Melbourne - DKT Page 7

We left Sydney for Canberra, where we'd planned to spend the night, but when we got there discovered no rooms available due to Masters World Championships being held in town that weekend. On to Cooma, then Jindabyne. It's between ski season and summer holidays, so most shops and restaurants are closed. Found room at Kookaburra Lodge. Simple and cheap and perfect. Cold outside (1000+m elevation).

Drove through Snowy Mountains on long winding, gravel road. Stopped at Thredbo Village to explore and had to detour around site of tragic avalanche. North along Alpine Way to Khancoban (picnic lunch in a field with hundreds of kangaroos); crossed into Victoria at Corryong.

It grew late and we were getting roadweary . . . anxiously seeking accommodation when we finally found a B&B called the 'Herb & Horse' on the Murray River. Bad choice. It looked and sounded charming in the guidebook, and the setting was beautiful, but it proved to be a very rundown horsefarm run by a very rundown proprietress who was too tired to care about anything but taking our money. A pet kangaroo was loose in the house. Kangaroo crap on Ty's bed, dirty sheets, bad food.

After 'dinner' we played Ultimate Frisby with backpackers (Aussies, Americans, Germans, Dutch, Japanese, Canadian) who'd rented the farm outbuildings for the night. When it finally got too dark to play we all ran down the hillside and dove into the lake for a swim under the stars. That part was good.

Left 'Herb & Horse' early and quickly. We see lots of 'roo remains along the road. No wonder most cars have 'bull-bars' attached to minimize vehicle damage. Seems inevitable that we'll hit one eventually.

Drove south to Benalla, then west to Shepparton, where we found room with Garry and Marie Pearson. Ty found several new birds. Barbecued steaks for Dan's birthday dinner.

Shepparton to Melbourne, and checked into the Holiday Inn on Exhibition and LaTrobe Streets. It's Raceweek and the town is jumping.

Melbourne is a wonderful city of full of old and new . . . rich ethnic areas tucked away in corners of the city where you might expect urban decay in other parts of the world. It is a very upbeat city, full of green parks and botanical gardens. Free trams scoot around the city center (just like the one on Seattle's waterfront) and it has a multicultural downtown area that includes a Greek district on one street, parallel to Chinatown on the next. Too, pierced body parts and green hair abound if punk is your fancy. The town has a reputation for being devoted to the arts as well as the preservation of wonderful old buildings that go back to Queen Victoria's reign when much of the city was developed.

Spent morning exploring Queen Victoria Market, where we bought groceries to last the weekend. The Queen Victoria Market is a giant leap back in time. It is a huge building (size of a city block) that looks ordinary from the outside, but takes you back to Merry Olde England when you walk through the doors. Food stalls of all sorts sit cheek to jowl. It is mobbed with people who maneuver various conveyances on wheels as their shopping carts and are buying their week's produce.

It looks, for all the world, like Eliza Doolittle should be selling her flowers to the passersby. K.'s favorite section (only because it was so bizarre) was the meat and seafood displays. As Tyler says "They don't waste ANYTHING!!" How does one prepare 'hog wankers', anyway? A favorite stall was the PET FOOD deli. Like a butcher's shop, a deli shop where you order a kilo of some kind of animal parts to feed your pet.

Later we took the tram to Flinders St. Station and crossed the river to visit Art Gallery of Victoria. Chose to pass on paying $45 to view Rembrandt show. Good sculpture: Rodin's 'Memorial to Balzac'; Henry Moore's 'Seated Woman'.

Spent hours walking through Royal Botanical Gardens. Lots of memorials. Billions o' Birds. Coffee and snacks at teahouse.

Went home and Ty had hamburger at hotel, while D. and K. went out for dinner at Indonesian restaurant.

Drove to Chapel St. Market, St. Kilda, Brighton Beach. Lunch at Turkish restaurant on Brunswick St.. Ty and Dan played putt-putt golf, explored downtown.

In the afternoon we visited the Olde Melbourne Gaol, a dark and somber place that harkens back to the incredibly rough and tumble beginnings of English settlements in this part of the world. Most of the internees got to Australia through indenture, or as 'convicts' sentenced for ridiculously petty crimes. There's a diorama of the hanging of notorious Ned Kelly (an Aussie version of Clyde Barrow).

Shopped for books in the afternoon, walked across Yarra River Bridge to the awesome Melbourne Casino. Light, music, water fountain display in lobby; lotz of glitz and glamour, and we are way out of our element. Had dinner at All-Star Cafe. Took cab back to hotel. Dan went after Greek pastries for desert.

The city is all-aglow because the Melbourne Cup takes place today. Complimentary goodies and 'champers' (champagne) served for breakfast in the hotel lobby. The 'Cup' is the biggest annual sporting event in Australia, and very much a holiday. We each chose a horse (never mind our criteria for picking) and bet $10 apiece. As it turned out, all three of our nags might as well have stayed in bed that morning.

Ladies hats are a big deal. Huge cash awards are paid out for hats judged 'Most . . . Whatever', and literally millions must be spent each year in their design and purchase. It brings to mind images Princess Diana or Fergie dressed in suits and wild hats for the big races that take place in England. This season in the city is called Spring Carnival and the whole town is buzzing. Any time of the day or night, people are out on the streets, walking, sitting at cafes, window shopping. We're greatly enjoying being right in the center of it all.

Our first dawn from Hawksview. When we initially spoke with Fran O'Sullivan about spending a few days at their farm in the Grampians, she described it as 'the most beautiful farm in the world'. We now think so, too. The view from our cabin (a mile or so from the main farmhouse), built on a lonely hilltop overlooking the Grampians and valleys below, is truly breathtaking.

Fran called at 0900 to ask if we'd like to help a neighboring rancher muster some sheep. We eagerly said yes. She gave us directions and we drove ten k's or so to the ranch of Ian and Lucy Richards. Their property is 3200 hectares and on it they run some thousands of Merino sheep and a few hundred head of Angus cattle. The job this morning would be to move 700 or so sheep from the far side of the ranch to a paddock near the shearing shed, where the sheep would be 'crutched' and put through a footbath.

We got a lesson this day in how awesomely stupid are sheep. As they've been selectively bred over the eons for enhanced mutton and wool production, lack of initiative must also have been sought for the sake of management. They're are born to eat and to follow, and none will lead. So as the flock is pushed from the outsides, the ones in front stop to graze and the end result is a constantly milling mass of mindless hairballs. The only way to keep them moving with any speed, and in a remotely straight line, is to panic the whole bunch into a stampede . . . which is not good because it's hot and they overheat quickly. So it took some hours to move them across a couple miles of open pasture. Ian, Dan and Kaaren pushed from the rear in Ian's pickup, while Tyler (driving a 4X4 ATV) and wonderdog Tess rounded up strays and control the flock from the sides.

Ian loved teaching about sheep husbandry, which included showing us animals that had footrot and others that were flyblown (K. decided this was especially gross). Finally we got the flock safely corralled in their new home and we all went up to the big house where Lucy fed us biscuits and homemade lemon squash.

Later that afternoon we stopped by another ranch (Doug Slattery's), to observe shearing. These were rams being shorn, which are much more difficult to deal with than ewes or hoggetts. It was obvious the crews of shearers were fast and professional, but it was still a mean and bloody business.

T. and D. went for a swim in the pond above the house. Cold.

Had dinner at the main house with Fran and David, who are wonderfully gracious and civilized hosts. Mutton, wine and mulberry pie. Afterwards took a wander outside under millions of stars and David pointed out southern constellations to us.

Woke to raucous cries of a mob of cockatoos in gum tree in front of house. Breakfast of scrambled eggs and last of Hungarian sausage. Dan and Ty explored forest at far edge of pasture while K. repacked. Left Hawksview at 1200 and drove 4km to main farmhouse and said goodbye to Fran and David. Met son Frank as we were leaving.

Drove through Grampian Mountains via Hall's Gap. Stopped for lunch at Broderick Lookout. Another indication of a healthy lack of liability lawsuits in Australia: not a guardrail in sight. If you're stupid enough to climb out on this ledge, and then fall off, YOU chose poorly.

Down out of mountains and onto long, boring, flat plateau all the way to Adelaide. Crossed into South Australia at Bordertown. Wheatland instead of pasture; drier, flatter, more scrub.

Steep, winding descent to Adelaide (like descent out of Blue Mts. into Pendleton). Found Aviator's Hotel near airport and checked in. D. and K. went on exploration of Adelaide while Ty stayed at hotel and read. Excellent take-out Thai food.

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