In Adelaide I had arranged to have dinner with one of my
Jindy house mates and his partner and to catch up with one of my friends from
the Nullarbor tour I took late last year. Sadly my Jindy friend and his
girlfriend had to cancel on me but I was able to get a quick drink with my
Nullarbor friend and hear a lot of her news. During my stay in the city I
planned to spend my one full day in Glenelg as I had heard it was a lovely place
to visit and had a beach. Sadly the beach wasn’t much use as that was the day
of my visit it rained. Being Scottish I wasn’t about to let a little bit of
rain sop me and at lunch time I caught the tram and determinedly made my way to
the seaside town. Despite the rain I could tell it was apleasant town and I
stopped at a little cafe that serves the most delicious hot chocolate and a fairly
decent omelette. If I pass through Adelaide again then I will be sure to return
there on a sunnier day so I can test out the beach as well as indulging in more
of that fabulous hot chocolate. Thankfully the day I left dawned bright and
sunny so I took the opportunity to revisit the art gallery. On my previous
visit only half the galleries were open due to a recently finished exhibition,
this time though all the galleries were open and I enjoyed spending a few hours
pretending I understood art before heading to my favourite snoozing ground in
front of the museum. It’s a good place to people watch and surprisingly
peaceful, I wasn’t the only person catching a quick nap in the sun that
afternoon by any means. It turns out it was also a good place to see some of a red
arrow display which was taking place east of the city. Not long afgter the
display ended it was time for me to go find dinner and collect my bags before searching
out he bus staion where I could catch my overnight bus to Melbourne.
In Melbourne I stayed with the family friend who visited me
in Sydney not long after I first arrived in Australia. When we first met up she
was here for a few months with her work but since then she and her husband have
actually moved here. Though they were still in the settling in phase, including
waiting on their furniture to clear customs, they kindly offered to put me up
for a long weekend. It was a chilled
visit which included a few walks to the beach with their extra cute and very
excitable dog. We did make it to the markets which I missed on my last visit
and I caught up with my Aussie friend (who lent me her couch on my last visit)
for a few drinks – She’s Aussie and I’m
Scottish I’m sure you can work out our definition of a few!
On what was supposed
to be my last day my friends husband drove me down part of the great ocean road
and it was as beautiful as I imagined. I definitely want to drive it myself on
my next visit. Though we didn't make it to the twelve apostles we did see kangaroos on Angelsea golf course where we stopped for a cuppa and Split Point lighthouse which was used in the kids tv program 'Round the Twist'. During this trip I got a call from the bus company informing me
that road closures due to flooding meant I couldn’t travel to Canberra the
following day. After some thought and consultation with my friends in Jindy and
Melbourne I decided to rearrange my buses to travel up to Sydney on the
Thursday bypassing them completely. I am sad that I missed the chance to see my
friends before heading back to the UK but it did give me the opportunity to
finally fill out my tax forms, start preparing to claim back my super funds and
write my final postcards. I also took the additional time to cook chilli con
carne for my friends as a thank you for their hospitality. You’d think by now
I’d have that recipe sorted but every time I cook it there is something
differently wrong with it. Still it turned out ok in the end and it was a meal
that someone else didn’t have to cook though I did manage to skip out on the
washing up. Of course my thank you meal was put to shame by the lovely meal on
my actual final night at a local restaurant. The area my friends have settled
in has many restaurants and cafes and they are everything I have come to expect
from Melbourne. The fact that the beach is a ten minute walk away and a half
hour train ride will get you to the CBD means I have no problems understanding
why they have settled there or offering to dog sit for them the next time I am
in Melbourne!
At stupid o’clock on Thursday morning and I was on my way
again. I was concerned about my bus journey due to my tickets being changed
without a fresh ticket being reissued but I worried needlessly. My bus arrived in
Melbourne and left promptly with me on board on my way to Sydney once more. I
did have to disembark at Canberra and then re-embark the very same bus but I
got the same seat back and I didn’t have to share it at any point in the
journey which is always nice. I can safely say I have only nice things to say about
Greyhound Australia and their lovely staff who made sure I got to Sydney on
time despite the flooding in Southern NSW and Northern Victoria.
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