Where in the World are Francis & Greg: Melbourne

April 19 Melbourne

We said our difficult good-bye to Angela and Monique and headed off to the airport to catch our 9:00 a.m. flight to Melbourne. It just seemed like yesterday that we arrived in Australia to their wonderful greeting and now we have to say good-bye.

This airport is surprisingly busy for a Monday morning but we think it is because of the volacano in Iceland causing all the flight cancellations going to Europe. We guess everyone has decided to vacation at home.

We arrive at the check in counter to find that our luggage is over weight by 10 kg, which we knew last night when we weighed things but we were hoping they would say "no worries". Anyway they didn't but she allowed us to remove some things from one and put it in our carry-on. It did make our carry-ons over weight but they didn't seem to mind. I just hope the next two stages are as kind since we will have to pay $10.00 for each kilo over. Looks like some fine placement of items in our luggage will have to occur until we get to Sydney. Once we are back on our return flights to Canada we will be within the luggage limit.

We arrived in Melbourne on time and our friends Bernie and Steve were there with the Canadian flags to greet us. We came back to their nice home (on Francis Lane) and chatted for a few hours before going out for lunch. The afternoon went by fast as it normally does when you have not seen friends in many years.

Around sunset we decided to take their old dog Kelly (15 years old) out for a walk. We remember the walking/biking trail from last time since there are signs on parts of the trail warning people of the snake danger if you leave the trails. After our walk we head out to a nice Vietnamese restaurant where we all had some delicious spring rolls and a great spicy noodle soup. (Side note from Greg: Francis had added a bit too much extra spice, and for a second or two, lost his voice. hehe. How's that for being spicy?)

April 20

We were on the road early for a 200 km drive up to one of Australia's nicest National Parks, Wilsons Promontory or more commonly known as "the Prom". It just so happened when we arrived in Australia, Angela and Monique gave us a whole bed full of Australian products including an Australia Geographic magazine which featured this national park on the cover with a nice write up inside. It also so happened I read it on the flight down to Melbourne.

Around 11am, we arrived at the park gates. This park is located in the most southern area of Australia-mainland. Tasmania is still more southern but not on the mainland. We drove through the entrance road to the park and kept our eyes peeled for wildlide, such as kangaroos, wombats, koalas, emus, etc. We were fortunate to spot a few huge emus grazing in the fields.

In the parking lot at the base of Mount Oberon, we donned our 'runners' (sneakers), and started the 3.4km hike up the side of the mountain to the summit. Now 3.4km doesn't sound like much but that was up hill all the way. It's listed as a Moderate/Hard climb but the invigorating hour walk was well worth the climb. The view from the trail and summit was none other than spectacular. At the summit, you view the coast line and islands as well as the Tidal River. The gentle breeze, the unbelievable sites and the much needed break from the climb, is an experience beyond words. This is a must see when you travel to southern Australia.

After the downward climb, which was much easier than the upward climb, we went for a delicious picnic at the campground reception area parking lot. On our way to to park, we had stopped at a local bakery for fresh rolls and some delicious creamy squares, called Vanilla Slice. During lunch, we had some unexpected ''guests" who became our friends and also joined us in our picnic. As you can see from the pictures, these amazingly beautiful bright coloured birds, the Scarlet Rosella , loved our bread and also scoffed down some of our chocolate coconut Lamington squares. It was so much fun playing with them. Isn't nature beautiful?

We left our picnic site and bird friends to explore two beaches. Again, the breeze, the refreshing water and the walk on the beach was amazing. The first beach was the Tidal River beach area. The river is more of a creek but when the tide comes in it runs backwards. One of the amazing things that one sees here is the colour of the rocks, they have a lot of orange on them. The other beach was called Squeaky Beach. Interestingly, the sand squeaked as you walked on it. Wonder why? The reason is the sand particles are all the same round size and resembles very small marbles. When you step on it, they squeak like marbles. Cool, eh?

On our way home, as dusk was approaching, we witnessed a wonderful light show. For most of the trip home, the sky was lit with lightning.

April 21

Today, we were on the road by 8:30 and headed north of Melbourne. As you can see, rarely do we sleep in. There is always so much to see and do. We drove an hour to an important area in Australia's history. We are all familiar with the expression "There's gold in them there hills!" Well this expression was clearly heard in Australia in in 1831. Gold was found in the community of Ballarat. It was much like when gold was found in the Yukon, folks came from all over the world in hopes of getting rich, and many did.

We spent most of today touring a living historical site similar to our own Kings Landing Historical Settlement. What a realistic step back in time we experienced! The place was very big, it was an actual town. It did look like we were living the part (only with crocs on our feet) We walked down dusty 'streets', down old mine shafts to see how they did things, visited old houses, factories, stores and schools. We even sampled some 'lollies' (candies) like licorice, orange cream chocolates and freckles (large flat chocolate circles covered with sprinkles). We had delicious meat pies as well, which is to Australia like maple syrup is to Canada.

In one section of the mining community, children and the adults, could take a chance and pan for gold in the stream. Kids were very excited about this and it was a great photo op for the adults. We tried our hand at panning for gold but came up empty, well Greg did find a 2 dollar coin on the river bank which is almost gold.

After our visit to old mining town we drove around the city of Ballarat to check things out. They have been having a drought for years and their main lake is now a puddle in the middle. Maybe some day the water will come back! We then stopped and had a look at one of the major streets which looked like something out of an old movie set. They have kept the same look since the 1850s. After a coffee at one of the old hotels, we were off back to Melbourne just as the sun was setting.

April 22

Today we drove in a different direction to check out the area around where they had the big bush fires in February 2009. As you were driving in you could see many trees are very black. Bush fires burn very fast, so not everything is killed in its path. Only the small limbs die but most of the trees survive. However animals and people are not so lucky. Just over a year later things are all green again but only from the middle of each tree growing out. You can see by some of the pictures what we mean. Trees that used to have a greyish trunks, now are black. We arrived in Marysville in late morning. This town was one of the hardest hit and many lost their lives. We could see where many homes use to be but things are starting to be rebuilt. What a travesty!

After a quick bite at the old Grand Hotel, we drove to Healesville Sanctuary where we saw many native animals to Australia. During the day, special 15 minute talks were available to attend and to learn more interesting facts about the animal or to see how some can be trained. We saw 4 such demonstrations: Koala, Birds of Prey, Parrots and Dingoes. The rest of the tour was a self paced tour. The weather was perfect to walk on the trails and to see animals in their 'habitat'. Everytime we see the koala it still is amazing to watch them again. This time we were lucky because the keeper was changing the food leaves and this little guy was much more active than they normally are. See they sleep between 18-20 hours a day. Oh and another fact... picture a pink jellybean; well that is the size of one when they are born. They then have to do some work because they have to make their way up the mom's fur to the pouch (where the milk is) where they stay for several more months for much further growth and development.

On our way back to Melbourne, we decided to stop at the airport to see if Jeremy was at his hotel yet (his job had him stopping over for the night) As luck had it, he was and he came with us to Bernie and Steve's place for a great evening of reminiscing and a dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Being a pilot, he had an early wake up call so we took him back to the hotel around 11:00.

April 23

Today was a see the city day. We used public tranportation to get around (bus, tram and train). Our first stop was to see Pasquale (the guy we met back on Hamilton Island when his wife got sea sick on one of our reef trips). Pasquale owns a deli type cafe/coffee shop. He was very excited to see us. We had a nice short visit; since he was at work and it was almost lunch time . Afterwards the guys wanted to show us this cake shop which was close. Okay, if you like to bake, like chocolate or to eat cakes/desserts, this was the place for you! We only got a few small square type things to nibble on but we think we gained weight just looking at the delectable presentations. Picture this: wide ribbons of white and dark chocolate piled high on cakes and intricate designs made of chocolate on squares and cupcakes. Mmmmm Mmmmm Good!

We then continued on to the city core and just walked around and did some sighseeing. One amazing and very interesting building we spent some time at was the Reading Room at the Library. This was an old Library that has been modernized with technology and now is more inviting for young and old. Inside, it looked like it was recently constructed but in reality it was built in the mid 1800's. We spent hours reading displays and looking at artifacts from the Melbourne area. To see through photos and displays of how a city is structurally transformed from the one lane dirt roads to a mega city with high rises and a labyrinth of roads, is astonishing.

We have been going steady pretty much since we arrived in Melbourne so for Friday evening we just stayed in and watched a few movies.

April 24

This morning was mostly for relaxing, which is pretty easy for us to do almost 3 months into our trip. By late morning we were off to one of the many wonderful large markets here in Melbourne. Again we were blown away by the selection, freshness and low prices of many items. As is the custom on our trip we always like to prepare a nice meal for our hosts, so this was our chance to pick up some nice food for that. We dropped the market stuff back off to the house and then we headed off for a short drive (about 25 minutes) away from the city to the burbs for lunch and then a visit with Steve's sister Diane. She has a great house overlooking a valley. We also had a chance to meet all her family including the new addition, a 7 week old Lab pup.

On our way home the guys took the long way but for sure the most scenic, along the beach road. It took us around some very rich spots and some older heritage spots where some of the homes were well over 10 million dollars. We also stopped in to see some views of Melbourne from the bay angle. In one location on the beach there are several dozen small colourful buildings that reminded me of fishing shacks of long ago. However now they are heritage shacks that sit on the edge of the beach where folks can store their beach stuff and or use them as mini cottages in the summer. The price for this smelt shack size building and location... a meager $100.000!

By the time we got back into the city it was well after 6:00 and time for us to get dinner on the way. After dinner we did more relaxing and watched a few movies. Oh if you ever want to rent "The Informant" with Matt Damon, DON'T....talk about stupid and boring. Lucky we had another one to watch.

April 25

Our last full day in Melbourne was very laid back. Before we even got moving it was afer 12:00. We did watch a bit of the ANZAC services on tv. Today is Australia's Remberance Day kind of thing. They do have something on November 11 but it is not as big as today.

The shops do open at 1:00 and the guys wanted to take us to where they purchased their bed to try out some mattresses. They have a Tempur memory form bed that is amazing. So we laid around on different types of beds for 20 minutes and then proceeded to the massage chair section where we all sat in different chairs for another 20 minutes or so. Those chairs are pretty amazing and we did feel like we had a pretty good massage.

We arrived home about 2:30 and continues with our laundry and packing.

Steve cooked another nice dinner for us and we watched this very funny British comedy series called Little Britain. They had it all on video. Oh and we did have several margaritas and a few more Tim Tams (delicious chocolate wafer type cookies).

April 26

We got up around 8:00 and just relaxed and had breakfast before finishing up the packing. The guys took us to the airport in time for our flight to Tasmania.

As with all our friends in Australia, you truly went above and beyond making our stay such a great one! Thank you again Bernie and Steve and we hope to see you in Canada again soon so we can try to spoil you like you have spoiled us!

The flight to Hobart, Tasmania was a nice short one at just under an hour. For those of you who don't know it is an island that is just of the coast which still belongs to Australia.

Here we are Couch Surfing for the first time (we did mention it before but if you don't know you can look it up and see what it is about. Our host, Jennie was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and bring us back to her place. She has a wonderful place in the city of Hobart. She also has two wonderful cats that we can't wait to spoil. Since Jennie had to go back to work we just hug around her flat (apartment) and then went for a walk to explore the area.

Now for the Little game... look back over the last 3 postings to get caught up and find the new clue below.

As with the evolution of many strange and different things in this country Aussie english has evolved too. Can you figure out the meaning of some of these commonly used words? Answers will be on the next posting on Thursday, April 29th.

Powerpoint
Boot
Capsicum
Lollies
Indicators
Ta
Jumper

Melbourne is one of just a few large cities here in Australia with a population of 4 million.

Sydney is Australia's largest city with 4.5 million people. Brisbane's population is a little over 2 million. Perth is the other major city with 1.6 million. Although Canberra is the countries capital it is not a very big city with a population of 352,000.