Heathcotte, Melbourne & Beyond

Monday we were up and after many tears and long goodbyes we went to say a final goodbye to the kids and picked up the van. We drove off waving goodbye to Adelaide. It was hot and slow going up the freeway with the fully loaded van in tow.
Tina and I were both a little worse for ware after 3 nights of drinking not to mention Tina was also emotionally tired as well. It got so hot and we were so tired we slept on the side of the road in the afternoon and headed off again after 5.00pm when it had cooled down a little. After all these years driving long distances this was our first powernap. We drove until nearly dark and stayed at a community park at Jack Emmett Billabong in Rupanyup.
We drove the last 200 odd k’s to Joe’s house and arrived just after lunch when it was already 40+. The afternoon was spent talking about our Tojo stories as well now. (The Tojo was Joe’s car for 15 years and it had seen a lot of Australia before us) As usual a beautiful spread of food and fabulous hospitality. It finally got under 40 at about 8.00pm so we started to pack but lost interested very quickly.
Up early and only our clothes left to pack. So off we went leaving the van behind for our trip to Tassie. We drove down to Melbourne to check out where the boat leaves from and it was hot, really hot over 40 by 10.00am. We followed the Esplanade in search of a caravan park for the night. Finally we found one near Frankston and got a nice shady spot. We needed a beer so off to the Pub where the beer was well nearly cold and the air conditioner nearly worked. After not enough beers we headed back and had a swim in the pool which was bloody great. We cooked the least remaining bits of food we had on the BBQ so that the fridge was empty.