Day 123 : No rest for the wicked

Lorne

High point : Feeding the cockatoos hanging out on our balcony

Low point : The temperature

No point : FTFE rest day to make sure we were fresh for Melbourne

There’s no such thing as a rest day on FTFE, we spent most of the day in an internet cafe sorting out PR, events, blogs, shipping and the usual things that need to happen to keep this bad boy on the road.  Not that I’m complaining, this isn’t a holiday after all.  We’re staying in Lorne, which is described as the most fashionable town on the Great Ocean Road, with a beautiful beach and a laid back surfie vibe.  However ….  I looked like I was in a ski resort with my FTFE Columbia jacket, gloves and a bobble hat.  It was the coldest day on the expedition so far, we were supposed to be enjoying the Australian summer, rain and cold wasn’t what we signed up for!  To be fair it was probably only around 7 degrees.

FTFE HQ for the day was the wonderful Great Ocean Road Cottages, which they very kindly gave us half price when we told them about the expedition.  I’ve been overwhelmed by the reception we’ve received in Australia and how people go out of their way to help us.  A question we get asked a lot is ‘’are you firies?’’, fair enough, if 5 people rock up in a fire engine you’d assume they were fire fighters right?  ‘’Do you carry equipment?’’, ‘’So how many fires have you put out?’’, “Have you got your uniforms with you?”.  Around the firies Paul’s tactic is to be on the front foot, asking as many questions as he can about fire fighting, equipment and appliances without anyone catching on to the fact he’s actually an accountant.  Steve’s confesses straight away explaining that his dad was a fire fighter and the whole expedition was conceived in his memory.  Myself and Lou tell the same story and Fuad, well that depends on the audience…

It’s a 6 o’clock start tomorrow to get to Melbourne for a fire engine convoy through the city.  We’d best get our beauty sleep.

Yee har!

Amy

http://www.greatoceanroadcottages.com/