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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne
July 18th 2011
Published: July 19th 2011
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Well, we left Hong Kong a little late, but we were led to believe that our flight was going to be assisted by a very strong tailwind that would have us in Melbourne ahead of schedule at 5.30am.

'Twas not to be - we touched down at Tullamarine slightly late at 6.15pm. It beats me what happened to that tailwind!! We made it through Immigration pretty quickly and collected our bags from the carousel. Phew, our bags made the transfer from the BA flight to the Qantas flight despite the short amount of time.

After collecting our bags we had to join an absolutely ridiculous queue to go through Customs. Because of renovations that are going on, the queue ran through the hoardings between carousels four and five and then doubled back on itself before eventually reaching the actual Customs screening point. We ticked the box on our landing card to say that we had been on farmland so we were directed through the red channel. They gave our shoes a cursory glance and sent us on our way.

And, finally, we were out from behind the steel doors to meet Kerry who had been waiting patiently for us. We dropped Kerry back at her place and drove the rest of the way home. After having a long, hot shower and cleaning our teeth we popped out to the supermarket to stock up the fridge and pantry. As we were driving home the radio switched itself off. Hmmn, a fuse has blown, or so we thought. As we drove into our street the engine started to lose power, but we managed to coast into the driveway where the car coughed and died.

Bernie opened the bonnet and jiggled the battery connections and then tried to re-start the car - nothing. Not sure if it was just the battery or something more serious (expensive!!), Bernie called the RACV. They arrived very quickly and, after running some diagnostics, determined that the alternator was GAWN. The RACV guy made arrangements for the car to be towed to Dandenong Mazda for the necessary repairs!!! What a welcome home?! And how lucky is Kerry that the alternator didn't fail while she was looking after the car!!!?

It's par for the course with our holidays, though - stuff always breaks down when we have a long holiday. This trip we replaced the microwave oven before we went away and the alternator in the car on our return!! As if the finances weren't stretched enough?! Ah well, it's only money!!!

So, as we return to the trials and tribulations of everyday life, I think that it is time to bring this travel epistle to a close.


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