Our Melbourne Trip Nov 2008

SYDNEY TO MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY 11TH NOVEMBER TO 22ND NOVEMBER 2008

Another chapter in the travels of Geoff and Heath Litchfield.
Left Sydney 8.30am on 11th Nov to travel via the Hume Highway to Benalla in Northern Victoria. Pretty uneventful day as the road is now mostly freeway until Coolac north of Albury where major roadworks are happening to widen the highway to dual carriageway. Slow travel to the Albury bypass then back on divided road until the turn off to Benalla south of Wangaratta. Top Tourist Caravan Park comfortable but nothing to write about. Dinner at Bowling Club - Pasta and Chinese evening and pretty ordinary.

Wednesday 12th - onto Melbourne via Yarra Valley - really pretty run down through the countryside to Yara Glen where we stopped for lunch at a bakery. The most yummy pies - steak and mushroom - for Heath and Pizza roll with chicken and avocado for Geoff. Stopped at Yara Glen Gateway winery where Brett delighted us with the sampling of his wines. Good whites, lovely Rose, and a really nice red - made our purchases and headed down the hill to Helens Hill another winery suggested by Brett. Pretty winery set amongst trees and some nice reds on offer. Another sampling event, that's the trouble with wineries, you just have to try their product. More purchases and register on their database for specials and we headed off to Rowena Ferguson's at Mt Waverley in the Melbourne suburbs. Thanks to Adam's Tomtom we had no problems finding our way although it did look pretty straightforward on the map.
Settled into Ro's and relaxed until she arrived home at 5pm. Tonight we had some fish and chips takeaway and headed off to Burwood East for Robyn Boyd's Commissioning as the new Priest in charge of the Anglican Church. Picked up Robyn's daughter, Jen and fiance, Aaron on the way. Nice to see her after a lot of years.
The Commissioning Service led by Bishop Stephen Hale, an ex Sydney Priest who recognised us from CEBS and GFS days. The Service was formal but with lots of laughter and a few slip ups from Stephen. Apparantly a trait of his! Tonight he introduced Jen as Robyn's sister, Jen most indignant! Met some of Ro's friends and had quite a nice evening. Robyn has been Assistant Priest at Ro's church at Mt Waverley for the past two years and they have become friends, such a small world as Robyn used to live two doors away from us at WPH and went to St Matts for a while.

Thursday - Ro has taken the day off to spend with us so we have a lovely lazy morning, then out to lunch at Jell's Park Cafe. Huge caesar salads for Ro and I and Foccacia for Geoff. Heath's knee giving some concern so Ro managed to get an appointment with Bill a Dr friend of hers and his diagnosis was sprained co lateral ligament in the knee. Lots of rest, no walking, and anti-inflammatories. Afternoon Geoff and Ro moved some bookcases from Robyn's to Ro's garage for later use. Hired a trailer which was great. Heath left to rest at home, thankfully Ro has some crutches which have become part of my arms. Tonight dinner we went to Wendy and John's at Ringwood. Lovely evening, great to catch up with them and see Naomi and Jemima as well. Robyn joined us as well and good to talk to her and hear about her journey to this point in her life.

Friday - lots of rest today as big night tonight - caught train at Mt Waverley at 6.12pm for journey to Southern Cross Station next the Telstra Dome, huge number of people, met a girl who had travelled from New Zealand to hear Andre Rieu tonight. Seats on main arena last row, a bit disappointing when we had AA seats which we thought would be at the front of the 2nd section, however we could still see and with the help of huge screens we didn't miss anything. Magnificent Castle replica of Schronnburg Castle in Vienna, put together by Andre's son, Pierre and his team. Well what a treat, the music fantastic, the entertainment spectacle amazing. The dancers fantastic - up on the ballroom in front of the Castle and ice skaters down on the lower level with the orchestra. Beautiful ball gowns and dinner suits for all the orchestra, 3 tenors, 1 German, 1 Hungarian and 1 Australian. 3 amazing young women singers, from Brazil, Australia and non sure where Emporer Sissi was from, will update later. Each beautiful with beautiful voices. 6 white horses and a gold carriage trotted around the stadium to deliver the Empress to the stage. On and on, a music extravaganza, uncore after uncore, obviously planned, with some Australian influence, National Anthem, Botany Bay, Bananas in Pyjamas, finishing with Waltzing Matilda. What a night! Well worth the trip and the money. Getting home was an adventure in itself. Thousands of people trying to leave the Stadium and head to the station - very slow but moving. Just missed the 11.30pm Glen Waverley train so had to wait until 12.02 for another - home after 1am, very tired but happy.

Saturday - Ro has Quiet Day at church so Geoff and I happy to sleep in and recover, Geoff then punched in some nails on Ro's verandah which needed doing then we decided to go for a drive to Port Phillip Bay. Headed down Warrigal Road all the way to Mentone, then Black Rock for lunch, very windy and cool so ate in the car overlooking the bay. Drove along the Bay to Mordiallac, stopping to watch wind surfers and enjoy the water view. Home late afternoon, Ro has booked the Andre Rieu concert on Foxtell Main Event for tonight, Judith joining us for dinner - lovely baked chicken, potatoes and salad, great wines from Yarra Glen and icecream and chocolate to finish off. Concert recorded live and it was great to watch it again. Largest crowd tonight 45,000 packed the Stadium, largest crowd that Andre has ever played for.

Sunday - Ro to church early - Geoff and Heath to pack up ready to leave this afternoon. Church with Ro at 10.30am, High Church Service but enjoyable, very friendly people and really nice Priest. Met Mary and Ian, a lovely old couple - she from Cyprus and he, English. Wonderful chat about her life and how they met over cuppa after the Service. Home to Ro's, lunch and pack the car. Left Ro's at 2.30pm and drove to Lakes Entrance via the Freeways, Quite a long drive but arrived still in daylight at about 7pm, set up and then drove into town for dinner at the Entertainment Centre Bistro. Lovely meal of Lamb Shanks for Heath and Pork Roast for Geoff followed by icecream and choc sauce for Heath and Sticky Date pudding for Geoff. Good night's sleep at Eastern Beach Caravan Park.

Monday - Relaxing morning in Caravan Park, drive into town to have a look around, lunch at Cafe, then decided to drive to Tyers Beach, really pretty spot on road east. Drive to Orbost and Marlo, beautiful spot where the Snowy River joins the Ocean. Would love to come back here and stay for a while, not enough time this trip. Back to Caravan Park and write this blog. Into town for dinner, too lazy to cook.

Tuesday - pack up and head east to Orbost via The Trestle Bridge, an old rail bridge built in the early 1900's over a gorge carrying rail from Bairnsdale to Orbost. Huge magnificent structure still standing, basic structure (trestles) still in tact but the top of the bridge worn away by time, damage from fire in 1980 the bridge closed in 1988. Amazing and worth the 3km drive on dirt road to see. Back on the road to Orbost, then continuing on to Cann River then Genoa and the turnoff to Mallacoota. This little seaside town recommended to us as a lovely place to see and yes it certainly is. Lakes and ocean, long sandy beaches, small islands off the shore. Caravan Park down beside the Lake and packed to the hilt. Glad we didn't come in January - 600 sites so it is big and popular, nice friendly caravanners around us. Set up and then took a drive around the area - Lakeside Drive winds it way around the channels of the lake then up over the mountain back to the main road, all very peaceful, serenity at its best. Out the other side of town is Beskta Drive to a beautiful surf beach, secluded and undamaged. Fishermen all over the place looking for bait. Boat haven with docks beside the caravan park. Back to park and our much loved afternoon snooze. It's quite cool and windy and my warm NZ cardigan is put into full use. Nibbles and beer beside the lake follow watching a family fish below us. Not much on the end of the line but weed, except for one small fish which was thrown back in for another day. Local pub for dinner, delightful whole lemon sole for Heath (my favourite) grilled fish and chips for Geoff - all very tasty. Back to van to pour over maps for tomorrow, port our last drink for today and write this diary before bed.

Wednesday - this morning lots of activity in the caravan park, heaps of vans on the move, looks like a storm coming in and so lots moving out, maybe just co-incidence. We also pack up, slowly this morning, and head out back to the highway at Genoa, then retrace our steps to Cann River, then onto the Monaro Highway heading north through the forest to Bombala. Lunch at Bombala in the park, then back on the road, turn off the main road and head west towards Jindabyne. Lovely bitumen road at first until we reach dirt, thankfully firm and easy driving until we reach Dalgety. Thankfully back on bitumen and easy run into Jindy. Kalkite St sends us around in circles and no houses, a quick phone call to Carol sorts us out, not Kalkite St but Kalkite Road, 13kms towards Berridale so with good directions we arrive at 12 Oaks, Jay and Carol's home. Wow, a beautiful property sitting on top of the hill overlooking Jindabyne lake and across the valley from Kosciosko National Park. Jay and Carol have a small cottage separate to the main house and we take up residence and feel quite at home. We are greeted by Raven, a beautiful black cross Labrador/whatever/whatever, and his little mate, Polly, a very small white maltese terrier, quite a mismatched pair but amazing friends. Raven plays with Polly and all but eats her and she loves it, he rolls her in the dirt and she climbs all over her big mate. Lots of chat tonight and bed.

Thursday - Carol off all day at RE at Toby's school, Snowy Mountains Grammar School, in Jindabyne. After breakfast, we took off for a drive around the area. First to Smiggins, Perisher and Charlotte's Pass. Raining and mountains very cloudy, nothing open but great to drive up through the park and see the ski fields after so many years. Back down the mountain then into Jindabyne for lunch at a small bakery. Head back into the mountains and up to Thredbo to have a look around, amazing development, this place has grown so much since we were last here, fun driving through the small roads between the lodges and lots of activity around, walkers with rainwear, groups and cars around, this resort obviously used much more at this time of year than the other resorts.
Back to Carol and Jay's as tonight we are attending a music and drama night at Toby's school. Carol is involved with the music and Toby is playing his flute. We both thoroughly enjoyed the evening, lots of groups and individual acts and lots of fun. Back home and glad to get to bed.

Friday - lovely easy start to the morning, the lake and mountains behind in full colour this morning, sun shining and a very pretty picture. Snow on the peaks at the top of the ranges above Thredbo and Charlottes Pass. Pack and clean up our little cottage and up to the main house for some time with Jay and Carol. We say our farewells and head out in the middle of the day and head towards Canberra for our last stopover. Lunch at Cooma and back on the road for this easy drive to Canberra. Thankfully for Adam's Tomtom we found our way around the back roads of Canberra and onto Spence to meet Pat at her church where she is involved with the processing of boxes for Samaratian's Purse - Operation Christmas Child. This amazing organisation processes approx 20 -22,000 shoe boxes for mostly overseas underprivileged children in 100 different countries. And this is just Canberra and surrounds, this organisation operates all over Australia and New Zealand and worldwide. Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham is the worldwide President of the organisation.
Lovely time with our friend Pat, chatting mostly about the organisation, watching a video and sharing in a meal together.

Saturday - spend morning with Pat and then head home via Barton, Federal and Hume highways.