26 September 2013 - Sundowner Rockbank Caravan Park, Rockbank, Victoria

Yesterday passed in the most mundane fashion, dealing with maintenance matters and then after lunch, we pulled our heads out of our respective books and headed along the freeway to Melton, for a change and to pick up some bits and bobs.

The day had started in a rather sombre mood when we learned that Team New Zealand has lost yet another two races against America’s Oracle, evening the score cards to 8 all, which meant the next race was the definite decider. Having come from 8:0 to New Zealand just a few days ago, this was indeed disturbing and my Facebook Friends, namely our family in New Zealand, were all crying into their teacups.

It was interesting to note also that the last few days since the Oracle crew had been inching themselves toward a possible comeback victory, that the Australia ABC Channel had suddenly taken an interest, mainly because they had suddenly discovered that the Skipper and a couple of crew on board were in fact Aussies. Trans-Tasman rivalry meant therefore that the Aussies would be rooting for the Americans; strange times indeed!

We spent the latter part of the afternoon hanging about for the wine to chill and to schedule our arrival at Sunbury after five; some people have to work. Needless to say we passed a fabulous evening with our friends, Janette having outdone herself with a delicious three course meal. We sat late over our coffee until the clock struck 10 pm and we ventured out into the rain, driving the twenty something kilometres back across the country on unfamiliar roads, peering through the rain and into the dark for roos and other creatures who prefer the cover of darkness. Our return journey was uneventful and we were soon home, thanks to our TomTom, which, in the main, is a wondrous device, despite our frustrations at its occasional delinquency.

Most welcomed by Bob and Janette

This morning we rose to learn that the worst had happened; Team New Zealand had been beaten by Team USA, although listening to the news, you would swear it was the Australians who had won. Had they lost, it would have been the Americans. I thought of my older son currently at the annual Monaco Boat Show, there to network and promote his marine design business, and hoped this would not have negative repercussions on that Mediterranean shore.

Rather deflated, we set off for Sunshine to catch the train, which was late; horribly late, three quarters of an hour late! That is three trains worth of passengers. At one stage the station manager suggested that since he had no firm time when the train might arrive, people might like to catch the bus through to Footscray, where they had more options as it is where several rail routes converge. This cleared the Sunshine station somewhat, although we were all pressed into the tiny ticket office because the weather outside was atrocious. At 11 am the 50 kph winds were gusting up to 69 kph, an hour later they had risen to 59 kph, gusting to 93 kph. It did occur to me as we were waiting that the train might have been blown over on the track, however we later learned it was all about some signalling problems emanating out of the Flinders Station.

A train did eventually arrive and we all crowded on, no seats within cooee. Chris reckoned there were over thirty commuters standing pressed near the carriage entrance and at least 200 in the carriage and that was just one of the many; it was absolutely crazy. Every time the train stopped at the stations on the way into town, more squeezed in and while the doors stood open for the loading, youthful black athletic bodies, hung out as they do in pictures of railway rides in India and the like. Finally we arrived at Flinders and the doors slid open and the crowds burst out; it was not until we stood in a corner of the station foyer, we looked at each other and agreed that was the worst train ride we had ever had. It had been an experience for sure!

The streets were busy too, with an influx of purple clad Freemantle Docker fans who have made their way across the country from the west. Such commitment to AFL cannot come cheaply; I hope their team does them proud this Saturday.

We returned to the Ian Potter Centre; NGV Australia to complete our own tour of the Aboriginal art section, then found a couple of seats in the Atrium where we had lunch while watching a small group of mainly Asian women doing a gentle brand of line dancing to Chinese music. It was quite entertaining and became more so when that session ended and a voluptuous but modestly clad belly dancer arrived to take her “class”.

When we emerged back out into Federation Square where there were still lines of children with a token parent queuing to win an AFL football, it was raining and blowing a gale. We made our way across the Yarra Bridge and into the main art gallery in St Kilda Road, thankful to be out of the elements. There we resumed our tour of the upper levels of the gallery until we were satisfied we had “redone” that gallery as well.

By the time we ventured back out into the street, the wind had dropped significantly and the sun was shining. We refuelled at McDonalds with the all too frequent ice-creams, then went seeking some avomine, a miracle drug for seasickness according to last night’s hosts.  Although unable to source this magic potion, we settled for some Phenergan which the sweet girl behind the counter promoted in its stead. I recalled dosing my infant son when he was not sleeping for various reasons; hopefully it should knock me out similarly on Saturday night and prevent nausea and worse.

I am pleased to report that while our train was a few minutes late to depart the city, our return trip was otherwise on schedule and without event. The forecast tonight suggests a quietening down of the weather; hopefully the seas will also be calmer by Saturday. However I have my seasick pills so I guess it doesn’t really matter, providing we make sure we pack everything securely in the caravan before we set sail.

We also heard on the news that there were about five hundred calls to the emergency services last night here in Melbourne and here in the west we had nearly 20 mm of rain. That would account for the extent of the puddles about the camp this morning.