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Published: February 16th 2009
We left Perth last week on a hair raising Virgin Blue flight across half the continent to Adelaide, where we had just a day to check out the capital of South Australia. The city is so easy to get around, with the centre consisting of a grid of perfectly designed avenues surrounded by a belt of parkland. Like Perth, it has a free bus loop for the lazy tourists and we jumped on board with the rest of them. The friendly driver personally welcomed each of his guests onboard, and provided a friendly and informative running commentary. He absolutely loved his job and his city, great to see. As we only had one full day, we had to pick and choose what to do. The national wine centre was a must, since we are now both fully self-qualified Sommeliers. Unfortunately they had the cheek to present us with a Chardonnay aged in American rather than French Oak. We were not amused.
In the evening we decided to go to this arty cinema for a culture injection. We watched a film called Mister Lonely, about a Michael Jackson impersonator who goes and lives in a commune with loads of other impersonators.
If you ever want to see something really really bizarre, then it comes well recommended. Of course, being an arty cinema we had a bloke in front of us who laughed out load at totally unnecessary moments to prove that he was understanding the film better than the rest of us. He probably did actually.
On Tuesday we went along to the cricket at the Adelaide Oval, which was great at the start. We sat on the grass of the north bank, knocking back the wine and beer like the rest of them. New Zealand built up a modest total, and by the change of innings I knew there would really be only one result. Catherine knew nothing of the sort though as when she stood up, she discovered that she was drunk. She stumbled off to the toilet with no shoes on and I watched the half time entertainment and waited. And waited, and waited. After 45 minutes there was no sign of her. I decided to do a bit of a hunt around but still no joy and after an hour I was getting slightly worried. I employed the assistance of the security staff, a random woman
who was assigned to search the toilets and, eventually, the Police. We did a briefing and I delegated a female Officer of the South Australian Police Service to go into the toilets and conduct a search. As I waited outside with her colleague I could hear the Officer shouting, ‘Catherine, Catherine’ and then she emerged a few moments later shaking her head in sorrow. Oh dear. What next? As I was about to return to the hostel to see if she was there, a dazed and confused Catherine walked meekly out of the ladies. It turns out she had been blissfully asleep in a cubicle dreaming of fairies as I was wasting Police time on her behalf. She thought she’d only been asleep for two minutes. She got a telling off from a British Police Officer and was made to watch the rest of the match from the back of the stand like a naughty teenager.
The main and pretty much only thing on the news and on people’s lips here are the recent bushfires that have devastated many parts of Victoria and killed so many people. Being so close to some of the places that have been affected
brings it all sharply into focus. They are by far the worst bushfires Australia has ever seen but the country has reacted really well - I think the Aussies are pretty good at sticking together in a crisis, and so much has been given to the appeal. All the proceeds from the cricket match went to the fund, including all the entrance fees and players wages. A bank donated $100 for each run scored and $5000 for each six, which made it less painful to see the numerous Australian boundaries and the smug glee on the local’s faces. With so many of the fires still going, we’re still not totally sure we’ll be able to get across to Sydney in the next couple of days, but we’re told they are pretty much all contained now.
The day after the cricket we got a Greyhound bus up and east across to Mildura in Victoria. Many of our readership will be aware why we went there, but for the ill-informed, Catherine has relatives who live there and who had kindly offered to welcome us to the city for a couple of days. We were met at the bus stop by Catherine’s
great aunt Kris, who took us on a short tour of the place before going back to her bungalow. Mildura is a thriving little city on the banks of the Murray river, in the middle of the bush. We had an excellent time with Kris and other members of the family, finding out more about Mildura life and attempting to find kangaroos (no joy). We had a brilliant trip up the river in an old paddle boat, which moored at the grassy banks of a small winery where we enjoyed a steak barbecue lunch with a glass of fine Cab Sav (Cabernet Sauvignon for the uninitiated). We saw how the wine is made, which is a rather more sophisticated and technical affair than we thought, involving lots of stainless steel and computerised stirring devices. Catherine was almost distraught to learn that no longer do they get a bloke to stand in a wooden tub and walk on the grapes.
Whilst there we went over to Kris’ son David’s house for dinner both nights, which was great. He and his wife Suzanne spoilt us with a mixed grill BBQ one night and then a full on chook roast the next.
A very welcome break from the dull pasta and sauce we’re back living off now. Our Mildura outback adventure was added to by having such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide such as Kris, who took us on two early morning walks from her back yard straight out into the vast expanse of bush, passing her brother’s grape vines on the way. We went out roo searching at 6am on the second morning, equipped with torches to scour the plains for the vicious beasts. The closest we got was some fresh roo foot and tail prints in the sand, which was quite lucky in a way as I was secretly a bit frightened in the dark.
From Mildura we flew down to Melbourne, a short flight that took us over the winding Murray river and some of the bushfire areas. Huge blocks of land were completely black, really showing us what a massive area has been burnt. When we landed in Melbourne the airport was surrounded by smoke that had blown over from the east, another reminder of how close the fires had come.
We stayed with more of Catherine’s relatives, Margaret and Brett and their daughters Grace, Maddie
Roos
Look carefully!and Sarah in their house just north of Melbourne. The girls served us up a delicious feast of chicken and potatoes (sand on a plate) with blackberry tea (sand in a cup) followed by blueberry muffins (sand in a bowl, with water on top) and showed us their huge garden. They live in a peaceful forest, alongside just a handful of other houses and a few kangaroos. We finally got to see some of the marsupials in the wild hopping about on a neighbouring hill and in the morning Skippy the bush kangaroo turned up in the garden to pass on his regards. Margaret and Brett have been on bushfire alert for the past week or so, and still are as far as I know. They have already been evacuated once, and emergency bags are packed and ready to go in the event of another evacuation. Can’t imagine what it would be like having to leave your house and not know if it’ll still be there when you return.
Brett dropped us off in the electric city of Melbourne, where we crammed in as much sight seeing as we could in 24hrs. The city is so vibrant and alive,
with some grand old buildings mixed in well with modern architecture. We managed to just about get around the city centre and of course sample the free city tram service, but left there with still a lot on the ‘to do’ list. One thing apparent about the city is that unfortunately there seemed to be a massive amount of ‘alternative’ music lover types there, which meant that in fact they were no longer alternative, kind of losing the point of being so crazy and out there. Normal boring people like me were in fact the alternatives ones - it felt good!
In the evening it was my turn to meet the relatives, well one of my relatives anyway, my cousin Dan who is living near Melbourne with his partner Suzie. They met us at the iconic Flinders Street station and took us on a city tour, which was in fact more of an excuse to take in a bit of the nightlife. It was great to catch up over a few beers and a dirt cheap meal in Chinatown and we ended up in a graffitied alleyway that also conveniently doubled up as a bar before getting the number
eight tram back to our living quarters south of the river.
Having got a taste of the great Australian highway whilst in Western Australia, yesterday we hired a car and drove the famous Great Ocean Road across to Port Campbell, where we stayed in a small guesthouse. It felt decidedly lazy to be driving along the coast, just exerting enough energy to occasionally turn the head and look out to the ocean or depress the button on the camera. To be fair though it is a bit far to walk, and we did get out a few times to show a bit of willing. The road not only has dramatic coastline but also rainforest, and we managed to drag ourselves out of the car for a short rainforest stroll amongst 300 year old gum trees. The highlight of the road though is definitely the twelve apostles, a series of large limestone monoliths that rise out of the choppy waters and wind their way down the coast. There haven’t been twelve of them for years though as they are slowly being eroded and swallowed up by the sea. We saw about eight, I’m not sure why they’re not renamed. Probably
because by the time they changed all the signs and that there’d only be seven. It is a bit of false advertising though, I felt totally short changed.
Our road trip continues on to Sydney over the next couple of days, a long drive in a very small car. Possibly a recipe for a few hot heads, we shall see!
*Late edition - since writing this we have just visited Ramsay Street. One of the greatest things ever. Managed to touch the hallowed turf and - get this - saw Dr Karl & Toadie in the flesh!*
Stay Safe
Nic
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Rich
non-member comment
Barmy army!
Just a quick note to see how proud i am of u sis that you really captured the true spirit of an English cricket fan abroad - and the fact that England wern't playing and u managed to get that hammered that u passed out in the toilets - genius! Everyone is good here - little O is just about ready to walk - ive been putting lots of new pics on facebook. Hope u continue to enjoy the trip, stay safe Rich, Kat and Owen x