WEDNESDAY the 6th March.

Morning loyal Readers!

Something strange in the air overnight! 🤔

Rain! And severe bucket-loads of it too! When it falls here, it does it big-style, and it’s the first we’ve seen (and felt) since we arrived! Mind you, the area needs it… Droughtier than Danny Drier from Droughtsville! ☔

8.15am: Our final Breakfast was disappointingly, inside, but at least we could watch the Patio steam-dry!

It’ll be sad to say goodbye to Haven, our home for the past few days and nights. David and Kerry’s hospitality has been nothing short of first-class – Oz is a big place, but I’m sure we’ll return here again in the future! 👍👍

After yesterday’s adventures to the West, we plan to do a little more sight-seeing today by firstly heading due-south to Flinders and then slowly working our way back to Melbourne Airport.

10.30am: We’re ready to see the sights, but attempting to dodge the showers (including lightning, thunder and hail.. then more rain) failed miserably as we continued our journey south in sometimes atrocious conditions! 😯

10.45am: Our first stop was the town of Flinders (named after Matthew Flinders, English cartographer and navigator who led the first circum-navigation of Australia). Specifically, we were looking for the well-known Flinders Pier. But, as you can see from the photo above, conditions weren’t ideal! 😕

11.30am: The weather was still the worst we’d experienced since we arrived, so we headed back along the route we’d come, in the direction of the coastal town of Mornington hoping to out-run the damp weather. The town is famous for its village feel and (guess what?) its beautiful beaches.

Today though, not so much! The good news was that the rain had stopped, but the bad news was that it had been replaced by very windy conditions, so we weren’t able to fully explore what they had to offer. We found a parking spot and noticed a statue in nearby Mornington Park. We couldn’t see who it was, as it was too far away, so we made a quick dash for it, to discover it was Matthew Flinders! They do like him around these parts! 😊

In between the severe gusts of wind, there was just time to snap a few shots of the view of its Beaches.

11.55am: Back in the car and the wipers were no longer needed. The rain that had given way to strong winds, had, in turn, surrendered to a little bit of sunshine. Next stop was Frankston an outer suburb of Melbourne. We didn’t know much about the place but as we drove into the outskirts, it looked like one of those towns that had seen better days. We almost drove through, but then saw a signpost for the Bayside Shopping Centre.

12.15pm: We succumbed to our weekly need of ‘retail therapy’ and headed for the shops! Let’s just say the Shopping Centre looked like it had been cared for more than the town itself – and it was busy too! We stocked up on a few bits and pieces and even stopped for Lunch, courtesy of Rozzis. It wasn’t gourmet, but it WAS tasty – and the portions were very generous!

Lunch for two including drinks came in at A$33.50/£18 – generous to a fault, that’s me! 😊

12.55pm: Suitably stuffed, we headed back to the car, where the weather had once again deteriorated. We gave up on sight-seeing and just made for the Airport. The rain returned giving the wipers an opportunity to try ‘double-speed’ on more than one occasion. ☔☔

2.15pm: After a slight mis-step locating the Hertz rental-desk (requiring some very nifty manouvering, if I say so myself!) we eventually handed over the car without any fuss. We clocked-up just over 225km with this vehicle and adding our previous hire-car’s travels meant we’d covered over 1000kms whilst we’ve been here. It’s worth mentioning that the roads out here have been mostly in excellent condition (with only the occasional pot-hole) – with their ‘C’ class roads equivalent to many of the best of our A-roads back home! 👍👍

2.30pm: We checked into the Airport Hotel – The Park Royal!

…and Room 605… with a splendid view of err, the car-park – makes a change from a beautiful beach though! 😎

Actually, it wasn’t a bad room at all!

5.00pm: OK, that’s it, we’re all prepared for our super-early start tomorrow (leaving at 5.30am!) for our flight to Jakarta.

See you there…
😊👍