Up to Lorne was a recurring series of oohs and ahs, as we rounded one tight corner by the sea after another, stopping for the odd photo.
And Lorne was also a pleasant town, with a surfer's beach where we stopped to watch a while, and a clearly developed commercial scene.
The section between Lorne and Geelong had, unbeknownst to us, a bike race on the road. Tensions ran high in the front seat of the car, as I tried to negotiate around these bikers without hurting them or ourselves. And Darlene turned various shades of white at the drama of it all, wisely keeping from screaming along the way. Of course, it slowed us a lot (damn cyclists), but we still got into Melbourne with little difficulty (in spite of my anxieties). We were met by a young man who was working for the hotel and turned out to be from Vancouver. So we felt at home already.
Melbourne is a very different place from any we had been in over the prior weeks. Busy, ultra-modern to a fault, noisy, confusing. Our kids would have loved it; we found it a bit disorienting at first, but we quickly accommodated. After returning the car to the rental folks, we heaved a great sigh, had some lunch, and went back to the hotel room. And then headed out to take the tram down to the beach at St. Kilda's.
No chance of a sunset, as it turns out. But we had a pleasant walk in the neighbourhood, and a nice enough meal out on the deck of a restaurant: the last time we'll be able to do that for a while.
To bed early, up early and off to the airport for the 36-hour trip back home. Helped by the nice man who checked us in and got us into some very good seats for both aspects of the trip to Vancouver. And the trip is done.
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