19 - 21 03 2010

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Greetings bloggers the world over.

An update for all concerned or not as the case may be.

We arrived back from the lovely island state of Tasmania without incident. We had a meal cooked for us by Julie as we got to their place about 1800 hours and a chat about our trip. Glass of wine and early to bed.

The next day Wendy and I took the tram to Melbourne where Wendy was unleashed to shop and I sadly went to look round the Victorian state Police museum. Not that much there but pleasantly cool. Fascinating to read about the car bomb in 1986 and see Ned Kellys armour.

Wendy and I met up later that day and looked round the Immigration museum. A great insight into how Australia developed from the penal colony it was to the great mix of backgrounds that exist now. I took the dictation test that was used infamously to keep Johnny foreigner out and failed miserably. Apparently one chap who tried to gain entry and was skilled in many languages failed the test as they used Gaelic as the test language. Now about 1 in 4 immigrants are from Thailand China Cambodia Malaysia etc

After an exhausting 6 hours of Melbourne streets we recovered at Dave and Julies and started to take an interest in the cyclone Ului which threatens to cock up our trip to the Hamilton Islands next week.

Saturday 20/03/2010 dawned bright and sunny. Wendy and I went to the travel agents and learned flights to Hamilton were cancelled for that day and Sunday but ours was still on with thunderstorms forecast. If we wished to change at this late hour we would lose the whole holiday. In the spirit of we are British and how severe can a cyclonic few drops of rain be coupled with the loss of the holiday we decided to press ahead.

Later that morning Dave and Julie took us to Lygon street in Melbourne, the Italian quarter. It was lovely to see families out for lunch. A Ferrari posing up and down and even an original Fiat 500 car. We stopped for a coffee and lunch and took the atmosphere in.


In the afternoon we all 4 of us went for a lovely walk along the beach front to take Jasper to the doggie beach. The sun shone and the whole of Melbourne was engaged in water activities. People on surf boards being towed by kites, cyclists, walkers, kids dogs, boats, helicopters, all enjoying the lovely weather.

Then we were back fro a siesta style afternoon, dozing in the hammock and chairs, reading and chilling. Eventually we got our act together and went to the great fish restaurant in St Kilda called Claypots. We got a table outside and had a lovely meal. The menu was fish and depended on what they had caught. The king prawns in garlic with chillies were exceptional. By the time we had finished 4 of those together with a flounder and kingfish had been stripped clean by us as well as 2 bottles of white wine. Afterwards we walked down the main street which was bustling with Saturday night partygoers. We went into a trendy bar and raised the average age by about 30 years. Needless to say the outfits, styles and flesh on show coupled with an Irish cocktail consisting of Blacbush Irish whisky, amaretto and god knows what else helped the digestion and rounded off a lovely day.

Got back knackered and thought it must be late which it was for us at 2130 hours. A check of what was recorded revealed the wonderful Gene Hunt and gorgeous Keeley Hawes in Ashes to Ashes was a lovely politically incorrect show to end the day.

Sunday 21 03 2010

Off to a shopping mall for Sunday roast purchases, today is Phil cooking roast lamb with a cider and apple gravy courtesy of Mr Ramsay. Lovely shops and great choices of fresh food but prices with fall of sterling same as at home.

Once back time for Jasper to take Phil for a walk paying particular attention to every passing tree. Then relax in rear garden, season the roast and a leisurely read. Wendy packing wet weather gear for trip to Barrier reef tomorrow at early o’clock.

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