18/02/22 Melbourne is a Very Exciting Place.

 We rode our bikes some more. 

We found Albert Park and cycled around the lake.  It was pretty.

Much to our delight, we discovered that Albert Park hosts the Formula One track, the surface of which sent Roger into raptures of asphalt-induced delight.

And on the way home we pedaled past the best house in Melbourne.

I rode my bike to Mordialloc for coffee and lots of chat with an old friend.  On the way back I played dodgems with the waves crashing up onto the path.  I had fun.

In between bicycle sojourns we had some quality Daughter time, and learnt how to be rabbit parents.  Don't tell anyone I told you this, but rabbits aren't the most exciting of pets.  Sure, they're cute and have twitchy little noses and when I carry food they can be very affectionate.  They lollop around the floor when let out of their cage and because they are so quiet you don't know that they are right underfoot. Let me tell you, I'm just glad that we still have two healthy rabbits whose shiny coats are unmarred by footprints.

We only have to avoid standing on them for two more days.  After that they are no longer our responsibility.

All this bike riding and not-stepping-on-rabbits was very nice, but my greatest adventure was had at Chadstone Shopping Centre, which Wikipedia informs me is the largest shopping centre in Australia and likely the second-largest in the southern hemisphere.  Which means it's much bigger than the Woolworths mall in Roma where I've bought my lettuce and biscuits for the past 5 years.

Recreational shopping not being high on my list of priorities I went to Chadstone for function alone, and went in the evening in the expectation that it would not be crowded.  All went well: I rode my bicycle to Chadstone, locked my bicycle up, and wandered inside to Big Shop to collect the Stuff that I had ordered.  

Then I got lost.

It all looks the same to me.

I wandered up corridor and down mall, seeking a way out or at the least a safe haven for the night.  I contemplated raiding Bakery Store for sustenance before breaking into Bigger Store and settling down in the manchester and bedding section for the night.  I wondered when Roger would miss me, how long he would wait before reporting me as a missing person and triggering the SES to search every Chadstone nook and cranny until they found me all feral and living off wild cinnamon donuts behind Pink Donut Store.

Just as I began to despair I had a brainwave and looked at my cycle tracking app, which I had neglected to pause when I entered Chadstone.  Glory be, I still had GPS signal and my wild wanderings were recorded in red scribble on my app.  Without a breadcrumb in sight, all I had to do was backtrack along the little red line and oh hallelujah! out I popped into the fresh air and there was my bicycle still chained to the bike racks.

Shuddering at the close call, I pedaled home as fast as I could.

Melbourne is a very exciting place.