Friday, 21/09/2012 - 99 A.D.
Our last Greyhound journey (possibly in our lives) wasn’t a disaster, but it could have gone better. Heading out into the Canberra night, we overshot the terminal and realised we were heading north into the suburbs, just as the rain started teaming down. After a quick reconnaissance, we marched soggily into the bus station, but there was a bit of a crowd and when our vehicle came there was no chance of us getting two seats each to ourselves. Guess we’ve been spoilt during our time travelling through Oz! At least the allocated seats they gave us were next to each other so we didn’t have to fall asleep on a stranger’s shoulder.
I slept sufficiently, but didn’t hit the dream sleep stage until just before we arrived in the Melbourne terminal, which means feeling more groggy during the embarking process. A middle-aged foreign couple were sitting across from us the entire journey and the woman asked how we managed to sleep as much as we did on a bus. I simply replied, “Practice.”
Melbourne Central Station looked just like Leeds. With the weather overhead, it could have been Leeds! Our first two nights here would be spent staying with Liam and Harry, two of Tim’s friends from his university days (in Leeds - where else!) Liam and Harry met in their first year at university and have been together ever since, getting married last year. Five years ago they moved down under and have been in the Melbourne area ever since. Tim had always threatened to come and see them on the other side of the world, but they somehow didn’t think he’d ever make it…until now! And he brought his eccentric older brother with him just to seal the deal! Liam and Harry live in Sandringham, a southern suburb of Melbourne, so we caught the train and made our way to the house, arriving just before 10 a.m.
With the residents both being at work, the house was empty, at least of humans. It was great of them to leave a key out for us and make ourselves at home, even though it felt a bit like being a squatter. We met the two Bengal cats, Leo and Lola, who were very affectionate towards us and not in the least bit perturbed by two strangers being in the house. Even more affectionate was the new puppy, Otis, who had been left outside because he’s only been with them a few days and needs constant supervision when inside. We brought him in for a bit of a play and then ran around the garden with him, hoping to tire him out. When he refused to tire, we simply came inside and left him out there. To whine and whine.
Though it was seriously tugging at the heart strings, we switched on the television to drown out the whining. An episode of The Sopranos came on, which we consumed with relish. Plus it stopped me from dozing off on the couch, my brain obviously in search of some more dream sleep. By the time it finished it was time to feed Otis, so we opened the patio doors to let him inside and gave him his grub. Just as he was finishing, one of the cats strolled in and Otis became incredibly keen to sniff its rear end in greeting. When cat ran off, Otis chased it, we chased Otis and found him in the front room, so excited that he’d weed on the rug. Otis was soon back outside and whining to come in again as we cleaned up the mess.
Liam is quite the DIY expert and he had all of the entertainment systems rigged up to the one box operated by a single remote control. Unfortunately this caused us some problems as we went to resume our TV viewing, at one point having vision but no audio on the lounge television and audio but no vision on the projector in the front room. As Tim was trying in vain to unmuddle the situation, I turned to Otis and asked if he knew how they worked. Otis? Otis! How the heck did he get in when we shut him out??? Crafty little pup had only gone and figured out how the cat flap worked! So now we had to shut him out and also lock the cat flap from the inside and, as he tried desperately to use his new door (and subsequently bashed his head on the plastic), his howls of desperation became more intense. I almost wept.
Instead we tried to get online and book our next accommodation, but for some reason the internet seemed down…something we inadvertently did? Probably, the way things were going. We needed to get out of the house, so we headed out to the off licence (or “bottle shop” as they call them here) to get some wine in for the evening’s meal. We had a short wait upon returning before Liam and Harry came home from work for the weekend (I really miss that Friday feeling!) They were surprised to hear that Otis figured out the cat flap and not surprised to hear that he’d weed. We also then discovered that dear little Otis was responsible for the internet being down as he’d pulled the telecoms box from the outside wall and chewed away at the cables. Bless him!
We sat down to a curry that evening and Tim, Liam and Harry reminisced over many memories of living together when students. Our hosts have done lots of travelling on their gap years and beyond, so they could give us plenty of advice regarding places we plan to hit. Even Otis finally calmed down and went to sleep in his basket like a good little pup, the issues he’d caused us during the day all being forgiven.
Saturday, 22/09/2012 - 100 A.D.
I didn’t get up until 9.45 in the morning – haven’t been up that late for over 100 days! There are some whom I work with who would never have assumed that was possible three months ago! To be fair, it wasn’t planned. Not having a phone anymore means I have nothing to set an alarm on, and Tim slept in another room so I didn’t have his to wake me. Fortunately no one else had been up that long, so I didn’t look like a complete lazybones. And Otis hadn’t whined in the night, so all was well.
We are now in the state of Victoria (population 5 million, size of the UK) and Australian Rules Football is massive down here. Typically the first question you’ll be asked after your name is “Who do you barrack for?”, translated as, “Which Aussie Rules team do you support?” I’d decided that I should barrack for a team so I went for Collingwood, who recently qualified for their fourth semi-final in a row, which they went on to lose. Tim chose the fellow Melbourne suburb side, Hawthorne, who would later that evening win their own semi-final. Just my luck! It’s reminiscent of how I’m doing in our family’s Fantasy Football League – although I am not taking it too seriously this season I am currently bottom of the table, even getting trounced by my mum’s and my aunt’s teams!
After a late breakfast, followed closely by a quick lunch outside, we hit the road on a fine spring day. We drove south along the bay, then into the countryside (looking as green as English meadows) to a place called Red Hill to undertake some wine tasting. Hair of the dog? Sort of. We probably only had two small glasses-worth, but because we got through eleven separate wines it feelt like more. From Riesling to moscato via chardonnay, shiraz and tempearmillo [SIC], my palette was playfully pulsating. They all tasted the same to me – fantastic!
Suitably tippled-out, we got back in the car and drove to Arthur’s Seat, a nearby look-out point that provides excellent views of Port Phillip bay. Next up we headed down to the beach and took a stroll along the small pier, indulging in the first ice creams of the new summer season.
Our final spot of the day was Point Nepean. We were looking for the area where a former prime minister of Australia went for a swim and never came back. Apparently sometime in the 1950s Harold Holt went down to the sea, completely on his own, and took his clothes off to have a dip. His body was never found and the country had to elect a new prime minister. And if anyone remembers a certain episode of Neighbours back in the day, this story may well have provided the inspiration for Harold Bishop’s infamous vanishing act.
That even we got to enjoy our second excellent Aussie barbecue, this time with delicious prawns sizzling away. We started the meal with a couple of oysters each – my first time – the first one slipped down my throat nice and easy, but the second almost caused problems and needed a double swallow! Also on offer on the menu tonight was kangaroo meat, which had a very distinct flavour, but was delicious. All this exotic cuisine is good practice for the up and coming Asian experience!
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