I had always wanted to visit Melbourne on this trip down under and planned on flying from Sydney but when I arrived, Anne told me that she would like to show me some Australian countryside and that a fantastic way would be a drive down through the farmland and small towns that line the roads between Sydney and Melbourne.
We began early Wednesday afternoon by picking up Anne's friend Belinda who lives out on a farm in the country but has a home in Sydney as well. Both Belinda and her husband are from farm families that have lived off the land in Australia and can trace their origins back to the beginnings of western settlement. It was very cool to hear her speak with such genealogical knowledge. We drove through wonderful pastoral towns all the way down. On the drive to Rugby (the tiny town 4 hrs outside of Sydney where Belinda has her farm) I was given much history on certain parts of "the bush" (the country- in australia there is the city, the bush, and the outback). We arrived to the farm in the dark but had to drive verrrry slowly lest we hit any kangaroos! I was very excited that we did end up seeing quite a few kangaroos and even a wombat out in nature! Fun fact about kangaroos - they can turn on and off at will their reproductive system. Back before humans built dams this was necessary - in drought the kangaroo could stop a little fetus from growing until water was plentiful. Unfortunately, the human manipulation of the land has undone this natural population control and now kangaroos are a tiny but of an issue. Sadly, it was dark and I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture any meaningful pictures...
My sad attempt at a picture of the wombat.
Before we headed out the next morning, Belinda gave us a quick tour of the property. They are a beef farm and keep the cows to fatten them up with their grass. Next door, Belinda's brother in law has sheep that he sheers. Belinda and her husband do the majority of their own work, including veterinarian stuff, employing no workers! She says this is the key to their success. It sounds like a TON of work! Nonetheless, they are some of the more well traveled people I have ever met. They frequently go on great adventures for 3 weeks at a time (the maximum amount of time they can leave). I'm pretty impressed by them.
The farmhouse dirt road.
Anne and I needed to get going pretty early in order to make the 9 hour drive down to Melbourne not last too late into the night. We drove through one adorable Victorian town after another, and through Ned Kelly country. Ned Kelly is a famous Australian outlaw who evaded the police for years. He was famous For wearing an armor suit:
He was eventually caught and then imprisoned and finally hung. Each place is very proud of their part in the whole ordeal and has it marked.
We did make. Little detour to go through Beechwood, which is a previous little town. Like most of the towns we drove through, it looked more like a movie set.
Center of town.
Walkway sidewalks.
Downtown. Can't you just see it in the late 1800's with a dirt road and horse drawn carriages?
We finally made it at dinnertime to Anne's niece, Melissa's house in Malvern, an eastern suburb of Melbourne. Melissa, her husband Luke, and their three little boys (Tommy, 4, Archie, 2, and Monty, 9 mos) live in a gorgeous house that is old and Victorian style on the outside and completely modern and reconfigured on the inside. It's completely the best of both worlds. The three little boys were the sweetest and cutest things! They were so quick to sit in your lap and talk and play. They had a new au per starting the following day from the states and I couldn't help but be a bit jealous of her!
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You are back. I will see you in one week.
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