Mission Australia 2013 - Day 17

Halls Gap – Phillip Island 

A spree of stoppages with weather playing a big spoilsport again – nonetheless we visited the Boroka Lookout & the McKenzie Falls – filling up on the Ginger Beer again, proceeded towards the Phillip Island through the Melbourne City.

Parked right outside the Room

Final Loading Session

McKenzie Falls

Riding Papa

Even our local Kempty has more water than this
but but but
Caucasians are so good at making each place accessible & marketable
AND above all expert at maintaining the place neat & clean & traffic free

McKenzie Falls

Boroka Lookout
but nothing to look

All Clouded, our Bad

Bumped into our newly married relatives

And our French friends from Walpa Gorge (Kata Tjuta)

Ayana, Its not okay to hug each & every baby you meet

Driving through the countryside was a pleasure with the transition from mountains to rolling hills to small farm-villages and then joining up with the A8 that would take us through Ararat & Ballarat to Melbourne. Sleeping advisory boards were common in the area & I soon realized why – when I pulled over into a McDonalds and pushed Neha with Ayana outside the car to take a strong power nap.

With the watch showing 3 PM and GPS showing at least 6 hours to our destination; I decided to press the Gas to reach well in time. I admired my decision when we got stuck in the Melbourne traffic. On the way, I also found myself blocking the tram lines but what the heck – everybody was on the tram track! The tram had no option but to wait.

Phillip Island is a really long long way – about 150 km – from Melbourne CBD. The Penguin Parade Show was at the very far end & we were clicking pictures around when we bumped into our earlier French friends from Uluru – Corinne & Laurent. They had been driving all the way south from Uluru to Melbourne. The show was about to begin when during a photo session, Neha started waving to somebody – I turned to see who & the lovely newly married couple arrived straight onto Phillip Island from Kolkata – Prerna & Mudit. We gasped at the co-incidence & had a nice evening together with the Penguins offering to drop them at their Hotel. How forgetful we must have been to not know that the eating options would be scarce in Australia at 11 PM in the night. Fortunately, we found a pizza outlet which we relished at their Hotel room. It must have been midnight when I decided we had to take leave & head to the Airport. We drove out into the city for an hour during which we witnessed some horrible events happening around the town. Even the traffic signals changed their nature so much that I feel I might have committed a mistake or two.

By the time we reached the Airport, Neha & Ayana were fast asleep. Their sleep was a little disturbed when I pulled over into the Petrol Pump to refuel. Upon reaching a parking spot, I decided to let my travel party sleep. Soon I also fell into deep slumber.