onwards to KL

~Sun 3-4-11 Got up at 5.30am, said goodbye to a very tearful Dawn. who in turn made me cry. Drive to airport was effortless with little or no traffic. Took car back to hertz and made way into airport Ken had already checked in on line so just a bag drop and leave Melbourne at 10am. Arrived in KL at 8.30pm and took shuttle bus to Concorde Hotel for an overnight stay.l Got up early again and it was raining stair rods, went to breakfast at 6am and took taxi at 7am to budget airport for a 45 min flight to Penang, an hours taxi drive and we arrived at lone Pine Resort. Room is lovely but we are overlooking the kitchen and car park Ken not too happy but then the lad drops the bombshell that the pool will be out of bounds for at least three days, and it was quite noisy work they were doing. As we are only here for three days I thought Ken was going to explode. You have to be careful with these people they do not like angry people so I had to leave Ken to deal with it. He asked to see the Manager which he duly did, he was full of apologies and said he would move us but could do nothing about the pool except let us use the neighbouring hotels pool, not good enough says Ken, this is a special break for our 40th Wedding anniversary and it has cost a lot of money to stay here, it is expensive for Malaysian hotels. Well we checked out two rooms and they were crap, not revamped like the rest of the place and they smelt fusty, even with a sea view I could not be tempted. So we went back to room and waited and waited until we were taken to suite, three floors up and it was fantastic, tried not to look too enthusiatic but I wanted those rooms, hehe. We have sea view, swimming pool view, garden view, the lot, and we have a kitchen, complete with microwave (not that we will be using that), fancy coffee machine, dining area, and lounge area, large bedroom, two teles, lovely bathroom and shower, two balconies, one with outside spa bath, this will do for me Jimmy,. Anyway a little while later we have a chocolate cake delivered to our room with Happy 40th anniversary iced on it, tastes yummy too. Later on the manager caught up with us in the garden and told us some fruit was being delivered to our room, the staff keep wishing us Happy Anniversary and the Manager tonight asked me if I was happy with everything and guess what from 7am in the morning the pool will be reopened, they have worked their little socks off this afternoon, working long after the 5pm deadline, bless em. So tomorrow should be a lot quieter. Had our food at the food court outside the hotel, lovely grub, then did a stroll along the night market, someone got knocked over and they waited half an hour for an ambulance he did not look good.

melobourne cont

Sat 2-4-11 Lazy day, who said that I did washing,ironing and repacked both suitcases whilst Ken went to watch Paige in her netball tournament with Dawn and Paul, her team won. In the afternoon Ken took Dylan and Dawn to his basket ball game and Paul went to the wreckers yard to get her another car part.I had a leisurely shower, did my hair, and face booked for a while. In the evening we went out for a meal with Dawn and Paul, Shelley and Kenny to thre Red Salmon where we had a good meal. It was a lovely evening. Did no stay up too late tonight as we leave early in the morning.

melbourne cont

Friday 1-4-11 April Fools Day and Dawn decided to ring Paul and tell him that the battery he had bought for her car the day before was a duff one, he was furious, until he found out he had been had We took Dawn to the Caribean market a usual haunt for us, Paige one to school as she hates the market! The Friday market is not as good as the Wednesday one not enough stalls still big and we enjoyed it. We then went onto Knox city, a bigger version of Queensgate and it has a large food court where we had lunch. Took Dawn home and later left to go and visit Monica and Owen in Frankston arriving just before 4pm. She had made a real effort considering she cant cook! She had made both a meat lasagne and a spinach and ricotta lasagne with salad, followed by lemon meringue and chocolate cheesecake from the Cheesecake shop and they were delicious, Her two daughters and a boyfriend visited and ate with us it was lovely to see them all again and Monica cried when we left at 9.30pm, an hours drive back,

Melbourne cont

Weds 30-3-11 Early risers going to Moaba for an overnight stay in one of Pauls mates sisters unit (bungalow to us). Its a 3 hour drive from Melbourne we called in McDonalds as we had promised Paige we would, then onto the town of Bendigo where we visited the historic pottery, wish I could have brought some home it was all lovely I got roped into having a go on the potters wheel alongside Paige who is somewhat of a expert and I am a complete novice but the potter had a lot of patience and I produced two dishes with lots of help from him. However the latst bowl I made on my own and I am really chuffed with it, it is now being fired and glazed and will beposted to Dawn in acouple of weeks and she will forward it on. Onto Euchar went down to the mighty Murray River to see the grand old paddle steamers in action, now onto Moamba. Its a lovely unit we are staying in, went 9ut and got bread and milk Dawn has bought some food lots of pokie machines etc but we had a delicious inexpensive meal, the place was packed. After a chat over a bottle of wine we retired to bed at 11pm. The bed is comfy and we have a good nights sleep. Thurs 31-3-11 Heading back to Melbourne this morning via Yarrawonga where Dawn andPaul have a holiday timeshare unit, stopping off for a ~subway in Yarrawonga town, Ken fancies a week here so maybe we will come back after all, I sincerely hope so but somehow doubt it. Its a lovely place with plenty to do. Arrive back in Melbourne had a lovely coffee and eclair from bakers around 4pm. Lois aand Mal come over in the evening and we all have fish and chips.

Melbourne Tues 29-3-11 Arrived at Tullamarine Airport and proceeded to check in with Hertz car hire, quick service and we go to car park to pick up a lovely white Camry which is a big automatic, a pleasure to drive. I have done much more driving this year and I am pleased to have done my share. Set sat nav for Dawns and off we go, no hitches along the way and we arrive in just under an hour, as it is earlier than expected Dawn is down at the school collecting Paige, so we went to Coles, Liquorland and cake shop!! Dawn and Paige gave us an overwhelming welcome. On going down to our bedroom we found Paige had made up a sweetie jar for us and tied it with ribbon and Dawn had placed an enormous bouquet of lillies for me as a late gift for my 60th. After Paul and Dylan came home Dawn cooked us cottage pie with chips and salad and it was very welcome. Had a good chat with them and a catch up on everyone news and then to bed for an early start as Paul had booked a unit for us in Moamba and I have no idea where that is!! draft