Well the crossing over Bass Strait back to Melbourne was so much better than the trip over. I don't know whether l was just ridiculously tired or it was a lot calmer on the seas or both. Either way, l had a great night sleep. So you'd think my mood would be better right? I was sort of ok but Marty and l were still tense with one another. In reflection, l think our grumpiness with one another was bound to happen and we expect it from time to time but it couldn't have been happening at the worst time.
Anyway, getting back on track. We awoke with the familiar sound of the captains morning greetings at 6am, then it was time to get the girls up. They didn't want to budge much seeing it was a late night last night. Eventually thru got up and we then headed out to the deck for a view at the sunrise. It was magical! There was a dark blue/purple sky with grey clouds and a fluorescent orange sun rising. I was enjoying the magic of the sky when Meg started her whinging about being cold and tired and whatever she could think of. So l got a few happy snaps then we headed down to get in the car. Our plan was still to head to Wilson's Promontory to camp for three nights, even though rain was forecasted. I wasn't looking forward to it, both the tent and the rain, but seeing Marty and l weren't talking too much the plan stayed the same. As soon as we got off the boat and headed through Melbourne the rain started and it didn't stop all morning. We stopped off at the golden arches for pancakes for breaky with the rain pelting down now. In silence, we made our way down to Yanakie where we had planned to stock up on groceries and stuff. No go though as it was a tiny town. Marty decided to turn around and travel the 100kms back to Korumburra where he checked us in to a cabin at the Korumburra Tourist Park for $100 for the night. At this point l didn't care about the money and was over everything. The girls were excited about the cabin with three bunk beds and tv, myself, well l thought it was pretty run down for the money but at this point l didn't care too much. It was a quiet arvo as we spent it in silence watching the tv while it rained and rained and rained some more!!! Marty and Boo found this awesome outside camp kitchen at park that had its roof plastered with all these soft kids toys. The coolest part was some were battery operated that when you clapped loud it set them off. The girls thought it was magical!!!
The next morning Marty and l got our act together and decided to end our spat with one another, which was good seeing we had to decide what our next move was. After some too and fro we decided to head to Geelong and abandoned Wilsons Prom. It was a washout anyway..... So we set off and booked into Geelong Riverview Tourist Park in a cabin for $105 for the night. Again, l didn't really care too much about the money and the cabin was much better than the last. We did some errands to get Boo's school stuff ready and had arranged to go see the Vaughan's and Mick for tea later on. The time flew and before we knew it it was time to head off for our catch up. We were very excited to be seeing Kerry, Dale, Jeremy, Acacia, Malika and Mick again. It had been ages since we'd seen them. Around four months in Cape York! We arrived and were greeted with big hugs and kisses. It was great to see that time hadn't dented our friendship and it felt like we took up were we left off. They put on an awesome roast for tea and we sat around the kitchen table format of the evening laughing, reminiscing about our past adventures and having a great time. We only saw the girls for tea, otherwise they were all off playing together happily. The girls were do happy to see each other which was great. Dale got his Cape York pics out and we flicked through the few hundred photos going down memory lane. Eventually it was time to wrap things up as it was getting late. Sadly we had to say our goodbyes but we knew this wouldn't be the last time we would see each other. We were friends for life and we had vowed to meet again in Cape York in 10 years to do it all over again!! Awesome family, awesome night, awesome memories.
Tomorrow we were heading off to Harston to visit Alana and Rhett before doing our last visits to Shepp, Toc and Echuca. I'm calling it our last hoorah cause l expect we won't be back for a real long time......
Bell Xxx