Blogs from Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 2

We hadn’t been on the road long this morning when we encountered our first traffic problem. A truck had veered into the median strip near Bookham, so all the traffic was being funnelled into a single lane and vehicles were in attendance looking at the logistics for extracting the truck from the median strip. It hadn’t rolled or crashed into trees so damage should have been minimal and … thank goodness … it had not careered all the way across the median strip and into oncoming traffic. Our first stop of the day was five miles from Gundagai at the Dog on the Tucker Box. Another trip along the Hume Highway, another photo of the famous dog! We encountered more people having car problems. Near where we had parked the truck a family had disconnected their ... read more

Tour Day 85 – Melbourne hosts a starting point for a wide variety of attractions, but the New Year holiday found several attractions not operating for much of my short stay and the weather kept this “fair weather camper” at home for another day. Few of the attractions are close to or within Melbourne (ala the Opera House, the Sydney Bridge and Bondi Beach in Sydney), so a significant drive is required both before and after the attraction and the tour duration is long by the day trip norms I’ve encountered – generally 9 1/2 to 12 hours. Grampians National Park is a bit too rugged for me, sampling the wine and produce of the Yarra Valley just isn’t my flute of champagne and the drive home from the “as the sun is setting” penguin parade ... read more

Today it was Christmas Take 2 with us heading off for Boxing Day lunch at the Club Hotel in Warragul with Bernie’s parents, Helen and Ian, Bernie’s brother, Michael and my sister, Kerry. Ate too much AGAIN! I ordered the pulled pork burger that had coleslaw on the inside and coleslaw and chips on the side. So much coleslaw! I don’t really understand serving it as a side when it is already in the ‘burger’?? I should have ordered from the Senior’s menu to try to ensure a smaller meal because I have so much guilt about not finishing what’s on my plate BUT … I know it’s not good for me to overeat either. After lunch we commenced our road trip in earnest. Despite very threatening black clouds we only experienced a brief shower between ... read more

NOTE: We are home. This is the final entry for this holiday. Good to his word, the captain had us touching down in Dubai just after midnight. With our flight to Melbourne at 2.20pm local time we had just over two hours until we were due to be in the air again for the longer leg of our journey home. With boarding commencing an hour before flight time we really only had an hour to stretch our legs. Fortunately, we didn’t have to change terminals at Dubai, just walk from one gate to another. It’s so much easier to fly in and out of the same terminal and not have to take the train between terminals. We decided to walk to our departure gate before sitting down. It’s much easier to be where you need to ... read more

We begin. Although it feels like the planning and preparation (in order to prevent PPP - cleaned up in some deference to my new and emerging audience, although truth be known they are already more corrupt than my small but loyal followers) has been going on for ages the necessary process through airport check in, emigration services and the almost obligatory 2 hours wait in the airport lounge has began. I’m always constantly amazed at just how many people are flying. The airport was a hive of activity and really abuzz with people, passengers and personnel. Obviously Tullamarine is not the only airport (otherwise we’d have nowhere to land!) and relatively simple maths (well at least no decimals!) would reveal just how many flights and flyers are out there. Our Emirates flight has connections all over ... read more