a hard days night

I'm back!Finally!!

Chloe's accident was on the Wed night and she wasn't operated on till the Friday night and even then , it was with a lot of pressure from the staff on the ward to the theatre staff,as they knew about the 3 appt's Melbourne on the Monday/Tues. She was allowed home on the Sat afternoon and I brought her to my place so we could leave early on Monday morning.

Travelling in a bubble car when you are 6ft 2 and post op after having 7 screws and a plate in your arm is not recommended. She sat in the back with a beanbag and about 7 pillows, you could pretty much just see her head.

Travelling to a previously unvisited city without GPS or street directory is also not recommended. Chloe and I almost came to blows as I constantly questioned the directions I had written out myself. Imagine her in pain,so talking is white noise and I am pretty much an annoying noise anyway and me constantly asking "how far to the turn off? what does that sign say? are you sure it said 10km?" etc etc

7 hours later we arrive in Melbourne and find the motel after stopping and asking exactly where on this road it is.

I was surprised that between Wodonga on the NSW/Vic border and Seymour on the outskirts of Melbourne ...there is nothing. About 400km of nothing. There are a few highway exits, but they don't seem to lead to much. Tiny farming towns I guess.the landscape doesn't really change either like it does when you go north.

Driving on the roads with the trams wasn't as hairy as I thought it would be, I had tried to plan the trip to avoid them, but ended up in one area right behind them, but they just flow with the traffic and stop at the lights like the cars.I still wouldn't drive with them right in the middle of the city though.

We called in at the Simpson Barracks on the way through, to drop Danny a bag of clothes and the all important xbox. I was allowed on base and given an ID tag to wear. I left the bag for him to pick up ,as he was still at work. Poor Chloe had to wait at the gate as the police still had her licence,so no photo ID.

We caught a train and a tram into the city for an appointment at 5pm then met Danny at Central railway, had some dinner, left Danny to meet his friend for a lift back and headed back to the motel. I was disappointed,other than food places all the shops were shut at 5pm.

I didn't do any better with directions the next morning, we ended up late for the first appt as we first went to the Monash University, then the Monash Medical Centre,only to find it was in the middle of the hospital.They rang ahead to the next Dr as we were going to be an hour late for that one. Got there finally, then had to find a medicare to get a refund from all the Dr's fees,so that meant following more written directions. Found it ok, but I got lost in the huge shopping center, finally found Chloe when I found medicare. By this time I was buggered, tired and cranky, and I overheard Chloe talking to Jessie on the phone and telling her I wouldn't stop whinging. BAH!! I saw red and lost it. "I'm nearly 50, I'm crook myself blah blah blah"

Chloe and I are the same under stress, she gets it from me, but once we both had our say and cooled down it was business as usual.And I did stress and whinge.

We didn't end up leaving Melbourne City until 5pm.I got lost about 3 times, ended up on the West gate bridge in the wrong direction,so I came back over the bridge, this is peak hour traffic..sigh... pulled into the first garage, walked up to a truckie and asked how to get to the Hume in the Sydney direction.


He said if you can keep up with me,I'm going that way. Keep up I did and once on the freeway it's basically straight ahead all the way home.The last 10km on our bush road from the Jugiong exit was like driving drunk though and I was thankful when I pulled up in the driveway about midnight.

So Yup, I've been to Melbourne, but I didn't really see anything, and there does look like there's a lot to see. So I will have to go back, this time with a GPS! or maybe I will just catch a train.

I have Danny coming home for a few days leave next weekend,looking forward to that, though he will probably be out with friends for most of it,still, t'will be nice to have him back in the house.

Wedding is only 3 months away,something is wrong with our postal system, some of the invites have not arrived,only to resend 2 weeks later and have both arrive the same day...sigh. I still have to chase up help with the catering on the day and a vintage car, decor for the hall and I think we are organised.

Well that's me caught up.

Will try and catch up on everyone's blogs this week and see what you've all been up to.

cheers all