Leaving Adelaide, I took the longcut to the Great Ocean Road, stopping first at an historic winery with lovely, cool, stone interiors and interesting light not far from the Murray River. I enjoyed a few sips of some of their award-winning wines along with some bread, fruit, and cheese in the midday sun before continuing on my way. Soon, I crossed the great Murray River on an old-fashioned cable ferry, practical for the strong river currents. From there, I headed south to the coast and wherever.

Late afternoon found me at the outskirts of Robe.

“Hmmm,” I thought, “I wonder if I should call those people.” This was in the 90s before cell phones, so I had to find a pay phone, a challenging prospect when you don’t know the area and no one is around, and go through the challenges of using an unfamiliar system. I succeeded, and Nancy answered on the second ring.

“We’ve been expecting your call. Come on round. Terry’s just popped out for some more wine and cheese, but he’ll be back before you get here.”

I had never made a promise to stop in Robe, so I was overwhelmed by this hospitality. People in Oz seem to just assume you’ll say, “Yes!” I was beginning to learn this in Adelaide with my trip to K.I. (See last week’s post.)

“That would be lovely!” I replied.

“We live in an historic house that is really too small for guests, but our good friends who run the Robe Hotel are going to put you up as their guests.”

And a free hotel to boot? Amazing!

So, I popped by and met these lovely friends of the raku artist. They could not have been more hospitable. And to think I nearly did not stop in Robe because of the hour!

After several glasses of wine, we walked up the street to the historic Robe Hotel with its charming, two-story, wrap-around veranda. Then owners (I assume it has changed hands by now) Anne and George greeted us, and we sat on the front veranda, enjoying some more wine before the five of us headed inside to enjoy a sumptuous meal they had prepared especially for us.

They asked me about my trip thus far, and among other things, I talked about my short-but-wonderful trip down to K.I. (Kangaroo Island for those of you new to this article). It turned out they not only used to live on K.I. but were good friends of my hosts down there. The world gets ever smaller by the minute.

I explored Robe the next day, as it is a very historic town and the mid 1800s, was the port of entry for sixteen and a half thousand Chinese who walked some 200 miles from there to Ballarat, Victoria to work in the gold fields. Since South Australia didn’t have an immigration tax then, it was a cheap way to import labor.

While I met some very interesting people along the Great Ocean Road, got some spectacular photographs, and enjoyed conversations over glasses of wine and Bundy OP, I cannot say that there were any particularly serendipitous moments in that part of my journey.

When I got to Melbourne, however, I found a nice, recommended bar and went in for a quiet bar meal and a pint of Redback. Instead, I found a very noisy and excited crowd. Since I was hungry and thirsty, I didn’t feel like finding another place, so I squeezed in and fortuitously found a just-vacated bar stool and placed my. I asked one of the bartenders what was going on. The Aussies are known for their enthusiasm, but this was beyond normal. Woops! It turned out that I had arrived on the eve of the Melbourne Cup, the largest and most prestigious horse race in the country with a purse of over $5,000,000 AUD, or more than $4,500,000 USD. Not only was there not a room to be had in all of Melbourne and environs, but I couldn’t even get a ticket at that late hour for the festivities the next day. So my new friend invited me back to her place for the night and recommended that I head up to Ballarat, something that was already on my wish list.

I went in for a quiet meal and conversation, and found a very noisy meal and good fun, a place to stay, and some great recommendations to keep me occupied until it was safe to return to Melbourne.

To be continued next week…