There’s no two ways about this — today was a less than stellar day. Maybe the universe was telling us to stay. 🙂
The day started fine enough. We had a nice breakfast with Mum and Dad at a nice place in Ballarat, but of course then we had to say our goodbyes, which is never easy. We enjoyed an uneventful drive to Melbourne and the Wallace-guided GPS unit got us to Tullamarine without issue. However that’s when the wheels started falling off. We arrived a Hertz and in the process of checking in, the guy notices a white scuff on the front passenger side bumper, just forward of the wheel. I certainly didn’t notice that as we were packing the car in the Mount yesterday, so i can only presume it happened in the tight car park at Sovereign Hill yesterday. The net result — because I opted to go with the credit card coverage, Hertz sticks me for the full $3,800 deductible until the damage estimate comes through. Now I have both Hertz and the credit card company claims process to deal with when I get home. Okay, there’s not much we can do about it now, so suck it up and move on. We check in at the Qantas desk and I notice on the scale that both our large cases are slightly over the weight limit, but we charged anything, so we’re good. The agent hands us our boarding passes for all of our flight back to Louisville and we go an grab a final flat white before boarding the plane. Interestingly, instead of screens in the back of the seats of the plane, every seat has an iPad on which they stream the entertainment — neat idea, and I’m sure an order that Apple was glad to receive. We arrived in Sydney and time is already tight, but then we have to wait for the bus to take us from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. Inside the international terminal, we go through Customs and our bags are screen one again. My camera went through no problems, but I saw some discussion about June’s carry-on and sure enough she’s pulled aside. As the agent starts unzipping her bag, it suddenly dawns on me — the wine!!! In our steadfast focus on balancing the weight of our luggage we’d foolishly overlooked the issue of liquids in carry-ons. Such a stupid rookie mistake. I asked if there was the option to mail the bottles back to Mum and Dad, but no dice. So we just had to say sayonara to our verdelho and sparkling shiraz. (The silly thing is that we left the water bottles in the rental car because we knew we couldn’t get them past security — and didn’t give the wine a thought.) On top of the rental car, this was not good. We thought we were going to miss the flight to Dallas with all of this kerfuffle, but we made it to the gate okay. As we get ready to board, I looked at our boarding passes — and then looked at them again. The gate agent in Melbourne had us sitting completely different rows. (Maybe that’s the penalty for having slightly overweight bags?) I got with the gate agent and explained our situation, and to her credit, she managed to shuffle things around for us. As we settled into our seats, the captain gave his usual speil and mentioned that we could expect some rough weather over the Gulf of Mexico. As it turned out though, we were in rough, bumpy airstreams for a good 75% of the flight. Needless to say, not much sleep was had. And it was so rough that at breakfast the flight attendants couldn’t serve tea or coffee. I thought at one point that June and I were going to wearing our cornflakes after the plane suddenly dipped and rocked. It was just amazing that the flight to Australia was so incredibly smooth and wonderful, while the trip back was the polar opposite. Fortunately, there were no further dramas getting from Dallas to Louisville — thank goodness. It was a day that we were both glad to have over and done with.australia
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We woke this morning with the realization that this would be our last full day Down Under. Sniff, sniff.
But the fun isn’t over yet, no sirree! We set off early this morning with Mum and Dad to head to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. Dad handed me a walkie-talkie so we could keep in touch between cars, which worked out well for getting the all-clear to overtake etc. Dad also used it to announce our arrival in “Fluff Off” (a.k.a Linton, a childhood joke that has endured.) We stopped briefly in Hamilton en route to look for another suitcase to balance out our heavy bags (no luck) and to grab a coffee for the road. (It was my first time in a McCafe, and apart from the appalling slow service, I have to say it was much better than I expected it to be.) We arrived in Ballarat around lunchtime and headed straight to Myers to find a supplemental bag, which we found this time. And then we drove to Sovereign Hill. The parking lot at Sovereign Hill was chock-a-block full when we arrived. I tried to get into one spot, but it was way too tight, so Dad and I both just parked to the side while we went and checked in. When we returned to the cars, a couple of parking spots had opened up so we grabbed them Mine was a bit of a tight squeeze and it took a bit of maneuvering, but I got in no problems. We dropped our bags into our rooms and hit the historic town proper. First stop — the bakery for lunch. We then spent the time wandering around the village, taking in the sights and sounds. It’s been years and years since my last visit here, but it still looks good. At mid afternoon we paused at the New York Hotel for afternoon tea. And this being our last afternoon tea on Australia soil, we had to get he classic Devonshire tea, which I duly recorded for today’s photo. Part of the Sovereign Hill package we bought included an evening meal at the Charlie Napier Hotel before the Light and Sound show. I won’t spoil it for others who have not seen this show, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend it. After the show, we all returned to our room for a cuppa and then June and I settled down to wrestle with the problem of our overweight suitcases and how to redistribute the weight with the bag that we bought today. At around midnight we thought we had it all sorted out. Between the 3 bags that will go as checked luggage and June’s carry-on, the weights seem about right. Would we get through check-in with having to pay excess baggage fees? Fingers crossed!Today we had lunch with good friend Lorenza McMahon and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in her company. We looked at the property that her brother Raz is building on and then visited the man himself at the Valley Lake reserve, another good catch-up. He mentioned that there were koalas in the reserve so on the way out we looked for them — but alas in vain. (June is becoming more and more convinced that koalas are mythical creatures that Aussies just tell tourists about!). Lorenza also sought June’s advice on a banner project that she is working on, and we went back to her house so that she could show June. We had a great time in her company as always, but I took photos with my other camera, so Lorenza doesn’t feature in today’s Project 365 image.
Instead, we turn to a touch of home, and actually something I first noticed the other day. On the way to Karney’s place for a lamb roast (yum!) we stopped at a bottle shop. I was actually looking for a wine sleeve to help protect the wine going back to America (no luck there), but I also took the opportunity to grab a photo. One of the things Id noticed in our travels in the prevalence of bourbon brands I’d never heard of (like “Nelson County,” which is one of the areas of the state where bourbon is produced.) The other thing that intrigued me was the preponderance of premix bourbon drinks, which I never see back in Kentucky. As it happens, one of our favorite bourbon liqueurs is American Honey, which we drink straight. A whiff of the bottle smells just like a bourbon storehouse…. Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a moment. I’ve seen posters for American Honey while in Australia, but what I haven’t seen are the bottles of the liqueur itself. Instead all I’ve come across are these American Honey premixed drinks. It seems a bit like heresy, but I guess it suits the local market.Time to bid adieu to Adelaide and head back back down south to Mount Gambier. We decided to make the trip via “historic Strathalbyn,” a favorite little community for June and I. We were delayed by roadworks along the South Eastern Freeway when we left Adelaide, but that meant we arrived in Strath in time for lunch. (Any excuse really for a chance to wander around!) They we set off again, and just outside of Murray Bridge June asked to stop to get a shot of the wheat fields, and so used the opportunity to get my shot of the day too.
After an ice cream break at Keith, June decided that she’d like to try her hand behind the wheel, so she handled the driving duties the rest of the way to Mount Gambier. She had a bit of a tendency to want to drift to the left, but overall she did perfectly fine, even negotiating tseveral roundabouts when we arrived in the Mount. No worries love!!Today began with golf. I joined middle brother Brett and the two nephews for a round at the Par 3 course in North Adelaide, although Brett and I were there as the caddies. As Brett explained, as caddies we get to leisurely walk around with flat white coffees in hand and stand in the shade while the boys do their thing — which sounded like a good arrangement to me! I did get one opportunity to tee off on one of the holes, but the fact that I haven’t even held a club in my hands for probably 5 years or more became quickly apparent. The boys on the other hand both had great games! Then that evening, Brett put on a good ol’ Aussie bbq. June talked Dad into having one the other night (his bbq’s are held in the highest esteem), so to have the chance for another barbie was terrific. Nothing beats the simple pleasures of a sausage with sauce in a piece of bread — I have those cravings over here in the States periodically. At this point in the bbq-ing process, the potato slices are already done, the grilled onions and sausages (or “snags” in the Aussie parlance) are on their way and the steaks have just met the grill. YUM!
Today while Dad was at work, we did some touring around with Mum and Karney, one of my aunties. Karney knew about this place called Echo Farm, so we headed there for a wander around. Echo Farm is a living time capsule showing rural life from the 1900’s through to the 1960’s. In addition to the main house there are several other buildings you can explore, all of which was very interesting and I saw many products and brands that I haven’t thought of in a long time, like Maloney’s (the local soft drink manufacturer), Cottee’s (makers of cordials) and Mortein (fly spray.) There was a huge turkey in one of the yards, along with a smattering of other animals including a donkey and kangaroo near the front entrance. In one of the paddocks there was a series of chainsaw sculptures, so I got a shot of the one you see below.
One of the absolute musts for any trip back to the Mount is lunch at the OK Pie Shop, and were there at the first opportunity! Lined up in front of me is a meat pie with sauce (ketchup), a cinnamon finger bun and a carton of Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee. I’m in heaven!!
This morning we headed inland instead of following the Great Ocean Road so that we could get to my parents’ place in Mount Gambier at a reasonable time. And it was very enjoyable driving through the countryside and country towns — although driving on the “other” side of the road again is taking some concentration. For some reason, left hand turns in particular are throwing me but it’s all good. Coming in the other direction, we saw a procession of cars apparently returning from a car show somewhere. The first vehicle we saw was a magnificently restored purple FJ Holden ute, but there was an assortment of Australian, English and American classics. We stopped at a bakery in Port Fairy for lunch — a pie and a pastie again! — before pressing on towards the South Australian. (I got caught for speeding the last time i was on this stretch of road, so i made sure I kept a watchful eye on the speedometer.) We rolled into “the Mount” about mid afternoon, just in time for afternoon tea! I paused though after getting out of the car to get a shot of the ol’ family homestead.
The Land Down Under!!
We arrived in Melbourne about an hour ahead of schedule, so that was a good start to the trip. It took as a while to find the rental car counter, but we found it eventually and then we were off, with Wallace (of Wallace and Grommit) leading the way through our GPS. First stop was at Red Rhumba, the cafe owned by high school friend Tony Cerone, for a reviving coffee. Then we set off for the Great Ocean Road, heading for Lorne, our stop for the night. On the way, we stopped at Torquay for a long anticipated pie and pastie. Boy, it’s good to be home again! The photo below was taken near the Spit Lighthouse. It is so good to hear the roll of the ocean again and to breathe in the sea air. We’re off to a great start!The Lost Day.
You see, we crossed the International Date Line during the flight across the Pacific, so for us Saturday, October 27 didn’t exist for us this year. Which means even with a leap year, this is still a Project 365. Isn’t funny how things turn out? But since I’ve written this post, let me at least illustrate it. One of the choices on the entertainment screen on the plane is a view from a camera on the tail of the plane. I did look at it at one point en route and it was pitch black outside, so all you could see was the navigation lights. This view however shows a bit of daylight so truthfully speaking this was taken closer to Sunday than Saturday. But hey, it’s a bonus image for this project anyway! (Side note: June and I quickly became huge fans of the A380. The planes are incredibly quiet and the flight was the smoothest I’ve ever experienced over the Pacific, by a long. long shot. Highly recommend these planes!)