En route to Melbourne

A short break in the rain allowed us to pack in a dried awning, but as we moved on, crossing the state border into Victoria, the rain caught up with us. So the weather gave us only 20 minutes to see beautiful Mallacoota (on the "bottom right corner" of Australia, one of the most relaxed holiday spots of the country) before it urged us to move on. I hope to come back here again in better weather.

We got out of the rain again 2 or 3 hours later in Lakes Entrance, another very beautiful spot on the coast. There are big lakes just behind the dunes of the shoreline, and at one point there is a small opening that connects the lakes to the sea, hence the name Lakes Entrance. The big business here is fishing, and tourism.

We luckily found a campsite with free wireless Internet and so I could reply to a couple of long due e-mails and even skype with my parents and my sister Monika -- until the connetcion broke off, seems like they had a volume or time limit.

Today (Friday) we drove the rest of the distance to Melbourne, and here Shelly and I parted. She decided not to come with me to Melbourne. I, frankly, was not unhappy about that. She was obviously uncomfortable travelling with me and her grumpiness (Sauertöpfigkeit, never mind if you can't find either word in your dictionary) hadn't made the trip more pleasant than if I had gone alone.

Now I'm back to a big city and I hate it: it had been really a relief to get out of Sydney last week, and on first sight, Melbourne seems to be even worse in terms of noise and traffic. I'm really looking forward to quiet and serene Tasmania.