Week 6 December 28th to January 3rd 2010

Sebastien Guesney and Lara Jaillon

Following in footsteps of Burke and Wills

On Monday 28th Mike took Mary, Peter and children to the coast and we decided to leave Zoë in peace so we went to explore the wineries in the Yarra Valla. This is a beautiful region north of Melbourne where they have been growing vines and making wine for nearly 200 years. There are so many wineries to visit and taste the wine. It was a beautiful sunny day. We stopped for lunch at the Tokar Estate, where we learned that rose bushes are planted at the end of each row to give an early warning if there is a problem with the soil. If the rose bush becomes diseased then the vines could follow. We also enjoyed blueberry muffins at a blueberry farm. On the way home we drove up Mount Dandenong and enjoyed a fantastic panoramic view over the city.

On Tuesday we drove up to Bendigo where Brian's cousin Jean and husband Mick are spending Christmas with their son Kevin and family who emigrated 4 years ago. Jean and Mick live quite close to us in England. Bendigo is a very interesting old town, which was founded on gold. We went on the historic tram ride where we learned all about Bendigo's fascinating history. We also visited the beautful Catholic cathedral, the largest Gothic church in the Southern Hemisphere.

Staying at our motel was a French couple who are trekking from Melbourne to Gulf of Carpentaria on thr North coast in the footsteps of Burke and Wills, two nineteenth explorers. Apparently no one has ever done it since. They are going by foot each pulling a cart. See photograph. If you are interested in following their progress their website is http://www.terraincognitatrek.com/.

On our way back to Melbourne we stopped at Hanging Rock of the Picnic at Hanging Rock Film. We couldnt really see it properly as neither of us felt like climbing 1800 metres up a steep footpath to the top in the 39°heat. There was an interesting discovery centre there.

We arrived back on New Years Eve. We all went into Yarra Park, in the city where there was a free concert and entertainment for children' The park was packed with families. We needed umbrellas to shield us from the scorching sun. A storm was forecast and just before the fireworks were due to go off at 9pm, the heavens opened. The display was postponed, so we headed back to the car, but as we reached the car the fireworks began, so we stood and watched them before driving home. We then saw in the New Year with the children, watching the fantastic Sydney fireworks on TV.