventured our of the air conditioned car a couple of times.  We did manage a stop and short walk at the 12 Apostles (of which only 7 remain) and the London Bridge. There were tons of people on the beaches, but I think it was too hot for that!  We spent the night in Mt Gambier where we had a lovely dinner at a local downtown eatery.  It was just a short 5 hours of driving the next day before we reached Jenn's new apartment in Adelaide.   We spent the afternoon catching up and learning about her new job and the move to Australia.  The next morning we boarded a small tour bus and spent the day visiting lovely wineries in the Barossa Valley.    

 

The next step of the journey involves picking up another camper van and a special appearance to be discussed further in the next post....