Thought I better get this out of the Getting There thread. Bigdog and I are in Australia, primarily visiting relatives. My mother was Australian, a WWII war
bride, long deceased (young), but I still have living relatives here. We flew from Seattle June 7, arriving June 9, good flights, good seats, sleep on the
plane. Missed the connection in Sydney to Melbourne due to slow customs clearance but caught another flight a half hour later.
Yes, we are in Wandong, about 35 miles north of The City, where the fires raged through in February 2009, mercifully while the relatives we are staying with were on a cruise in Antarctica. Their house was spared but many houses in the neighborhood burned to the ground. The grass and some of the trees are coming back, but it is still very much a devastation area.
Got back yesterday from an overnight trip to the Dandenong Mountains and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. We stayed overnight in a B&B called the Tavlock Retreat near Olinda. Very nice B&B and would recommend it, except it is very difficult to find the right driveway back in at night, or in the daytime for that matter.
We saw heaps more kangaroos on the way back to Wandong than we saw at Healesville.
Today we went into The City for major gourmet foodstuffs at David Jones. Dinner party tomorrow.
We return to the U.S. July 11.
CliftonMEM wrote:
Excellent. So MEL first? Enjoy my wife's hometown! It's very nice.
Yes, we are in Wandong, about 35 miles north of The City, where the fires raged through in February 2009, mercifully while the relatives we are staying with were on a cruise in Antarctica. Their house was spared but many houses in the neighborhood burned to the ground. The grass and some of the trees are coming back, but it is still very much a devastation area.
Got back yesterday from an overnight trip to the Dandenong Mountains and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. We stayed overnight in a B&B called the Tavlock Retreat near Olinda. Very nice B&B and would recommend it, except it is very difficult to find the right driveway back in at night, or in the daytime for that matter.
We saw heaps more kangaroos on the way back to Wandong than we saw at Healesville.
Today we went into The City for major gourmet foodstuffs at David Jones. Dinner party tomorrow.
We return to the U.S. July 11.
