Day 16 Tuesday March 2, 2010

Map at the entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne

View of a pond in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne

Riverside walk along the Yarra River in Melbourne

Downtown Melbourne on the Yarra River

Downtown Melbourne- railway depot is domed building on right.

After our last breakfast on the veranda we re-packed our bags and re-weighed them until we got our suitcases under 20kg and the extra duffel bag well under the limit. We missed hearing the tea bell but joined the Diggers crew before they had finished all of the good morning tea treats. It was nice to have everyone gathered together so we were able to once again express our thanks and say our good-byes.

Thinking we could do some last minute blogging we headed back to the house but the internet area was in use so we shut everything down and packed the computer up too. Clive arrived with boxes of books for his office area and we tried to give him a hand moving them in. After finishing , he invited us to tea at Fork to Fork. Although we had already had tea with the gang, who can refuse tea and freshly made scones with the boss? It was so nice to have one last visit with Clive and to thank him again for his generous hospitality. Clive's wife Penny was going to be our ride into Melbourne around noon and as we were all packed and ready to go, we were able to enjoy our last minutes at Heronswood sitting on a bench overlooking the beautiful gardens and the Bay.

Penny wanted to drive us in to the city as she had made plans to meet her grandsons there after school and later stay overnight with her daughter in Melbourne. We enjoyed each moment of our ride into town as Penny shared her experiences and philosophies with us. Unfortunately we got a later start than she had hoped and with our hotel being on the far side of the city near the airport, and some slower traffic, we did not get to our hotel until after 1 and back downtown to the Botanical gardens until almost 2. So instead of joining us for lunch in the tearoom, Penny dropped us off at the garden gate with instructions on how to reach her in case we couldn't find our way back to the hotel and then hurried off to meet her grandsons.

We had a lovely stroll through Melbourne's Royal Botanical Gardens seeing lots of new trees and birds and just enjoying the warm sunny weather. We did have a lunch snack at the tea house and bought some last minute souvenirs before leaving the gardens and then walking along the Yarra River and crossing a bridge into downtown. We found our way to the information center where we stopped and got directions on how to get back to our hotel.

At about 5PM we decided to say good-bye to Melbourne and walked to the railway depot where we bought MET tickets and boarded an underground train for Essenton station. There we switched to a bus that dropped us off pretty close to our hotel. A short walk and we found ourselves back together with our luggage. As the Aussies say "No worries."

A supper meal of leftovers brought from Heronswood ended our day. This will be our last blog entry from Australia as tomorrow morning we head to the airport and our long flight home to the states. As our new friend Rex put it, "It is nice to go away and see wonderful things. But it is nicer still to be going home again."

Thank you to all of our new friends in Australia; for your generous gifts of food and knowledge and laughter and time. We will cherish our memories of your beautiful country and share our pictures with family and friends back home. Ta!

Day 17 Wednesday March 3, 2010

View of our hotel courtyard in suburban Melbourne

The Hudson Fysh Qantas 380 that flew us home-note it is double-decker the entire length of the plane- seen here ready to load something through the side door

The sun setting through our plane window as we flew west from Chicago towards home.

Our trip home began at 7AM as we cleaned up and packed up ready for the last long road home. The Hotel van picked us up at 9 AM to shuttle us to the International terminal at Melbourne airport. We had a bit of trouble with boarding passes but were at the gate ready to leave more than 2 hours before takeoff. Our gate area was blocked off so we had to sit nearby. It soon became clear that we were going to have to go through another security check before boarding. They divided all those boarding by gender, called them into the gate area one at a time, emptied and went through all carry-ons, inspected shoes-even looking under linings, and gave each passenger a front and back pat down before we could clear security and sit in the gate area.

Anne needed to use the restroom and had to take her boarding pass and passport with her and get patted down again before being allowed to re-enter. They had a few agents working at this and added more as we neared boarding time. Despite the additional security hassle we were able to leave on-time.

We flew Qantas again to LA and for a 14+ hour flight it was very nice. The crew were polite and attentive. We were offered food and/or drink almost every half hour. We were offered hot chocolate with marshmallows or peppermint tea to help us sleep. The entertainment centers were on the seat backs and had many choices from movies, TV, video games, music, radio, flight information even audio books. We were so entertained it was hard to try to sleep!

The entire travel time from our hotel in Melbourne to Anne's home in Minnesota took 28 1/2 hours to complete. We were able to rest along the way and seem to have adjusted back to Central Standard Time without mishap. It truly was an adventure to travel down under to sunny Australia and is a trip we will never forget.

Thank you to all of our readers who gave us the chance to share our story and gave us the motivation to keep writing when we were tired and ready to be done. If you ever get an opportunity to travel to Australia, don't think twice just go and enjoy!

Day 15 Monday March 1, 2010

Anne's bus to Mornington

Boat Houses along the beach in Dromana

Dromana Foreshore seen from the fishing pier

Caroline, Lou and Anne at Lou's home for dinner

Linda started her day by washing tomato seeds. Lou and Linda drove to the Boundary Road garden to spiff up the trial gardens in preparation for The Garden Australia show scheduled for this Wed. March 3. Linda ate lunch with Vicki in the gardens to avoid the long walk to the lunch area. Lou, Linda, John and Vicki came back to Heronswood about 4 PM leaving the trial gardens looking pretty darn good. This was Linda's final day working for the Diggers Club.

Meanwhile Anne headed once more back to Mornington for a little last minute shopping. The bus was 30 minutes late and she had just missed an earlier one making her wait about an hour for the bus. Main street was hopping with lots of end of the season shoppers. Her last transaction took just a few minutes too long and as she hiked up the street she could see her bus just pulling out of the bus stop. The 45 minute wait for the next bus was just long enough to find another good book at the used book shop.

Anne's original plan was to bus to the very tip of Mornington Peninsula and explore the National Park lands there, but as the bus ride from Mornington to the tip was over 2 hours, she gave up that idea when she missed the earlier bus. Instead she took the next bus to downtown Dromana where she ate her picnic lunch near the beach, explored the fishing pier, took off shoes and waded her way along the shoreline enjoying the many colorful boat houses, and snapping a few pictures. After letting her feet dry while she read a few chapters, she turned those feet towards the long hill of LaTrobe Parade and home to Heronswood.

Anne had just unpacked and straightened up a little when in walked Linda. We spent the short time before dinner gathering all of our stuff together, finding places to jam in souvenirs, weighing our suitcases and finding them over the 23kg limit. Note to fellow travelers: always carry an empty duffel bag when you are traveling internationally (you get 2 bags free) to bring home your purchases or don't buy books! With thoughts of heading back to downtown Dromana the next morning in search mode for a duffel bag, they headed out to wait in the drive for Caroline to pick them up for a dinner date at Lou's place.

Lou had made homemade hummus and Greek salad toppings for sliced pita wedges. It was a colorful and tasty appetizer that went well with the wine and views from her deck. The evening chill (the first we'd experienced since arriving) drove us inside for shark curry and apple rhubarb dessert. Another nice evening spent with friends. The only disappointments were the reluctant possum who refused to follow the trail of apple slices left by Lou to lure him up on the deck where we could see him, and that we forgot to tour Lou's garden until after dark. We did still walk around the back garden but had a hard time appreciating it in the dark.

Lou sent us home with an old duffel of hers to help us get our luggage back under 23 kg. Thanks Lou and Caroline for a wonderful evening and rides to dinner and home again.