We were slightly delayed leaving Adelaide because we lost a
passenger between check-in and boarding. But they found his luggage in no time
to offload, and we still arrived in Melbourne ten minutes early. And my scooter
met me at the door of the aircraft instead in Baggage Reclaim. I was very
impressed.
Finding the car proved trickier than finding the missing
passenger’s luggage. We did a tour of the car park. “It’s that way,” Lindsey
kept saying. She was right eventually.
It was great to see her and Katherine and Helen, as well as
their furry family members, dogs Teddy and his new little sister, 11 week old
Amber. She was at biting stage and took a liking to my toes. Lindsey found me a
pair of slippers to protect them.
Nearby was Yarra Bend Park, a wide grassy and wooded area
that was ideal for walking dogs. As we walked through it, there was a view of
Melbourne city skyline. “I hadn’t realised you were so close to the city,” I
said to Lindsey. “It’s six kilometres,” she replied. “It’s about fifteen
minutes.”
There was another dog not far away. A big wooden one, 5½
metres tall and 8 metres long. It stood next to Fairfield Railway Station. Helen
said that it used to light up and wag its tail. But it hasn’t done that since
2006 when it stopped working.
Another day Lindsey and I drove to the Yarra Valley and had
lunch at a winery, with wine of course. Driving restricted our consumption but
there was no other way of getting there. We solved that by buying some to drink
later.
The area was beautiful with gentle hillsides and deciduous
trees with leaves of gold, red and orange. The architecture was wooden and from
the early European settlers. The buildings nestled among the trees. There were
picket fences and 18th century style street lamps. After lunch we
walked along the main street and into some of the shops. Then it started to
rain. So we returned to the car. As we drove away the sun came out and the
trees sparkled with colour.
