Table Top Mountain Albury

Can't believe how early we had to get up this morning - 3:30am NZ time (which is 1:30am Aus time) to get to the airport.
But it was all good. Watched the Twilight movie on the plane on the way home and now i cant wait to see New Moon!

Coming through customs in Australia was funny as i had to go in the high security line due to my Maouri souviner that i brough back with me that is classified as a weapon. I was just glad that Border Security wasnt there to film me haha.

... guys would cover huge distances and high speed, which is especially impressive given cycling technology and road condition back then. Eventually people started to want to ride at their own pace, and not have to keep the pace set by one leader so 'randonneur' splinter groups started which still organised distance based rides with a time limit, but didn't dictate group riding. Technically, the Australian group is a randonneur group - apparently my uncle was snubbed by ...

... police occured.

We then spent a few hours at Beechworth, an historic little town which still has an operating telegraph station. We went on a scenic drive along the gorge (which was quite narrow with our big bus!)

After we headed down to the town of Bright and then into Mount Beauty, stopping at the overlooks of the town.

... a lovely night,also with some cake,milo's,and a movie! In the morning we packed down the caravan and headed to the main street.We went to 'The Famous Beechworth Bakery'(as mum calls it) to have lunch.After a few minutes dad carried on and did a bit of drawings.Mum, Marc and I went to the Beechworth Honey shop.The three of us went on a tour at the shop.We also bought a jar of Grey Ironbark.At the end we wondered around the town and headed to a new place

... phone numbers, and I may catch up with Jason and co again in Queensland, as they will be heading up that way at much the same time as I will. The other couple also offered me a place to stay in their house, should I be in the neighbourhood later in the year, and it struck me as bizarre that I could have a weird conversation about ghosts, and be invited to someone's house (by a non-Christian), and a weird conversation about coffee, and be effectively told to go away (by a Christian).

... best be gotten rid of, to which I received the response of 'no, I quite like the ghosts' from the lady, while her kids were much less comfortable with them, and I had a great discussion with the kids about Jesus and how He could protect them from the ghosts, and they delighted in telling me all about how they had learnt that Jesus died and then came back from the dead in their school scripture classes (probably a hot topic, with Easter fast approaching.)
In the end, we all ...

... We all take a turn in the bath warm water. Back at the house, we try roo meat for the first time. What a feast!Saturday is a double-date! Brad and Bronwym take us for a whirlwind tour through different vineyards in the area as well as a tour of a olivery and a cheese market. 

... moved to its current location in the 50s to accommodate the rising waters of the Hume Lake. I have to say that they could easily build the old town in its previous location now, due to the only 12% water level in the lake. We arrived back at the van by cutting across from Bonegilla crossing the Murray just below the dam. We booked in here for another night. We'll go to Wagga on Thursday.

... Emma's Parents, Vicky and Ken, have a gorgeous house in the middle of the country side. The heat of the summer kept me mostly inside the cool house but I spent lovely moments there, a memorable Christmas. Because I was not a religious person, they skipped Christmas Mass - nobody really wanted to go - and we innaugurated a new family tradition : we woke up early in the morning ...

... that arriving at Melbourne's Spencer Street train station is like walking into the third world. Major renovation has rendered the place chaotic & to divvies like us unfathomable (God help us in Asia). None of the signs made sense, most of the staff didn't have Australian (it's not the same as English believe us) as a first language & the staff we could communicate with didn't understand what they were doing. EG "Two return tickets to Albury please ...