The blogging has been a bit sporadic I know….but such a hectic weekend and I had some serious late nights. Hopefully the content of the next two posts will make up for the tardiness!

I left Lorne on Friday morning in a light drizzle and continued on towards Melbourne. The trip took a little over two hours and I had a few stops to see the views from various lookouts. Mostly coastal scenery and then some forestry. Once again stop and go’s and roadworks made the trip a bit longer than planned. I arrived at Avalon airport to collect Heidi just after 12.15pm and we hit the road into Melbourne a little after 1pm. I had arranged with the hotel/apartment that I could stop and park, drop off all the luggage and then head out to the airport to return the car. Parking is hellishly expensive in the city. We decided that it would be best I headed off to return the car alone, because of the costs of the bus tickets.

Heids was in charge of shopping and stocking the fridge and I returned the car to the rental company. I then caught the skybus back into the city. By a stroke of luck the skybus stop was directly opposite our hotel block. So my trip back to the airport was sorted. The hop on hop bus stop was also there. I got back to the apartment in time for a quick shower and change and then we headed off to Cretini’s restaurant for the much anticipated reunion.

I am thrilled to say that it was everything and more that we had hoped for. The warmth that flowed from the first hugs hello (yes yes….we all hugged hello!!).We sat down and the missing 33 years vanished into thin air as the remember who and remember whens started. We nicknamed Gary as ….Google Gary, because he remembered so much. We laughed and teased and joked. None of us have really changed at all. Except when it came time to ordering….it seems all of our arms had shrunk …and we only had 2 pairs of glasses to share around the table. As my wise friend Andrew says….if you like each other as kids, inherently those characteristics remain in place. The wives and partners were also superb, allowing us space to ‘when we’ and talk about the olden days. We only left to go home because we were the last in the restaurant.

If I tell you that we only got back to apartment after midnight and only got to sleep after 2am…you will understand how special an evening it was. Needless to say…Saturday started a bit later than planned. I caught the hop on hop off bus, had a stop at the market and saw the city from the top deck. I then did the second route to St Kilda…it really is a pretty city with lots to see and do. I am almost sorry that I am going to Sydney, I should rather have had an extra day in Melbourne and an extra day in Tasmania. Heids met an old colleague from Oman for lunch, so we did our own thing for the day. I then got off the bus in the city, went to see St Paul’s cathedral, which took my breath away. It was so beautiful inside. I walked back across the river and went to the apartment at about 4pm, Heids arrived a few minutes later. My plan was to chill for a couple of hours before Trevor collected me at 6.30pm.

So I thought I would just do some ironing (no Tyla so I have to iron)…and then blog a bit, shower and get ready. I noticed that there was a missed call on my phone from Trevor… they were downstairs waiting for me. OMG…..so 7 minutes later, I was heading out the door again. I met his family, wife Sue and daughter Ashley and we headed off to the hills, quite literally. We had dinner on the mountain which overlooks Melbourne and watched the sun set over the city. It is called Mount Dandenong and was too beautiful and something I would never have got to do just visiting the city. Again, it was incredible to catch up 30 years in a heartbeat. Fond memories of sitting on the lawn outside the Wartenweiler library smoking and swopping lecture notes!

All too soon we were heading back into the city and I got back home just after 10pm. Needless to say we got wagjaw once more and I only got around to packing at midnight. Heids had to leave at 6.15am to get a cab to the station for the airport shuttle. So I was up around 5.45am….nowhere near brighteyed….in fact I felt like I had hit a bus headon. I left the apartment at 7.45am and caught the bus to the airport for my flight to Hobart. Check in was easy and the flight uneventful except for the fact that I was exhausted.

It is now 11pm and I am weary, so I will catch up on the Hobart leg of the trip tomorrow night.

Thought I would share some of the comments from our reunion