Apr 21/11 7:21pm
Dustin went for what will very likely be the last surf of the trip today. We're down in Phillip Island and although the wind was a bit rough, he went out anyways. At least we had some sunshine too.
After leaving Denmark we got into Albany and stayed there for a couple nights. I liked Denmark better but Albany was still on the to-do list. Unfortunately the surf there was not working when we got in and Dustin booked in with a surf coach for the next day but the conditions weren't too great then either. But was it good for him to get out and pick up a few pointers on his technique. While he did that I went to the farmer's market which wasn't very big and then walked around waiting for the shops to open up. We had to get the van back in by 3pm on Monday and Albany is a 4.5 hour drive to Perth so we decided to leave Sunday and take it leisurely rather than have to be on a schedule on Monday. Turns out there's pretty much nothing worth seeing in between the cities so we only stopped briefly. The people camping beside us were thoughtful enough to wake up around 5am both days and talk and muck around making noise before they left to go fishing. Plus I think I left a hoodie there on the back of the chair in the kitchen after breakfast! Why do these big trips seem to make me lose hoodies? We ended up back in Perth by around 2:30pm but Mick and Theresa were at the Blues and Roots festival so we ended up doing laundry and then going to dinner with their flatmate. We picked the kids up from the festival and then it was off to bed.
On Monday we hit the beach in the morning but the surf was pretty bad so it was a short visit. We cleaned up the van a bit and then took it back to the depot. All was fine so we started walking back and I thought that I should make sure I had a copy of the receipt when they processed our refund of the deposit (we just had the general receipt from the company). Most times we've hired cars they just put a hold on the credit card for the security bond but this place actually charged it up front and then refunded it when we got it back. When we're talking $3500 I figured I should have record of it so we went back to ask and after waiting for ages, the guy was free and he looked for it and realized he hadn't processed the refund at all. Yikes! So he did then and we were very relieved that we went back. Man, trying to work that out from back in Canada would have been a very big headache.
Well, given that we hadn't made specific plans for the whole time in Melbourne, we started to worry about what to do. All the camping I was looking into was not looking good. If anywhere had anything available it was extremely expensive but most places were booked up. Given that it's coming on Easter weekend (which ends up being a 5 day weekend here because Anzac day falls on Easter Monday) and school holidays just started, everyone is out on their holidays. We had looked into couchsurfing and lined one up when Dustin got in touch with his old boss who is out of town camping but offered his house to us while they're gone. So that's how we ended up on Phillip Island for these 3 nights. Getting here was a bit of drama but it worked out. We arrived in Melbourne around 5:30pm on Tuesday and the plan was to have Dustin take a taxi to where Pete left us a car and then drive back and pick me up with all the gear. (Trying to get the surfboard into a taxi may have proved a challenge.) We couldn't see where the arrival pick up spot was so I just stayed up at the departures level where people get dropped off. With a wonky luggage cart and the surf bag, I managed to get outside to meet him - thanks to some helping hands of the police there and the guy in charge of traffic flow. Luckily we were able to pack up the board without being told to move since we weren't really supposed to be picking up there. It was dark and we weren't on the ball with a route plan so missed the straightest route through the city and went a roundabout way south. We got into Phillip Island by about 10pm after we stopped for a pizza. The house is lovely as Dustin's boss just built it within the last couple years. So we're in the lap of luxury for now.
Dustin managed a surf yesterday and today and we also went to the wildlife park today. We only had that one kangaroo spotting in Denmark so we spent a couple hours enjoying them in their captive state. Two of them kicked me with their back legs! I wasn't quick enough in getting some food out of the bag for them apparently. It was a bit intimidating. Didn't hurt but they definitely are powerful.
Tomorrow we'll head back to the city to drop Dustin's board off at the hotel we'll be checking into on Sunday and then we'll head to Colac. But not before stopping off in Torquay
We've been back and forth over enthusiasm for our return. Part of it is returning to "real life" and having to get all sorted without knowing what we what. That will certainly be time for us to have a serious think about what we want in our life for the next few years. For now we aren't worrying about it too much and figure we'll have an instinct once we've returned.
We're back into our jeans and sweaters because the weather over here is much much cooler than Perth. It's about a high of 15-20 degrees and not sure what the low is but I'm just glad we'll be inside for the rest of the nights over here. Phew!
Dustin went for what will very likely be the last surf of the trip today. We're down in Phillip Island and although the wind was a bit rough, he went out anyways. At least we had some sunshine too.
After leaving Denmark we got into Albany and stayed there for a couple nights. I liked Denmark better but Albany was still on the to-do list. Unfortunately the surf there was not working when we got in and Dustin booked in with a surf coach for the next day but the conditions weren't too great then either. But was it good for him to get out and pick up a few pointers on his technique. While he did that I went to the farmer's market which wasn't very big and then walked around waiting for the shops to open up. We had to get the van back in by 3pm on Monday and Albany is a 4.5 hour drive to Perth so we decided to leave Sunday and take it leisurely rather than have to be on a schedule on Monday. Turns out there's pretty much nothing worth seeing in between the cities so we only stopped briefly. The people camping beside us were thoughtful enough to wake up around 5am both days and talk and muck around making noise before they left to go fishing. Plus I think I left a hoodie there on the back of the chair in the kitchen after breakfast! Why do these big trips seem to make me lose hoodies? We ended up back in Perth by around 2:30pm but Mick and Theresa were at the Blues and Roots festival so we ended up doing laundry and then going to dinner with their flatmate. We picked the kids up from the festival and then it was off to bed.
On Monday we hit the beach in the morning but the surf was pretty bad so it was a short visit. We cleaned up the van a bit and then took it back to the depot. All was fine so we started walking back and I thought that I should make sure I had a copy of the receipt when they processed our refund of the deposit (we just had the general receipt from the company). Most times we've hired cars they just put a hold on the credit card for the security bond but this place actually charged it up front and then refunded it when we got it back. When we're talking $3500 I figured I should have record of it so we went back to ask and after waiting for ages, the guy was free and he looked for it and realized he hadn't processed the refund at all. Yikes! So he did then and we were very relieved that we went back. Man, trying to work that out from back in Canada would have been a very big headache.
Well, given that we hadn't made specific plans for the whole time in Melbourne, we started to worry about what to do. All the camping I was looking into was not looking good. If anywhere had anything available it was extremely expensive but most places were booked up. Given that it's coming on Easter weekend (which ends up being a 5 day weekend here because Anzac day falls on Easter Monday) and school holidays just started, everyone is out on their holidays. We had looked into couchsurfing and lined one up when Dustin got in touch with his old boss who is out of town camping but offered his house to us while they're gone. So that's how we ended up on Phillip Island for these 3 nights. Getting here was a bit of drama but it worked out. We arrived in Melbourne around 5:30pm on Tuesday and the plan was to have Dustin take a taxi to where Pete left us a car and then drive back and pick me up with all the gear. (Trying to get the surfboard into a taxi may have proved a challenge.) We couldn't see where the arrival pick up spot was so I just stayed up at the departures level where people get dropped off. With a wonky luggage cart and the surf bag, I managed to get outside to meet him - thanks to some helping hands of the police there and the guy in charge of traffic flow. Luckily we were able to pack up the board without being told to move since we weren't really supposed to be picking up there. It was dark and we weren't on the ball with a route plan so missed the straightest route through the city and went a roundabout way south. We got into Phillip Island by about 10pm after we stopped for a pizza. The house is lovely as Dustin's boss just built it within the last couple years. So we're in the lap of luxury for now.
Dustin managed a surf yesterday and today and we also went to the wildlife park today. We only had that one kangaroo spotting in Denmark so we spent a couple hours enjoying them in their captive state. Two of them kicked me with their back legs! I wasn't quick enough in getting some food out of the bag for them apparently. It was a bit intimidating. Didn't hurt but they definitely are powerful.
Tomorrow we'll head back to the city to drop Dustin's board off at the hotel we'll be checking into on Sunday and then we'll head to Colac. But not before stopping off in Torquay
We've been back and forth over enthusiasm for our return. Part of it is returning to "real life" and having to get all sorted without knowing what we what. That will certainly be time for us to have a serious think about what we want in our life for the next few years. For now we aren't worrying about it too much and figure we'll have an instinct once we've returned.
We're back into our jeans and sweaters because the weather over here is much much cooler than Perth. It's about a high of 15-20 degrees and not sure what the low is but I'm just glad we'll be inside for the rest of the nights over here. Phew!
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