Aaron from Mitchell Bros 4×4 called us relatively early to give us the update on Hugo’s post trip-pre trip inspection. Ugh the list as predicted was never ending, phrases like ‘severely misaligned’ and ‘advanced stage of corrosion’ were thrown around. But at the end of the day we need to do what is necessary to keep the vehicle and consequently the cargo safe and sound, so the green light was given (pardon the pun), hoping that everything would be done by the end of the day.

Waiting

The finger prints guy called and eventually made it around to the hostel to CSI our hire car. Of course it had rained all night, and despite our valiant effort to protect the crime scene with a plastic bag and some sticky tape any useable prints on the outside of the car had been washed away. Nevertheless he threw some dust around on the inside of the car but had no joy there either. It would appear that unlike CSI –New York they don’t always get their man.

Waiting

We returned the hire car and we were told that they wouldn’t charge us the hire car excess of $2500 for the damage to the back window. He wasn’t sure what he would charge us but they would get back to us. In the end they didn’t charge us at all which was good :)

We celebrated with Slurpee’s, a good dinner and then bed.

Fabulous!! Hoping it was just the result of some random midnight cricket game or other drunken shenanigans we ventured back to investigate. But no, someone had indeed broken into the car, stolen Alex’s and Ben’s Christmas presents, some little lip balm Christmas presents that Gem had got for the girls and her onyx ring from Thailand. (The same ring that had been bought as a replacement for another Onyx ring that had been stolen from one of our Thai hotel rooms).

So the police were called and the security footage reviewed. There was a particularly dodgy character seen entering the hostel early in the morning, and watching his movement around the hostel it seemed feasible that this was our man. And apparently he lived next door (also hostel type accommodation, but more of the vagrant type).

Of course as the camera footage did not actually show him breaking the window, the police could not really act on anything at this stage, stating that they would like to wait for fingerprints on the car.

In the meantime Duncan had been contacting Steve to see if Hugo was ready yet to be picked up. And hoorah!!!! He was

So as soon as the immediate issues with the police, car rental company and travel insurance had been dealt with we jumped in a taxi (a taxi was necessary because we were unable to drive our hire car, an excellent use of our money), and headed out to Botany Bay. Yes that is right, unlike so many convicts from Britain, Hugo was arriving in Botany Bay. It was almost as though his reputation had preceded him.

Despite the horrendously rude and obstructive reception woman, we soon had the keys for Hugo and were being directed over to the cage that contained our personal effect. These were bought out by the palette load and dumped in front of us. So we put the roof tent back on. Loosely repacked the back of the car and drove him out.

Our satisfaction that we had already booked Hugo in at the mechanics was reinforced as we started driving him. The brakes compared to the tiny little corolla that we had been driving were terrible, and then of course having the bonnet fly open on the freeway did not really help. It’s a laughing matter now of course, but being in the middle lane of a freeway with no vision, not quite so funny!!!!

So the day was turning a little bit into a comedy of errors when we finally arrived to meet Aaron at Mitchell Bros 4×4. Once again we said goodbye to Hugo and boarded the bus for our long journey back to the hostel.

It was on our bus trip back to the city centre that we realised that we had not eaten all day. This definitely warranted some comfort food for dinner and desert!!

The drive was really unmentionable, apart from the sheer amount of dead kangaroos on the side of the road. Neither of us could remember having seen any on the side of the road when we drove from Sydney to Melbourne, it was funny that there were so many going the other way. But then perhaps the road-kill guy has the day off on Sundays!?

Our purpose of getting back to Melbourne early was to meet up with Gary and Gemma (our friends from Laos) who after seeing Sydney for a few days were now heading to Melbourne on the night bus.

It was great to see them!! We went for dinner at a local pub and spent the couple of ours filling each other in on what has happened in our trips since we last saw each other. And then sadly all too soon they had to leave to catch their bus. Apparently their bus was leaving from Central station and their friend was taking them there in his car.

About 20 minutes later as we were walking along the road past central station with slurpees in our hands (I know, I know we have a problem), and we saw them both in a headless chicken sort of fashion, still anxiously trying to find their bus with only minutes to go. We helped them to find the right direction and said goodbye again as they ran away. They did text us later to say that they made it.

So it was back to our old hostel. Familiar as an old hat we were back in the same room, although this time we were alone which was nice.

We had been told by several people to look out for Koalas as there were a lot in the area that you can see from the road. We didn’t see any, but we did see an echidna munching on some very angry looking ants (a physical description, not an emotional one – they looked angry before the echidna started trying to eat them)

Right when we got to the 12 Apostles and were contemplating getting out of the car to appreciate the scenery, big rain did come! So we drove on to the next town and had lunch and waited for the rain to pass.

The rain did pass, right until we were out viewing the 12 apostles and were as far away from any shelter as we could get! Then it poured. The camera bag had its rain coat on, Gem had Dunc’s rain coat on (which Dunc had generously donated) and Dunc, well Dunc got soaking wet!!

So our appreciation of this beautiful landmark, was, one might say, brief!

The drive back to Melbourne was very wet, which put a dampener (ha, I am funny) on the whole bat watching thing. But it did provide us with the perfect excuse to stay indoors while Jeff and Cecile went to their BBQ with two friends I like to call: Fish and Chips!!

Today was one of those days. Gem read her book and ‘recovered’ while Dunc applied for a government contract that had caught his eye. This required a lot more work than any of the other jobs he has applied for. That’s the government for you – generating paperwork, but at least now he sympathised with Gems previous application.

Gem had been out walking along the river during the morning, dodging rain showers. The smell of the Australian bush was so wonderful and familiar. It really was good to be home.

When Jeff got back from work (Cecile had left early this morning to go to Sydney for work), he took us to see the bats. A great colony of grey headed flying foxes roosted in a park near his apartment. Apparently at dusk it is quite a spectacle to watch the bats gather and collect before going off to feed in the suburbs. Unfortunately we didn’t really get the timing right and were there way to early to see them fly. But it was quite funny to watch them in the trees, stretching their wings and chattering to each other. One of them even had a little baby who crawled in a very ungainly fashion over its mother while she hung upside down.

As we all had some food shopping to do and dusk was quite a while a way, we had to say goodbye to the bats before they took flight. We thought perhaps that we might come back tomorrow night to see them.

With a thought of perhaps getting one of these beautiful dogs when we are settled we thought we would go and meet her and her dogs.

The dogs were absolutely gorgeous. There was a little bit of slobber, and there was a little bit of hair, but they were absolutely gorgeous. If there had been puppies there, I think that Gem would have slipped one in her bag on the way out.

After spending some time with dogs, learning about their temperaments, their personalities, how to Brush them and of course how to feed them, Dee fed us. It was like a home away from home. Our sandwiches had home made mayo on them, just like mum makes and home made lemonade just like mum makes. It was amazing!

It was quite a crazy time for Dee because apart from her daughters recent wedding, family birthdays etc etc, her very first Tibetan Mastiff was dying. She lay quietly at the end of the hall throughout our entire visit, not able even to come and check out what all the excitement was about. Quite sad.

The ominous weather came in right about as we left Dee and it absolutely poured, the flood warnings that the weatherman had issued that morning seemed more appropriate now.

Tonight we stayed in Hawthorn. This leafy suburb is apparently home to Melbourne’s rich and famous including all the footy players. But for us it was home to Jeff and Cecile. We played quite a few seasons of netball with Jeff in London, and he is a Perth Boy! He and his girlfriend have moved back to Oz but decided that Melbourne might be a little more happening for them after living in London for so long. They very generously lent us their spare room to stay for a few days.

We caught up over the worlds driest Pizza (seriously, it was like they had forgotten to put any sauce on it at all) and chatted about our trip and their move to Melbourne. It was really nice to see them again.

So while we were sitting around chatting Dunc got a call from Grant. Apparently Ruth had called there to see if they knew where we were. Disaster! Mrs Butefisch told them that we were in Malaysia.  Fabulous, months and months of lies and secret keeping undone in a single moment. What to do!? What to do!? In a little bit of a panic Gem called Grant to find out what happened before calling her mum. She logged onto her email to find nothing from her mum, but a facebook message from Sonia suggestion that she call or text her.

So she decided to bite the bullet and call her mum to find out if any damage control was possible. The conversation went a little something like this:

Ruth: “So where are you”?

Gemma “Almaty in Kazakhstan”

Ruth “Is that where you are really??”

Gemma “Of course, where else would we be” (deny deny deny)

Ruth “Well its just that we have some post here from the Avon Health Service, we opened it and it is a job offer”

Gemma, silently (crap crap crap)

Ruth continues “Yes it is addressed to 30 Killara Place, but he postal service noticed that it had your name on it and redirected it to us”

Gemma silently (crap crap crap, you have got to be kidding me)

Gemma “Well that is really bizarre, I expressed some interest in a job at Northam, but I can’t imagine how a job offer has come out of that”!!!!

Ruth “Well your father has been running around thinking that you will be home next week”

Gemma (laughs a little hysterically) “No no, definitely not, sorry”

After a little more talking and pretending to write down reference numbers etc Gem hung up. After lengthy discussions with Duncan we decided not to come clean entirely, but we felt we needed to tell Ruth something. First of all we did not expect that she would have believed Gem’s story, and secondly Gem needed that job contract!!!!

So Gem waited and waited until she felt sure that her dad would be asleep and rang her mum back. But no, by some strange coincidence her dad was still up, and answered the phone. Panicking Gem hung up and then thought well that will actually be good for authenticity and called back.

Telling Ian that she needed to speak to Mum again about the reference numbers, the conversation went a little like this:

Gemma “Ok mum, you are going to have to do some acting, while I tell you what is going on”

Ruth: “Acting?!?”

Gemma: “Shhhhh, don’t yell it out, just listen for a moment”

Ruth: “Ok”

Gemma: “So I didn’t really think that you would believe what I said before, so I am going to tell you what is happening but you have to keep it a secret. We are not in Almaty we are….. (thinking, thinking) … in Estonia! The job is mine, but I don’t start until February and we are coming back mid January and were hoping to surprise everyone. But now the stupid overly-efficient Australian Postal system has ruined everything. Can you still keep it a secret from Dad and the family and Dunc’s parents?”

Ruth: “Yes definitely”

And so the conversation continued for a little while with Gem’s mum holding the charade beautifully. Although it is not ideal hopefully it will get us through til Christmas. Exhausted at having to stay up so late, we went to bed!!

It was funny walking around Melbourne where we had come 5 years ago for the beginning of our honeymoon. We could not remember it at all. Did we just skip these sights or were they all just vanished from our memory?? And if we did see them, does that mean that all of our experiences in London, and even this trip only have a 5 year limit on them?

First stop was lunch in the modern Federation Square watching the buskers and the world go by.

From there we wandered across to the Botanical gardens and after a peruse there we sauntered along Southgate, stopping for a while on a park bench to enjoy the sunshine and listen to the sound of the bagpipes that were wafting along the river.

Brooke had an appointment in the afternoon, so while we waited for her we sat with newspaper and Sudoku book in a nearby park

Gerard joined us for dinner that night and Jaimie also came and met us. Gerard had taken us to the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda which apparently is one of the historic music places of the area. For us it had cheap lasagne and a sunset view?? Which puzzled us as we weren’t in WA!

We had lived with Jaimie for almost 12 months in London, in the share houses in Acton. He is one of the nicest and most generous people that we have met in our travels and it was really good to meet up with him again.

We picked up the hire car and headed out. As our sat nav was in Hugo, we had to hire one of them and it was so archaic. Our current sat nav is like a flat screen TV, like most of them are today. This sat nav was like a CRT TV. It was massive, and a little crap. A bit cheeky to charge for something that is so out of date.

The drive was around 900km. We took our time stopping at an ARB store to dream about all the stuff we could give Hugo. We stopped at the Dog on the Tucker Box in Gundagai. We then made another stop in Holbrook when we saw a submarine sitting on the park on the side of the road. In actual fact we discovered that it was the replica of the submarine above the waterline, but it was enough to get us to stop.

We did learn a little bit about the Australian Navy’s role in Gallipoli and the first world war, so it was quite a good little learning opportunity.

With all our distractions it took us about 10 hours to get to Melbourne and to Brookes place in Port Melbourne. She had a gorgeous little house which she shared with a guy called Gerard, who was kindly, happy for us to stay.

We went to the local restaurant and grabbed a ‘Parma’ (apparently all the rage in Melbourne) and some drinks. We were eventually forced out by the key shaking and till clanging of the waitress so we went to the bottle shop next door picked up some wine and beer and continued our reunion back at Brooke and Gerard’s place.

Brooke had had a pretty hard time of it since arriving in Melbourne and had decided that she wanted to come back to Perth with us. So it was arranged we were going convoy.

Us girls went to bed quite late. The boys even later, apparently they had a bottle of whisky (to start) and finish. Brooke was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of her room practically forcing us to take her bed. She didn’t stay there for long though Dunc’s drunk breathing/snoring kept her awake although didn’t seem to bother Gem to much. It must happen so often that she is used to it ;)

When they did finally call us though, it was not good news. To get the car fully imported here in Sydney was going to take 3-4 weeks. This would mean that we were stuck here for a month, or we would have to pay to go somewhere else and then pay to come back to collect the car. Then of course we would only have a matter of days to get the car back to Perth.

The other option was that we entered using the Carnet, and drive across the country in an international car and when we get to Perth we would need to ‘import’ the car. If we went with this option we would hopefully have the car in a week.

So for us there was really no decision. We would drive across with Hugo as an English car and he would be naturalised in WA.

This however did bring up one other issue. Every state has a different rule regarding driving international cars in Australia. In NSW you don’t need any permits or insurance etc, but in other states you do. But in some states you need to prove road worthiness, go over the pits etc etc. The pits itself was not exactly what we were worried about, of course we want to drive a safe car. We were concerned however with the time that these processes would take.

With no car to go and pick up today though we had time to start calling the different states. Many phone calls later, it seems that the easiest thing to do would be to drive straight into SA and get a permit here. We were not required to go over the pits, and third party insurance was included that would cover us in NT and WA as well.

So the day finished with us still not having the car, but at least we had a sort-of plan.

So what did we decided to do on this stinking hot day. Walk 12 km. Yes that is right. We walked from our hostel to the opera house, to the harbour bridge, around the Rocks and back to the hostel. All in all around 12 km

We walked up past the shopping streets, Martin Place and Federation Square and before too long found ourselves at Circular Quay gazing up at the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We walked around the quay so we could get a good look at the Opera House from across Sydney cove and while we were there we continued around to have a look under the Harbour Bridge at Dawes Point.

From here we walked down to the Rocks. This apparently was the home of the sailors seediness and debauchery at the times of the first settlements. Now it has been ‘renovated’ into trendy boutiques, galleries, restaurants etc and is a gorgeous place to stroll around. It reminded me a lot of Bermondsey or Shad Thames or Borough in London.

We had managed to get lucky as the Rocks Markets were on. At the top of the Markets was a delicious Hawaiian Ice store so with our ice lollies in hand we strolled down the sail covered stores.

We were both really surprised at the markets but perhaps we were so used to the South East Asian varieties of markets that we were expecting imitation shoes, watches and sunglasses. Instead the market had local crafts and produce as well as some funky art and jewellery. We bought a couple of items before pulling up at a local pub for lunch.

So for the first time in over 4 years we had some proper fish and chips. We are not saying that UK does not have great fish and chips, they most likely do, it’s just that we never found them. And we know that the UK invented the meal however in our humble opinion Australia perfected it. So at a small pub in the Rocks in Sydney we had a fabulous fish and chips, and contemplated just how truly great it was to be home.

Fully satisfied we braved the heat for the long walk back to the Hostel.

We self catered in the hostel, chatting to the other guests before hitting the sack absolutely exhausted.