Australia 2006 - Last Day

Saturday 22nd April
Its our last day. I really don't want to go back. Melbourne is such a fabulous city, and Australia is a great country.

We got up early, booked in to our flight using the internet, finished packing and dropped our cases at the apartment's office.

Then we walked to a cafe opposite South Melbourne Market called Panette where we were meeting Little Louise for breakfast. Last time we were in Melbourne, Alicea told me all about the banana porridge they served, but it was shut over the new year so I've been waiting two years to have it! Louise arrived and I finally got to try the porridge - yummy.

After breakfast we walked around the market It was smaller than the QVM, but still had amazing stuff.

From there Lou drove us to St Kilda, where we had a wander around before meeting Big Lou and Janet at Soul Mama, a vegetarian restaurant in the St Kilda Baths building. Soul Mama is a buffet restaurant where you pick a bowl-size and then you choose the dishes you want to have. It was mostly curry stuff, with the odd pasta and moussaka and I had curry. At present, sitting writing this on the plane, I wish I hadn't as I feel quite bloated and gassy.

After the meal we said our goodbyes and Janet dropped us back at the appartment office where we waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport. Once again, as we left Melbourne, I had a huge lump in my throat and wished that I could stay.

We arrived at the airport and checked in at the online check-in desk - we were pleased that we had done this, as the normal queue was huge.

That done, after a brief moment where Alicea thought she had lost her passport, we went through passport control and looked around duty free, before our flight was called. It took off pretty much on time for the first leg to Singapore.

We arrived slightly early in Singapore. We got off the plane for a brisk walk around duty-free before boarding for the next leg to Dubai. Once in Dubai, we spent quite a while looking around the duty-free and bought a few bits.

The plane from Dubai to England had a better entertainment system and I watched Wallace & Grommitt and Corpse Bride. When we arrived back in the UK, surprise, surprise it was raining...

Australia 2006 - Back to Mornington

Friday 21st April
We had arranged to meet Nicki at 11am at Federation Square, so we had breakfast on the way at Southbank, then walked to Federation Square where we had a wander around for half hour or so before Nicki picked us up.

She drove us down to Blairgowrie on the Mornington Crescent where Debbie lives. We all then went to the Portsea Hotel for lunch where the girls reminisced about their schooldays. Lunch was good - asparagus risotto followed by a cheese board, but there was a mixup with Debbie's - she is wheat intolerant - but it was sorted out okay.

We went back to Debbie's for the afternoon, stopping by the local school to pick up her daughter and friend - so it was a bit of a squash in the car. We showed them the wedding photos and some of the pictures of the house before we left and Nicki drove us to Surrey Hills, where Robyn lived. She took the scenic coastal route back which was nice but quite a lot longer.

We were all quite full from lunch, so we didn't have anything to eat at Robyn's but we had a nice evening chatting, before we had to say our goodbyes and Nicki drove us to the apartment. Once there, we packed our cases ready for the journey back to the UK tomorrow.

Australia 2006 - Queen Vic Market

Thursday 20th April
I got up very early this morning (5am) to chat to the family back in the UK over the webcam. It worked really well and it was great to see them. After an hour or so online, we went back to bed to try and catch a snooze before getting up again and getting ready to go out.

We caught a tram to Queen Victoria Market for breakfast. We went to a small coffee house for breakfast run by some Italians. They lost our order and we could hear the arguments in the kitchen, which was quite amusing. We were given a free coffee as recompense for their mistake, so we didn't mind too much.

Queen Vic Market is fantastic. The food halls and the fruit and veg market are awesome. The produce looks so fresh and the variety of stuff available is amazing.

After wandering around there for a while, we then wandered around the rest of the market, which has clothes, opals, watches, in fact just about anything you can think of. It really is huge.

From there, we caught a tram back into the city and did some shopping. We've popped into a couple of banks here to see what the options are for us to open an account for when we move here – the bank fees are unreal, especially when you compare them to the free banking in the UK.

We had lunch in the Blue Train Cafe on Southbank, where Alicea picked a disgusting tasting white wine – I'm not sure if it was corked or not, but they replaced it with a red instead without any fuss.

We returned to the apartment, picking up a souvalaki on the way and Alicea made arrangements to meet up with all her friends over the next couple of days.

Tonight its the turn of Janet and her new boyfriend Andrew. We went to a restaurant in South Melbourne called O'Connells. The food and service was really good, and it was good to see Janet again. We all had a good time, and Alicea enjoyed catching up with all the news. Janet and Andrew dropped us back at the apartment after the meal.

Australia 2006 - Melbourne

Wednesday 19th April
We got up at 5.45am as we had to drive to Melbourne this morning and arrive there by 10.30 to avoid having to pay an extra day's car hire. Saying goodbye to Mary was very hard, and we packed everything into the car and left around 6.45. I drove for about three quarters of the way to Melbourne, and Alicea took over for the last 50km or so.

As we got closer, we tuned the radio to Triple-M and listened to the breakfast show, which had us in stitches. They'd never be able to get away with most of the stuff they do if it was broadcast in the UK, but it was so funny. I'll never be able to take the film, The Worlds Fastest Indian seriously if I ever see it. At one point I thought we were in serious danger of crashing, Alicea was laughing so much!

Once we arrived in Melbourne, we went to the apartment booking office and booked into our apartment. Luckily, it was ready, so we dumped the luggage and then took the car back. The apartment is on the 34th floor and has a fantastic view across the city.

We then walked into Melbourne city centre, along South Bank. We did some shopping, and then jumped on a tram that took us to Lygon Street, where all the Italian restaurants are. By now, it was lunchtime so we popped into a restaurant where I had a pizza and Alicea had spaghetti bolognaise.

From there, we did some more shopping, before jumping on a tram to take us back to the main shopping area around Swanston Street. I wandered round the food hall in David Jones (a bit like the Harrod's food hall) and found Tiptree Jams and Maldon Sea salt!

After finishing this particular shopping spree, we popped back to the apartment for a rest, before venturing out for dinner. We walked to Federation Square, where we had a drink at one of the bars, before going to a great Chinese restaurant called BokChoy Tang. The food was really nice, and their was plenty of it.

On the way back we both grabbed an ice cream before returning back to the apartment for the night. Before going to bed, Alicea contacted Nikki to make arrangements to see her on Friday, and I connected my laptop up to the internet, and was surprised and pleased to find John online, so I could test my webcam out.

Australia 2006 - Last Day in Moama

Tuesday 18th April
Today is the last day with Mary and Ray before we head to Melbourne for the last few days of our holiday. After breakfast the girls went shopping in Echuca while Will dropped me off at the internet cafe for 30 minutes while he got some petrol and checked his car for his and Lauren's journey back to Adelaide.

Once he'd picked me up we went along to the outskirts of the town to where there were a few car dealerships. We took out a few cars for a test drive. Will took out a large Toyota jeep and a Toyota pickup and I took out a Rav4 and a Ford four wheel drive. Once we'd done that, we drove into town with the intention of having a pub lunch. We pulled up to park outside a cafe next to the pub and saw the girls eating at the cafe, so we joined them.

After eating, we popped back to the car dealership so that Will could show Lauren the jeep he had test driven. We then said our goodbyes to them and they left for Adelaide.

When we got back to the house, Mary showed me how she makes her shortbreads. I feel quite honoured to have been shown her 'secret' recipe as she said that her, Nick and now me are the only ones to know the recipe.

We then popped back into town and went to Big W, Coles and filled up with petrol ready for the journey to Melbourne tomorrow. For dinner I used up some of the stuff in the fridge and had a curry. After dinner, Michael phoned and chatted to Alicea – apparently he had tried to book a flight from Tasmania to Melbourne to meet up with us, but all the airlines were booked, which was a shame.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the tv before going to bed.

Australia 2006 - Barmah Forest

Monday 17th April (Easter Monday)
Lauren and Will came round about 10ish and Lauren and Mary went shopping in Echuca. Alicea, Will and myself went to Barmah Forest, a large redgum forest about 30kms from Moama. It was really interesting wandering around the forest with Will as he is very knowledgable about wildlife etc. He found a small ant-lion nest to show us, and we saw a couple of fallen trees that had been used for shelter by kangaroos or wallabies. You could plainly see the tracks left by their tails.

We were hoping to see some goanas, but despite seeing marks on some trees where they had climbed them, we didn't see any of the animals themselves.

We stopped by the river and had some lunch, propping up redgum stumps for a table and chairs before driving through some sandy roads back to the main highway.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Mary's and left around 5ish to meet with Lauren and Will for a drink at the Border Inn before meeting up with Mary and Ray for a meal. The meal was very nice, but the service was very poor, we had to clear our own table at one point and even summon a waitress for an adjacent table!

Once we left the Border, we went back to Mary's for the night.

Australia 2006 - Easter Barbie and Boats

Sunday 16th April (Easter Sunday)
Lauren and Will came around for breakfast – a nice fry up of eggs, mushies, tomatoes, bacon etc. I had my veggie bacon and sausages. Once breakfast was over and everything was cleared up, we went down to the “Soundshell” in Moama, where there was a market. The Soundshell is a small open air 'amphitheatre/bowl' where they hold local concerts etc. The market was a fair size and we spent a little time looking round it before heading back to Mary's for lunch. I didn't buy anything at the market, Alicea bought some novelty bra strap thingies.

For lunch, we had a bbq. I did some kebabs and some haloumi cheese and aubergine rolls. The others had ribs, sausages etc. I had my own electric bbq to cook all my stuff on. It was all rather nice and very filling. Nick popped in just after we'd finished eating for a chat. Once all the clearing up had been done, we had a fairly lazy afternoon chatting and watching Aussie Rules on tv. Mum phoned up around 17:20 – it was nice to hear from her and Dad.

Around 6ish, we left to pick Lauren and Will up from their hotel and we went to the port at Echuca, where they were having an Easter Festival on the wharf. We picked our spot on the front of the wharf and Alicea and Lauren went to get some chips for us to eat. Once they returned and it had begun to get dark we watched a sail past of all of the paddle steamers followed by a firework display.

It was a nice evening – the sail past was accompanied by a commentary telling the history of the boats and the fireworks ended the evening nicely. We left the port and dropped Lauren and Will back at their hotel, before going home to Mary's and to bed.

Australia 2006 - Morrisons

Saturday 15th April
The plan this morning was for Alicea to drive Will's car around to their hotel and to pick them up. However, her and Ray couldn't get it started, so we had to go in our hire-car. It turned out that there was some security thing on their car that we weren't aware of.

We picked up Lauren and Will from their hotel and drove into Echuca where we did some shopping. I picked up a cookbook and Alicea went to see if her ring was ready and also got some Easter eggs. Then we met up with Lauren and Will in a coffee shop and popped into Safeways to get some supplies for tonight and for the bbq tomorrow. On the way back we double parked outside a wine store and Will pretended to check out under the car bonnet while Lauren bought some wine. Then we went back to Mary's and caught a taxi to Morrisons Winery where we were having lunch.

We started with a wine-tasting and we then had the meal. It was fabulous and the service was great. The waiter went through the menu with me, explaining that they could change the dishes if required, so I ordered a spaghetti with mushrooms where there should have been prawns. When it turned up there were loads of mushies of different sorts – it was great. The setting was great, it is on the banks of the Murray river and it was just a really nice meal. We then went back to Mary's for the afternoon and relaxed.

For dinner, we had some antipasti, and I cooked some fennel in cream and some eggplant with pesto and mozzarella. I also did some tamari seeds, which disappeared pretty quickly. The n we all sat and watched a cookery show called the Iron Chef. Its a Chinese/Japanese show dubbed by Americans and was really entertaining. Once that was over it was time for bed.

Australia 2006 - Aussie Rules

Friday 14th April (Good Friday)
Got up about 8.30 and had hot cross buns for breakfast. I rained quite hard last night and was threatening to rain all morning. After breakfast Alicea and I walked into Moama to a local bakery to buy some bread. The morning was fairly relaxed, and we popped out again to get some stuff for lunch and dinner. Lauren and Will arrived about noon and after lunch, Ray, Will and I went down the local sports club to watch Echuca and Moama play Aussie rules. Moama lost quite heavily (about 105 – 54 or similar) but despite this it was a great afternoon, drinking VB and chatting with Will and Ray. We returned to find all the girls watching a film, which we tried not to make comments through... and then we had dinner. Lauren and Will took a taxi back to their hotel later when the rest of us retired to bed.

Australia 2006 - Long Drive

Thursday 13th April
Alicea, Mary and I went to a place in the old port in Echuca for breakfast called Wistaria. We all had omelettes, mine was spring onion and mushroom and, as it has been everywhere, asking for something off-menu was no problem.

After breakfast I went to the internet cafe, where I updated my blogs and checked my email. Alicea and Mary went into the town to do some shopping. We met up after an hour or so for coffee and then dropped Mary back home while Alicea and I decided what to do for the afternoon.

The original plan was to go to Bendigo and maybe go down a gold mine, but we decided to head for a small town called Barmah instead. It was pretty small, so small in fact that we had driven through it before we knew it. So, we decided to head towards the city of Shepparton.

It was a long and boring drive along about 60 so kilometres of straight roads. Once we got there we parked and wandered around for an hour or so. Shepparton is a fair size but is pretty unremarkable. In retrospect, given the distances we drove, I wish we had gone to Bendigo, as it looks to have a lot more character. We drove the boring drive back to Moama where we picked up Mary and Ray as we are taking them out for dinner in Echuca.

We went to a place called the Harvest Hotel in Echuca for dinner. The food was okay, and once again there was no problem with me juggling the menu around. The only downside of the meal was the mashed potato which tasted suspiciously like powdered potato.

From there we went back to Mary's for the night.

Australia 2006 - A Trip to Maldon

Wednesday 12th April.
After breakfast we left to go to Maldon, a small town in the Gold-Mining area. We passed through Bendigo, and arrived in Maldon around 11.30. Its a great little town, but I can't help thinking that it could be much better with a lick of paint and a few more shops selling local produce etc.



We had a cheese scone and a drink and then walked around the town. There are a couple of nice little shops there, and an awful lot selling second hand books, antiques, nik-naks etc and much of the stuff in these shops is pretty awful. At one end of the town is a 'gnome factory' which is fairly awful. The quality of the stuff you can buy there looked mediocre to say the least. There was also a pretty rank Christmas shop there. Unfortunately the vintage motorcycle museum was shut, which was a shame as it looked really good through the window.

We then went back to the same place where we had coffee and we had lunch. I had a teryaki rosti and Alicea had vegetable samosas. Both were very nice.

After we left there, we went to the Goldfields Railway, which is a steam train that runs from Maldon to Castlemaine.



Alicea, not being a train bore like me, drove to Castlemaine with Mary while I took the trip on the train. It was pretty good.



At one point, I thought it had broken down as the train stopped for five minutes or so as it reached the crest of a hill. Apparently, they were pumping water into the boiler so that when the loco headed downhill the water didn't run away from the boiler.



I met up with Alicea and Mary at Castlemaine, and after I watched the train turn around on the turntable, I joined them in the car and we drove back to Moama, via the shops.

Australia 2006 - Paddlesteamers

Tuesday 11th April
I slept better last night and we had crumpets for breakfast.

We popped into Echuca and booked a ride on one of the paddle-steamers for the afternoon. The guy that sold us the tickets knew of Kent in the UK and spoke of 'two oaks' meaning Sevenoaks and the 87 storms. We also popped into a juice bar and had a smoothie each, before driving to see Nick and Natalie's place.

Their place is quite nice, but is in the middle of nowhere. They are doing a lot of work on it and Nat's family were over helping build a pen for the dogs as well as doing other stuff. We spent about an hour or so there before leaving for Echuca once more.

At Echuca, we parked at the port and had some lunch at the Star restaurant. We had sandwiches and some chips and wedges.



Then we had a quick look around the wharf before boarding the PS Pevensey for a leisurely cruise along the River Murray. It was nice and relaxing and the scenery was great.




After the cruise we had a quick look around some of the other buildings, including an underground bar and tunnel where the locals used to escape from the police when drinking.

After that we brought a few bits at the local shops before returning back to Mary's where I cooked myself a courgette and pumpkin risotto and Alicea had stew on toast which, apparently, is one of her favourites.

Australia 2006 - Echuca

Monday 10th April
I slept in two halves. Despite having some indigestion – I was so full after the meal - I fell asleep fairly shortly after going to bed, but woke up around 2ish and then took a couple of hours to get off again. I heard Ray leave for work somewhere around 3.30 and I must've fallen asleep sometime after that, as the next I knew, it was 8 o'clock.

I got up and cooked some pancakes for brekky as Mary had made a mix up although, to be honest I am still full from the meal last night.

Alicea, Mary and myself drove into Echuca and went shopping at Coles where we bought some food for dinner tonight and the barbecue that Mary is having at the weekend.

Once we had returned to the car, we drove to the old Port part of Echuca which has all the historical buildings. We wandered around a redgum furniture place – there was a fantastic table and a magnificent breakfast bar there – before going to a couple of places to do some wine tasting. We bought a nice Merlot to accompany tonight's dinner and a white port, which was really nice. I also bought some nice olive oil from one of the places that press their own. On the way back to the car, we popped into a fish & chip shop where Alicea had some Dim Sims. From there we went back to Mary's and then popped out briefly to drop some dry cleaning off and have a quick look around the nearby Safeways where I managed to pick up some veggie bacon. The current quest is to find some vegetable suet as it seems to be fairly unknown here, and Mary is going to make some syrup dumplings.

Once back at the house we cooked our dinners. Mary had done herself and Ray some lamb cutlets and Alicea made herself some Spaghetti Bolognaise. I made papardelle with zuccini and chilli.

After dinner we sat down and began to watch the TV, but we were both still tired, so around 8.30pm we decided to retire to bed.

Australia 2006 - Arrival

Sunday 9th April
We awoke and breakfasted at the Hilton around 10ish. After checking out we picked the car up from Budget and began our trip to Moama to see Alicea's mum and Ray. The car is a Nissan Pulsar and has cruise control, which is a bonus when you are driving long distance and have to watch the speed limit.

After an initial mistake, where we missed a couple of turn offs, we were on the road to Echuca and Moama. We stopped at a small town to go to the loo, but other than that it was a straight though drive and we arrived at Mary's around about 2.3ish.

Their new house is really nice. It's spacious and really well laid out. Our bedroom is a good size and the bed is very comfy.

We sat around for the best part of the afternoon chatting with Mary, Ray and Nick (Alicea's nephew) and it really feels like we've never been away. It was good chatting to Nick. He's a chef at a local restaurant and we spent quite some time talking about food. He's quite keen on getting a better knowledge of vegetarian food and has asked me to send him some recipes when I get back.

In the evening we went into Moama and ate at the Border Inn Hotel, which is where Nick chef's, although tonight it was his night off. The food was very nice – and the gnocci was the best I've had for a long time. After eating we went back to Mary's where we watched CSI before going to bed.

Australia 2006 - Getting There

Saturday 8th April

We landed at Singapore more or less on time. Apart from the stewards forgetting my food, the flight was straighforward and fairly smooth. The planes have outside cameras which let you watch the take off and landing or what you are flying over, which is quite fun. We only had about half an hour at Singapore, so we rushed around duty free where Alicea bought herself a gold charm.

The flight was a bit late taking off, which meant we were around half an hour late landing at Melbourne. I was really pleased that we had booked into the Hilton Hotel opposite the airport as we were able to have a shower and fall into bed vitually straight away after we had cleared customs.

Australia 2006 - On the Way

Friday 7th April

The taxi picked us up just before 10am and dropped us at Edenbridge station. The train was on time and got to Gatwick nice and early, enabling us to check in and have something to eat. The flight to Dubai was fairly uneventful and we had a couple of hours at Dubai airport to look around.