Today we did the biggest part of our drive to Melbourne; from Lyndoch to Warrnambool. Luckily our hire car company (unfortunately this blog has an exclusive sponsorship deal with Cyberoo, so I can't mention the car company's name) gave us a free sattelite navigation system. We can choose whether we want the directions to be given by a male voice or a female voice, however the guy sounded rhather dull and so we opted for the lady and nicknamed her Cherie.
Cherie has got a very calm but commanding voice, obviously used to giving orders. Just the thought of her saying "Please do a u-turn if possible" in her style that extinguishes even the slightest notion of rebellion, led to the fact that we followed each of her directions, even if that meant leaving the main road, driving around the block and then returning to the same spot we started. Yes, even computers have a sense of humour. However we then figured out that she had told us to "bear left" but we had "turned left", so really we can't blame her.
After a short pit stop at the German influenced township of Hahndorf, where they have Australian flags with eagles on them, a "Kaffeehaus" run by ocker Aussies and other perversities.
After buying a take away coffee we departed and Mark dared to do a u-turn without consulting Cherie, who had worked out an alternative scenic route. Her revenge came in form of some bold "nasty" arrows and her leading us through some tiny Hahndorf streets which MB found just beautiful and amazingly idyllic.
We then drove further south at a high speed and almost gave a kangawallpop a ride. Luckily it got scared away by Marcia's "Open Space" music (the sort that's supposed to be relaxing but really makes your teeth go yellow). We then arrived at Kingston SE, which is a village on the coast and famous for its lobster (we don't know what the SE stands for).
MDR had seen it on TV a few days ago and knew exactly which restaurant he wanted to go to. The "Great Lobster Restaurant" is hidden behind a - surprise, surprise - giant lobster, which is approximately 25 metres high. Unfortunately the joint didn't look as spectacular as on TV and in fact was more of a fast food outlet with a drive thru, and as if that wasn't bad enough, it was closed. We therefore consulted our travel guide book, which suggested the fish markets. Cherie guided us there in no time, and while the lights were on the markets were closed, too.
Therefore we decided to give the "Famous" Grand Hotel a visit and indeed got some very nice food (unfortunately they used a lot of garlic which influenced the atmosphere - with that I mean air - on the further journey). However far more spectacular was their jukebox. In addition to playing songs this wondrous machine showed the music videos on a big screen TV. MB and I decided that we just had to try it and put on Pony by Kasey Chambers. It started off really loudly and was greeted with a "Turn it off" from the drunk figures at the bar. The bartender opted for a compromise and turned it down.
An overenthused MB couldn't wait for that song to finish so she could put on another one. Apparently possessed by demons, she decided to play the Sunscreen Song by John Safran. Luckily we had almost finished our meals and were able to escape before being attacked by the locals.
MB then took over the wheel and we almost took another kangawalla-animal with us, however this one didn't dare challenging MB (also see "Trivial Pursuit challenge" - again the odds were clearly on her side).
We made it to Warrnambool safely and checked into a very nice Motel (again, our sponsorship deal with http://www.cyberoo.com.au forbids the mentioning of any business names) where we enjoyed takeaway pizza and are recovering from the day.
SB
4 comments:
i think sebastien (is that spelt right? i forgot how to spell it again) should take over the blog-updating duties from now on.
marcia on your comment on kaffeehaus in hahndorf run by aussie ockers and other perversities just to let you know its actually run by a german family for the last thirty years and most of the perversities we see are the flotsam and jetsom that drive about making comments on something they no nothing about perhaps you should do a little more research before making stupid comments
Isnt it great that not only family and friends read your Blogg. As for the Germans? Well they are everywhere and after 30 years in Australia sure they will have some ocker in them otherwise they would still be in Germany. From a transported German....
Dear "anonym",
The comment on the Kaffeehaus was actually posted by me, a German who went on that trip with Marcia.
In the Kaffeehaus we were served by people as ocker as they get.
Further, German culture is not represented accurately in Hahndorf, but it is commercialized. Therefore it is completely accurate to describe Hahndorf's Germanism as a perversion of the original.
Of course I did not intend to represent the Kaffeehaus inaccurately or to hurt anyone's feelings. I perceived Hahndorf as a rather ironical place, so that's why I employed irony when I wrote about it. Any reader of this post who attended high school should be familiar with this figure of speech, know that it usually comes together with exaggeration and therefore take it with a pinch of salt.
I appreciate your criticism and apologize once again for representing the Kaffehaus inaccurately.
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