It is such fun having your granddaughter as your tour leader and Georgia is so happy to see us through the crowds at Sydney Airport.  She has good sense this girl – obviously her paediatric nursing skills have qualified her to see that these two 70 something kids that have arrived on her doorstep are quite happy to go at a slower pace in Sydney.  For our first full 31 degree Sydney day she decides a trip to Centennial Park, a picnic under the trees at the iconic Bondi where half the population of Sydney are strutting the beach and there is much to see – and I mean much to see!  Let’s just say that the bathing suit manufacturers these days are economizing on fabric!  Georgia decides that we should move on to Coogee Beach, near where they live, for our swim (I wonder if it is because there will be less chance of us tripping over the beach babes at Bondi to get to the water!)  On to Coogee it is and we “slip” into our bathing suits and into the beautiful clear water not worrying a jot about what we look like because there is every age, size and shape wearing all manner of interesting itsy witsy teeny weeny bits and pieces of swimwear!  I feel the need to tell the one in charge of the B’s that bikinis are not included in the contract!  After that little excursion we go home to watch the Sydney Swans playing AFL which is a really big thing here.

Day 2 and Matt is back briefly from his golf trip to Melbourne and the two of them have planned a trip to Manly so off we head on the light rail just up the road outside Sydney Children’s Hospital where Georgia works.  Onto the Manly ferry for the lovely ride across the harbour to our lunch venue with the temperature predicted to get to 36!!!  Just a tad warm.  After a lovely lunch at a restaurant on the pier (one in charge of the B’s very ‘appy because he can sit and look at BOATS!)  we head over to view the beach which, as you can imagine on a hot day, has scarcely any room to put down a towel!  Back home to watch the Formula 1 race in Melbourne which adds much excitement to the afternoon and then the beach gear is packed up again – the boss is very lucky actually because I hung his togs over the verandah and they ended up on the roof of the entrance to the apartment building here and we needed to get a broom to retrieve them!  Heaven forbid!  We all just about flopped into the water to cool off and it was heaven – no boogie board required because just very gentle waves in the lovely clear water – oh boy did we need that!  Could someone just please turn down the temperature!  Georgia and Matt’s roast lamb went down a treat to end a perfect day.

Monday morning saw us take a walk through Centennial Park while Georgia did a run around the park and a beautiful park it is.  The boss is pretty sure there are Kauri trees here – how did that happen?  Is this another NZ thing these Aussies have stolen?  We had a lovely afternoon exploring Darling Harbour which reminds us of the Viaduct at Home.  Honestly, Mayor Brown needs to come here and try out the light rail that will solve his road cone problem! I will let him know!  Our early morning departure to the Blue Mountains started at the magnificently designed Sydney Zoo before it opened to the public and then on to Scenic World in the Blue Mountains to do the more adventurous things like the Skyway 270 meters above the valley floor and the highest cable car in Australia.  Just what two oldies need at this time of day because this adrenaline rush will wake us up big time!  This was followed by the cableway which is a large cable car carrying 84 people that descends 545 meters into the Jamison Valley with amazing views.  Following that it was a scenic walkway around temperate rainforest on a nice boardwalk at the bottom of the valley – but then of course you have to get back to the top and that involves a railway with a 52 degree incline and is the steepest passenger train in the world where you sit almost vertically, hang on till your fingers are white and almost hold your breath till you get to the top. (Then you hop out and say how wonderful it was!) Leura for lunch and then a visit to three other lookouts before being dropped at Wentworth just past Olympic Park in Sydney to get the ferry down the Parramatta River back to Circular Quay.  Whew – what a day we made it back on the light rail to Randwick just in time for Georgia to finish her shift and she and her colleagues are waving to us from the ED at SCH as we pull into the train station opposite! 

Second to last morning sees us having a late start (we need it!) and then off to do a tour of the Sydney Opera House with Georgia as the TL once again – whew – what a blessing that is!  A dinner date with Hannah is interesting as we hear all about her new job as Commercial Content Leader with the Sydney Giants AFL team based at Olympic Park.  Now I don’t need to tell you how excited a 25 year old single gorgeous lady is to be working in that environment!  No trouble getting up early to get to work on time here with that job!  So it is bye to Aussie for now and time to go home and think about our next adventure.

OMG – Adelaide is a beautiful city but right now we are in need of someone to turn down the temperature!  We are staying in the centre of the city on North Tce just across the road from the Adelaide Convention Centre.  This is a great position to get almost anywhere so the plan is to get our bearings and see as much as we can.  We start by getting our heads around the free tram which runs around the centre of the city and making our way to the Botanical Gardens which are beautiful.  Sunday morning it was an hour long cruise on the Torrens River which is literally just over the road on the “Popeye” boat including Devonshire Teas which kept the one in charge of the B’s very ‘appy!  The idea for the afternoon was a 30 minute trip on the tram to the lovely Glenelg Beach, which I can report is indeed very beautiful.  However, on a 38 degree day, even in the shade, we melted like a bar of chocolate.  I decided on a swim and Vern decided to play lifeguard and stand on the pier in case one of those things with fins should swim by.  Well, I am not entirely sure what he was looking at (but there was a lot to look at if you get my drift) and I was enjoying my swim very much indeed when suddenly an English couple started waving their arms around and calling to me to let me know a large stingray was heading my way!  Well, let’s just say that saw me in the shallows quick smart and the lifeguard didn’t even see it!  Before returning to the city we found an ice cream shop – of course we did!

Monday saw us take a trip to roll down the river on the Proud Mary so off we went with the lovely coach driver and a mixed assortment of travellers to Mammun on the Murray River which took about an hour.  It was very nice indeed gliding up and down the Murray on Proud Mary (who is in great shape considering her age).  Morning tea was served, then the boat left the pier and later a lovely lunch was served and later we disembarked into 41 degree heat to spend time in Mammun- well we found some shade and sat and drank lots of fluids!  Then it was on to a chocolate and cheese factory where the one in charge of the B’s found more BAGS but they were full of deliciousness – and calories – but who cares!  Tuesday we had a tour of the Adelaide Oval – a very busy stadium and so interesting, especially the manual scoreboard – no electronics involved!  Following that the boss suggested I go look at shops – on my own!  Heaven forbid – this is a big risk!  So I wasted no time – why would you?  Anyway, I visited Rundle Mall – well known here – a street of shops and no traffic and all was well until I took the wrong turn out of the Mall to return to the apartment.  Then Missy Google told me go left, go right, and on she went until all of a sudden it said I had 2 km to walk and had no blimmin clue how all that happened!  I found a tram coming my way – praise Joseph, Mary, the donkeys, camels and all and in no time I was back and even had dinner in the bag!  My travelling companion did not even notice how long I was gone OR read the texts saying I had a fairly long way to walk to get home!  I could have visited twice as many shops – darn it!

We had a hard day in the Barossa Valley but someone’s got to do it.  After leaving Adelaide we traveled past harvested canola and wheat fields, olive and almond trees and large strawberry farms.  We passed a number of new housing areas and cannot believe how the houses are framed in rows – it looks like you could shake your neighbour’s hand from the shower!  First stop was a Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop which did not disappoint.  Then it was on to Tanunda Chateau to have our first tasting – now the boss cannot taste but I can and you cannot let people down can you – especially at around 11 am!!  I really liked the sparkling Shiraz – very nice indeed.  Chardonnay not so nice.  There is more Shiraz produced than other varieties in this area and there are over 100 vineyards.  Then it was on to Kies Family vineyard for a nice lunch and more tastings.  We then travelled for about an hour through a very large area that went on for several miles and was the scene of the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 which were devastating and, after all this time, you can still see the remnants of dead trees.  These huge eucalyptus trees are everywhere and the oil fuels the fires with terrible consequences.  There are also constant reports of huge limbs falling off these trees in these dry conditions.  We also pass many huge apple orchards – these ones for cider and huge acreages covered in nets.

Our final stop is at the German village of Hahndorf which reminds us of Arrowtown with its beautiful trees and little, very old and gorgeous buildings and, in these very hot conditions, the leaves are already changing into their golden autumn colour.  We found an ice cream shop – boss very ‘appy!

We had been told that the Adelaide Central Market was the place to visit to purchase food more cheaply than the supermarkets but honestly that was not our experience.  Beautiful fruit and vegetables on display, meat, fish and seafood, bulk foods all sold from permanent stalls within the market.  Prices were potatoes $10 kg, tomatoes $11 kg, cauli $7, bananas $6 kg, apples $6-7 kg, lamb $36 kg, sausages $25 kg.  We have found that dairy products and meat seem on a par with home.  There is a great assortment of apples just now but as it is the start of the season they are still quite expensive.  Petrol here in Adelaide $2.80 litre – Melbourne was $1.80.

Adelaide is a simply beautiful city – if you think of it like a poached egg with the city centre being the yolk and the parks around it being the white – this is how the city was designed with four main streets running in very straight lines – North, South, East and West Terraces.  The basis of the planning was to design the safest city in Australia centering on schools, parklands and churches.

We depart Adelaide having spent an enjoyable week here and move onto the last stop for this holiday to Sydney to spend time with Georgia, Matt and Hannah.

We said farewell to the beautiful city of Melbourne with its population of approximately 5.3 million, lots of green spaces, gardens, art, a great public transport system with free trams and trains within inner city boundaries – and heavy fines for speeding and being on your phone while driving (and cameras to catch you).  Although there is a great transport system there is still crawling traffic all day to get around the city and outer suburbs. Sadly, the daily news bulletins are full of the bad news – crime seems to have ramped up here, graffiti is prevalent even on lovely buildings and walls and, as in every city in the world, the homeless are evident.

We had an early departure at 8 am on the Overland train to travel the 820 km to Adelaide.  After settling into very comfortable seats we were served a lovely breakfast to start the day.  The train rolled on past flat, dry pastures towards Wirrebee and Geelong.  Green paddocks are a rare sight and the gum trees dominate the land which is sparsely populated with farm animals – a few sheep and beef to be seen but on this hot 34 degree day maybe some are resting in the shade – of which there seems to be very little!

There are tiny settlements, immense fields of recently harvested grain – barley, wheat, alfalfa, apples, pears, stone fruit, citrus and almonds with wheat and barley being the mainstay crops.  As we roll on we see working  farm tractors throwing up clouds of dust and the sheep are an earthy colour and blend into this parched land.  We see dust whirlwinds dancing across the fields, (smaller than the ones we saw in Arizona), and the odd kangaroo.  Some large shallow lakes have completely dried up and for some reason, the train is sometimes on a lean as we travel on past Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, Dimboola, Nhill and Bordertown where the time goes back by 30 minutes as we make our way further west and through into South Australia.  

This land is vast – we have travelled approximately 600 km of utterly flat plains as far as the eye can see.  It makes our NZ seem so small but gives us an appreciation of our beautiful landscape at home.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, we pass a group of camels – can you belieeeeve it?  Then some dry salt flats, wind and solar farms and, from about Murray Bridge onwards, the landscape gets greener with some vineyards and green trees.  We roll into Adelaide after 11 hours of comfortable, enjoyable and interesting travel being fed along the way on this Overland train and step off the train into 34 degree heat to begin to explore Adelaide.

The one in charge of the B’s is doing a stellar job trundling along in this extreme heat.  The one in charge of the P’s has lost her Tour Leader and it is highly likely she will lose her mind in the predicted almost 40 degree heat! I now have to get my act together if it is at all possible and sort out the paperwork to become the tour leader before the tour companion lays a complaint!  I have planned the days in Adelaide but already some of the plan has gone out the window because we are doing some edits to take into account these hot days.  I am at risk of getting a bad review but I know that if I can find an ice cream shop to get him a treat all will be well!

The week in Melbourne was very successful, especially since we had a tour leader in Nicola who planned each day with precision so much so that she could probably get a job as Formula 1 boss!  We got into the nice new car, onto the correct trams and the correct trains all the while following her like two disciplined pets that were being taken on a walk – and walk we did!  The walks took us to interesting places like the National Gallery of Victoria where we upskilled on aboriginal art, a Japanese art exhibition and the magnificent works of Monet, Cezanne, Gainsborough, Picasso – honestly worth spending time there.  We walked down South Bank admiring the boats on the Yarra River and crossed the river to visit Federation Square and Hosier Lane which is home to the street artists who have a space to paint – in fact they can come along and paint over the top of another artist’s work so it changes daily – interesting.  We also went to see a Street Art Exhibition which demonstrated the amazing talent that many of these street artists possess.

The tour guide suggested I sit in an odd looking chair on the sidewalk in this busy area – I did – ended up making an exhibition of myself as the chair spun around according to your movement so legs in the air and head in a spin I spun – and spun – and spun!  The thing about that is that when you have finished spinning your head hasn’t finished spinning so you have to try and concentrate and act like you do this kind of thing every day, bring yourself to an upright position and wander nonchalantly off (while anyone watching is probably thinking that this old girl has completely lost her mind).

Nicola had booked for us all to go to see Tina – wonderful musical about the life of Tina Turner.  Now I had admired Tina and her singing “Simply the Best” which I have played a thousand times and it gets you dancing every time and this was no exception.  The show ended with that song and the entire audience were on their feet – and clapping and dancing and I worried momentarily that the floor above us would come down and join us such were the vibrations of a full house enjoying the show at that very old Princes Theatre.

Nicola celebrated her birthday with us here and was TL for the day – they say the apples don’t fall far from the tree and I can see that my many years of being TL are now maybe over – at least in Melbourne – because we are just happy following the orders for the day which took us to an MCG Tour and Museum visit with a fabulous guide and just the three of us.  We could just picture dear “Warnie” out on that pitch getting a hat trick and seeing behind the scenes including a 10-minute hologram presentation by Shane Warne made for a very enjoyable three hours.  Our weary legs then took us to Docklands to see where Brendan and Victoria spent six months while he was doing his Fellowship here in Melbourne 18 years ago and then to dinner at the local pub in Brighton to celebrate Nicci’s birthday.  Magical day indeed – and – I just need to say to those who have followed us for years – the bathroom!  Well, the thing is that the bathroom in this apartment is very nice indeed but I did not not notice that it had a dinner plate showerhead and three taps and, although not nearly as complicated or severe a reaction as Europe, I did manage to turn the wrong tap and got hit in the face with cold water which brought me to my senses big time, swung me around at a rate of knots which caused me to bang my head at the other end of the shower so then the back got a blast of cold water! 

We took a drive with our TL to the Mornington Peninsula.  Our 80 km journey took us past dry farm pastures on a 30 degree day out to the lovely Portsea where we enjoyed lunch looking over the bay with the busy car ferries going back and forth constantly. Made our way back to Aidan and Jenny’s with pancakes for afternoon tea on Shrove Tuesday.   We then spent a day at Williamstown with four of us looking after our little 9 month old great niece – four of us trying to offer her all kinds of different food and haggling over who was going to take charge of the push chair at the park – Vern won!

Our final day in Melbourne was interesting.  Jenny had won a “book a bathing hut” in a raffle and so she diligently packed up a lovely morning tea of hot cross buns, thermos flask etc etc for our visit on a windy morning to the said beach hut at Brighton.  Now, if you know Brighton beach you will know that this line of about 90 little colorful beach huts is a tourist attraction and they are almost always closed – you seldom see one that is occupied.  We arrived with all the gear for our morning stay in this little hut but dear Jenny had forgotten the key so the boys took the gear to the hut and we waited for the key to arrive.  We opened the hut, set out the chairs, the buns, the flasks, etc etc but we had forgotten the mugs!  Not to worry – there was bound to be mugs hiding somewhere in this tiny hut but NO – wine glasses to satisfy an army of friends but no mugs.  Having said that, there is no power in these little huts.  Not to worry – Kiwis make do with what there is so I found three acrylic glasses – Jenny was not ‘appy – worried they might melt for goodness sakes!  After much hilarity the tea and coffee was poured and we sat ourselves down to enjoy being in this little hut on a windy day.  All was fine for about five minutes until the Chinese tour bus arrived – now we were the main tourist attraction with faces at the door constantly, some wanting to engage, all wanting to take photos and at one point we vacated the hut so that two ladies from Singapore could have their photo taken in it!  Heaven forbid – this carry on went on for the entire time we were there.  We decided to stay and order fish and chips from the cafe along the beach for lunch so we did and we then wondered if we were going to be visited by the mass of seagulls down in front.  It was a fun day I can tell you and we finished our lovely visit to Melbourne with a very nice dinner at an Italian restaurant where we toasted family and the end of our visit.