MONDAY 5th SEPTEMBER (Colac to Tullamarine Airport)

Morning spent doing family stuff and then by 2:00pm we were on the road to Melbourne. We took a back road (as is our want) and was in awe of the beautiful canola crop scenes we passed. The brightest of bright yellow is an amazing sight. We hadn't factored in the peak hour traffic in Melbourne but the first time ever we were ahead of schedule and managed to return the hire car and get to the airport, check in, do all that customs stuff and settle into the Emirates Lounge before our 9:15pm departure for Dubai. From their we catch another flight to Rome. See you there...

SUNDAY 4th SEPTEMBER (Father's Day)

A quiet morning was had with the family, but after lunch Paul & I took my Dad for a drive through the Barongarook Otway Forest Reserve to Wonga Park, down to Gellibrand and back hoome via a dirt road that traversed the back of our old farm. It was fabulous drive and we felt like we'd been out about 10 hours.

SATURDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER - HOBART to COLAC

It was a very early morning start, leaving home at 4:00am for Hobart Airport. Not a great way to start a holiday! We only managed to drive about 50kms before we needed to pull over under a tree and have a snooze. Once on the road again we decided to go and see something we'd never seen before

, so found ourselves driving towards Batesford to see the Moorabool Viaduct which is part of the railway line between Geelong & Ballarat. It opened in 1862 and the steel piers were added in 1918. It was a beautiful walk along the Moorabool River Reserve but we got fairly drenched on the way back to the car! No matter, we were now fully awake!