Continued from this post.
Wednesday morning
found us up again at a good hour to drive out through the rain to Healesville
Sanctuary. Wednesday’s Melbournian
weather actually worked in our favour.
We got there just a few minutes before a guided tour of the Coranderrk
Reserve was heading out, and since it had been raining that morning, not many
people were there, so we had the tour to ourselves. Even better, the rain was just tapering off
as we arrived, so we didn’t even get that wet.
Despite this being Ruthie’s third trip to the Sanctuary, this was the
first time the tour had been offered, so we were kind of glad that Beef decided
we should do it.
We had intended to
only spend the morning in Healesville and then head out in that region to find
some hiking, but by the time we were done with everything, it was time to head
home. This decision worked out because
we ended up getting to a fabric store Ruthie had been drooling over 15 minutes
before they closed. Ruthie’s head
exploded and Beef and I giggled as she ran around like a headless chicken
trying to decide which fabric to get.
Wednesday night took
us to the Suzuki Night at the Victoria Market.
It was my first time at the Vic Market ever, even though Ruthie’s been a
couple times, and it was pretty cool. I
don’t really see the need to go multiple times, as it didn’t really seem like
there were things worth repeat visits.
Sure it’s free, and there were some good food stalls, but other than
that, the regular vendors don’t really warrant repeat visits. [I say this only to contrast the regular
morning market, where you can get grocery-type items, thus warranting routine
visits if desired.] And on the note of
food, we did end up with quite the multi-cultural tasting that evening. We started with Korean dumplings, then moved
on to souvlaki, then crepes and milkshakes for desert.
Thursday started off
with our earliest start of the week to hit the road for a two-hour drive down
to Philip Island for our second surf lesson of the
week. Yes, despite the battering we
received on Tuesday, Beef was keen for another round of surfing, so of course
Ruthie made that happen and I couldn’t miss out. So off we went. This time it went much better. On the negative side, it was pretty damned
crowded. A lot of time was spent waiting
for people to get out of your way / getting out of the way for others. However, the instructors were much more
personable and attentive, and the instruction was much better [helped me
realize I was putting the wrong foot forward on Tuesday which made a big
difference for me], and the ocean wasn’t nearly as rough. Of course it still rained on us, but no one
seemed to mind for the warmth of the wetsuits again. And by the end, Beef had managed to land
herself in a few pictures, ridden a couple waves, and even high-fived one of
the instructors as she was surfing into the shore. Simultaneously, while Ruthie and I weren’t
quite the superstars, we did finally get upright on a couple waves. So that was pretty cool.
Lunch in Cowes, the big little town on Philip
Island was pretty good, and then we made
the return drive back to Melbourne
for a mostly uneventful evening. We went
to the restaurant at the corner of the next block over – a place we’d been
looking to go but hadn’t made the effort until Beef arrived. The food was pretty decent, but I don’t know
if it was worth another visit.
Friday saw us getting
up early once again for a 9.30a showing of “The Muppets”. Ruthie had never seen a Muppets movie, which
is partly a fail on my part since I love Muppet Christmas Carol, and really
quite surprising as to how cultured she claims to be. Additionally, Beef is a huge fan of the
Muppets, claiming to be part Animal herself, so she was definitely up for a
second viewing [while the movie had been out in the US for a couple weeks, it only came
out here on Thursday]. After that, the
girls had found some random place they’d wanted to find in the CBD, and we
dodged rain drops to search for it, but failed in actually finding it. We chalked it up to the guide book that they
used being a couple years old, so perhaps said place no longer existed. So we made our way to Chinatown
for lunch and proceeded to make ourselves sick.
In the way that those Brazilian meat houses continue to bring you meat
after meat after meat until you give in, this place continued to bring us
dumplings and various things that we could barely identify [and couldn’t
understand the servers]. Before we knew
it we’d eaten too much and we all felt quite ill.
We then tried to walk
off our illness by heading to Federation
Square for the indigenous art exhibit that is
currently on display, but it helped little.
The art was good, but our stomachs were not. We then continued our walking in hopes it
would help by skipping the first leg of our public transit route home and
walking the several blocks to the transfer for our homeward bound tram.
A couple hours later,
still feeling quite bloated from lunch, we made our way to a bar of a friend’s
choice, where we introduced Beef to some more local Aussies, and proceeded to
get some drinks and a touch of food for dinner.
Despite it being
Beef’s last night in the country, I think jetlag had finally caught up to her,
and she [and Ruthie, of course] were ready to throw in the towel by 10p, so we
wrapped it up and left the local socialites to it.
Sunday morning we
slept in just enough to say we’d slept in a bit, and then scoured the apartment
for anything Beef might’ve forgotten to pack.
We headed off for some breakfast, and then off to the airport to send
her on her way.
It was quite the
whirlwind of a week. But it felt really
good to get out there and play tourist again.
Ruthie and I had slacked off a bit, so hopefully this provided the spark
we needed, and we’ll be out and about a bit more frequently over the remainder
of the summer and into the fall months.
-EP
PS. An hour after we dropped Beef at the airport,
the clouds broke, and it was a brilliantly clear 80F. The next day was just the same…
ohh. emmm. gee....
ReplyDeletei can hardly wait!!!!