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Published: December 19th 2005
Mia and Jake in superhero outfits
Mia and Jake are having fun on the beach! You can too!Hard to believe, but we have reached the half way point of our epic, life-changing, round the world (sort of) adventure.
And where are we, four months in? Melbourne. There may be something significant in that, but I'm damned if I know what.
Melbourne is, though, a city we all like a great deal. It has an air and feel that Sydney didn't have. It also doesn't have riots on the beach. We are off to Bali on Wednesday for three weeks, which will take us nicely out of Australia over the extortionately expensive Christmas and New Year period and deposit us back in Perth just in time for the schools to restart.
Since leaving Sydney, all those weeks ago (three, I think), we have had adventures galore. One day, I may even tell you some of them. The weather has been crap, on the whole- we tried camping in the Blue Mountains and got so soaked it took four days to dry out. We have been battered by storms on the southern stretches of New South Wales (look at a map) and attacked by thousands, if not millions (or perhaps a couple) of leeches in a rainforest
The tent (and the kids)
On one of the few occassions we were able to camp... (or bleeches as Mia has taken to calling them. Speaking of whom, she has had her haircut and looks lovely. Jake hasn't, but looks lovely too).
Leaving NSW, we took in Phillip Island which was great as we saw koalas that weren't dead or stuffed and we also saw the penguin parade which, whilst the ultimate in touristyness (sic) was excellent as we not only saw about a thousand of them, we were very close and they walk in a highly amusing way. Jake was intrigued by them, and kept asking which one was the daddy, and which one was the mummy. He also asked a ranger whether penguins stick their tongues out. Always worth knowing- they don't, in fact, but do have lots of little spikes on them.
We have also experienced the delights of the Great Ocean Road- a road which Mia claimed reminded her of Great Uncle Philip. Despite trying to extract the reasons for this from her (including, but not limited to, cattle prods, water torture and sleep deprivation), we are no closer to knowing what she meant. Other than they both go by the first name "Great". It is a lovely drive, with
Some of the 12 Apostles
Here we are at the 12 Apostles. So called because there are 7 of them. lots of natural attractions. We saw MORE koalas (very blase about the creatures now- bring on the Tasmanian Devil), walked through forests and took in the bizarre rock formations of the 12 Apostles (only 7 left, mind), London Bridge (collapsed in 1990), Loch Ard Gorge and others. Re-reading that last sentence, I think I should be writing for the Victoria Tourist Board, not this blog. But where would that leave you, reader(s)?
Our route back to Melbourne took us through Ballarat, where we spent an enjoyable day at Sovereign Hill, a recreation of the town during the Gold Rush. Despite spending hours panning for gold, we found none. Which regrettably meant the kids had to go hungry (again), but it's all part of the fun of being on the road...
And so, we are staying in a hostel in Fitzroy called The Nunnery. It used to be a nunnery, believe it or not. It isn't any more, though. It's very nice and the sort of house we would like to own if we a) weren't travelling and b) had about a million pounds.
As you may be aware, we have finally got it together to stick some
Mia finds dinner
And what a treat! photos on this thing, so enjoy! And a word of warning/ advice- if you ever find yourself in Australia and wish to hire a car, steer well clear of Traveller's Autobarn. I shall say no more on the subject.
Enjoy the holiday period, and see you next year (unless I update again in the next week. Unlikely though).
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Mum/Sylvia/Manmar
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life is but a melancholy flower
Jake looks as if he is coming up with some very interesting results of his contemplation. It is that particularly far away look in his eyes that makes one wonder..... I hope Mia was preapared to cook dinner as well as find it. Very nice blog Matt - thanks. I suspect Great Ocean Road and Great Uncle Philip are about the same age in Mia's eyes? (Sorry Phil - couldn't resist it...).