DAILY UPDATE #14 – AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 2018
Back in the Car
Friday’s Post was posted early as we headed to an Aussie Rules Football match. Today we left Melbourne to start making the trek back to Sydney. We’ve split the drive over two days to not repeat the marathon day of driving we did last week.
Goodbye Melbourne
I was truly sad checking out of the hotel and retrieving the rental car this morning. The room we had was massive and gave us plenty of space to spread all our luggage out. We did it so well that upon returning from the AFL game Amber joked “it looks like our luggage threw up.” More on the hotel when we get to the full length post and review.
Aussie Rules Football
The game last night was Carlton versus Western Bulldogs. As a few fans informed us it was the battle for the basement as both have had horrid starts to their respective seasons.
We were seated among Carlton fans and before the first quarter was over, the fans were vocal enough for us to understand that both teams were not playing a high caliber game, and Carlton was certainly not playing well. Carlton ultimately lost setting a new record in the process — the first time since 1898 (if my memory from this morning Newspaper was correct) they started the season 0-6.
Drive
Our drive today took us east to Eden. Seriously. There is a town in Australia called Eden. On our route we passed by Packenham and stopped to visit “I’m Rick James Bricks” store. Among the extensive Lego sets available for sale there are individual bricks, minifigures, and accessories available for purchase. We talked with the owners about our trip, and of course Lego. With a few unique purchases we continued on our way, and they were generous enough to give us his Rick James Brick mini-figure.
What do we do over the course of driving, around 7 hours and approximately 560 km? Amber will read provided the roads aren’t too twisty (this is directed at the A3 between St. Mary’s & Launceston!), as well she’ll be the DJ, sightseeing and near twilight and as night falls — wildlife spotter. Hopefully this will be the last time we drive at night, on purpose, in Australia. This evening’s drive had us each spot one kangaroo during twilight and the relatively short portion of our drive at night. I’m making sure we aren’t stuck in the dark tomorrow night! I’ll update this page with pictures tomorrow provided the connection works well.