to Melbourne and on to Adelaide, Australia!
Traveled on Jetstar Airlines for the first time. Airbus 321-NEO.
Our AirBnB has this Balcony View! (Pano)
Fireballs at the Casino across the river on the hour.
Margaret Lester Forest Walk near Belgrave.
Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo enjoys a cherry.
Took the Firefly Intercity Bus to Adelaide. A near 12 hour journey with three stops to stretch or eat. Ugh.
Got some reading done (Return of the King). But it wasn't too bad for $42. each American. Took a recovery day Sunday after though.
Christmastime is much more subtle here in Australia.
There's decoration here and there, and you hear a song occasionally.
We're not watching much local TV or radio though, so we may be missing a lot.
Spent at day and a half planning our train trip to Sydney. We have a Discovery Pass, which is a nice discounted fare like Eurail pass. We didn't want to go all the way to Sydney in one shot (11 hrs), so we settled on stopping in Wagga Wagga, and Canberra. We had to confirm ticket availability to those destinations, then find accommodations (AirBnBs), in each, considering price and distance from the railroad, as we can pack/hike or Uber/Bus which may be a further expense. Booked an AirBnB in Canberra, but it was denied/canceled by the host, so we had to find another. It's a process.
We need to plan for tomorrow in Adelaide, but keep up with planning for South Island New Zealand, and later North Island, if there's any features that need reservations, for example the Ferry from Wellington to Picton for the campervan, and Return!
Visited Costco (didn't buy anything) and a mall nearby for supplies. Couldn't buy bulk items as we're on a bus, and limited in fridge space at our AirBnB. And they didn't have alcohol!
Our friend, Mari showed us the lovely town of Hahndorf, where we had a variety of sausages and a Dunkel Beer.
Lareena showed Hans Haysen his mistake.
Spent Christmas day at Mari and Yevan's.
Boxing day we toured the Botanic Garden with another new friend, Anwyn.
Ended the day at a party with more new friends, SCA and not SCA.
Saturday we translocated to a Couchsurfing Host's House - Jen is an amazing person, a real community builder.
A great example of re-use & recycle.
Monday it was up to 100F, so we just stayed at the Mall and Hoyt's Theater and watched the new Avatar: Fire and Ash film.
and shared a pint of ice cream.
Will always update the calendar on the main 2025-26 travel page daily.
THEN on December 30, we will return to Melbourne, visit the Great Ocean Road and Train up to Sydney, Australia!
Then New South Wales places via trains, Sydney, then to New Zealand on January 12.
At home, politically, 2025:
