Road Trip

Once again we left really late, and only made it to the 3pm train out of Melbourne. The plan was to go to Red Hill and the Gordons. Eileen Gordon, the daughter of a Scottish glass engraver, has together with her husband, set up a substantial glass studio with gallery, cold shop and metal workshop. Her background is the traditional art of glass making, and she blows plates with beautifully harmonious colour combinations. Her husband, on the other hand, enjoys making installations with metal and glass for the garden.

When we reached their place late at night and unannounced, an hour after closing time, there wasn’t a soul around. We just had the two dogs for company and so we set up our tent around the corner. The next morning we enjoyed coffee together at the Gordons’ before we continued on the coastal road towards Lakes Entrance. By the evening we hadn’t made it that far, but we were offered a place to sleep for the night by a couple we had met on the way. We were glad that we had a bed with fine down covers, plus our own bath and a tasty dinner while enjoying the sunset. Mandy and Allen gave us the tip to go to Wilsons Promontory to look at the mountains and coastal scenery. No sooner said than done, Mandy took us to the right road and we were planning to travel further on today, with a brief detour to the coast.

The very first car stopped with two Indian guys from Melbourne, about our age, who were on their way to Wilsons Prom for the day. That was perfect, so we joined them. During the day we quizzed them about India and learnt a few words of Hindi. This was great because on Christmas Eve we’ll be flying to Mumbai. We called Mandy again and asked if we could stay another night. This was fine, so the boys dropped us off and we fell into bed.

The next day we made it to Lakes Entrance, where we visited Norm’s studio. After his wife’s death, he has only recently got the studio back up and running. The next day we walked together with a wild group of lawnmower pushing men, which got us only a few steps further along the map! They were collecting money for men’s health issues and wanted to push the mower from the southernmost point of Australia right up to the north, creating awareness and reaching local people. Crazy!

Sure enough the next day we also pushed the mower 5km, before deciding to hitch further as walking to Canberra would take a bit too long. Our next lift was with Annie, originally from Denmark, and her husband Bob, a passionate marathon runner. At the age of 61 he has already run more than 100 marathons and so secured the starting number 4, out of all the Australian runners. This means he doesn’t have to pay a starting fee and can automatically take part in every run. We stayed with them overnight and the next day we travelled to Harriet Schwarzenrock and Matthew Curtis, with whom we will be working until the end of the month.