While Not Working

 Melbourne hasn't provided as many old infrastructure thrills as did Sydney, probably because we're living just a little further from the city.  This has its benefits of course: the suburbs here are leafy and green, with gracious houses on grassy blocks and no airplanes roaring overhead.  The trains scoot along an elevated train line, the trams terrify us as per normal for people not used to sharing with trams, the traffic is generally well-mannered and considerate, and any old infrastructure is suitably out of sight/mind. Thus it was that with we were delighted to discover that the grand playground just up the road occupies the site of the old Caulfield Reservoir.  On 20th January 1883  The Leader in Melbourne reported on the plan to construct the reservoir in order to "ensure a fair average supply (of water) all the year through and obviate the state of affairs formerly existing of superabundance in winter and famine in summer months." Ah if only today's news...

Our daughter met and bonded with the small fluffy dogs (SFDs). "You've got no brains!" she cooed lovingly to SFD#1.  "Nothing but a single pebble rattling around in your skull!" SFD#1 went into paroxysms of love and adoration before racing off to run in circles and bark at the wind, thereby proving that she did, indeed, have rocks in her head.    We have not been successful in exploring the neighbourhood while walking the dogs, as the SFDs are limited to a sedate circumnavigation of the park after which they very determinedly head for home and we are forced to comply. Sans dogs, we ventured further afield to our local takeaway, and were transported into raptures of joy to find a Citreon dealer just around the corner.  The car was promptly booked for a diagnostic appointment after which we hope to have a timeline for release from the tyranny of always searching for a drive-through parking slot. Suffering from cabin fever after two days of not working but hanging ...

We are the temporary custodians of two small dogs whose owners have jaunted off to find some sunshine,  Melbourne not being  noted for an abundance of the same.  Sunshine that is, not small dogs.  I haven't ascertained the small dogs per capita ratio of Melbourne compared to anywhere else, so I can't comment on that. Pats please!   They are very nice little dogs: easy to look after, relatively well trained, and not shedding large amounts of hair.  They live in a luxurious abode with abundant space and a swimming pool, on a leafy suburban street with lot of opportunities for a reverse-challenged car to parallel park with a forward exit.  It's quite the change after our tiny flat in Sydney's inner west, even if some of us are suffering from FlightRadar withdrawal syndrome.  In short order we found ourselves driving around Melbourne city, trying to avoid the trams and hook turns of which Melbourne has more than any respectable Queenslander would cons...

We drove down the highway at 110kph and what do you know, in no time at all we were in Melbourne!  I guess that's how highways work. The weather system which had spent the past week causing all sorts of havoc throughout South Australia was due to arrive in Melbourne at the same time as us.  Thankfully, the weather system was late and we made it to our Air BnB without meeting a drop of rain. We stayed in an old dairy. Our little building was built in 1925 to cool and store the milk in the Oakleigh Dairy. The brine cooler shook when in operation and thus needed to be on a concrete floor and in a brick building, thereby providing us with somewhere to stay 100+ years later. The sloping floor was a reminder of the time when the dairy needed to be hosed out to keep it clean, and made for an interesting adjustment when sitting at the table or on the couch. Adjacent to the dairy were the old stables where the horses lived when they weren't delivering the milk and where we could ha...

Driving down the highway at 110kph does not make for an exciting day.  Yes, there are moments of excitement generated by too many trucks crammed into too little road, but those (thankfully) were few and far between and most of the time we just drove down the highway.   Being a solid 400km from the coast, we had not factored submarines into our plans. Lo and behold, a submarine!  So we stopped and took a look.  The truly entertaining story of how the HMAS Otway came to berth in Holbrook can be found here.   Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the periscope and fully explore the intricacies of the submarine museum, so Holbrook and the HMAS Otway have been placed on our ever-growing list of Things to Come Back  To. By 5pm we only had a kilometre of New South Wales left and that wasn't going to take long to cover at 110kph, so rather than carry on right into Victoria we decided to spend a night with the Knights at the Albury Manor. I met my old friend fr...

Lane Cove Caravan Park hasn't gotten any busier since we were here last, back in December.  Not we were complaining, mind, because after the little flat in Newtown it was a great pleasure to loll around in an air-conditioned cabin, looking out at the trees and doing a spot of work here and there. We had lots of visitors. The kind of visitors from whom you have to protect your breakfast. And your lunch. And your snacks. On Monday evening we went  for a walk in the National Park with our son, past the Fairyland Pleasure Ground s. Sadly,  one can no longer  test one's strength on the strength-testing machines, pay a penny  to watch a silent film, or ride the razzle-dazzle to  wherever the razzle-dazzle goes.  Bought by National Parks  in the '70s, the Pleasure Grounds have gradually reverted back to bushland with a strong complement of mosquitoes and the odd relic here and there.  An occasional reminder of the Pleasure Ground rides.   We qu...

I sat at the computer at the kitchen table, attending to the boring business of maintaining life on the road. Roger wandered out into the kitchen, fresh from his afternoon Nana nap. "How about I get you some nice things?" He said as he opened the fridge.  "I haven't gotten any nice things for you lately." Touched, I turned from my computer to see what nice things he had in store for me. He was talking to the cat. I think it's time we left this house sit.  George has become all together too attached to Roger and, deny it as he does,  I think the affection is reciprocated. We cleaned the house and did the laundry and decamped to Lane Cove National Park where I get to work while Roger comes back tomorrow, to make sure everything is shipshape and check for anything we've forgotten. That's what he tells me he's going to do anyway.  I suspect he's just coming back to bid George a fond farewell and share one more Nana nap with the cat. Off we go the...