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 loved every bit of it. Carl would love this place. It's colder here and they are very close to higher mountains - Shane enjoyed pointing out the view across to the nearby Mount Macedon at 1000m.

They put on a "ploughman's lunch" for us which was very nice and only accentuated by the pleasant company. Shane is a legal man and a bit of a philosopher about life. Georgia and Ryan are nice kids, both very tall and handsome. They have 2 dogs, which always makes the Dettricks feel at home. They are called Eloise and Bertie. Eloise is a beautiful animal and is rather like Sam Wynd. Bertie is a little orange dog more like an Ewok than anything else.

This evening was devoted to packing up before tomorrow's big adventure.