Day 2: Port Melbourne > Portsea > Port Melbourne

I’m thinking that I might donate my brain to science. Not yet – when I’m dead and no longer need it, that is.

It is a complex and amazing organ and there was a lot of stuff going on in there when I woke at 6.09am this morning. Lots of stuff, mostly related to the car. Lots and lots of things, all clamouring for attention and to be the prominent thought.

If only I could sell tickets to what goes on in my brain …

The first thought that I had was that 6.09am is only 5.09am Queensland time, and those lazy buggers in Queensland are probably still fast asleep.

But there were lots of thoughts about the car. We parked it directly outside 139 Beach Street Port Melbourne last night, and I wondered if it was still there. It would be hard to explain losing the car, especially after nearly losing it yesterday in Little … Something Street. I imagine that the insurance excess for losing the car would be pretty steep, too.

The next thought that I had was that it is still ”the car”. We always name our cars and we just haven’t got around to naming this one yet. We now have a name BTW, but you will need to wait for a bit later in the story to find out what it was.

I was still churning about that ridiculous, circular conversation with the Bargain people yesterday about the features in a compact car versus an intermediate car, and how – in my humble opinion anyway – a compact car would carry less luggage. Like a hatchback versus a sedan.

Which made me realise that the beaten up, sad Hyundai that they gave us – remember the one with the added features like a reversing camera and Google Maps – features that it didn’t actually have – that Hyundai was a sedan. The Corolla that we got – the new one with all sorts of technology included – was a hatchback … so maybe they got the last laugh because we paid for an intermediate but drove away in a compact.

Argh!

All of that got me to thinking about the old switcharoo that we had done at the last minute, and that made me realise that I didn’t have any paperwork for the vehicle (it’s in the car) and I don’t even know the registration.

Imagine if we had never found it yesterday. Can you imagine how the call to the police would have gone?

Me: I’ve lost my car

POPO: What make and model?

Me: Toyota Corolla

POPO: Colour?

Me: White

POPO: Year?

Me: No idea

POPO: Registration?

Me: Dunno

POPO: Where did you last see it?

Me: Hmmm … Little … Something Street …

And all of that thinking about not being able to find it – when we hadn’t even given it a name yet – reminded me again of when Mum lost her car. That was the first real red flag that Mum had dementia.

Which made me wonder if maybe, I too, have demen……? It was really scary, frustrating and demoralising not being able to remember where we had parked that car.

So if all of that wasn’t enough going on in my head, I also had – for no reason that I could fathom – Brooks and Dunn’s Boot Scootin’ Boogie playing on an endless loop.

There was sooo much going on in there!

You know how sometimes I look tired, and I say ”I’ve been awake since 4.00am thinking about things …”? Now you know 🙁

MBW finally woke up after I’d solved the big problems of the world. Ablutions were had, breakfast was consumed, and coffee was prepared and we caffeinated.

Into the car, Google Maps set for Portsea, and we were off.

The first big issue that we discussed was the name of the car. I thought that ”Storm” was a good name and a play on the fact that the car is white, but MBW didn’t agree. Eventually we settled on two candidate names: Buzz and Casper. I personally favoured Buzz because:

• We were buzzing around in it, and
• We were going to ”infinity and beyond” …

… but MBW preferred Casper. Voting rules are a little complex in our house – a little like politics in Zimbabwe where 1 vote doesn’t necessarily count as 1 vote – so let’s just say that MBW won the day and we are now getting around in Casper.

Now I have to pause for a moment and make a confession. When we picked up Casper yesterday we knew that he had Google and Apple Play built in. We had Googled it and confirmed and even stopped at K-Mart and bought the right cable to plug the phone in … but it would not work.

Would. Not. Work.

In the end, we did the only other thing that we knew how to do.

“Hey Google, take me to the nearest Toyota dealership”.

One minute. One. That’s how long it took the nice man in the service centre to fix it. Someone had plugged it into the wrong USB socket.

Here is a hint – I was doing the driving (the more difficult job), so it wasn’t me. 🙂

We set off down towards St Kilda then onward to Portsea.

Allow me to make a few observations about Melbourne.

I can’t believe how many luxury cars there are in Melbourne. Everywhere you look there is another BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus … I honestly think I have seen about 7 Maseratis and many more Porsches in the last 2 days. I saw a Mercedes AMG today that looked like it belonged on a race track. Where do these people get their money?

I also can’t believe how hard it is to park your car somewhere without having to pay for parking. You want to stop and look at the Brighton Beach Boxes? You pay to park.

You want to go to a public toilet in a park on the beach road to St Kilda? You pay to park. You want to stop at the side of the road in St Kilda? You pay to park. You want to stop at a little lookout to take a photo down towards the Mornington Peninsula? You pay to park.

Everywhere!

We stopped at this little sculpture park in the middle of nowhere (part-way to Portsea), and we were quoted $6 each to park and for the opportunity to walk around in the rain looking at sculptures. NO thanks.

We jumped on the M11 and wound Buzz … er Casper up to 100km/h and set the cruise control.

Casper has some really neat features – an automatic handbrake that goes on and off when you start and stop the engine. Automatic headlights. Reversing camera. Google Play. Automatic high-beams. Radar controlled cruise control.

So we were barreling along the M11 and my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognise.

Me: Hello?

Voice: Hi, it’s Ozzie from Bargain Car Rentals.

Me (what I wanted to say): Is your name really Ozzie?

Me (what I actually said): How can I help?

Ozzie: Um, we were just wondering what car you have? Like the registration?

Me: I had a whole bunch of trouble getting this car.

Ozzie: Yes, I heard.

MBW: According to the paperwork the registration is 1WB4ST

Ozzie: Hmm. Can you tell me what the key tag says?

Me: Registration is 1WB4ST.

Ozzie: Hmm. Ok then. Enjoy your day.

Weird. Very weird. But they are going to have to prise these Corolla keys out of my cold, dead fingers …

Our first real stop for the day was just before Sorrento, a very pretty little township. Same as yesterday we got all of the seasons at various times including rain, sunshine, cold, colder, wet and cold, wet and sunny, windy.

The wind was pretty unpleasant, so we were back in jackets.

From there we took a really pretty drive down to the Point Nepean National Park and went for a walk down to the water and observation point.

It is spectacularly beautiful and clean, although it was very cold and windy with the occasional shower.

From the Point Nepean NP we drove along past some of the other lookout sites that gave amazing views of the coastline.

London Bridge is a rock formation very similar to what we saw at the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road this time last year (November 2021).

By this time we were cold, wet, wind-blown and hungry so we headed back into Sorrento for lunch.

Two things about Sorrento …

Firstly it’s full of many of the name brand shops. It’s also one of those places where none of the cafes have prices on their food … I assume because if you have to ask how much, you can’t afford it anyway.

Due to a whole bunch of indecision, we had some nice hot chips from the local fish and chippery which were bad for the arteries but good for the soul.

And then we found the coolest thing ever – the Sorrento public toilets.

Yes I know that taking photos of public toilets puts me at risk of being placed on a police register and being electronically tagged, but they were so cool.

You press the button and this voice welcomes you in. The door locks, some soothing music starts playing, and when you are done and you wash your hands, the toilet flushes automatically.

Final stop for the day was Koonya Ocean Beach, about as far south as you can go on the Mornington Peninsula but again very pretty.

In other exciting news, Casper found his older brother.

From there it was a run home on the M11 back to St Kilda to pick up a couple of things, then home to Beach Street for dinner.

We finalised our RAT requirements, uploaded final documents and we are ready to sail. A few items of clothing got a wash so everything is clean and ready to go for the cruise tomorrow.

First thing tomorrow we take our bags down to the cruise ship, about 250m down the road, then Casper gets to go back home again.

We board around 12.30 and sail somewhere around 7.00pm tomorrow night.

If you are lucky there will be a post tomorrow, but then there will be radio silence for a few days while we are sailing the high seas towards NZ.

It’s been fun 🙂

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022