Wow, that was an incredibly cold night! Waking before dawn to make the over three-hour journey back to Canberra in time for connections to Melbourne, the tent and car were covered in ice. Without an ice scraper I had to let the car run for about fifteen minutes until the heater kicked in and started to melt the windshield. The wipers were uselessly stuck to the glass and the cleaner fluid lines were frozen shut.
The upside of the cold morning start was an incredible sunrise. As the sun began to warm the atmosphere a tulle fog rose, creating pockets of dense moisture. This was the kind of morning where the road begged to be driven. Every corner seemed to expose another perfect pastoral scene.
On the bus/train ride down to Melbourne I met Monica a Spanish nurse from Majorca. She has a great spirit and is a steadfast communicator, even if English is her third language. At one point on the train she needed to take a nap after explaining that it gets tiring speaking in another language all the time.
As we traveled down to Melbourne, I made the comment that we could easily be looking at west Texas passing by with the flat drought ridden land. Stirring from her nap, Monica woke to say, "Oh, we are still in Texas." This could be a "Ya had to be there moment" but it was very funny at the time.
After arriving in Melbourne we tackled the streetcar system and made it to the Metro Youth Hostel. Tomorrow we will rent a car and head to Phillip Island to see the Fairy Penguins come out of the sea after dusk.
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