Quest Collins Street Central Melbourne

... in the van and Brian is a wealth of information and a wonderful tour guide.

Our traveling partners were Judy & Ron from Adelaide, Australia; Allen&, Margaret from Canterbury, England; Ellen from Brisbane and Allison from York, England-these 4 were traveling together; then Hilary & Stewart from Binghamton, England and Wolfgang from Germany along with Brian. It was a challenge for us being the only Americans because ...

... the 1700’s an observer claimed that London, with a population of less than 1 million had 10,000 thieves and 50,000 *****s! The invasion of the aborigines land began in 1788. A total of 160,000 convicts were eventually shipped from the UK to Australia.
Also, in 1966 when England was winning the World Cup, Australia was replacing pounds and pence ...

Today I'm writing my blog from the comfort of my bed. Mainly because I feel if I move I'll spew my load everywhere. Yesterday was my cousin Mark's wedding and it certainly turned into an extremely messy occasion.

My cousin Scott and I had decided to liven things up a little bit by having a drinking competition - although I feel it was a bit uneven as he was on beer all night and I was on the wine; I definitely consumed more units! The bet was ...

... individual coffee shops and restaurants. It is very multicultural – very European in fact. Still think I prefer the climate of Queensland though!




Monday 17 August 2009

Drove into Melbourne this morning for continued wander around. We drove through the botanical gardens and then headed for Albert Park, so Paul could see the F1 motor racing circuit. After that we drove to St Kilda and ate our sandwiches on the ...

... the more amusing for us by 3 lads who met each other aboard the bus and one in particular who suffered from a bad case of short-man syndrome. On Wednesday we paid homage to F1 by attempting to go for a run around the race track in Albert Park, although we only made it about half way round before being turned back as they still hadn't finished clearing up from the ...

... the Princes Highway for the street I needed to be on, and the next thing I knew, I was headed into a tunnel that runs under the river. I came out a few kilometers later in the suburbs. I pulled into a petrol station and asked for directions. They gave me good directions but told me something disturbing. They said that the tunnel is a tollway and you are supposed to have special electronic tag on your car to go through ...

... off for Flinders Park and the tennis. There was a small hiccup getting in as security did not like my video camera so we had to walk around the stadium to check it in. It was a seriously hot day with temperatures around 40 degrees Celcius! We got a good seat in the shade to watch a Zimbabwean (I was born and raised in Zimbabwe and fled in 2000 to Australia when Mugabe started killing white farmers), Cara Black, playing a doubles game. We then planned on watching the Williams ...

... his family for being so generous and welcoming. Extra special thanks to Bernie for taking us shopping in the Aston Martin DB6! - Seeing more kangaroos hopping about in Canberra whilst taking a friend's dog for a walk than anywhere else in Australia. - Enjoying the famous Sydney New Year fireworks with Goldie, Lil, and Alex from the balcony of Goldie's sister's flat, which overlooks the bridge and opera ...

This section is a two parter... we actually arrived in Ocean Grove (remember, the place near Geelong, near Melbourne?) about 2 weeks ago but pretty much headed off to Tasmania staright away, so thought it best to write about it all in one go. Ocean Grove is a little area of suburbia about an hour south of Melbourne and is a really nice place just on the coast. We are staying with Kate and BJ (Kate is Ali's friend from work) and thier ...

... to see this system. Since visiting this neck of the world I have become facinated by rail transport and regret that we in Britain pulled our tram lines up so early. Many cities here are replacing them! I only wish my home city of Bristol would fight shy of the expense and go for it! Electrified commuter systems are so much more eco-friendly!