Our Month in Australia – Part 3

The Car

As there are six of us, we wouldn’t have been able to get around without us having our rental car. We’ve now gone to several places and have taken two cars. I honestly don’t know how we would have done anything without a 2nd car. In an ideal situation, we would have rented a seven-passenger car so we could have always gone together in one car, but this would have been too large of a vehicle for our needs. I’ve found that it has taken hardly any time for me to get used to driving on the left side of the road and also driving on the right side of the car. The biggest adjustment has been that the turn signal and wipers are on the opposite sides, but overall, the Kia Sportage we’ve rented is easy to drive and park and has been getting great gas mileage.

One of the reasons for choosing this car is that it has Apple CarPlay, which is a mandatory requirement for me. Having Apple CarPlay makes it extremely easy to use navigation in a familiar, standard way I’ve used in many other cars. When driving in unfamiliar surroundings, as happens when you’re travelling, the fewer differences when driving around, the better.

Road Trip

In addition to seeing the local sights and doing some shopping, yesterday we did our first road trip, driving about 90 Km to the town of Echuca by the Murray River, where we boarded a paddlewheel boat for a short cruise on the river. The highway getting to Echuca was mostly long stretches of straight road, often with big trucks coming on the opposite lane, so paying attention to driving was a must for me. It was well-known long ago when planning this choice of trip that I was going to be the only driver, which is far from ideal as having a second driver is always preferred, but it seemed to be the only choice as no one else wanted to drive on the left in Australia.

Feeling Welcome

On the short cruise, we found that, generally, Australians are very friendly, and when they hear our “foreign accent,” they accurately determined us to be Canadian and engage in friendly discussion. Universally, when we tell people we’ve met in other countries that we’re from Vancouver, we’re told that they’ve already been to Vancouver in the past or have always wanted to travel there. Meeting and talking to Australians, we have always felt very welcomed, and as we pass the 1-week mark since we left home, it’s been a great start to our Month in Australia.

Moving On

After arriving in Australia, we stayed with my cousin in Bendigo for six days, and the day after that, it was time for us to move on to our next destination, which would bring us much closer to Melbourne.

The 185 Km we drove to get to Warrenwood, a Melbourne suburb, would be the 2nd longest drive while we were here in Australia, and we took our time and arrived at another one of my cousin’s place after about 2.5 hours on the road. I’m finding driving in Australia to be easier and easier, and it’s interesting how quickly your brain can adapt to driving in a completely different way.

Family Part 2

I’d mentioned before that this trip to Australia was heavily weighted to seeing and visiting family. One of these many opportunities after we arrived in Warrenwood was that we were able to spend some time with my elderly aunt, my Dad’s remaining sister.

We stayed with my cousin and his wife for the next three days, and during that time, we went to a number of wineries in the Yarrow Valley, but more importantly, we got to establish a deeper connection with a cousin and get to know him and his wife a lot better. So far, our 10 days in Australia have been spent all with family, and as we left Warrenwood, we were back in our car and would be moving on to the next phase of our trip.

Melbourne

It was pouring rain. It only took about 40 minutes to drive into Melbourne and we were taking our time as it was the first time I was driving in the rain, also traffic became heavier and heavier as we approached the city centre. We spent a considerable amount of time figuring out where the rental car was to be dropped off as it was at the parking garage under the main train station, and it all went like clockwork. It was still raining pretty hard, and we tried to find a taxi along the street but ended up getting an Uber and finally checked into our room in our hotel. For the next 5 days we were going to be by ourselves, a big contrast to staying with family since we arrived in Australia.

The City is Closed

We had the preexisting notion that once we were in the big city, everything would be open every day, at all hours of the day. We couldn’t have been more wrong. We arrived in Melbourne yesterday, on a Sunday, and after going out for dinner, in the still pouring rain, we found that many restaurants were closed for Sunday, something we’ve rarely seen in a city the size of Melbourne. Worse, it’s now Monday, and there are still lots of places that are still closed. We deliberately chose a hotel right next to the Queen Victoria Market, and so far, we haven’t seen any of it. We’re hoping that by tomorrow, more of the city will be open.

The City by Night

Last night, Barb and I wanted to explore some of the city after dark and took an Uber to the Docklands area. We took some night photographs and walked through the area where all of the Formula 1 booths were selling all kinds of merchandise for the different Formula 1 teams. The Australian Grand Prix took place this weekend, and we saw lots of people walking around wearing all kinds of race team jackets and shirts.

We’re now 12 days into our Month in Australia. I’ve posted lots of photos on my photo website and will check in again sometime next week.

Baden