Our trail of lots of ‘bad boys’ or bushrangers on this trip would not be complete without the infamous Ned Kelly.  Many towns use his name to cash in on the tourist draw and Glenrowan is the one that takes the biscuit for tackiness.  To be fair, it was the site of Ned’s last stand where, dressed in his home made armour, he was shot 28 times and caught. 

He didn’t live here, he didn’t appear in court here, but Glenrowan takes first prize for milking his name.  There’s the huge statue as you enter the town, the pub sells Kelly Gang Beer and there’s a ‘scary’ reenactment of the capture using moving dummies which according to the board outside is not for the fainthearted.  Lonely Planet says that it’s a bucket of shite and yet it costs $30!!  We stopped briefly to take some pictures and then we moved on.

Wodonga is not a place to spend Easter with your kids, at least we didn’t think so as there wasn’t much to see and do there.  On arrival the guy in reception told us to watch out for the 120 kids on site.  We thought he was exaggerating but quickly realized he wasn’t kidding (!!) as the campsite was completely full. 

We were there to visit Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre.  This is where refugees and migrants from Europe after WW2 were housed on arrival starting in 1947.  Italians, Greeks, Germans and any nation where people were displaced by the events of the war.  They lived here for a while learning English and waiting to be placed in work which could have been anywhere in Australia.  We were met at reception by one of the volunteer ladies who came here from Switzerland as a small child before being shipped to Perth where her parents were given jobs.  It’s also where Neil might have come when he was about 7 as his parents were considering becoming ‘£10 POMs’. 

Our next stop was Beechworth where we had a campsite pitch to die for.  Plus, and now you must excuse the pun, we had just settled down for lunch when a large group arrived and explained that they were here to have a short service and then scatter the ashes of Fred across the lake.  It was a jovial event and quite touching as his widow came across to apologise………’for what’ we said ‘we have been quite moved by the whole event’.  Take a look at the pictures and see just how lucky we were to get the best pitch on the site. 

Beechworth does have a legitimate claim to fame with good old Ned.  He lived not too far away, he spent many a happy hour in the local pubs, in the court and goal here as did his mother.  She did 3 years hard labour for whacking a drunken policeman over the head with a shovel who was ‘messing’ with her daughter.  Ned also served 3 years hard labour in the goal from the age of 15 for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Whilst we think he probably would always have gone the wrong side of the law, many things happened to him and his family which probably made sure that he would live a life of crime.  As with many of the bush rangers their treatment by the police was not good and probably put many over the edge.  It was also here that he was sentenced to hang and was duly taken to Melbourne where the execution took place. 

We took 2 walking tours with our guide, Rod, dressed in 1850’s gear along with boots, bowler hat and waistcoat.  We toured all the perfectly preserved buildings in town and learnt so much more about the history of Beechworth and Ned Kelly’s tragic story.  Whilst Glenrowan glorified the story, Beechworth seemed to tell the us the history in a tasteful and respectful way.

Ned’s mum eloped after getting pregnant by John Kelly who had been transported for theft in 1841.  From there it was down hill all the way.  Life was very harsh in those days living in a wooden hut which would have been stifling in summer and freezing in winter.  She had 12 children, mixed with all the wrong people and getting pregnant by several bush rangers.  She did various stints in goal for varying crimes many of which were fabricated by the police.  Ned never had a chance and after the first stint in an adult goal at the age of 15 for a crime he didn’t commit he really was only going to become a ‘bad boy’.

The courtroom where both Ned and his mum were sentenced is original including the dock and the bench where the judge, Sir Redmond Berry (aka ‘the hanging judge’) sentenced him to death.  Mum died at the age of 91 in 1923.  It is a fascinating family story that is probably mirrored so many times across Australia.  Ned just made them famous because of his armour and the scale of his crimes. 

As a nation most of us have grown up with John Wayne movies depicting the wild west as a lawless place.  Can you imagine how lawless Oz must have been when most of its original population were criminals transported here in the late 1700’s for mostly petty crimes such as simply stealing a loaf of bread?  Then with the discovery of gold in the mid 1850’s it’s no surprise that this place was probably as bad, if not worse, than Big John’s wild west.  Think about it, it’s not that long ago is it, 150 years?

We’ve been on the road now for around 6 weeks and everywhere we’ve been Neil has been looking for wildlife.  We’ve seen lots of roos, our first possum and emus but cuddly Koalas have remained very elusive.  We even had a late afternoon 3 hour walk through a koala sanctuary and came up with nothing but roos.  Finally, he did it, on the 2hr walk from Lake Sambell to Lake Kerford he found one just chilling out about 10-15m up a gum tree.  He managed to get some good pictures despite not being able to get the bottom of the tree due to the bush.  He’s very pleased with himself now even though we’ve still not seen a wombat or an echidna.  These are nocturnal and shy so we’re unlikely to see one of them.

We moved on to Mount Beauty which is in the Alpine National Park.  The scenery is stunning and the walking tracks are some of the best we have come across.  In addition, the daytime temperatures were in the high 20’s and at night time down to as low as 2 or 3C.  No problem, we had a huge fire pit to keep us warm whilst we tucked into our food and at night we have a thick doona from Phil at the motorhome hire centre. 

We had a couple of evenings where we had one of those fantastic communal camp BBQ experiences.  A huge group of Asian families on a short trip from Melbourne arrived en masse to cook.  They originated  from Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea just to name a few countries.  They were an extremely friendly bunch and while cooking massive amounts of food on the BBQ told us their various stories. Most S E Asian countries won’t accept dual nationality, so they have to choose to keep their original citizenship or take up full Australian status.  Those children that are born here must choose when they are 18.  Most met at University here and through the network of Oriental groups that exist in Melbourne. 

On the first night they gave us food to sample and it was delicious.  On the second night Henry, a pharmacist from Indonesia, and his wife Juliana announced that they were all leaving in the morning and so would we like the left-over beef in Korean spices, lamb sausages and an enormous box of salad?  Yes please! 

The group had 2 sets of twins and we had some banter with the kids.  One 6 year old boy joked about the large gap in his front teeth and Neil met him in the shower block later that evening where he was cleaning his teeth.  Suddenly, the other identical twin just came up to Neil, gave him a big hug, and shouted ‘bye’ before he headed off to bed.  Great people and another lovely social evening in the campsite.

Next stop Narrandera for a night to visit a Koala regeneration reserve.  It was all going well until just 8kms from town when the van started to shudder, there was a bang and we ground to a halt.  The rear offside wheel was down to the metal.  Ooops! 

We managed to trundle on a bit to get the van off the highway and called RACV.  Rodney couldn’t fix it and put the spare on.  The whole process was very efficient and we were on our way in less than an hour.  If you look at the picture you will see the state it was in which was politely termed as ‘totalled’ by the tyre repair centre in Narrandera where we got a replacement….Neil had another word for it!

Excitement over for the day we arrived at yet another good campsite by the side of Lake Talbot and set off for a long walk to the Koala reserve in search of the critters.  Unfortunately for us they were being shy unlike the kangaroos that seemed very interested in us, to a point, and so 3 hours later we gave up the koala hunt and returned to the campsite for another BBQ and a great sunset.

Moving on again next morning we headed for Echuca which has a great history as it was once Australia’s largest inland port transporting timber and other goods down the Murray River to the sea ports.  It’s all been ‘prettified’ but it did give you a good insight into what it might have been like 150 years ago when the original wharf was almost 800m long.  Old paddle steamers ply the river giving very expensive rides up and down which were pleasant to watch from the bank.

It was here that we just about finished our crazy shopping spree………yes, shopping and that includes Neil who announced that ‘today was such a cracking successful shopping day’.  Yes, it’s strange for Neil to enjoy shopping but we’ve been buying shorts, T-shirts and polo shirts in the Autumn sales.  How about a T-shirt made of cotton for £1.50, a polo shirt made of cotton for £3 and linen mix shorts for £5? We’ve never experienced such prices even in India and the quality seems to be pretty good. 

The reason that Neil was really excited was that since we decided to get married Cheryl has been looking for clothes to get married in.  It was beginning to look very difficult and Cheryl was getting a little downhearted until she found 2 items on the same day on the same street…….ace…..job done!

Next day we moved on to Bendigo to exchange vans.  Almost as we arrived in Oz we decided to extend our rental for a week but we couldn’t keep the original van as it was already booked out but Phil the rental man was happy to give us an upgrade to a proper motorhome instead.  

The upgrade was even better than we thought as Phil asked us to return to him a week early so he could get the campervan ready for its second rental.  Our new home feels huge in comparison to the campervan as it has a fixed bed, much larger shower and toilet and a proper dining area.  The engine is a Fiat which has taken a bit of getting used to as it drives very differently from the Mercedes Sprinter which was the base for the campervan.  It’s definitely a huge step up from the campervan and is more like the space we have in our caravan back home in England.  Did we mention that ‘Lucky’ is Neil’s middle name?

We were happy to head back to Bendigo over Easter as they have a massive fair all weekend including processions.  There is a very large Chinese community here which goes back to when Bendigo was a gold mining town so a lot of the things we saw came from the Chinese influence on the town.   All the campsites in town were booked up months ago so Phil invited us to stay on the forecourt for free, gave us a BBQ to use and access to the toilet and shower………..fantastic, it worked well and it saved us at least $80. 

Bendigo is a large and affluent town with many heritage buildings as well as parks and green spaces.  It’s wealth all comes from the Goldrush days and its still a buzzing place today with many stylish boutiques, bars, cafes and restaurants.  The town was packed for Easter and there were a number of events all over town including ‘waking the dragon’ ceremonies as well as the torchlight procession which we went along to. 

In one of his chats with Phil, Neil was given a hint that there would be a lot of firemen in the procession.  That sounds promising thought Cheryl.  We took a taxi into town and quickly found a good spot to view near to where the parade would start. After twenty minutes of watching small groups of variously shaped (i.e. not young and hunky looking as Cheryl had anticipated!) local fire volunteers from what seemed to be every outlying town waving very small flaming torches and riding in their trucks we were thinking it was so lame that it was actually giving us the giggles. 

There were a couple of marching bands of bagpipes and drums, and some other local community groups which did break the monotony.  Finally we started to see some proper floats with music and costumes and dancing – hurrah!  And then it got better when the Chinese dragons arrived and they were just so spectacular.

After the weekend with Chris & Viv we thought that the decision to leave the coast a day early was a great idea.  Miss out on 40C and go to the mountains for some walking in temperatures of around 30C and less.  That’s what we got on our arrival 30C, the next day we took the walk from Govetts Leap to Pulpit Rock at 25C and the following day our friend Ian visited and we had a lovely day, with picnic, walking the cliff path near Katoomba at 23C.  That’s where it all went tits up – 3 days of solid full on rain, mist and temperatures of 15C at best…….oh bugger!

OK, so the weather did turn rather foul but before the rain came in we did manage the 3hr hard walk from Govetts Leap to Pulpit Rock.  It was a hot day, around 30C, but it was superb and we hardly saw anybody.  We had our picnic lunch on the rock with no one around catching what bit of shade there was behind a trig point rock.  What a view for a picnic – probably one of our best ever.  The following day our friend Ian who was visiting friends in Sydney caught the train up to us and we had another lovely walk and picnic along the cliff path. 

It was next day that it all went south but the silver lining was that it made us take time to write the blog, sort out the photos, finish booking the hotels for our honeymoon, catch up on emails and generally do all the things we’ve been putting off.  There were a couple of periods when the rain was forecast to ease, and it did, so we grabbed a couple of 1-2hr walks to ensure we didn’t go completely stir crazy.  On our last day the sun came out and we took the walk down to the bottom of the range, around 500m, walked along Federal Pass for 1hr or so before taking the 900 steps back up near The 3 Sisters.  We reckon around 600 calories burned over the 3.5hr walk meaning extra beers and Gin for us tonight!  An hour after we got back the thunderstorms set in once again so all in all we got lucky.  Lucky is Neil’s middle name.

Sunday morning we set off for Cowra.  We passed via a town called Bathurst which brought back a few memories for Neil from when he worked at MMT Energy.  He never got to travel here as the project was before his time but there was often lots of banter in the office about the town, the project and the crazy things that some of the guys got up to where they were here. 

The town had a WW2 POW camp and in August 1944, 1104 Japanese prisoners staged a break out armed with whatever weapons they could utilize such as baseball bats, homemade clubs and sharpened kitchen knives. It took nine days to round them up during which four Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese died.  The camp also housed over a thousand Italians but they were not regarded as a threat and many worked on local farms.  After the war ended the Japanese were touched by the way in which the Australians had looked after the graves of the war dead and suggested an official Japanese War Cemetery.  The theme of reconciliation continued with the establishment of a Japanese Garden and finally the Australian World Peace Bell in the town. 

The camp site was at the river’s edge and had a large contingent of day time Cockatoos.  Very noisy but very entertaining to watch when they all decided it was time to take off. We found ourselves sharing the BBQ area with a large group having a family reunion and they were keen to chat.  Two brothers told tales of their mum and dad arriving as £10 POMs and taking up the offer of work with accommodation provided only to find it was in the middle of nowhere with no running water. 

We are really enjoying the social side of the campsites and the BBQ is the natural hub to chat while dinner is sizzling.   On the second night the conversation was all about the baffling nature of Australian politics – and no we didn’t understand much of what we were told.

Having given our livers a bit of a hammering with Chris and Viv we set off for a 7hr journey south for an overnight stop at Urunga.  It was a very quiet site with lots of colourful parrots and an owner with a passion for taking beaten up old Ford Capris and turning them into 1000BHP monsters!

Next day we climbed up the hills to Dorrigo via The Waterfall Way where we took a 3hr stroll through a rainforest.  It was beautiful with waterfalls you can walk behind and it was so cool in the shade of the forest canopy.  It was quiet and great for listening to the birds, watching a Goanna go about its day and enjoying a lovey picnic fighting off the hungry forest turkeys.  Afterwards we had a short drive to Armidale for an overnight stop and a little bit of clothes shopping.

Next morning we set off for Murrurundi for 2 nights on a campsite run by a lovely couple that kept the site spotless and with a camp kitchen containing all sorts of memorabilia and a fridge with 2 large wine boxes labelled ‘have a drink on us’. 

We came here to walk to The Eye of The Needle in the hills and to explore the town.  It was also a stop off to visit The Burning Mountain which is a coal seam, 30m underground, that has been burning for thousands of years at the rate of about a meter a year.  As you climb the hill you can see various signs pointing out the different state of the ground as the vegetation is killed by the heat and then as the burning moves on it is replaced by different plants until the Gum Trees reestablish themselves as the dominant force.  It was also our first sighting of Grey Kangaroos that seemed extremely comfortable with our presence.    

Next stop was Mudgee which is a very popular haunt for wine lovers.  There are lots of wineries and we decided to take a one-day tour for $95 (just over £50) which included tastings at multiple wineries, lunch and a Gin distillery.  We were the first pick up so sat at the front behind our gregarious driver Jim.  As more and more people got on, about 17 in total, we quickly realized we were in for a fun day. 

Our first tasting started at 9.45am and once back on the bus we took a selfie of us all.  After that we took a bus selfie after each stop and you can see from the pictures that as we moved through the day the party got more and more boisterous. 

In the process of having a very boozy day we made an impulse buy of a box of 6 Kama Sutra Wines just before we had lunch which was an enormous cheese platter and antipasto platter.  We almost finished the antipasto but decided to take the cheese home with us. We were in bed very early that night and slept soundly until about 7am.

Next stop was The Hunter Valley which is also very popular with wine lovers.  We booked another day tour and hoped for another fun day out.  It was a contrast to Mudgee as the group we were with turned out to be much quieter types.  We also found the hosts at each tasting were keen to enhance our appreciation of their wines and took time to explain how their winemakers made a difference.  We felt we learned a lot on the day, and we returned to the campsite without the need to crash into bed.  A final relaxed day at Cessnock allowed us to prepare for another weekend with Chris and Viv.

We booked a 2-bedroom water view cabin at Lake Macquarie just North of Sydney.  It’s a vast lake and the campsite was situated at the water’s edge.  The cabin was fine but the water view was a bit of a disappointment as you could see the lake but only if you stood sideways on the deck!  The deck itself also didn’t have much shade and the weather was so hot we had to stay indoors until the sun went down.

We set off for a walk along the lakeshore path only to find it ran out after about ten minutes walking so we turned round to try the path on the left of the site.  Oh dear, another dud which soon ground to a halt.  Things weren’t going well so we decided to start the BBQ and make a start on the Kama Sutra wine we bought in Mudgee.   Neil got creative with pork, prunes and peas and we got chatting to a group of Samoan lads who were cooking enough chicken to cover the entire BBQ.

Next morning we set off for some sightseeing and following the local tourist guide leaflet tried to find St Catherine’s Bay, a historical mining site.  We failed.  Next stop Caves Bay for a walk along the coast.  This started well with some fine views, but the path soon deteriorated and we made a few guesses as to where to go as there were no sign posts.  It was a good walk but after an hour we were getting hot and headed back to the car.  The nearest major town was Swansea so we set off to see the small opening where the lake meets the Pacific Ocean.  The town was unexciting, so we returned to the campsite for a relatively quiet and restrained night.  We spotted our first possums on the roof of the cabin next door and managed to get a good photo.

Saturday was predicted to be even hotter so we looked for a walk in the tourist guide which might offer some shade.  A long walk along the esplanade at Warners Bay with plenty of photographic opportunities looked good and we decided to start at the end with the Art Gallery.  It began in full sun but it was early and not too hot.  The path curved around the bay but no mention in the tourist guide that we would soon be walking along the edge of the highway as it crossed over a large bridge.  After 25 minutes walking with the traffic blasting alongside we gave up and went back to the Gallery Café for a drink.  A closer look at Google Maps showed the walk continued along the side of the B53 pretty much all the way into Warners Bay! 

Cheryl remembered the guide had another walk at Wangi Wangi which we went past on the way so we drove to the town in search of the start point.  No signs at all so with the help of Google again we finally tracked it down to the end of the promontory and found the car park and large signboard showing a circular walk in the trees, hurrah! This started well with a peaceful track and lake views.  Inevitably, the promised ‘well signposted’ track soon disappeared so with a few detours and backtracks when the trail disappeared we finally made it all the way around.

The evening was spent in the usual fashion, finishing off Viv’s lovely Massaman Curry followed by blue cheese & crackers and a few bottles of wine – far too many!

Apart from having a great time with Chris and Viv Lake Macquarie had turned into something of a dud and it wasn’t helped by the weather forecast.  C&V were due to drive back to Sydney on Sunday and we had originally decided to stay on until Monday.  However, the weather forecast for Sunday was for around 40C which would have been horrific.  So, we too packed our bags early and left for the cooler climate of the Blue Mountains.  

The next stage of the trip started in Bendigo in Victoria where we were introduced to our home for the next six weeks.  Regular readers will remember our last trip to Oz in 2016 when we hired the beast that was Cazza & BygBlu that made our own 4×4 and caravan look like Dinky toys.  This time we have a modest campervan which we hope will be a lot easier to cope with.   

It didn’t take long to be talked through how the van worked and we headed off to Swan Hill with the intention of continuing west before heading north east to eventually meet up with friends Chris & Viv in Caloundra just North of Brisbane in Queensland.  The campsite in Swan Hill was beside the mighty Murray River and each evening we were treated to an awesome sight as hundreds of white cockatoos came in before dusk to roost in the gum trees.  It was incredibly noisy but wonderful to watch as the many flocks jostled for positions amongst the trees and randomly all took off to swirl around before landing again in a bird version of what looked like musical branches.  We’ve since discovered that many Australians consider them to be noisy pests but for us it was a splendid spectacle.

We had the first of many changes of plan and decided that heading West was a bad idea as it was too hot and this was better left towards the end of our trip.  We headed North East and decided to stop off at Griffith, which is home to many Italians.  Unfortunately, the camp site we booked was grim and our drive through he town didn’t inspire us to linger so it became an overnight stop.  The camp BBQ area was disgusting so we tried to use the pull-out BBQ on the van.  That couldn’t connect to the gas supply so we settled on a cheese & cracker dinner with plenty of red wine. 

Things went from bad to worse when Cheryl started to get bitten by mozzies and decided to close the door on the van forgetting the table was attached to it. Ooops!  The table collapsed and the supporting leg fell off.   Next morning the man in the office provided tools so that Neil could screw the thing back on.

Cheryl’s son Alex has recently sold his business to Forbes and is now their European Editor so when we saw there was a town named Forbes in Australia it was the obvious choice for the next stop.  It’s also a town with historical buildings and had a local bad boy, Ben Hall.  He was a bush ranger which means he robbed banks and people during the gold rush but he never shot anyone. He was eventually shot down by the police and ended up as a folk hero. 

We explored the town heritage trail and headed back for a BBQ dinner and ate outside the van.  On this site we had a concrete slab beside the van to put out the table and chairs.  The fixed table was at a slight angle as the slab was higher than the ground.  Not a problem we thought until nearly at the end of the meal when the whole thing collapsed with a crash, sending everything flying including the excellent bottle of red we had just opened.  Fortunately for us the worst damage was the wine splattered up the side of the van from our glasses as luckily the top was on the bottle and we found it intact under the van, hurrah!  The leg had once again come off and we both agreed not to use that bl**dy thing again!! 

Campsites that allow pets insist they are kept on a lead.  The day we left Forbes Neil was getting the camper ready to go when he was ‘adopted’ by a white dog that appeared from nowhere.  It followed him everywhere and when Cheryl walked to open the gate for us to leave he followed her too.  Then when we left and drove along the road he ran after us until we lost him.  We called him White Dog as he reminded us of Red Dog from the North West of Australia made famous in a film…..watch it, it’s very entertaining.

Next stop was Gunnedah but again a bad choice of campsite.  It was still hot so asking for a shady pitch and wifi seemed too much for the grumpy bloke on reception.  We settled on the pitch in full sun closest to reception as that was as far as the wifi would stretch.  We then found the wifi was useless so moved ourselves to some shade which he said didn’t exist.  We then found there was a charge to use the BBQ – OK it was only 20 cents but there was a principle here.  We were getting a bit fed up.  Last trip the campsites were great but this time we were struggling to find good ones and particularly ones with decent wifi as we still had some planning to do.

Next stop was Armidale, the highest city in Australia at 980m.  It was a lot cooler but unfortunately it was also raining.  The campsite had wifi – hurrah, but it was useless – bo**ocks!!  On the way to our next stop, Glen Innis, we stopped off to visit the grave of another local bush ranger, Captain Thunderbolt. He too supposedly didn’t kill anyone but he came to a similar end to Ben Hall…..full of lead!   We finally found a lovely campsite at Glen Innes and the manager did point out that local wifi was working but can be unreliable so we finally decided to buy data on a local sim card. 

Glen Innes has a Scottish heritage and hosts an annual Celtic Games in May with bagpipes and haggis.  In 1992 the town built a circle of standing stones which is an impressive site and was to celebrate their Celtic heritage. Glen Innes is also known as ‘The land of the Beardies’ and we went to the excellent museum which housed an eclectic mix of old artefacts from the early settler days up until the late Twentieth Century.

A few days later we arrived in Caloundra.  We had booked a 2 bedroom waterfront cabin to share with Chris & Viv.  Neil worked with Chris is the UK back in the 70’s before he emigrated with Viv in 1986.  We had made an excellent choice – a new cabin which was well kitted out and we had a deck with a fabulous view across to Bribie Island and the sea beyond. 

We spent the weekend catching up over wine and great food and walks along the coast paths.  We also took a drive out to see the Glass House Mountains with a quick stop on the way to sample some beer at a local brewery.  We ordered a paddle to try a few and most of it was OK but beer with chilli, mmm, not so sure on that one.  After a great weekend we set off on a 6hr drive south whilst Chris and Viv flew back to Sydney.

Our experiences with Air India in the past haven’t been good so we were a little unsure about flying Business with them to Melbourne.  They were the only direct flight, and all the other options would have been a little painful so if all we got was a flat bed on the 12hr flight then so be it.   However, it was all good.  The lounge in New Delhi was very good, they did get us there in one piece, on time and with very good comfort, food, drink and service.  So, we would fly Business with them again although probably not on a popular route like London. 

We remembered to pick up some duty free as we passed through the terminal and did the self-serve visa and passport checks without a hitch.  Our 12Kg cases were amongst the first to arrive and then it all ground to a halt as everyone leaving the terminal had to go through just two painfully slow queues to hand in the ‘anything to declare’ form before being allowed to get out.   The ineptness made it all feel like India again.

However, it was soon apparent that we were in a ‘civilised’ country as no one pushed or jumped any queues, there were no strange odours, spit stains or litter and everyone was smiley and helpful. However, civilization does come at a price and we’re still amazed by how expensive everything seems to be.  It’s really on a par with London prices but when you’ve spent three months having dinner for two with drinks and still having change from a tenner it takes a bit of getting used to.

As the flight arrived at 7am we used the airport bus into the city, then a train to the suburbs where we were met by Callum and Dan, Neil’s great nephews, who drove us to the family home.  We were staying with the Bradburys for the first few days.  They have an enormous house in Narre Warren on the edge of Melbourne.  Four ensuite bedrooms (thanks Cal for giving us yours), a study, a movie room, a snooker room, upstairs lounge area, enormous kitchen/diner/living room, a huge outside deck area with hot tub, 2 dining tables, lounge area and a garden.  Then, of course, there’s Oscar the family dog that we remember from last time and he has a new playmate, Eddy, a very excitable but lovable 12 month old cross between we don’t really know or care – he’s fun!

We enjoyed our time with the family so much when we first came to Australia in 2016 and spending time with Lisa, Simon, Cal, Dan & Jack was a major reason for us returning.  This time Neil was able to watch Dan play in a golf match and Cheryl watched Jack play in a football match before watching some trash TV with Lisa – Neil went to bed!  Staying with the family also gave us a chance to get familiar with being back in Australia.  First up, everything gets a shortened name.  Stay with the rellies, have a glass of chard or sav, visit ‘vinnies op shop’ (charity shop St Vincent de Paul’s) or salvos (Salvation army) in the arvo.  Next, everything is out to kill you so watch out for the spiders, snakes, ants, mozzies and even roos throwing themselves at your car at night.  More on Aussie rules later in the blog.

After a few days it was time to move on and stay with Cheryl’s cousin Roy and his partner Heather.  They met us at the station in Ballarat and spent the next few days treating us to gourmet treats and more gin, wine & beer than was good for us.  Neil cooked one night and made a large rice pudding which Heather enjoyed so much she devoured it all meaning there was none left to go in the freezer for Roy! 

Their house was the former police station in the small town of Learmonth and they are carrying out a renovation of one of the small buildings which was once the police office.  It will be a self-contained annex and was originally planned to be completed for our arrival.  It’s still a way off being completed but we will return at the end of our visit in mid April and Heather has told us we will be its first occupants.  We weren’t so sure it will be finished but Heather accepted our $2 bet so let’s see who wins the money.

After a few days of fantastic hospitality Roy and Heather drove us to Bendigo to pick up our campervan, our home for the next eight weeks.