We found Hertz and quickly realised that we had left the credit card at the hotel with the receptionist this was because Helen does not know the pin number of that card and the woman on reception had to try and bypass the system to get Helen to sign instead. Chip and Pin is not standard in Australia yet!! The hotel personally brought the card to us at Hertz.
Finally we got the car which was a Toyota Camry – it was red so Helen was happy – it was also brand new (7 kms on clock!) and was automatic with cruise control so Tina was double happy.
The drive out of Melbourne was fun we went down densely populated streets that reminded us of home – lots of fast food and take away shops with supermarkets interspersed. The people we saw were very mixed culturally which was different to Melbourne city
The country side was very different to the trip from Cairns, there we saw lots of sugar cane and banana trees. The trip down the Hulme Highway to Wagga Wagga was full of green fields, sheep and cows. Helen kept herself happy with the map reading and noticing how many different named creeks with the word mile in it.
After 2 stops one for KFC and one for a little sleep., we arrived at Wagga Wagga.
We were so excited to see Amanda, Sam, Caelan and Hope as we had not seen them since May 2008.
Tina had played hockey with Amanda until she upped sticks and got a job in Wagga Wagga with their council – of course the move would not have been complete with out Sam her lovely Scottish husband and their beautiful children Caelan and Hope. Tina and Caelan share the same birthday also.
When we beeped our horn on arrival at their home we were greeted with the warmest hugs and kisses and were quickly settled into our new room and were told dinner would be ready soon – we had a lovely bbq of lamb – it was yummy. Tina who does not eat lamb really enjoyed it too.
We settled in for a night of catchup and time quickly went by – Tina was tired from driving and Helen was in pain so we were in bed by 10pm.
We were really pleased to hear that all the family were settled and happy and we could really tell. The children's aussie accents as well as Amanda's were great – but Sam will never lose the Scottish accent we are sure.
Day 21 – A very early start for Tina as she played with the children before they left for school. Helen slept late and we finally left the house by lunchtime!!
We explored Wagga Wagga bought a souvenir or two and found a place to hire a wheelchair so we could explore a bit more.
We arrived back at the house late afternoon and had a dip in the pool complete with flotation aids (called noodles). The children arrived home with tales from school along with Sam and Amanda from work. Tonight was to be a food and drink fuelled night with a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir from Hunter Valley that we brought with us, more Pinot Noir and a few beers. We also discovered that the whole family would be in the UK for December. We promised to meet up and maybe try and get a few more hockey girls to come too.
Day 22 – We woke early so we could say a big thank you a big goodbye to the Gray family – it was sad but we knew we would see them again in a few weeks.
We took a quick photo of us with the children before they left for school. We got our things together and set off about 10am.
The total kms from Melbourne to Leonay is 900 kms about 560 miles (Liverpool to London is about 200 miles!) and it was a long drive, but a few songs along the way and cruise control helped.
We made a few stops along the way – once for ice cream – Tina needed a fix! We even saw a man running in the 30 degree heat MAD!! As well as plenty of trees, sheep and cars of course!
We got the car back to Penrith which is not the lake district – but the town next to Leonay where we caught a taxi to Colette and Michael's house. Colette parents – Helen's Aunt and Uncle are also staying with them so we all had a lovely dinner – which included shrimp. After a few wines the tiredness got to both Tina and Helen and we went off to bed early.
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