20 days until we come home, 1 year and 23 days since selling up. Paul Twocock recording.
I am recording today because David has picked up an Australian accent after just two weeks and I can't trust him not to spray this with 'G'days', 'good on yers' and other phrases which he keeps using too loudly in company... Anyhoo we've been in Victoria for the last week and a bit, and it's chilly and sometimes very wet. Okay, so winter is coming, we should expect it - but you just don't in Australia. To be fair Australia seems to be equally surprised at the 'earliest start to winter in thirty years'. But we've kept calm and carried on.
Melbourne turned out to be a very workaday city. Some nice Victorian buildings (by the way someone should tell the newscasters that saying 'a Victorian was arrested today for stabbing someone outside a pub' just sounds weird, like there has been a crack in time that Doctor Who needs to step in and sort out) and some decent cafes and restaurants especially out in the suburbs like South Yarra where we stayed. But there are few sights for tourists and the torrential rain and grey skies coloured our experience. It was always a relief to get back to the flat and put the heating on. (Another note to Australia: get central heating! The whole country seems to get by on fan heaters and the occasional gas fire. Not good for the world or for the health.)
On the plus side David got to see an old chum who had emigrated out here ten years ago. We saw the cottage that Captain Cook was born in, which had been transported brick by brick from Yorkshire. And we did make a pilgrimage to the real Ramsay Street, though it's been so long since we watched it we had difficulty remembering all the houses. Here's us outside the home of Madge and Harold, and the place where Scott Robinson first set eyes on Charlene Mitchell, aah innocent days...
After four days in the city we set off to explore the Victorian coast (there I'm doing it now - ridiculous). First stop was a long weekend in Phillip Island, a small island off the coast, main town Cowes, next to Ventnor. David's folks, sister and family all live on the Isle of Wight back home so we know it well and there were certainly similarities. Indeed Cowes is twinned with its namesake in the mother land. But one thing the Isle of Wight doesn't have is Phillip Island's animal attractions.
As soon as we arrived at our 'eco-resort' we were surrounded by pink and grey parrots (Galahs or rose-brested cockatoos we found out later) and some red, green and purple ones too. Some rather pretty wading birds wandered around probably looking for the marsh land the 'eco-resort' had been built on. Then we went for a short bush walk in a nearby reserve to be amazed by swamp wallabies popping up, left, right and centre staring at us curiously, wondering what the hell we were doing.
Next stop was the famous Penguin Parade. A colony of thousands of little blue penguins live and breed at a spot on the south west corner of Phillip Island, and every night, just after sunset you can see them come home from fishing in the sea, waddle across the beach in groups and climb up the grassy hills to their burrows. No photos I'm afraid, cameras strictly prohibited, and there is always a crowd of people there (even on cold, windy winter nights) but nothing detracts from the amazing and comical sight of these little penguins coming home. And what a racket they make when they get back up to their burrows. The place resounds with squawks and trills and penguins flapping their flippers in mating rituals. It's really cool.
We completed our wildlife encounters the following day with the ultimate Australian icon: the cuddly Koalas. The poor sods find life so trying they spend 20 hours a day asleep, so most of the bears we saw in the trees were tucked up in a ball having forty winks, but they were totally enchanting: how could you not say aaah?
We've got into the Australian groove now, and are really enjoying the last leg of the grand tour. Australia, even more than New Zealand is very like Britain in many ways. They even love Eurovision, so we had a whole weekend of the glorious camp festival every night in Phillip Island, yay!
But as we say up top, there's only 20 days left so we've started thinking about our return: a few job applications in, more to do, real life beckons. But not for another 20 days. So here's to a fabulous last three weeks. Good on yer!
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