This morning we rode the train to Belgrave Station to meet Curtis and Natasha for a bushwalk in the forested area of Belgrave. We started off with a coffee in the courtyard of a heritage building turned restaurant. From this point we trudged uphill on a trail leading to the Dandenong Range National Park. Checked out some small cottages situated along the route. We wound our way along to a picnic area where we were able to view cockatiels in the wild. Although we heard many birds, we were not able to view many of them. The vegetation was comprised of huge gum trees, fern trees and some bamboo. We followed a circuitous route to Kalinda and back into Belgrave, stopping to visit the house and roommate where Curtis and Natasha lived previously.
Tired but invigorated, we trained back to Blackburn to have a kangaroo BBQ at Natasha’s parents home. Gary had prepared a feast--roo kebabs (yes, we really ate kangaroo!), beef sausages, grilled eggplant and giant mushrooms and a pan of roasted chicken and potatoes. Coleslaw and salad completed the meal. The roo was very lean and tasty. Wine and cheesecake completed the meal.
The train ride back to town at 10:00pm was a noisy car packed with 20something revellers heading to the city for Saturday night. The girls were outfitted in strapless dresses and 4” heels, no jackets!! In contrast, the boys were rather dishevelled in appearance. But. it was the girls who contributed most of the noise.
After all that fresh air and hiking, we flopped into bed for a great night’s sleep.
February 13 Farewell Melbourne
Another train ride this morning to the Camberwell area, where we met Curt and Natasha for the Sunday market. The open air market is a mixture of new and used merchandise. Lots of vendors and purchasers made it a bustling area of activity. After thoroughly checking out the stalls, we began walking back to the next train station via some quaint streets with the brick houses and wrought iron detailing on the porches and verandahs.
Another train ride back to our hotel area to load up Curt’s backpack with a box of books we are mailing home. Our next destination was an area we had not yet explored known as Brunswick St. which is much like our Commercial Dr. Natasha knew a great pub to have a late meal which we ate in the courtyard. Pam’s bogan burger (potato cake, chicken, beef, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, beet, caramelized onion and an egg) was humungous!!
After strolling back to the Parliament area, we said our goodbyes to Curtis and Natasha about 3:45. Arriving back at the hotel, we put in a load of wash and began the job of packing to leave tomorrow. We will pick up our car in Geelong and head out on the Great Ocean Road.
The blog will be updated as regularly as possible from this point on. We have been fortunate to have free wifi for the past week and do not know what lies ahead for technology hookups.
February 14
We left our home of the last 13 days to board a Metro train to Southern Cross Station and then on to the Vline train to Geelong to pick up our car at the Hertz rental office. A red Toyota Corolla Ascent. We drove through Geelong in search of 2 quilting shops….found them both. Then on to the Great Ocean Road…..through Torquay, Anglesea, and Aireys where we stopped to see a lighthouse at Split Point. The ocean road is like the Hope Princeton Hwy…really windy but with the beautiful views of the turquoise ocean…crashing waves, stretches of beach and strange formations of rock On through the pretty little town of Lorne and on to Apollo Beach where we found a motel for the night, got some groceries, found a cache, went to dinner (great fish and chips..the fish was called Blue Grenadier) and now are sitting drinking wine and eating TimTans and watching TV. No internet so we will load this later.
Oh by the way…my driving on the “wrong” side of the road, using the the windshield wiper instead of turn signal did NOT add any gray hairs to Carol’s head!!! I have given her permission to yell if I do anything really stupid.
No comments:
Post a Comment