The pack up went as well as could be expected, which is to say it was rather stressful and difficult and we had to do several things over again several times to get them right. By about 11am we had the car packed and the van stored (at Big 4 Melbourne where we have been staying) and struck out for the day. On a side note, the groundsman chap who helped us park the van in their storage area was a real character. He was happy for J & C to amuse themselve...

The main event today was a drive to the north of Melbourne to a neighbouring village called Gisborne. It is about 40km away and 400m elevation and is the home of our friends, Sandy, Shane, Georgia and Ryan. They live in a nice brick place on 1 ½ acres. Gisborne is to Melbourne a bit like Samford is to Brisbane. Shane has a whole bunch of the stuff I wanted to acquire by moving to Samford: big yard, trees, big shed, fire place, ride-on mower, etc… I lov...

There was a bit of sleeping in today and we didn't really get going until after lunch. Amanda, Jasper and Claudie bought a baby swing for James. While they did that, I went to a bike shop in Preston. It was excellent, I bought new MTB shoes and was very tempted to buy a new bike! Then we went to Paula and Matt's again this evening. Paula ordered fish and chips and Matt took me to his favourite microbrewery for a brief tasting. J & C assembled the sw...

Everyone had to be up at 4:30am today to climb sleepily into our snow gear. Taxi into Federation Square and then onto the bus to Mt Buller. Happily, I slept much of the way. We stopped at Mansfield to collect skis and snowboards. It's a lovely drive through the Yarra valley and then up the steep winding Mt Buller road which snakes its way between tall straight gum trees. It was rainy and a bit windy and we were driving through clouds by the time we reached...

Today was a rest day, aside from some laundry and a little packing up for tomorrow. The copies of "Sherlock" we borrowed from Matt came in very handy. The weather has turned a bit nasty again with high winds here at North Coburg this evening. I have taken the precaution of putting the awning down and bringing everything inside.