January 23rd  - 25th

Geelong and Melbourne

So the bulk of my Australian trip is over. I have rode from Cairns to Port Douglas, The Tablelands down to Townsville, Magnetic Island, Brisbane up to Noosa and through the Hinterlands and back to Brisbane through to the Gold Coast. Newcastle to Sydney and down the Grand Pacific Drive to Jervis Bay. Two Murray River rail trails, The Great Ocean Road and The Great East Road of Tasmania. New Zealand is next for 6 weeks but first I got to spend 3 days with my daughter at her employer's house in Geelong just south of Melbourne.

The whole timing has been perfect as for the next few days the trains into Melbourne are free so we took advantage of this and went into the city. Our first port of call was the 88th floor of the Eureka Tower over looking the Melbourne skyline. It was a clear morning so the view was perfect. We could see back south  to Geelong over 80kms away and north towards Bendigo. As the Australian open is on in Melbourne we decided to go to the fan zone and soak up some of the atmosphere with the help of a couple beers and some BBQ chicken subs. It was a hard sweltering hot afternoon sitting drinking and eating so i can only imagine how tough it is for the competitors in the actual tennis matches. We later took a walk into the city to do a bit of shopping. I know I'm bike riding but I thought I could do with a new pair of jeans. The pair I have had all along are twice the weight of my new ones so it was worth buying them just to reduce the weight by so much. Also, they were only the equivalent of £15.
Our evening was spent watching Peaky Blinders which I have never seen  but really enjoyed. I feel a box set coming on when I return to normality.

The 2nd day together was spent driving down the great ocean road to Torquay then Anglesea before returning to Geelong and having the afternoon at the water front. The third day was a complete chiller. We just sat and watched the tennis, YouTube videos and ate.

I'm really pleased she has settled in well at her new job. I didn't meet the family but Eleanor really likes them And they are being really helpful. She's now driving and I got to be the passenger which I never mind as driving is not something I enjoy or think I'm any good at. She is good at driving so she must get that from her mother, then again Eleanor has got natural rhythm which I know for a fact she gets off me and I choose dancing to driving any day.