The waiting game

After saying goodbye to our family members, we headed back to Rye as we had left excess luggage there to make sure we could fit in our visitors plus their luggage. This time I was prepared for photos as we drove over the Melbourne CBD


and through the tunnel (part of the Monash Freeway)


Have since discovered that there are a few tunnels under Melbourne.

Of course the dogs (as well as the humans) were pleased to see us again.

The following weekend our hosts attended a birthday celebration on the Western side of Melbourne and asked us to dogsit. I think Cheryl was a little embarrassed when she saw just how much at home the dogs were with us,





After that weekend the two dogs were in and out of our van just as much as their own.

Leaving Rye we called in on the caravan manufacturer for our van repairs. They are still in catch up mode and with heartfelt apologies sent us to a firm that deals specially with repairs. (this is still part of the wait - but they are just waiting for our phone call to slot us in).
This was the weekend of the Melbourne grand prix, so accommodation was at a premium. With cap in hand we asked if we could once again use the paddock in Gisborne. They were only too happy for us to "squat" on their land again.
The following day the vehicle was taken to Turbo Engineering in Thomastown. They specialize in Chev motors. Brandt had spotted an oil leak and wanted the motor to have a thorough check. Oh dear! Luckily he did that as the result was that we could have become stranded somewhere in the outback with a motor that was completely useless to us. They gave us an estimate of the cost, even suggested we perhaps think about changing vehicles. We weighed up all the pros and cons and went with repairing the motor we have as we know what else has been done to it.
Hence the title this episode. We are patiently waiting to get back on the road again, once the vehicle and van have both been repaired.

While we were waiting for the car problems to be diagnosed we were taken to Epping shopping centre. Down one wing of the mall I started taking photos of the array available e.g cheese


and meat



Brandt is happily toiling away (after pressuring David into accepting that he wanted to be helpful), clearing undergrowth.

One afternoon I went out to the front of the van and there I saw:


Earlier in the day the two males, on the right of the above photo, were play fighting. I would have loved a video of it but decided they would stop once they heard me open the van door.

Easter Saturday we were picked up by a couple of grey nomads who had read on the grey nomad forum that we were without our vehicle. (they had also offered us the use of a vehicle over the holiday weekend)They took us to Greens Lake (we were there before Christmas). We had a lovely day there with half a dozen or so Grey Nomads who were camped there. We arrived with date scones and a Pav (whipped the cream there)


plus our friends also took hot cross buns.

This brings us up to date.

A week with Donna, etc 2. Melnourne Aquarium and a fun day

Donna introduced me to using the Melbourne trains. Into the centre of town we went,


walked along the riverbank,


had refreshments,


then on to the Acquarium

While we were looking at the penguins,


the staff came out and fed them


It was great to see them swimming along and "catching" their food.


Another point of interest was the rock pool presentation, where Kaela got to touch various animals. After the presentation the children were encouraged to handle even more things and ask lots of questions.





What we used to call starfish are now called sea stars


The above photo is of shark eggs. I was intrigued by what they look like.



After walking around other parts of the aquarium it was good to sit down and rest a while.
I think it is safe to say that we three girls enjoyed our day out.

The day before they went back to NZ we took Kaela for a "surprise day". We went "bush" and had a picnic on the edge of the Lerderderg Regional park.


Our resident chef made sure we had good food to eat


Then we headed back to civilization and went to Fun City where Kaela enjoyed being a rally driver





Sadly, they returned home the next day.

A week with Donna, Kaela and Richard 1. A day with Kaela

Their flight arrived about 15 minutes late. We had decided to not pay the expensive parking fee at Melbourne airport, so found the 5minute park for pick up. En route noticed a Macdonalds. So it was decided that On the next circuit I would be dropped off, Brandt would go park in Macdonalds and I would phone him when we were all ready to be picked up. Good plan except I missed seeing them as they left customs. A phone call rather than text soon got us walking towards each other.

Day one was taken up with getting the week's supply of food and checking out the best transport arrangements.

Day two the others went in to Melbourne and we took Kaela on a bit of sight seeing. First to a volcanic rock formation known as organ pipes





Following this we went back to Gisborne as Helen had offered to take Kaela to see kangaroos in the "wild"
They live next to the golf club. Evidently the kangaroos are so used to golfers walking past, pushing or pulling their buggies that they take no notice of them. However if even a golfer walks by carrying his golf clubs but has no buggy, the kangaroos will hop away.
Needless to say we took buggies with us

Overdue

Question 1. What happens when the gate is narrower than the caravan?

Answer: the awning gets ripped off and the stay puts a hole in the caravan wall.

Luckily insurance will cover the repairs. However the caravan yard was too busy to do the repairs straight away, and Donna, Richard, and Kaela were due to arrive within a week. So to help us out they did a quick repair job so that we could use the awning.

Question 2. Our host shot three rabbits. What did he do with them?

Answer: He skinned and gutted them and put them in the freezer.
Two days later we cooked them in the dream pot. This is the first time I remember eating rabbit. The recipe I used was with orange juice and was quite tasty. Brandt had rabbit for lunch for the next three days.

While staying with David and Helen at Gisborne, Margaret took me to Mt Macedon where we had lunch. The resident peacock was a little shy


so the waiter coaxed him out with some bread


Peacocks certainly have beautiful colours


After a week with David and Helen we moved on to Rockbank and got ready for Donna's visit