Part 2

Packed up and ready to go we headed out to make our way to the mountains…BUT FIRST.
We stopped at a wildlife preserve and we got to feed the animals breakfast. I finally got to meet my new best friends the kangaroos. Let me tell you, Skippy almost made it to the car but Dad caught me trying to buckle him in…I was in love, they let you scratch their ears, feed them and they gave you kisses. I just wanted to take one home, I don’t know what the big deal was. There was also a huge Emu that wouldn’t leave us alone, I just didn’t trust him and his long neck, everywhere you turned he was there trying to eat the food for the kangaroos, bugger.

After an hour or so we were off on our long ride to Mansfield in the Victorian Alps. We got there and got our cottage…yep cottage, we were pretty much camping with a house. This was not the country club Mom and Dad usually stay at. But hey it suited us fine, minus the lack of heat in the back bedroom where I slept!
So guess what…yep-typical vacation move, I got sick. But this was not a normal cold, I was rocked! I had the flu pretty bad, with fever and runny nose to boot.

But I wasn’t going to let that stop me; we did some tours around in the car to lookouts and mountains and bridges and dams and whatever else Dad could find. Then my day came…horseback riding in the mountains. It was beautiful, sunny and I was feeling like total shit but went anyway cause I was not about to sit this out. However in true fashion, I had a problem with my horse. We were doing fine at first and I finally got my trot down pat when we stopped, ready to go up a big hill and my horse freaked out, danced around, kicked soooo the leader lady had to calm him down while I quickly was told to get down. So after a few rounds of horse shuffling I got a new horse named Babe, which I thought was appropriate. After that we made it all the way up and down the mountain with everyone gripping on tightly. Dad did a great job, didn’t love it and doesn’t think he’ll do it again and Mom, mom has found a new love. She thought it was great! Julia had a great time and never thought she would like it as much as she did and I could barely walk after getting off because my knees were so stiff!
Of course throughout the week we stopped at every winery and brewery we could find and had some great afternoons of chatting with strangers drinking up local wine.
Next week we are heading east to Sydney and then back to the coast. Its going by so quickly already!