Melbourne and Pearcedale, Australia
World Trip Two
Friday, April 24, 2009: Christchurch-Melbourne
New Zealand, land of two skies.
It was a very lovely morning in Christchurch which we spent walking the city and
visiting the natural history museum. The flight from Christchurch to Melbourne
took the better part of four hours. We flew on Air New Zealand and we
had a very pleasant experience, as always.
When we arrived at Melbourne airport
the weather was very different than what we had left in New Zealand. It was
raining and it was getting dark. The drive from the airport to my brother John's
home was nerve-racking. Not only did I have to contend with driving on the left
hand side of the road, driving on what are now unfamiliar roads, I had the dark
and rain too. Fortunately, the Friday night rush hour traffic was not too bad and
we made it to our destination without incident. We were welcomed by my two
brothers John and Lawrence, and Di. We were very glad to see them all again.
Saturday, April 25, 2009: Pearcedale, Australia
The weather got worse today. The rain poured down and to make matters worse
the wind picked up. We spent most of the day helping Di and John get ready for
the party they were hosting for Julia and I. We did get to drive into Frankston
(my old home town) and so Julia did get to see a bit of her new surroundings. On
our return it was not long before the guests starting arriving and we had a
jolly time meeting new friends and greeting old ones. Thank you John and Di for
giving us a such a great party.
Sunday, April 26, 2009: Pearcedale, Australia
A big Gray Kangaroo greeted us on our hike.
Unbelievably, the weather got even worse today, more rain and even higher winds.
But we just had to go for a walk so we headed to Cape Schanck and made the walk
to Bushrangers Bay. It
was blowing a 30 mph gale and light rain kept falling intermittently. Not too
far down the trail we walked right into the middle of a mob of 20 or more gray
kangaroos.
We took them by surprise so we were able to get very close to them and get some
great photos. It was the first time Julia had ever seen kangaroos in the wild
or in captivity and she loved the experience. We figured that the mob had moved into the trees
surrounding the trail to get some protection from the weather; lucky for us. We
walked on to the bay and saw a roaring sea of 4 foot waves and winds gusting to
80 mph. It was very invigorating. The rain stayed away until just minutes before
we got back to the car. Then as if to make sure we knew that nature was in
control the rain poured down on us soaking us before we could get in the car.
But it was worth getting wet for the hike.
Monday, April 27, 2009: Pearcedale, Australia
It was a day of visiting family, eating lots of food, and drinking lots of
alcohol; as one often does when visiting with family. It was still very rainy
all day, but the wind died down a bit. We booked our trip to the Snowy Mountains
and bought our supplies for the five day adventure around the Victorian High
Country. Normally there would be no snow this time of year but because of the
freak weather it will indeed be snowy when we get there tomorrow.
Kangaroo Video
Trip stats
Miles Flown: 8,919
Miles Hiked: 83
Miles Driven: 1,981
Miles Sailed: 89