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Day 333 (23.2.08)
After a week of training at PCI we were glad to get out of the city for the weekend to meet up with Jeremy and Carly. Having last seen them in China over a drunken night and an extra hot hotpot, we had organised to go and see them up in Wodonga to spend the weekend catching up.
It took us about 4 hours to drive up to where Wodonga sits right on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Now we are both used to driving long distances back in the UK and, unlike some of our fellow countrymen, think little of a four hour drive but even at home we probably wouldn’t drive that far just for one night. However, since travelling around Australia in the van we’ve begun to look on distances the way Aussies do, the distance we covered is really just a short journey in this country. We arrived at Carly’s house just before lunchtime and caught up over a cup of tea whilst Carly did some prep for our bbq later.
Jumping in the car we explored the gorgeous surrounds of Wodonga and went for a trip over
to Beechworth a beautiful gold-rush era town where visited the famous bakery and shared some of its delicious pies for lunch. We explored the rest of the town admiring the impressive public buildings and took a trip to the local ‘lolly shop’ (sweets are called lollies in Oz - something we’d found a little hard to get used to. If you were wondering, lollies are called lollipops). We then jumped back in the car to go and cheer Jez on in his cricket match.
Back at Carly’s house laden with beer and with an amazing spread set out for our bbq dinner, the evening looked like it was going to be a good one. We started with a couple of cheeky beers and the night gradually deteriorated into a fantastic evening of chatting and drinking games. With Jeremy a big fan of the ‘Roxanne’ drinking game we had taught them in China he wasn’t satisfied with playing it just once. After the third run through we were well on our way and didn’t make it to bed until the early hours. On our way to bed Mark had a bit of a weird allergic reaction to one of the
drinks and came out with a rather fetching rash on his face - luckily enough after a sleep it had disappeared!
Day 334 (24.2.08)
We perhaps weren’t all feeling at our finest the next morning but after a superb breakfast we were all up for a visit to at least one of the many wineries in the region. We visited the St Leonard’s winery and, making quick recoveries, liked it so much that we bought a bottle and settled in for a leisurely afternoon in the sun with some wine and cheese. The afternoon passed too quickly as we finished off by sampling some more fine local pies in Rutherglen before saying our goodbyes and making the journey back to Melbourne. It had been an excellent weekend and had confirmed why we’d got on so well with Carly and Jeremy when we’d met in China. We only hope that we’ll be able to meet up again with them before they head off on their own mammoth adventure to the UK in a few weeks time. Thanks for a fab weekend guys - good luck with your trip and we’ll see you in Manchester!
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Carly
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What a weekend!!
Hey guys, so excited we made it to your blog!! Warming up for Manchester rematch on Sihanoukville Beach in Cambodia. Cheers Carly