Bets Gone and Us too!

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Wildlife Park and Horseback Riding!

Our roomate, Diana, invited us to go horse back riding with her and a workmate, John, which we decided to do. I had never been before, while Carolyn had been a few time when she was younger. We also invited Julien as he loves all animals, and he jumped at the chance to get out of Melbourne for a day.

Sunday May20: We got up early to make the trip down to Ace-Hi ranch near Rosebud. While we were waiting for our riding time, we enjoyed the wildlife park that is also kept at the ranch. There were heaps of kangaroos, a dingo, emu, deer, and cockatoo birds. We were each given a bag of bread with which to feed them, and even the deer would take it right from your hand after a little coaxing. Having the emu, which stood as tall as me when standing straight up, take it from your hand was a little terrifying with its massive beak and mean look in its eye.

John had never ridden before either, but I didn't want to do the beginner ride, so said I had a little experience thus joining the intermediate group. I think I have sat on a horse that was led around a yard when I was pretty young, so in my mind was already an expert. Even Carolyn didn't know until after. "Have you ever risen to the trot?", 'oh, yeah. Too easy'. It ended up being fantastic! We all had a great time riding our horses. Carolyn's was a little lazy and it was hard to get trotting, but once it was going, all of the horses behind her would mostly keep up. We even got up to a canter - that was awesome! So fast. The trot thing is a little hard to master, as the horse bounces all over the place, but we all had it down by the end. The ride was only an hour, but all of us had sore hips by the end of it - turns out it is a lot of work!

Selling Betsy - Bittersweet!

Tuesday May 22: After a couple of months of advertising the van, we finally sold Bets. A huge relief as we only had a few weeks left in Melbourne, before we fly out to Perth! I got a call while at work from two English guys interested in looking at it. They said that they needed to look at it that evening, because their accommodation ran out! It made me laugh thinking that they were going to buy a van because their accommodation had run out! We arranged to meet, and after I cycled home, put everything we were selling in the van (bikes, body boards, helmets, camping stuff, ect).
When I went to start it however, the battery was flat! it had been sitting there for several weeks without us having started it. What luck! Here I had two guys needing to buy a van because their accommodation had run out at the hostel, and I couldn't even start the van to get it over to them! We didn't really know anyone living on our street that has a car, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I waited and luckily enough a jeep pulled onto the street and parked a few spots down. I hurried over and asked it they would mind giving me a jump, which they readily agreed to! Perfect! This is how I met Jamie and Phil. Their battery was tiny and mine so flat, that they didn't have enough juice to start it, even after 15mins of charging! With the time ticking, Jamie suggested that we try to jump start it. I was game, and suggested that she sit behind the wheel as I reckoned that I was a better pusher. She was too nervous, so I pushed on the door and jumped in once we had it rolling! The first attempt gave us nothing - not even a chug. The second time the engine gave a few chugs but didn't catch. The third time I pushed extra hard and with the extra burst of speed, when I let out the clutch, the engine leapt to life! Alright!! I hurriedly thanked them, and raced off to meet Wayne and Chris!
They were very impressed with the van (as they should be) and after a test drive each, they put in an offer, which I accepted. They were willing to take it that night, having the cash on them, but I needed to get the roadworthy re-done as the term had expired 10 days before. The next morning we cleaned our stuff out of Betsy, then I went to get everything sorted for the sale. This turned into a bit of a fiasco when the mechanic wrote the next day's date on the certificate, which the Vic roads office picked up on, and informed us that it invalidated it! Ridiculous...
And this was the last time we saw Betsy, and van that had been such a part of our trip here in OZ. A van with many memorable ups and downs. A van that had given us our freedom around the country, but had started to feel like a chain around our necks. Such a bittersweet moment watching it drive away for the last time... take good care of her lads.

Wed May 23: Jamie and Phil invited us over for a few drinks and to watch the State of Origin Rugby league match. We found out that our newest friends were moving to Queensland the coming Saturday.

Carolyn the Superstar!

Friday May 25: Carolyn had been working really hard at her job, and was now neck in neck with another Canadian girl, Marina, for the one-two spots. It has been a competition for them to see who can get the most records entered in a day, and of the 30 or so workers, they are the top. Because Carolyn started before Marina, she officially held the coveted title of top-dog. They would often complete more than twice the required number in a day - while others didn't even complete this. Her and Marina couldn't comprehend this because even they didn't have the best work ethic! I told her she should ask for a raise... There were prizes for attendance as well and she won several coffees and $10 coupons. Yaaahhh Carolyn!

Joker Poker Time

Carolyn met up with Alan Smith (Bumper Action CFO) and I at a pub (Bev and Micks) near Bumper Action for a night of Joker Poker! The pub has a deck of cards on the wall behind a sheet of glass and every Friday you are given a ticket for every drink you purchase. Some nights get pretty busy and between 4pm and 8pm thousands of tickets are given out. When the time comes for Joker Poker to be called, a ticket is drawn from the bin and the person holding the proper ticket get's to play the game! Every week the jackpot gets bigger (this time was $1650) and if the joker is picked, this money is yours! Mick draws the selected card from the wall, keeping it hidden, and offers up to 3 or 4 deals to bribe you from looking at the card. If you don't take the deal, and the joker turns up, you win the jackpot. If it is not the joker, you win nothing. Unfortunately we didn't win on this night, but the winner took the 3rd deal of $200 Cash, 15 jugs of beer, 15 spirits of his choice, and a 2-min powerbar (open bar for the allotted time). The week before Alan had won! AND, against staggering odds, 3 weeks later he and I won after only purchasing 2 drinks each! The crowd (of mostly regulars) were not very pleased :D).

Making plans

Sat - Sun May 27: Relaxing weekend for us. Now that the van was gone, we could concretely plan the rest of our trip, without fear of being stuck trying to sell the van for a pittance of what she is worth, or missing a flight. We decided that we would fly to Perth on June 12th - so could catch Sloan concert in Melbourne on the 10th. We would then fly to Darwin on June 25th, and from here to Sydney on July 6th. Our flight for Canada leaves Sydney on July 10th, and flies via Fiji, LA, Detroit, Toronto, where we arrive on the 12th. This is not going to be a pleasant few days.

Giving Blood and Exercise

Mon May 28th: Carolyn donated blood at the blood bank. Seems strange that she is not able to donate back in Canada as she lived in France for more than 6 months, but that doesn't seem to be a problem here in Australia. Good on her for the effort she put in to make this happen.

Tues - Fri June 1: Carolyn has been going to the gym a couple times a week for the month of May after getting a one month membership. Up until we sold the van, I was able to bicycle to work, which was plenty of exercise, but unfortunately I haven't been getting that much now that I am taking the tram. We are both looking forward to getting settle in Canada again so that we can make it a more regular part of our routine!

Hanging with Friends

We celebrated Alister's B'day at a pub on Chapel St. Alister is one of Carolyn's workmates and is from Scotland. It was a good night, and good for me because I got to know the people I had only heard about through Carolyn.
I have a bit of a problem with forgetting things sometimes, and inconveniently left my bag there. Ally was good enough to grab it for me and Carolyn got it off him later. We also realized that my large backpack was nowhere to be found in our room. I had thought that it was under the bed with Carolyn's, but as it turned out, it had been left under the bench seat in Betsy, and was now in Adelaide. Wayne and Chris were good enough to Express Post it to Melbourne for me a few days later, and I deposited the money in their account.

6 people were terminated at Carolyn's workplace - mostly the people who weren't doing any work. She was a little worried about her job as rumors were floating around that they were all being let go. With Carolyn being the top performer, there wasn't much chance of it happening to her though.

Joe's Extracurricular work

Sat June 2: I went down to Geelong with Alan to spend another day on Dave Maxton's Garage. I had completed the timber on the walls, and now it was time for the plaster. We left at 7am, and were working by 9am. We finished up around 2am, after a very long day. We got all the insulation in place, and the plaster board on the walls and ceiling except for the area around the roller door in the front. To do it properly, the door needed to be removed, and we didn't have time for that, so we had to leave it. This was just as well because we didn't get back to Melbourne until 4am Sunday morning as it was!

The panel shop next to Bumper action was putting up a new sign for their shop, and I happened to be walking by when they were trying to figure out how to put it up. I made a few suggestions, and it wasn't long before they had commissioned me to put it up. They had a to scale print out of the sign and all the letters, and all I had to do was figure out how to get it all up and straight. I made small cutouts around the letters, taped it up to the front of the building, and sprayed it all with paint to mark where all the letters were to be. Then taking down the paper, I just had to put adhesive on the back of the letters and stick it to the wall inside the proper markings. I have never seen a better looking sign, or a straighter one. They were thrilled to give me the $500 as it was less than half what the sign company was going to charge them. Not bad for 6hrs work.

Bumper purchased the Superman III set for the Daily Planet building, getting the clock, gargoyles, and elevator doors. It was decided that we would hang the doors in the front of Bumper's foyer, and I was given the job. I had to cut the old doors because they were taller then the Superman doors, and join them. I then put marble laminate all around the doors and tidied it all up with some trim, which was painted a nice shiny black. It sure looks different now then it did with the crusty drywall and plain wooden doors that were there. It is quite cool because the doors automatically slide open on a sensor, so actually resembles an elevator. I even put the elevator lights above the door so it looks like the elevator is going up or down (or will when it is hooked up properly).

Finished Work - Nothing But Holidays left!

Fri June 8: Carolyn and I both finished working! Hurray! Back on 'real' holidays! We met up after work at pub on Chapel St staying up until early hours! It is always sad to say goodbye to new friends, but it will be good to stay in touch with email and pictures. It is not such a big world, and we'll no doubt meet again.

Dalai Lama in Melbourne

Sat June 9th: The Dalai Lama was in Melbourne and I had purchased a ticket earlier in the week. It wasn't easy getting up at 7am to get out to the Rod Laver Arena after the night before, but after two coffees I was functioning ok. Carolyn had elected not to come as the tickets were a little dear, and she wasn't very familiar with any of his work or philosophy. I am very glad that I did get the opportunity to attend, as a lot of his ideas make a lot of sense to me. To be compassionate, and kind and how these ultimately lead to a sense of happiness. The 2nd part was delivered in Tibetan, then through a translator, so was a little harder to follow. It also dealt more with the Buddhist religion, which doesn't really interest me. All in all through, it was a worthwhile endeavour.

Slooannn...Slooannn....Slooannn

Sun June 10th: Carolyn's friend, Ryan, from high-school was able to get us on the guest list for the Sloan concert! It ended up being a great show as the venue was very small (couple hundred people). We were standing right at the stage and there were several points where I could have reached out and touched them. It was extremely loud, and the entire next day our ears were still ringing. I think I will be carrying earplugs to my next show. After the show Chris (lead singer) was mingling and Carolyn had her picture taken with him. It was a very good night!

Mon June 11: Packing and a few more goodbyes. We met up with Julien one last time for lunch before he flew to NZ (hopefully not to freeze) that night. For dinner, we met with an american workmate and his wife. They just moved to Melbourne, so it was exciting for them to be starting, while we were ending Melbourne life.

Goodbye Melbourne, Hello Perth!

Tues June 12: Take shuttle bus to Avalon airport. First time since Sydney where we have everything we own on our backs! We arrived in Perth at 4:30pm and already have a high opinion of the place! We were meeting Megan and Rob (friends of Carolyn from Highschool), at 7pm in South Perth at the Windsor Hotel. While we were waiting we went for a walk along the bay and saw a pod of dolphins playing all around the jetty! It was pretty surreal watching these playful animals with the sun setting and the city framed on the opposite shore! I think we are going to like this place!!

Feels great to be starting the last leg of our trip! We are really going to enjoy the next month, and are both pretty excited to get home to see family and friends again! It has been a long time.... we'll do a quick update when we leave Perth for Darwin on the 25th, so until then, take care. Adieu.

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Photos

Maybe the dingo ate your baby
This guy was way musclier than the wild ones we saw on Fraser Island.

hmm...this is one of my bosses
Just in case you were wondering - it's a guy

Joe's $500 sign
Joe put up the 'City Road Panels' and 'panel beating & spray painting' letters with Mirror Faces

Comments

[M. Flood]

Homestretch...
Looking forward to hooking up once you guys are back - perhaps for a triple "B" in the backyard (BBQ, bevvies, bonfire).