Lagging behind in the posting stakes as this was last week. We stayed at the South Werribee caravan park which is actually on the shores Port Phillip Bay south of Melbourne. The first thing I did was make my way to the New Age central office and repair place at downtown industrial Campbellfield.  I had talked to the guy there about buying a replacement step and sure enough he had one at a very reasonable price. I got a replacement bedside light too as mine was flickering and it turns out you can’t replace bulbs -you have to get a new fixture.

I went to see the Maza sisters in Sunshine on the way home and mooched dinner. What a treat to catch up with more old ex Lismorons. Such a fun night and so many ears would’ve been burning or at least feeling slightly toasted. I just wish I (and they) had more time and we could’ve got a card game going.

Next day we drove to Werribee  train stop. When we got there, the train wasn’t moving and people were panicking but I calmed them down “Don’t worry,” I soothed, “it won’t be stationary for long.” We got the train to the city then met up with Randall at St Kilda. We were late because we took the #16 tram the wrong way and ended at Melbourne Uni. St Kilda was great and we had lunch and a special cake on Ackland Street after seeing the fairy penguins moulting in their little rock crevices below the pier. They had wings but not fairy wings and there was nary a wand to be seen between the lot of them.

The day after that we went back to the city and wandered round the city and the oh so groovy laneways. I spent an age looking for replacement sandals. We finished up at the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) What a lot of fun. We finished off by visiting Sarah and having dinner at her pad.

We spent our last full day at the Werribee Zoo, a 10 minute drive away. We went for a special ride through the open animal areas. I asked Tim if he was enjoying it and yes -so far he -was very happy with it. Lou was copying the gorilla. I told her not to ape him. We saw a couple of antelope, I told the kids we couldn’t buy them because they were too dear. Tim asked ‘Are you the parent of one of those American buffalo?’ ‘Why’ I said.—Because as we passed you said bye son. Boy did we have fun. Finished off this day by going to Jo and Tony’s house for dinner.

The next day I finally got round to putting on the new step with the help of Lou. A very tricky job. We cleaned the caravan and got everything ready for our Bass Strait crossing. We went and parked the van on a street in Port Melbourne and Bec came and picked us up took us back to her place and we had dinner with her, Dave and Izzy.

Then we headed for the ferry (again- no gossamer wings no magic wand).