Four Seasons In One Day

Monday November 26th - Sunday December 2nd

It's been a busy old week really, a lucrative one and also a potentially lethal one. If that doesn't build up suspense I don't know what will.

We started the week in Sydney, spent the middle part in Melbourne and ended up on the west coast in Perth. To be honest it's been a bit of a whirlwind tour and I think we would have liked to have spent a couple more days in Melbourne to have a good look around as it's probably been our favourite place so far in Australia.

The journey down from Sydney to Melbourne was going to be something of a road trip as we were relocating a campervan for Britz. For the princely sum of $5 a day we had a pretty much brand new van, kitted out with all your mod cons such as fridge, microwave, hob, etc and stocked with cutlery and crockery too. Wehn we saw the vans we could have had we were pretty smug about having siuch a nice shiny new one. Until that evening that is. We made good progress down the east coast and following a suggestion from Colin planned to go via the Snowy Mountains to Melbourne rather than just all the way down the coast. We parked up at a campsite at Tathra Beach and for the first time on the trip asked for a site with power. We plugged the van in and went and cooked ourselves some dinner. When we came back to the van Rach noticed some liquid on the floor and thinking it was a water bottle that had leaked happily swung the rucksacks and things out of the way to stop them getting any wetter. It was only when she felt her arm burning and I noticed that the strap on her daysack was melting that we realised it was something a little more sinister than water. Turns out it was battery acid and it was making a break for freedom all the way down the van. Looking at the battery that powers all the mod cons you could see the current arcing across the battery at which point we figured unplugging ourselves from the mains would be a good idea. Luckily the guy who ran the site was very helpful and a couple of hours later he'd taken the battery out and given us the tools to give the van a good washout so that we could sleep in it without fear of getting acid on us or fumes in us. This kind of put a dampener on the road trip and also meant we were without any power in the van once the engine was off so we decided to just push on down the coast, a pretty dull drive to be honest, and make it to Melbourne to get rid of the death trap.

On reaching Melbourne, the home of four seasons in one day (it was springlike today), we'd been expecting to have to argue to get some money back for the rucksacks that had been damaged and the trouble we'd had, but I'd already agreed a value with the guy in Sydney so hoped that had fed through. By the time we left the place we'd actually made $60 including all the petrol and of course have no intention of replacing the rucksacks so we were pretty happy with things. We head into the centre of Melbourne to go and ask the tourist info for maps and the like and are given a leaflet with things on in the week. Turns out that there's a cricket match on at the MCG, only a state one-day game but still, and if you go by public transport you get in free. Rach was also keen to see Brett Lee bowling in the flesh to appreciate how fast he really was! Holding a $3 train ticket as we were it seemed rude not to so half an hour later we're strolling into one of the best cricket grounds in the world for nothing and watching some cricket. The day was working out very well indeed. To round it off we headed back into town and went to Queen Victoria Market as it was the first night for their weekly night markets in the summer season. Spent a good couple of hours wandering around looking at all the stalls and taking in the smells from well over fifty different origins of cooking.

Our only full day in Melbourne was spent riding the free tourist shuttles to see the main sights and then taking a walk through some of the parks and gardens, of which there appeared to be hundreds of in town. They also have a very striking Shrine of Remembrance as well that you can have a look around and it puts the UK to shame in terms of what we have in comparison.


Too quickly we're checking out of our hostel in St Kilda, a vibrant beach suburb of Melbourne, and rounding off our week of financial prudence in good style. We get $20 refunded for the room keys despite the fact we hadn't paid for them when we checked in. Neither of us question this until we're well out of earshot of course.

Our final destination for the week is Perth and a 2-week stay with Rach's aunt Kay. For the first time in the trip we're met at the airport and it's great to have a friendly face waiting for you and to know that you don't need to battle with public transport with your bags. Kay's house is massive and the chances of us wanting to go back to camping after staying here are looking slim. We may have to pitch the tent in the garden to get back into the habit of it.

The week's 24/7s:

Monday: Not sure battery acid should be there

Tuesday: Don't think Britz will see us again

Wednesday: Free van, free cricket, we're loving Melbourne

Thursday: Tram, bus, tram, walk, tram, food, bed!

Friday: A fabulous base for the next fortnight

Saturday: With military precision our week is planned

Sunday: You can never take it too easy