We said goodbye to Tuross Head this week and after almost a month there, whilst sorry to leave, it was good to be moving on. We had invites to a festival a couple of hours outside Sydney in a place called Wiseman’s Ferry, a “short” drive of about 6 hours. The invites came via Lottie’s uncle, who as well as being a DJ runs the “Return to Rio” festival.  Now there are many types of music festivals and not all are best suited to a middle-aged couple who like John Denver.  Being a techno/house festival, it was fair to say, this wasn’t our natural fit. In fact, on hearing the type of music that would be played, Stuart said he could be found in the beer tent for the duration!! For Lottie and her friend Libby however, it was going to be awesome. It is funny though how things work out and our ability to adapt…… And that is how we found ourselves at 4:00am in a chalet with 10 other people having a party.  There was an international DJ on a full professional set of decks and the ex-lead singer of the Shamen was bopping up and down in the corner…..the girls were nowhere to be seen, having lasted only lasted 2 of the 3 days.

We were based in a hotel in Wiseman’s ferry. The ferry in question is a chain ferry identical to that which runs between East and West Cowes but unlike the IOW ferry, this one runs for 24hrs. Now in a spectacular failure to plan, we were a 3-mile walk, and the aforementioned ferry, from the festival site. This led to some interesting walks home. Especially for the girls who returned at 06:30 and 07:30 on Friday and Saturday respectively after having being allegedly attacked by kangaroos. 

We were only intending to spend two nights at the festival but when we tried to wake them up 2 hours after they had gone to bed on the Sunday morning to get them to leave their room, it was obvious we’d need to re-think the schedule. Hence, we extended the rooms and stayed another night. The girls couldn’t handle another night of fun, which is why we were left to carry the flag for the Brits and teach the youngsters a lesson in pacing. Needless to say, without being slowed down by the youngsters we had the best night ever, finally getting to bed at 06:00.

After the festival finished and for reasons of logistics we split up for the first time since we left in July. Fran was going to drive to Melbourne to catch the ferry to Tasmania (13 hours) and Stuart would get the place from Sydney to Melbourne (1.5 hours). The reason is that he had conveniently arranged to meet a school friend who ‘d lived in Oz for many years. We suspect 13 hours in a van that may or may not still contain a large spider was more than his nerves could take. Let’s hope we all get to the right port at the right time !!!!