Melbourne Mille, Australia 2002


Bev & Ed


September 25, 2002
Melbourne, Australia


"DOWN UNDER"

Here we are, far away but close because of e-mail. Amazing invention!!

We flew from LAX to Sydney on September 19. Uneventful flight, but the plane was completely full. No signs of slowdown in passengers on the Sydney run. As usual, we "lost" a day en route, leaving LAX at 10:40 p.m. Thursday night, arriving in Sydney at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. The flight was just 14.5 hours. Good scheduling though, because we actually got some sleep. The airport in Sydney is efficient and user friendly and we had our bags, our rental car, and were through customs and on our way south within a half hour of landing.

Headed south on the Prince's Highway, the coastal route from Melbourne to Sydney. Saturday was a good day to arrive, almost no morning traffic.The beaches here are pure sand in most places and the water a startling turquoise. In Wollongong we found a tiny cafe right on the water at the small bay where the local fishermen and divers abound. Most of the people in Wollongong are steel workers from the gigantic steel works in adjacent Port Kemble. Tidy houses, lots of brick used here.

Jervis Bay and Bateman's Bay have great beaches. The latter is completely packed with teenagers and "Seaside Oregon" type atmosphere. It was Riley Irving's recommendation; his sister Courtney liked Jervis Bay the best. Both have good taste. The beaches themselves are glorious, and we were fortunate enough to find the Esplanade Hotel, quiet, comfortable, and away from the maddening crowd. Saturday night must be cruising night for young drivers, because the sounds went on well into the wee hours.

Sunday morning we had the highway completely to ourselves. The Aussies love to party, and they obviously sleep in on Sunday mornings. Drove inland to Canberra, the capital of Australia, via the scenic Highway 52. Sad to see so many dead kangaroos along the highway; we have yet to see a live one this trip. We tried to avoid a dead wombat on the highway, but hit it with a huge thud. No car damage. They look like a huge brown pig. The poor thing was probably hit by dozens of drivers that morning.

Stopped for coffee in the historic and charming town of Braidwood. The historic buildings are evidence of a once important town, and everything is spotlessly clean. We went to the Boiled Lolly Shop. Now we know that the hard candies here in Australia are boiled, are called lollies, and the "lolly" on a stick is what we call a "lollipop". We are going to find the source of the "pop" portion of the word, unless one of you readers (Doug?) can find the history.

Canberra is a clean, modern city. It is in the ACT, the Australian Capital Territory, similar to our District of Columbia. It is in addition to the other six states of Australia. Act includes Canberra and is approximately 36 miles square. The new Parliament buildings are the result of an architectural competition which brought 329 entries. The winner has produced what to our eyes is an example of mid-fifties curves, but the overall effect was to us uninspiring and not at all what we had expected. The new national art museum is described as "controversial" in the brochures and guidebooks. That is the polite British version of the general public reaction! Canberra is the only totally planned city in Australia. The public parks, water fountains, lakes, etc. are fabulous, and the residents and tourists were making good use of the facilities early on Sunday morning. We had planned to stay overnight in Canberra but found ourselves wanting to get back to the beaches, so on we went.


Back through Cooma, the town where we had the tire repair last year after after our blowout on the Melbourne Mille. Also the town where one of the Tourist Office employees is from Anacortes. The road toward Bombala is one we were on last year, but we turned off this time to go through Bega, then south through Merimbula to the small village of Eden, where we stayed overnight on TwoFoldBay. The landscaping here is glorious. Our good weather fell victim to spring rains this afternoon, but the sun returned much quicker than it does in Seattle.

The vegetation throughout most of our drive south has been somewhat surprising. Other than the green villages along the sea, the highway has been lined with miles of eucalyptus trees, fairly brown hillsides and sparse herds of cattle. Fewer sheep than we had imagined, and almost no signs of farms and/or ranch homes. Australia is in the midst of a serious drought which is ruining their agriculture.

Monday found us out of New South Wales and into Victoria. We drove through Orbost and Bairnsdale, then "picked" our way through wonderful side roads through the green hills of Longatha and Kurumburra en route to the Mornington Peninsula. The hills here are green velvet, large herds of dairy cows, way more prosperous looking land. The highway sights are fabulous. We stay on the small "A" and "C" roads and enjoy having the roads almost to ourselves.

Sorrento and Portsea are as stylish and lush as we found them last year. Here again, the surfers have their own private paradise. The tip of the Mornington peninsula is narrow enough that Sorrento has both an ocean front and a "back beach". This is also the first site the first settlers reached Australia! The Portsea ferry across to Queenscliff leaves every hour on the hour and it is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road.

Drove right along the Ocean nearly the whole way back to Melbourne. The Nepean Highway is the way to go, especially the section from Dromana to Mornington. Breathtaking scenery and Arthur's Seat and Mt. Martha are especially charming.

Between Saturday morning and Tuesday morning, we drove 1450 kilometers, over 870 miles. Now we are at our "home" in the Sebel Suites, our favorite home away from home. Just minutes by tram from the main part of the City, we are treated sooo well by the staff. There were fresh flowers delivered just after our arrival. The food in the restaurant is diving, and the indoor swimming pool is good for laps. We had it all to ourselves yesterday. You might think we would just enjoy the surroundings and rest for a while. You might think that unless you know us well.

It is Wednesday morning and we are packing again already, because we discovered that the Ghan train to Alice Springs leaves Melbourne at 10:30 p.m. tonight. So off we are going with just a small bag. The "Golden Kanagaroo" tickets we have purchased include all meals and an observations car and a dining car and a roomette with our own shower and toilet, so we will travel in comfort to Adelaide & Alice Springs by train, then a short trip to Ayers Rock and back to Alice Springs. We will fly back to Melbourne on Monday or Tuesday so that we can pack the Austin Healey for the Winton Historic Race Weekend.

We leave on October 4 for a huge gathering of Austin Healeys. Our 100/4 is the marque car. We will be able to drive the track. We have entered the "regularity" and have been told that you practice driving the loop and guess what your time will be when you are in the competition. Those who come close to the time they turned in as their finish time will be the winners. Another learning experience.

We will be "offscreen" during our train trip but will post new material next week when we get back here to Melbourne.

Ciao.

Ed and Bev

 

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, USA
AUGUST 18, 2002



WE ARE PREPARING FOR OUR SEPTEMBER TRIP TO AUSTRALIA. WE WILL BE DOING THE MELBOURNE MILLE, A RALLY IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. WE HOPE TO LEAVE FOR AUSTRALIA ON SEPTEMBER 15, AND WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON A REGULAR BASIS.

SUMMER IN SEATTLE HAS BEEN DIVINE. SUNSHINE AND NO RAIN FOR THE PAST FIVE WEEKS. WE TOOK OUR THREE GRANDCHILDREN, KATE, TESS, AND MICHAEL (WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS) ON THE VICTORIA CLIPPER TO VICTORIA, B.C. THE EMPRESS HOTEL IS EXTREMELY CHILD-FRIENDLY. WE HAD THE TRADITIONAL HIGH TEA, SWAM IN THE POOL, "DID" THE DOUBLE=DECKER BUS TOUR OF THE CITY, THE MUSEUM WITH ITS WOOLLY MAMMOTH, THE BUTTERFLY GARDENS AND THE BUTCHART GARDENS, AND ALL THE USUAL TOURIST "MUST SEES". THEN ON TO VANCOUVER VIA THE B.C. FERRY FROM SWARZ BAY TO TSASSWEN AND THEN STRAIGHT TO THE BAYSHORE HOTEL BY STANLEY PARK. THE BIG TREAT AT THE AQUARIUM WAS A BRAND NEW BABY BELUGA WHALE!! WE CAME BACK TO SEATTLE BY TRAIN FROM VANCOUVER. THE ENTIRE TRIP WAS PERFECT, AND SO WERE THE KIDS.

IN AUSTRALIA, WE WILL BE DRIVING OUR 1954 AUSTIN HEALEY BN1 WHICH WE BOUGHT THERE LAST YEAR AND LEFT WITH A FRIEND IN MELBOURNE. WE HOPE TO FILL IN LAST YEAR'S DETAILS BEFORE WE LEAVE FOR THIS EVENT. SOMEHOW OUR "WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN' SECTION IS BEHIND A COUPLE OF EVENTS. WE DID THE MELBOURNE MILLE IN OCTOBER 2001 AND THEN WENT STRAIGHT TO ARGENTINA WHERE WE DID THE MILLAS SPORT, A ONE THOUSAND MILE EVENT JUST LIKE THE ONE IN ITALY. WE DROVE FROM BARILOCHE OVER THE ANDES TO CHILE AND BACK AND THEN SPENT SEVERAL DAYS IN BUENOS AIRES. DETAILS LATER.

WE WILL BE IN INDIAN WELLS FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF SEPTEMBER BEFORE WE GO TO AUSTRALIA. MORE LATER.

CIAO!

 

Email: beved@msn.com
8900 N. E. 13th Street, Clyde Hill, WA
425-454-2229 • 206-524-5014 (mobile)

Home | Top