"No matter where you go, there you are."

THE MELBOURNE REUNION

Sunday 21^st October

It was time to move on today, we are crossing over into Victoria. We had a good run down through Eden, arriving in Mallacoota early afternoon. The council van park is right on the foreshore and we were able to get a spot right on the water. Unfortunately most of the large park was closed for the winter so we were very tightly crammed in with other vanners. While we did have a fantastic view over the inlet, the poor facilities and overcrowding were not to our liking considering they charged $29 per night (not good value!).

Monday 22^nd October

Ferg and I were up early and took a lovely walk up to the headland. Ferg got some lovely sunrise photos over the ocean. We had packed and we were on the road by 7.30am heading for Lakes Entrance. I had my first drive of the car pulling the van. It was about time! We arrived at the Lakes Entrance Showground van park mid morning and found a lovely spot only metres from the waters edge. The black swans came over to say hello. They have seven cygnets this year, all grey and very fluffy. We tried our luck fishing again with the usual results.

Tuesday 23^rd October

It was a bit chilly this morning when Ferg and I took our walk along the lake. We had lunch at the local bowling club then had a roll up on their synthetic green. Late in the afternoon we tried fishing again.

Wednesday 24^th October

Ferg did a long walk this morning while Twistie and I ambled along the waterfront. Ferg played bowls with the men this afternoon. I prepared some cornbeef for dinner and had a wander around the local shops.

Thursday 25^th October

We all took a walk along the marina this morning. There are some great walk/bike tracks around Lakes Entrance. Later we found a good internet site and caught up on our emails. We both played bowls in the afternoon but didn’t enjoy it much as we had to play “Fours”. Ferg played well as usual and won overall picking up $8 for his efforts!! No one could ever accuse us of chasing the money! Although we did win a $10 club voucher in the raffle.

Friday 26^th October

It’s a miserable cold rainy day. Ferg spent the morning backing up the laptop onto the portable drive. We made popcorn and watched one of our DVD’s, “Flushed Away”. The rain cleared mid afternoon so we went for a long walk along the lake. We joined our neighbours for a happy hour drink late afternoon.

Saturday 27^th October

We played bowls again this morning. I was “permitted” to play with the men! Again we played fours so it was a little boring. We had a lovely lunch at the club afterwards to use up our raffle voucher. We gave Twistie a bath in the afternoon and generally relaxed around the van.

Sunday 28^th October

Daylight saving started today, we had to turn our clocks forward an hour. We have a full day of bowls at the Bruthen Bowls Club. Bruthen is a small country town about 20 minutes drive west of Lakes Entrance. It was an Open Pairs Tournament with four games during the day. We did very well to win 3 of our 4 games and had a great day. It was a very long day and we didn’t get home until 6.30pm. Poor old Twistie had been in the van all day. Our neighbours had looked in on her during the day but she didn’t want to come out of the van. Ferg took her for a long walk while I prepared dinner. We had a few thunderstorms in the evening and even got a small amount of hail.

Monday 29^th October

On the move again, we had a good run through Bairnsdale and Sale. We stopped at Leongatha for some lunch before arriving into Wonthaggi mid afternoon. The whole Gippsland area has had some rain and it’s a lot greener than the last time we were here. We set up the van in the backyard of Kim and Phil’s place again. Kim cooked us a lovely corn beef dinner. Joan (Ferg’s Mum) and I headed off to bingo in the evening.

Tuesday 30^th October

We took a good long walk this morning, the weather is fine but a little cool early. Later we went into town to do some shopping and we called into the bowls club to put our names down for a few games. Joan invited us to her place for some lunch.

Wednesday 31^st October

Kim gave me a haircut this morning and put a colour in my hair. I dropped Ferg at bowls in the afternoon and picked up Joan. We had a lovely time at the Wonthaggi Workers Club playing bingo. In the evening we enjoyed a BBQ with Kim, Phil and Joan.

Thursday 1^st November

We packed our clothes for our trip to Melbourne in the morning then played bowls in the afternoon at the Wonthaggi Bowls Club.

Friday 2^nd November

We left early for Melbourne and had a good run right through to Paul and Marilyn’s place in Macleod. All the gang were there for the 6RAR reunion. We settled into our “glamorous accommodation”, a tent in the backyard. All the girls took off for some shopping while the boys hung around in the shed swapping stories. In the evening we all went off to the Greensborough RSL for the official meet and greet.

Saturday 3^rd November

Once everyone was up and had breakfast, we all took off for a long walk. Phew! Later the girls went shopping while the boys went of to the TAB. When we got home from the shops they were all snoozing! We all got dressed in our finest and went to the Venuto Club for the reunion’s dinner dance. The dinner was very tasty and we had free drinks all night. We danced the night away until well after midnight then wobbled home.

Sunday 4^th November

We were awoken early with a heavy rain storm, thankfully the tent held together although it was damp and miserable. There were a few sore heads this morning. We attended a memorial service at the Simpson Barracks then enjoyed a lovely BBQ lunch in the sergeants mess. After an afternoon nap we were all into it again. All the gang came around to Paul’s place for a final get together.

Monday 5^th November

We had a miserable night, the airbed had gone down a bit and was very uncomfortable. The gang all headed off in a bus to Phillip Island to visit the Vietnam Vets Museum. We took off soon after and drove back to Wonthaggi to drop Twistie off. We then met up with everyone at the museum. We spent several hours there then eventually said our final farewells to everyone.