Day 2, Friday 27/12/2013, Wodongah to "Spirit of Tasmania" Melbourne.

A 4hr drive to Melbourne.

Williams and Parkes left their cars at the docks and trammed into Melbourne, while Morgan’s parked at St Kilda and hung around the park and pier.

Had lunch on the river, cranskys, then the boys and girls split to shop and tour. We loved the cute little alleys with cafés, boutique shops and art. Every alley, street and building reminded me of a movie set.

It was a slow line-up drive onto the ship, starting at 6:15pm and finally aboard at 8pm. Leah and Gary showered the girls first, then met us upstairs. Out on deck to farewell Melbourne under a beautiful sunset, then in for a buffet dinner.

A bit of exploring of the ship, then back to the cabin to shower and write in this diary that I bought in Melbourne today.

Tasmania here we come. 5am start tomorrow to get ready to drive off at 6am, but I’m not at all tired. Time to read some more ‘Game of Thrones’ to the rocking of the ship and the sounds of Jack’s sudoku writing and Col’s snore.

Day 1, Thursday 26/12/13 “Boxing Day”, Valentine to Wodonga.

Tasmania

December 2013 to January 2014

Parkes Family: Col 48, Cheryl 43, Jordan 17, Jack 16

Williams Family: Bruce 44, Fiona 42, Jessica 17

Morgan Family: Gary 43, Leah 42, Eliza 9, Amara 6

It was an early start, leaving Belmont Shell Station by 7am after topping up with diesel. Col and I in the Defender, Bruce and Fiona in the ‘People Mover, Casper’ and the teenagers (Jordan, Jack and Jess) on their first road trip together in Jordan’s ‘P’ plater Rocky. Morgans will catch up with us later in the day as they can travel at 110km/hr. I’m so lucky that Col likes to drive all day and I manage to get plenty of naps.

Yass is where Morgans caught us. It was a quick lunch at Yass Subway. If only we knew to take our lunch 1/2km further, we could have had it in the park by a lovely river. Just a bit further on and we were waving to Hassells as they were heading north, back from Hay.

In the time it took us to get to Albury, Morgans were able to visit the ‘Dog on the Tuckerbox’ as well. They had cancelled their plan to go to Ballerat at the last minute and had booked in to Albury, while Fiona had Williams and Parkes already booked into a roadhouse at Wodonga.

There was a lovely park with a great playground, bridge, rotunda, and ponds with ducks and swans. Great for ridding ourselves of the cobwebs and stiffness of 9hrs travel.

The kids swam in the pool while Fiona broke out the nibblies and wine.

Leah, Gary, Eliza and Amara joined us for pizza. They are having trouble with their fridge power connection. It was too small. Col has plenty of parts and even a soldering iron, but ended up just having to bend the prongs out.

Time for a well earned sleep!