Come On England !

Its been a difficult past few weeks here as we have had to endure endless ridicule over the performance of the English cricket team. Despite being Australian residents we are still English and will be cheering them on to prevent a 5-0 whitewash.

Coming to a TV screen near you soon. Watch the Boxing Day test from the MCG on 26/28/29 December and you may see us and our banner on TV. However the weather forecast is not too good and you may have problems spotting us behind the sleat and snow. (70% chance of rain and snow in higher regions - this is the Australian summer! - Merry Christmas)

Isn't it odd supporting a football team older than most of Australia.



Shane Warne has today announced his retirement and we are preparing for the Melbourne test along with 90,000 others. Well not physically preparing with 90,000 others as we wouldn't fit them all in the caravan.

David has taken up a new hobby painting despite achieving 20% in art exams at school. But then again, he did use a stencil !!

Seymour 21/12

It was 36 degrees today so as we usually do on the hottest days we go cycling. We took advantage of being close to the Goulburn River nature trail. It promised us viewings of bushtail possums, koalas and platypus.



It was tranquil as we passed through bushland, vinyards and over bridges.



However as usual we failed to spot any wildlife apart from the metal Koala and Cockatoo. We now think its a deliberate ploy to get you to visit the nature reserves. We do see wildlife around but never where they are supposed to be.

Bendigo 20/12

Bendigo, dates back to the 1850's when gold was discovered in Victoria. You can see where they spent the money as unusually for Australia the buildings look traditional and made of stone. The place has a mediterranean feel as well as climate. We couldn't decide whether we were in France, Italy or London (on a sunny day). We had to walk through temperatures in the mid 30's.



This is Pall Mall one of Australia's most impressive boulevards and full of buildings from the Victorian era.



The building of the Sacred Heart Cathedral started in the late 19th century and was only completed in 2001 with the installation of the bells.



This is Jayne in Paris. Actually its a Poppethead (Gold Mine Tower) in Bendigo.

Ned Kelly Trail 19/12

Another smokey day as we drove inland nearer to the bush fires than before. We were following the Ned Kelly trail, however some of the locations were near the fire zone so we had to give them a miss.

After driving through Euroa and Benalla we arrived at Beechworth, Australia's best preserved gold town and where Ned Kelly was charged with murder.



We were thankful we didn't break down here as the recovery vehicles looked in much need of repair.



We found a historic gold dredge in the middle of the countryside. Unfortunately there were no gold nuggets lying around.



Next, to Glenrowan. Scene of Ned Kelly's last stand where he wore the armour he is well known for. He held local town folk hostage in the hotel before a shoot out with police. He sustained 28 gun shot wounds before being taken to Melbourne to be put on trial and subsequently hanged.




Giant Ned Kelly, another "big thing"



Statues mark the spots where the shootout took place.



We then visited the weirdest theatrette containing mannequins with human faces projected onto them so they looked alive. The whole experience was very strange and designed to terrify the life out of children. As we left the owner explained to us with great enthusiasm that he was planning more ways to scare his future customers.

Entertain Me ! 17/12 to 18/12

Wow! Kylie can sing. When in Rome, sorry Melbourne, you have to see the local icons and as Kylie was playing on her own turf we had no other choice but to go. She performed for about 2hrs 20mins and we had a chance to relive our youth.



Kylie was joined on stage by her sister Dannii who sang Robbie's part in the song Kids.The audiences' reception to her was outstanding. Everyone seemed pleased to see her in such good health after her illness. We both enjoyed ourselves a lot more than anticipated. Great Show!




The next evening we checked out another local icon, but more local to us when in England, someone who used to be in some boy band called Take That. No, its not Gary Barlow but Robbie.



He's as cocky as ever and gloats in the adoration but it was well deserved after a two hour show featuring all the hits and his best mates Jonny Wilkes singing and Max Beesley on drums. Special mention to the support, an Australian band called Sneaky Sound System who were very good and worth checking out



Robbie really knows how to work the audience to his best advantage including putting on his sad and forlorn faces for effect.




Robbie with the Australian flag draped around his neck. It was the penultimate night of his eight month tour. Again another show worth seeing or DVD worth buying.

Melbourne 1st Visit 14/12 to 18/12

Melbourne, 2nd largest city in Australia. Our first trip to the city (we return for Christmas and New Year). A lovely city and very sunny, but unfortunately not all year round. Also well known for the potential to have 4 seasons in one day.



The River Yarra runs through the centre and is flanked by lots of bars and restaurants.



We enjoyed relaxing by the river with a nice picnic and liquid refreshments.






We decided to see what it was like to travel to Australia as an immigrant in the past by visiting the Immigration Museum. Here David is sampling 150 year old food aboard a convict ship whilst Jayne took the more luxurious option in the 1950's as a £10 pom.






Melbourne's former docklands have been regenerated to incorporate entertainment and leisure facilities and apartments. Some of the artwork reminds us of Barcelona.

Phillip Island cont 12/12 to 13/12

We visited the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island. This involved sitting outside waiting for the sunset in freezing cold conditions (woolly hat and scarf recommended). At 9pm the penguins started to leave the sea and cross the beach to their nests. You needed good eyesight to see this part. Later we could see them from the boardwalks up close, although we must have appeared frightening to the little birds who were only about 20cm tall.



The following day we saw some penguins up close in their nests with their chicks, waiting for their partner to return with some food.



This is an enormous stingray in the harbour at San Remo. It was about 4ft wide. These are normally safe creatures but it was a Stingray's tail barb that killed Steve Irwin.





Everyday at 11.30am the Pelicans arrive at San Remo for their daily feed from the local fishery.



This is Churchill Island, a working heritage farm where Victoria's first crops were planted.





Next we went to the Nobbies which was populated largely by nesting seagulls and a few penguins.



On the island in the far distance you could see with binoculars thousands of seals.

Phillip Island 12/12

Just how cute can you get ?

We made a two day stop at Phillip Island which is famous for its wildlife. We made a visit to the Koala Conservation Centre and managed to get up close to the Koalas from the boardwalks.



Koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day but we were fortunate enough to see a baby awake and moving around.



Phillip Island was the worst place so far that we have encountered flies. We constantly had to use the aussie wave.



Phillip Island has lots of places named after British seaside resorts like Cowes, Rhyll, Ventnor, and Newhaven. This is Cowes.



As well as the indigenous animals there are more familiar wildlife around.

Wilson's Promontory 10/12

Our next stop was in Leongatha. From there we drove to Wilson's Promontory which is the southern most tip of Australia. The smoke from the bush fires made it hard to see all the scenery and probably scared away all the wildlife that supposedly lives there. Temperatures hit 40 degrees over this weekend.





Australia is well catered for public conveniences even in the national parks.



A bush fire had occured here a few years before.