March 16 was a day in Port Fairy to scrub and re-pack our gear for our
trip to New Zealand, especially to remove the tree sap off our tent
ground sheet. We've heard stories of items confiscated due to foreign
soil being in shoe sole crevices and on tent pegs and we don't wish to
loose any gear due to carelessness.
At the Port Fairy Op Shop, we donated some bulky items (camp chairs, folding table, wind shield reflector) and a box of small items: camp stove fuel, cheese grater, rubber spatula, wooden spatula, pancake spatula (clearly we were spatula heavy), 2 plates, 2 bowls (we had four and only ever used two), 2 knives, whisk broom, paper towel, and our super useful Camp '09 guidebook.
The more vocal of the two cheery elder volunteers at the Op Shop asked,
"Did the whole block?" and then laughed when we described our clockwise, then
return route, and said "Australians know to go the other way around,
its longer by 5k to go that <clockwise> way." In general about
camping, she commented, "whatever blows your skirt up!"
We joined the pelagic group for a pre-tour dinner and had a super time!
We met lovely people, who might visit Canada in the near future, so we
exchanged emails. We've heard quite a few times in the past two months
from Aussie folks who have done a combo "Rocky Mountaineer" and "Inside
Passage cruise" tour in BC. They say this combo is promoted by their
tour agents. A few at the tables had done this combo and others had it
on their bucket list.
March 17 we were up at 5:30am as Bob needed to be dropped off at the
wharf by 6:45am for his "curious pelagic tour."
Yolanda packed the gear
into the car and then found a beach-side park to sit and weave in a
gentle sea breeze. Things are going well with her "interface" project!
Bob had a great day and saw many new-to-Bob species.
After the 3.5hr drive from Port Fairy to Melbourne, including past burn
sites and smoke on the horizon, we landed in our Middlepark hotel
neighbourhood on the final party night of the Australian Grand Prix. Our
hotel on the edge of the circuit was a-hoppin' and we found parking a
few blocks away.
We couldn't get settled for dinner at the hotel, so we
walked on the street nearby and found a good spot. After dinner we were
able to move the car closer to the hotel and unpack.
Our one day to transition to NZ from AU included a big beach walk after dropping our
Europcar, doing laundry, BLogging,
iNaturalist posting (Bob) and weaving (Yolanda). We've seen 21,457Kms of Australia and are looking forward to seeing some parts of New Zealand.
With Springtime about to arrive in the northern hemisphere, we've
noticed that Easter is approaching in the Melbourne shops, so chocolate
rabbits abound, highlighting some local systems. In the areas local to
Melbourne, the deciduous trees are turning colour and corn and apples
are on the harvest stands. We went through a town yesterday that had a
panel up promoting their up-coming pumpkin festival. We expect to see
more signs of the autumnal equinox in New Zealand.
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