Hospitality

Last week we have had the privilege of staying with friends in and around Melbourne. The hospitality we were experiencing during these days was simply overwhelming!

We stayed with Joye and John from Sunday to Thursday, and the Mitchells from Friday to Sunday. We got to know them along the Gibb River Road in 2014, and kept in touch with both during the past years.

Arriving from Tasmania on Sunday evening, we were picked up by Joye and John at the pier. They had to wait a long time for us because disembarking was slow. We got an escort through the city to their house, John sitting in our car giving Dag directions, while I was keeping Joye company. How nice it was to catch up after all this time. In their beautiful house we had the basement floor to ourselves; to bedrooms and a bathroom soon felt like home.

While John spent half of the following day with Dag and Robin, driving them around to divers shops to buy some camping gear, getting our rear camera fixed and figure out why the solar panels didn’t work properly, Joye and I had other plans. We went to the Australian Open to see Roger Federer that afternoon. No need to mention how much I enjoyed that. It was really a one in a lifetime experience for me!

During the next days we went to the zoo together, visited one of their daughters in the neighbourhood – Robin enjoyed greatly jumping into their pool. When Joye suggested that Dag and I went out for dinner just the two of us, I didn’t even have to ask Robin if that was ok. He couldn’t get rid of us fast enough, and had a cosy evening with pizza, tennis and chess. It amazed me how trusting he was towards them, not really knowing them that well. It tells a lot about what wonderful people they are!

The last day and night we spent in their weekend house in Torquay on the coast, accompanied by their oldest grandson. They never got tired showing us around, taking us to the outlet surf shops so we could buy a wetsuit to Robin, showing us beaches and rockpools, taking us walking along the amazing coast. They never got tired of all my questions about the country, flora and fauna, language and much more. And while the boys were playing, we got plenty of time to talk about our mutual passion of travelling. They gave us countless tips about where to drive and where to stop, what to do and what to avoid during our long trip around Australia.

When we had to say goodbye, it felt a bit like parting from family. Let’s make sure we meet again!

From Torquay we drove east, taking the ferry over Port Philipp Bay from Queenscliff to Sorrento. The Mitchell family have a beautiful little farm just outside Leongatha. It’s a cattle farm with about 70 cows, and we learned a lot about organizing a farm of that size. We also did some yabby fishing in the muddy pond close by, which especially Robin enjoyed a lot. Probably shouldn’t mention that all the yabbies died over night in the bucket, due to lack of oxygen.

On Saturday they took us to Wilsons Promontory National Park where we did a nice walk, spent hours at the stunning beaches and enjoyed a good picnic. Coming home late afternoon we all were a bit sunburned but in high spirits. The evenings we spent on their veranda, barbecuing, drinking wine and talking.

After this week I just felt so thankful and happy about all the friendship we experienced. It’s all about the people you have around you in life, isn’t it! I’ll be having this in my mind when we return to Oslo. Always open our door for like-minded people, enjoy friendship, get personal. So make sure you stop by when we’re back and stay with us for some time!

Author: cobaroblog

Travelling architect View all posts by cobaroblog