We headed out after Anina had had a sensible (boring) bottle of wine and Aaron and I had had an irresponsible (fun) 2 litres of goon each. Now I don't remember what happened but from what Anina told me:
- we headed out looking for a bar
- we ended up at McDonalds
- I was asking the price of everything on the menu in turn and Aaron was trying to pay with his charging cable so Anina bought us both food and sat us down
- Aaron stole a girls chips
- Anina left to go home
- Aaron and I left and went separate directions and both got lost
- Anina had to try and find us both and although I found me way back eventually, Aaron was lost for 2 hours!
Friday morning Anina and I went to see Gloria, Steve and their son Scott (Gloria is my Nana's friend of many years). They have a fantastic house and garden and we had an amazing day sightseeing. We went to the local Dandenong mountains and first visited William Ricketts sanctuary situated in a forest of beautiful tall trees (lots of gum trees)
He's famous for his many detailed carvings of aboriginal people and westerners too. They are really well done to be fair to him but he did seem like a bit of a nutter even if he is a national treasure! The smell of the forest was fantastic though and it was really relaxing.
Next we went up to a viewpoint at the top of the Dandenongs. On a clear day you can see all the way back to Melbourne and we could just about make out the outline of the skyscrapers in the background. We had a picnic because Gloria had kindly made us all some sarnies - it was so nice to have good quality ingredients for a change.
Had a quick look around some 'English gardens' up there too (below) before we set sail for our next destination.
Gloria knew a little place in the forest where you can feed Parrots for free and at first we were skeptical because there were only two parrots and they weren't interested but pretty soon we were swamped.
After I'd unknowingly got parrot shit on my hat we went for a pint at a little English style pub called The Oak Tree Tavern and I had a real ale - something of a rarity over here.
We were kindly invited to stay for a lovely dinner with Gloria and Steve and left quite late. All in all a great day and I thank Gloria and Steve again for their hospitality if they're reading this.
Saturday we wondered around the CBD, watched some free live comedy (part of the Melbourne comedy festival) but it was just a Japanese mime and wasn't very good at all. But we scooted over to St Kilda which promises sexy views of the city skyline and weren't disappointed.
In the evening we went wandering along Brunswick Street in Fitzroy famous for its bars. All were interesting, overpriced and underlit. Took a detour home via the Sofitel building which my friend had told me has great views of Melbourne from the toilets on the 35th floor. Checked it out and he wasn't wrong:
Sunday we packed for leaving in the morning, went shopping for farm clothes, cleaned the car out and washed it ready for it to be sold and in the evening we went for a pint with my friend from Uni who's living and working in Melbourne at the moment.
Monday morning I took my final drive to the airport in the PAJERO and said goodbye to it and Aaron before flying to Brisbane to start the new chapter working on a pecan farm!
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This tracks what nights we stayed where:
Left Sydney Monday 23rd Feb
Port Macquarie - 23
Byron Bay - 24,25,26,27,28
Nimbin
Surfers Paradise 1,2,3
Noosa 4,5,6,7
Fraser Island - Central Station 8
Fraser Island - Dundabarra 9
Fraser Island - Eurong 10
Rainbow Beach - 11,12
Airlie Beach - 13,14,15,16
Jourama falls - 17
Cairns - 18,19,20,21,22,23
Macrossan bridge 24
Cloncurry 25
Mount Isa 26
Roadside Rest stop 27
Alice Springs 28
Ormiston Gorge 29
Kings Canyon 30
Yulara (Uluru) 31,1
Adelaide 2,3,4,5,6
Bool Lagoon 7
Port Campbell 8
Melbourne 9,10,11,12
Arrived Melbourne Thursday 9th April.
46 Days, 10,432kms, 5 states, 3 time zones
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