Southward bound

'Ned Kelly'

Well…..we’ve just about reached the end of day 1 and we’re all aboard the boat safe and sound.  A good start so far! The kids have been great, Eric-the-bus-driver’s jokes funny and his trivia facts fascinating, and the weather in Melbourne amazing! A balmy 18 degrees (according to Eric-the-bus-driver) enabled us to enjoy an hour and a half romp on the beach. After spending the best part of a day on the bus, playing beach-football (do you know how hard it is to kick a football when you are standing on sand?!), walking along the jetty and playing in the playground were all great ways to expend extra energy. Hopefully this means that along with the rocking of the boat, everyone will sleep like babies tonight. We’re just hoping and praying that it will be a gentle rocking!

'Centre' of Beechworth

So…..the first stop was Beechworth where after greeting ‘Ned Kelly’ en-route to the shops, we were lured to either one of two locations – the famous Beechworth Bakery or the equally famous Beechworth Lolly shop. It was in Beechworth that ‘The Football’ made its first appearance; in the park beside the bus while waiting for those who were being tempted to spend their entire budget on Day 1! It surfaced again at lunch at Seymour, but somehow the car park at Subway didn’t quite seem an appropriate place to let it out of the bus at teatime!

'Half-time' at Seymour lunch break

Time with Eric-the-bus-driver

LOVE…. the beach!

And…. now we are all settled on the boat, exploring all the attractions and checking out the cabins.  Its not even curfew time, and some have succumbed to the ‘call of bed’ already and many others (present company included) are not far off it!