Aussie Christmas and New Year
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2004
1
19
21
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Melbourne,
Australia
Sunday, January 16, 2005
We all headed off the the beach to for a swim, some snorkelling and a bit of cricket - as you do!!
As the day got hotter and hotter, we headed back to the house to cool down with a few beers. Later on we enjoyed a fantastic christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and in ture aussie style, the turkey was cooked on the barbie.
All in all it was a fantastic and throughly enjoyable day.
The next day we took our leave of Peppy Beach and headed back up to the big smoke to prepare for our onward journey. We prepared very well, by hitting a few of the funky pubs in Freemantle (or Freeo as the locals call it). Little Creatures is a really cool spot, it looks just like a big shed really, but brews its own beers and serves deadly pizzas.
The next day we were a little bit sick, and very sad as we said goodbye sheelagh and headed off to Melbourne. We must say a big thank you to Sean, Sheelagh, Rory and Connor for their hospitallity and making our stay in Perth really memorable.
When we landed in Melbourne it was like minus 20 degrees. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, it probably wasn't that cold, but it sure felt like it. We had come from 35 to something like 14, and we felt like we had landed back in Ireland. I know I am not getting any sympathy from anyone, so I'll move on.
We stayed with my friend Criona, her husband Dave and dog Guinness at their appartment in Port Melbourne. Her parents were also over visiting from Navan, so we had a full house.
It was a tight squeeze. But with cri's mum, Olive, making pots of tea every 10 minites (a woman after me own heart), and her dad, Dom, inisting on everyone playing cards with him all the time, we had great fun.
Melbourne is really a multicultural city, with all nationalities living there. A the best thing about all these different cultures being there - for us anyway - was the food! You can get any type of food you can imagine on the streets of Melbourne. We really enjoyed checking out all various areas. I had dumplings for the frist time since China! I had forgotten how good they were - and have rekindled our plan to open a dumpling shop in Temple Bar.
We spent our New Years in a place called Lakes Enterance, which is along the east coast, about 4 hours outside the city. We were joined by some of Daves family, so there was a good bunch there. Naturally there was a barbie on the go (what else) and plenty of red wine and vb's to welcome in the new year. We did manage to see some of the local sights while there - some lovely beaches etc, but best attraction was of course the Metung Pub - where we spent most of new years day.
After we returned to Melbourne, we felt we should do some more touristy type things, so we decided to rent a car and go exploring some of Victoria. We booked the cheapest rental car (being the buget consious backpackers we are), planned our route, booked some hostel dorms and headed off. When we went to pick up the car, we were told the car we booked wasn't availible, and they would have to upgrade us to a bigger more luxurious fancy model - for free! Not a bad start we thought, very nice indeed.
So off we went and visited the grampian mountain range, these were very nice, it was constantly raining, and we truley did feel like we were in Kerry. We headed for coast, to place called Port Fairy, which used be called Belfast. The weather improved thankfully, and we headed on up the Great Ocean Road. On our last night we stopped in a place called Lorne. I went to check into our hostel were I had made reservations, to be told they had double booked. There were no beds for us in the $20-a-night dorms. Instead they would put us up in one of their luxary suites, at the same price. So for 40 dollars, we got to stay in a 280 dollar room with balcony, tv, kitchen, and a fantastic breakfast!
Aside from all this luxurious living, we spent our time in Melbourne relaxing on the beach by Cri's house, and walking Guinness the dog. It was great to see Cri and Dave again, and once more we very sad when we moved on. I have to say another big thank you to Cri, Dave, Guinness, for a very entertaining and wonderful time.
We flew to New Zealand on the 15th Jan were we met by Martins Uncle, Patsy and his wife Phil.
