Sunday, 27 February
First of all sorry for not updating the blog for so long. Now we are safe and sound in Melbourne with Rod and Suzanne, our time is spent differently and being in a home with friends rather than touring and in hotels and B&Bs, much more of our time is being spent chatting and doing more everyday things. Having said that we are being really spoilt and it feels more like a hotel!
Going back to Sunday, we had a very early start and left the ChCh hotel at 4am! Despite being back near the earthquake we had a remarkably surreal evening with a nice dinner in the elegant hotel restaurant and, surprisingly, we both slept very well. We were relieved to have a ground floor room but on the other hand, the huge tree just outside our window was a worry! Things we wouldn't normally even think about!
When we arrived in Melbourne the sky was very grey and it was pouring with rain – Steve said it was like Manchester with the heating turned on! Passport control was a nightmare and we must have queued for almost an hour. I am not sure if we have mentioned my stick before in the blog but way back in the early stages of our holiday we were walking on the beach on the Coromandel peninsular one evening and Steve picked up a big stick to write something in the sand. I took a liking to this stick and have kept it ever since. It had to be checked in with the large luggage on the Interislander ferry between the North and the South Islands and was the first item to come through the carousel on the other side. And surprisingly it is now in Australia, this time coming through with the large items, pushchairs, golf bags, etc. and then being closely examined by customs!
Rod picked us up at the airport and after the early start we had a quiet morning sitting around chatting. Then later when the rain stopped, Rod and Suzanne took us out by car to a National Trust type property nearby called Como House. It is an elegant colonial style Victorian mansion originally built in 80 acres fronting the River Yarra.
After that they drove us around to point out some of the highlights in Melbourne city centre and we stopped off to look round Cook's Cottage, which was reconstructed here in a city park after being brought over brick by brick, each numbered, from Yorkshire.
Suzanne and Rod's home is absolutely charming. It is in a leafy suburb of typically older properties, mostly Edwardian. Here it is called a cottage but it is quite different to a typical cottage in the UK. It is single storey and is made of cream painted featherboard with dark green contrast window frames, beautiful stained glass windows and lots of wooden fretwork inside and out. It has covered verandahs and a beautiful restful, green lush garden (it has been a very wet summer in Melbourne). Other houses in their street and the surrounding area have iron lacework which was very popular here in Edwardian times.
Monday, 28 February
Suzanne was at work so Rod took us into the city centre on the tram which runs close to their house. We started off at the Arts Centre and had a look inside the theatre. Then we went into the main shopping area and walked through two Victorian shopping arcades similar in style to the Burlington Arcade in London. In one of the arcades we stopped for lunch in Hopetoun Tearooms, a Melbourne institution established in 1892. It was well worth the wait and the cakes were to die for! Even Steve was able to have a dairy free cake the chef made up specially for him!
After that Steve and I went on the circular tram to get more of a feel for the city. Then the plan was to go to the Ian Potter Gallery of Australian Art but unfortunately it is closed on Mondays so we are going back to that another day. After a bit of a wander round, we came home by train but by this time it was rush hour and very busy - reminiscent of being in London! After enjoying three very laid back weeks in NZ, being back in a busy city with everyone rushing round has come as a bit of a shock!
Tuesday, 1 March
Today, Rod drove Steve and I out to Somerville on the Mornington Peninsular so that we could spend the day with my cousin Des and his wife Brenda. They moved to Australia with their two eldest children from England in 1964 on an assisted passage (£10 poms!). Des and Brenda drove us out to Arthur's Seat (named after the hill in Edinburgh) where there are wonderful views of Philip Bay. After lunch in Rosebud we went to Mornington and Frankston both on the Bay and very different to what I had expected of the Melbourne beach scene. No bronzed surfers and lifeguards, no skateboarders but instead there were beach huts and pretty beaches!
Later back at their home, most of their family came round to see us. It was a very special time for Jane meeting Des and Brenda's grandchildren for the first time and meeting up with her second cousins again. The last time she saw Ross, who is the same age as Clare, he was only 10 and now he has 4 children! We had a lot of fun taking a photo of us all together – fortunately we had Debbie, who is a teacher, to organise us!
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