5am Melbourne Airport

Now they keep telling us that Tullamarine airport is an international standard etc etc etc well as you can see above at 5am it looks more like Chadstone at 5am. NOTHING is open, no bars, no cafes, no newsagents not even the Qantas Club (not that he who holds the purse strings would ever let me join something like that lol) but the people banging on the door weren't impressed. That said the flight was uneventful and we were soon back home with Miss Guided.

First stuff up, Steve the repair and "taking car of RT and Miss G" person who was meant to repair the fridge while we were away - FORGOT. No fridge. The park that we have a credit of $200 from our last stay was fully booked and basically told us to POQ and we don't give refunds !!!!!! Not happy Jan. So we are at a park further out of town, no shade, 32 degrees but at least it has power and water. Hopefully Miss G will get fixed on Wed morning and we can get out of here.

The farewell Party with Bailey

We are packed and ready to go and Bailey come in to make sure we went out in style and boy did she have fun with the bubbles. A big "Thankyou" to everyone for making our stay back in Melbourne such an enjoyable one. 5am tomorrow the trip continues so standby for more adventures, more crocs, more silly pics and lots of fun.

PS, if you don't hear from me for a while check with Ron as we just made out the wills !!!!

It's just like going back to work

DW's birthday was a big success. As you can see we poured ourselves back into the leathers (almost felt like going back to work) for the big occasion. Approximately 100 people and most in costume enjoyed a wet and cold night up in the mountains. The birthday boy got a very big surprise when that infamous "Felicity" all the way from NYC (Newport Yacht Club) made a special appearance and wailed like all good black moma's.

Back to Darwin on Sunday to continue the journay. Can't wait.

OK maybe I was a little unkind about the ol' town

The sun does come out even though you can't tell by feel, it's still dam cold LOL. On Tuesday we officially became pensioners when our Super finally got switched on, so stand by all you Grey Nomads here we come. The last week has been a gastronomic delight as we had to make up for the months of NO good Restaurants and stock up for the next 6 months as well. So far this week we have had a great Spag Cabonara in a little italian cafe in Collins street, Camel hunting at an Afgan in Camberwell, catching up on Chinese at the Tea House, Parlez vous at Libertine in North Melbourne, the wine bar for grazing and drinks in Gertrude st and the bakers Arms just to have a good pub meal. Yes we are getting FATTER by the second. This really is the eating capital of the known universe and don't we love it. Tonight off to the "God dammed God daughters" for dinner and tomorrow up the hills to Warburton for the weekend.

No prizes for guessing where we are

Yep, back in Melbourne and it is true to form, COLD COLD and more Cold and yes even a little wet just to make sure we know we are home. Sorry about the delay in blog news but as you can see we havn't been leaving the side of the heater unless we REALLY have to.

We have knocked off most of the things we needed to do, like docs, repairs to cameras, winter sales and even some van shopping and next week is accountants and tax stuff plus DW's 50th up at Warburton which we are all looking for ward to as it's a 60's/70's night so Ron and I are dragging (no pun) out the leather and boots for the ocassion.

Hopefully if all comes together we will be back on the road in the first week of July.

You need minties

Well here we are at the airport in Darwin, the temp outside is 35 and the temp in Melbourne is 8, WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING ???????? LOL. We thought we would try the new guy on the block "Tiger Airways" and so far the flight is delayed by an hour, considering that the flight is a midnight flight to start with this is no looking very good. We will be home for approximately 3 weeks and then will continue on with the trip. Things on the blog might bog down while we are in Melbourne, but keep checking in anyway. What have we done with Miss guided you ask, well she is being looked after by a "Collingwood Fan " up here, scary isnt it. She better be in one piece when we return and not repainted in monochrome.

A quiet day on the river

Our first full day in Darwin so for a change we thought we would get someone else to take us up the river and signed on for a day cruise up the Adelaide River with the guarantee of "Crocs" ,"Buffalo" and other assorted creatures. The day started off well with the pickup at 9am and off to the river for a day of excitement. The outfit is a bit rough around the edges, but the boat floated, the tea and coffee hot and the cake straight from woolies LOL. We motored 35klms up stream and yes there were lots of crocs, birds and wildlife just as we were promised. We ended up at a BAR, (surprise, surprise) on a place called "Goat Island" which is an island in the middle of the river in the middle of NO WHERE, but the host was a hoot, the beer was cold and the fresh water prawns huge. This would be a great place for a weekend party.

On the way home however the real fun started with the motor stopping 2klms from the pontoon. Now I know that doesn't sound all that exciting but when you are in the middle of a river that is full and I mean FULL of crocs, it does get your attention. Ron and I started paddling (as we had more experience than anyone else, thank you d'luded), but we didnt realised that paddling attracts crocs, BIG crocs. We managed to attract a 6 meter croc who decided that I looked like an entree, Ron was definitely a Main and the lady behind, desert. He sat about 2 (yes TWO) feet off the back of the boat eyeing us off. Oh he was almost the same size as the boat. Eventually help arrived and we were towed back to shore. After that sort of day a cold beer was called for when we arrived back at Miss Guided HORROR, the fridge has stopped working, it was a 32 degree day so everything was ruined and the beer was HOT.

A little bit of Croc Dundee

Well we finally hit the road again and said goodbye to katherine. We are heading to Darwin to catch a flight home on Sunday but decided to stay over at Adelaide river to visit an old friend from the last trip up here. The park here is a bit like camping in the middle of the Stuart Highway, every road train sounds like its about to come right through the van and we are close enough to the railway that we could do room service on the Guan. Today Darwin.

It's been a long day

The race has been run and won but i guarantee you that there are still people wondering around who think it's still happening. As expected it was the highlight of the social year and everyone dressed accordingly. There was a noticable number of size 18's trying to squeeze into size 10's and parading for the fashions on the field. (Ron wont let me show the pic's) The male part of the crowd was just like going to the Laird but REAL. Cowboys (real ones) the Marines were in town and so was the RAAF - Uniforms, almost enough to make you open up another bar LOL.