World Australia Victoria Melbourne

The Swaffield and Ladd Trip 2004-5

Welcome to Australia Oct 17, 2004

We arrived in Melbourne at 5 in the morning on the 16th andmycousin and Uncle were waiting at the airport to meet uswhich was nice.

Ever the optimist I got off the plane in t-shirt and shorts expecting great weather and a continuation of the heat we had experienced in SE Asia. How wrong I can be....it was absolutley freezing (probably not as cold as England but colder than we had become accustomed too in Asia).

After a quick nap my cousin took us for a drive round part of Melbourne and, most importantly, Ramsay Street where I was shocked to discover that people actually live there - and no I don't mean Helen Daniels, The Kennedys, Jim Robinson or Bouncer!

The next day we ventured into Melbourne to have a look around and to purchase jeans and jumpers! A trip up the Rialto Tower in Melbournes city centre offered spectacular views of the city and surrounding beaches.

Then it was back to my cousins house on the tram where the rest of my southern hemisphereal family descended on the house for a typical Aussie meal - a bbq. Top of the menu were kangaroo steaks washed down with a drop of Australia's finest - Victoria Bitter. It was a classy affair! The evening was somewhat strangely finished off watching Paul Hogan videos - the crocodile dundee star doing comic clips which falls somewhere between Monty Python and Russ Abbott. I promised Carrie that I wouldn't mention that when my cousin was telling us proudly about marching in the Anzac Day Parade (Australia's War Remembrance Day) she asked if that was the big gay parade in Australia. So I won't mention it.

Sunday was another day spent seeing the sights of Melbourne,once the alcohol blur had died down from the previous evening.

The final 3 days staying in Melbourne werespent seeing someof the places around Melbourne....

Monday was the Great Ocean Road which involved a massive 9 hours of driving (Thanks Matt) which still takes a bit of getting the head round - 9 hours driving in England and you'd start seeing places you'd already been too. The Great Ocean Road is truly spectacular and is actually a War Memorial (I'm coming to realise that everything in Australiais a war memorial and things that weren't are being changed to be war memorials - if I stay here long enough I'll become a war memorial probably to a really rubbish war or maybe even just a fight outside a pub or something.

The 12 apostles were truly special,especially as the weather was absolutley stunning and the sea just looked amazing.

After the GOR we drove back to Melbourne for the Neighbours night!

Tuesday was spent out with my Uncle at Echuca seeing the old settlement town there and taking a trip down the Murray River on an Old Paddle Steamer which was nice and relaxing after the previous day's exertions. Possibly a bit too relaxing asCarrie slept all the way there in the car and I slept all the way back- sorry Bob!

Our last day in Melbourne was spent seeing with my Aunt, sorry Jane!, and my 2 cousins who I hadn't met before - Paul and Michelle. Another really stunning day was spent in the best places possible -looking out over the city from Arthurs seat and on and around the beach,another really good day.

Thursday and it was off to Canberrawhere it rained and that's about all there is to say about Canberra!