The Road to Melbourne (Oct 14 - 17)

After some swimming, light breakfast and some time on the hotel computers, we jumped back in the Hippie and headed south. Our goal was to make it to Melbourne by the second night, but that proved out of reach.

After escaping Sydney and the surrounding suburbs, we found ourselves in a beautiful countryside of rolling hills dotted cows and sheep of all types - the colours had reversed solid black, black/white cows and white sheep possibly a few (Jersey cows and Suffolk sheep Tracy say isn't that right, Rachel?). As a very heavy thunderstorm set in, we stopped in the town on Milton for a meal in small by very hip cafe. I enjoyed a burger that had a small amount of beetroot on it, which the Aussies feel the need to include on everything from time to time. After dinner, we stopped at the local caravan park for the evening.

Before setting off the next morning, we talked with the managers a bit about the local wildlife and played with the new puppy, a twelve week old half-Rhodesian Ridgeback, half-something I forget. On the road to Melbourne, we stopped in Bega, which is the home of a famous Aussie cheese factory, where we of course sample the local goods. After that stop, the countryside, known as the Sapphire coast, continued to astound as the hills seemed to get more pronounced. We stopped hear and there for pictures including backtracking to get a picture of one living echinida (like a porcupine) and one dead wombat. The wombat road kill nearly brought Tracy to tears. We finally ended up stopping in a small tourist town named Lake Entrance where we strolled the entire main street, chatting with our neighbours from Singapore before selecting a restaurant for dinner. A popular place that was very brightly lit.

The next morning we headed for Melbourne and found a caravan park in the green belt area, but a bit far from the city center. This turned out to a good choice however as the site was surrounded by a narrow park and undeveloped land (under telephone pylons) which made it animal sanctuary of sorts. While checking in, one of the managers pointed out a koala high in a tree just outside. He educated us a little on the furry creatures. Apparently, the reason they sleep about twenty hours a day and have terrible eyesight is that they are perpetually drunk. That's right drunk! This is because the gum tree leaves they dine on ferment in their bellies. This seems like a life fit for a few of our friends. ;-) There were also ton of ducks, parakeets and other birds in the area. At the suggestion of the manager, we went on a short hike where we also spotted countless little bunny rabbits.

The next day we had to turn in the hippie. It was sad saying goodbye, but we knew our time in Australia was drawing short. After checking into a hotel near the airport for the evening, we caught a train into the city. Melbourne from all appearances was an easy to navigate, vibrant city. We also found it to be a very beautiful city, particularly where the inner city loop meets the river. It is there were we wandered for a while before finally selecting a place for dinner. We snapped a few more pictures of the city before being driven back onto the train to our hotel by the cold night air. All the time chatting to an interesting older couple from Brisbane. We both found Melbourne to be a very nice city, but because of our limited time there it is impossible to say that we enjoyed it as much as Sydney.