Monday. We had no troubles getting to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Sydney’s tunnel system once again proved useful. After dropping off the hire car, we checked in, and this time we were prepared to make sure our car seat was smoothly approved. The checkin agent remarked that we were very organised… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 21 – The Journey Home

Sunday. Today was our last day in Australia, and we had arranged to take a trip to see my family up in Belmont. By comparison with our other trips, this was a short drive (just around 100km) and we arrived at about 10.30am at Betty & Jack’s house. We got to talking about this and… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 20 – Day trip to Belmont

Saturday. Once more our plans changed – owing to Mrs Elbeno not feeling 100% and the inclemency of the weather, we decided not to take a day trip to the Blue Mountains. The Boards had suggested Palm Beach, but this was also a long drive, and in the end we opted for a day of… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 19 – Parramatta

Friday. Our original plan had been to visit Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, part of NASA’s deep space network. But since it was a 50-mile round trip in the wrong direction, we opted for visiting Cockington Green, a model village named after the village of Cockington near Torquay, which is coincidentally close to another model… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 18 – Canberra to West Ryde

Thursday. After a brief morning constitutional, we were out of Albury and on our way to Canberra. We stopped for lunch at the Niagara cafe in Gundagai where we had hot chocolate (of course) and passable food (I think I had some kind of pie). A few miles the other side of Gundagai, we came… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 17 – Albury to Canberra

Wednesday. I had one goal for today: by hook or by crook, I was going to see an echidna. This was the only well-known Australian animal I hadn’t yet seen, since they didn’t have one at Taronga Zoo, and it looked like Melbourne Zoo was going to be my last chance. So we headed off… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 16 – Last Day in Melbourne, and on to Albury

Tuesday. Once again we headed in to Melbourne CBD, this time to do the Golden Mile. We had picked up a flyer the previous day from the information centre in Federation Square. Federation Square (also the home of the ACMI) itself is interesting architecturally: I don’t remember eating downtown, so I must assume that we… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 15 – Melbourne Day 5

Monday. With Ben back at work, and Em doing her thing with Leo and Angharad, we were off into Melbourne to do our own thing too. We had two things in mind: Melbourne’s Golden Mile Heritage trail, and the Pixar Exhibition at ACMI (Australian Centre of the Moving Image). But the first order of the… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 14 – Melbourne Day 4

Sunday. This was Father’s Day in Australia, and Mrs Elbeno had arranged for us 3 to run the Father’s Day 5 in Albert Park. So we got up early and borrowed a portable satnav device from the Boards, which directed us to the correct place without a problem. We got there at 8 for a… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 13 – Melbourne Day 3

Saturday. The weekend came without our noticing… I had managed to completely forget work, which was great! Our precision-planned schedule had today and Sunday down as “Boards’ choice” so we deferred to our hosts for the day’s activities. Since we’d brought the fine weather, it was decided to visit Collingwood Children’s Farm. The walk there… Continue reading Oz Report – Part 12 – Melbourne Day 2