Arrived back in Melbourne early on the Monday morning.  Annie was due her 120,000 km service and when we were in Tassie we’d booked her in at a Ford place very convenient to the campsite where we’d stayed during our last visit.  We’d also asked the garage to arrange to replace a tyre with a slow puncture because we couldn’t find any garage or tyre specialist in Tassie that stocked the size we needed.  And we’d also arranged for the garage to replace the radiator hose which had burst and had been patched up by mechanic Bruce in Tasmania.So after dropping me off with all the washing to do and a book to read (and with the expectation of being back by lunchtime) Eric headed away to the garage.  About an hour and a half later I got a phone call from Eric and I thought “Oh good, he’s on his way back; that was quick”.   But I couldn’t have been more wrong.  It turned out that Eric couldn’t find the place in Boundary Road nearby and it turned out that the garage was in another Boundary Road in a different, but similarly named, suburb at the other end of Melbourne about 70 kms away!  So, dilemma.  Does he make the journey now, or perhaps tomorrow when we’re due to meet Joan (my cousin, Jean’s, ex-mother-in-law) who lives on that side of the city?  The garage has the special tyre, therefore we have to get there somehow and sometime, so Eric decides to go for it.  Problem – Melbourne is in a major traffic upheaval as a result of a serious accident and fire which has closed one of the main cross-city tunnels.  Well you know what’s coming next.  Eric ended up driving a round trip of 150 kms or so to find this garage in a suburb of a city he’d barely encountered, and didn’t get back to the campsite until after 6 o’clock in the evening.  Poor soul was exhausted, but triumphant – everything was sorted. Next day was lovely and sunny and warm and we headed over much in the same direction as Eric went yesterday to collect to Joan.  As we got nearer to Mount Waverley the area became more familiar as we remembered it from our last visit nearly ten years ago.  It was great to meet Joan again –  she’s looking really well, much younger than her 80 years, and has a very positive outlook on life.  We drove up to the Yarra Valley and Yarra Glen for a picnic by the river.  It was fun to catch up with her news and mull over old times with her and her late husband, Ralph, in both Melbourne and Gullane.  We had planned to set off heading west on our journey to the Great Ocean Road the next day, but we still a lot of catching up to do and housekeeping after our five weeks in Tassie, and also needed a bit of a rest, so decided to stay an extra day – which turned out in fact to be another two days.  That gave us the opportunity to spend some time back in the city centre, visit the Immigration Museum, some shopping and have a very tasty Malaysian meal.  We had also been thinking about our summer holidays this year and have booked a time share at Pinjarra in Western Australia in May where Jean will join us.     Finally, though, we headed off into the ‘wild’ west.  And a very wild and windy day it was – Eric had a job keeping Annie on the road.  Perhaps it was the weather, but our first impression of the Great Ocean Road was that we’d seen more impressive coastal scenery in Tasmania.  We hit the coast at Anglesea and this was our first stop.  Its main claim to fame is its very nice wee golf course with its large contingent of resident roos.  (K2 had told us about this when we saw them in Sydney.)  It’s true that the roos just don’t budge and people have to play around them.  But one sitting on the tee was just a bit much and a quick poke on the tail with a No. 3 wood saw it shift pronto.  The manager of the course turned out to be married to a lassie from Inveresk (near Musselburgh, near Edinburgh) and he had the brilliant audacity to pair us up with a couple of strangers.  Mal and Margaret were down from Melbourne (with a very big cake in the back of their car) for a weekend with friends.  They were great fun and stimulating company and we really enjoyed our round of golf with them.  From Anglesea it was on to another ‘A’ – Apollo Bay – and though small, a fine place it is. It has a really good feel and a bit of a buzz about it, has a good few shops to browse in and some good restaurants.  We ate at the Apollo Bay Deli - the food and local wine and beer were really good – did the kangaroo steak result from a misplaced drive off the 13th Anglesea tee we wondered?   Apollo Bay, too, has a nice wee golf course and we had a really good 18 holes there.  There was a ladies competition that morning and as we were warned that we had to be off the course by 12.30 we provisionally paid for only nine holes.  As we were coming up the ninth fairway at 12.25 we saw hoards of ladies ahead!  So after a hasty putting out, Eric dashed over to the starter’s box/clubhouse/tearoom/pro shop and asked if we could have the other nine holes.  Margaret, bringing up the rear, saw the total incomprehension on the woman’s face, who responded “Sorry, but could you speak more slowly and in English?”  After clarification (Margaret often has to employ her interpretation skills!) we were off on a glorious second nine.  We both played some of the best golf we’d played in ages – we’ll be looking for a house and golf club membership shortly!  An easy drive from Apollo Bay takes you to the Great Otway National Park and the Otway Lightstation, which was built in 1848, after two major shipwreck disasters, to guide ships through the entrance to the Bass Strait.  At one time there was also a telegraph station there connecting Tasmania with the mainland via an undersea cable laid in 1850 – lasted only10 months unfortunately.  A very interesting tour by a guide whose uncle and his family lived in the telegraph station in the 1950s. Got our first view of the spectacular part of this coast – the Twelve Apostles.  Headed down the steps to Gibsons Beach which is the eastern starting point for this series of limestone stacks that stand imposingly out of the Southern Ocean just yards from shore.  The view is breathtaking and the surf and waves lashing on to the beach were exhilarating.  Eric was so engrossed in taking photographs that he didn’t spot a fast approaching wave and, as Margaret called “Look out”, nearly did a Neil Kinnock and ‘laboured’ to get back out of the water!  The viewing platforms for the Twelve Apostles gave an impressive both ways along the coast, but we couldn’t resist an aerial view by helicopter.  This was our first ride in a helicopter and was just fantastic – see photographs on the Great Ocean Road photo album.  Eric’s thoughts on Australia ……………….. Over 3 months into the Australian leg of our journey, I have a few thoughts/points of view/compliments/moans about Oz that I’ve stifled so far.  These do not necessarily concur with Margaret’s but who knows  …….!After traveling through Russia, Mongolia, China and S E Asia – in the manner we did – Australia is very, very different and so much easier.  It is also much less challenging because everything – language, food, culture, etc – is familiar to us. However, this musn’t take anything away from this country because so far we’ve seen only part of it.  The most challenging is yet to come.  Food (very close to  my heart/stomach/): the quality and variety of food available here, and in small stores in remote areas is very extensive and good. Locally produced food such as seafood, meat, fruit, vegetables, cheese, wine, etc is nearly always as good as we get back home (much of the time it’s better). But sometimes things aren’t as good and when this occurs without the market range there’s no choice - Australia generally doesn’t import foodstuffs so the consumer has no real choice.     People: Australians appear to be very rugged and hardy.  In the last few weeks around campsites as we shiver and wrap up well,  as we head off to the toilet blocks, we see individuals and families in tee shorts and shorts sitting out late after dark enjoying a few cold beers (while we’re putting on the hot chocolate).  What’s happened to us!!??!! Also, most of the time locals are very keen to speak to us to find out where we’re from & what we’re doing. This is a really positive aspect of life here and one we hope will continue throughout our journey.  We’ve received many helpful travel tips as a result of these exchanges. Time changes: We knew we were approaching a time change at end March so were looking for some info.  But as the likely weekend neared, no-one Margaret asked seemed to know when it was to happen or whether the clocks went forward or back.  This was a bit of a worry as it was likely to co-incide with our ferry journey back to Melbourne. We’ve never spent time in Australia at this time of year and it’s quite strange to be plunged into dark nights and colder weather.  We expected to be travelling in light balmy nights but since Coles Bay (David & Nobumi) we haven’t had the BBQ out and we seem to be tucked up in Annie by 6-7pm. M – get the cards and dominoes out! The mainland is relatively mild (although cooler in the evenings) but on Tasmania we had hail, sleet etc at Cradle Mountain.  Nearly as cold as Mongolia so an excuse to buy fleecy jackets and an extra heater for Annie! Language: While strictly not language, at our Apollo Bay campsite, a kids (good) playground had an educational language/numerical display.  The numbers went thus – 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 - no 0!  M’s always have a go at their poor basic grammar – such as they use plural nouns but use singular verbs. Even in their good quality press it’s all a bit slap dash and couldn’t care less. Did we spend too long in Education??  Ron & Jay – bet this would have been tolerated in Aberdeen Journals?  Some times we can’t understand what is they’re trying to say.  Also sometimes we hear people speak but can’t understand them – although this may be a two-way problem.   Advertising: - it seems as if Australia has the world’TV/radio s best everything or somewhere in the country they have Australia’s best something or another. Wherever we go there are advertising claims that this café has the world’s best scones, this restaurant has the world’s best burgers, a whale disaster in McQuarrie Harbour in Tasmania had the world’s best whale rescue. Also, they have car adverts that state ‘…if this isn’t Toyota insurance, it isn’t real insurance ….’.  There are so many advertising claims that are misleading that it make’s me want to say …. This is the world’s best website!!    Politics, water shortages, etc - more on these later – I’m getting off my high horse!!