Gerry and Lorraine's trip was a comedy of errors until the last. They arrived Saturday and we had a million things on (including a 'Grandad and Dad story time at the Library for Father's Day). Sunday we subjected them to the in-laws. Gerry likes his steak burnt. And by burnt I mean put it on the barbie the night before you want to eat it. Dad cooks his steak 30 seconds on each side. We made Dad put Gerry's steak on at the same time as the prawns we were to eat for entree, then when it looked inedible we took it off and put it in the oven. He loved it. They wanted to see crocodiles in the wild and 'the Outback'. Hmm. In Melbourne? For the next few days we chatted about travel options in the evening and they checked out Melbourne during the day. You know what hit them about Melbourne? The amount of 'food shops'. I've never thought about it, but in Melbourne cafes are as numerous as pubs in England.

By Wednesday they had seen enough of Melbourne and we sent them off to Ballarat to the races. That was the only day, in the 150 yr history of Australian horse racing, that the jokeys went on strike. The taxi driver took them to the wrong racetrack so they missed the first race, and by the fourth race the jockeys were on strike.

Friday was a good day. Will took the whole day off and took them out on the town for a few Guinnesses. Saturday we took off for the Great Ocean Road. It was a fantastice weekend and nearly put paid to all the calamaty. First stop was the Anglesea Golf Club. A population of wild kangaroos lives there. We have taken all Will's other visiting relatives there to see kangaroos cruising around wild. Now the Golf Club have put up a fence and signs prohibiting access to the course unless playing but 'welcoming all visitors to the club house'. We had a coffee then a walk down the fence line and saw two kangaroos. Typical.

On the up side, we found a guy renting out the tiniest motor boats you've ever seen and took Euey and Aoife for a little ride. Gerry and Lorraine got the best chips and bacon-egg sandys they'd had in a long time. Things were on the up. All was going well, except the car. It started shuddering. It crawled up the hills and Will had to freewheel down hill to get up speed to get up the next. We tentatively crept toward our destination for the night, hoping it would last until we got there so we could get the RACV out. We filled up with petrol which helped a little, and Will got used to managing the shudder and by early evening we had arrived without the car dying.
Then everything was perfect. The house we'd booked to stay in was on 1.5 acres of beautiful garden, a 5 minute drive from the 12 Apostles. There were cows over the back fence. While we were unpacking the car Ger called me over with a quizzical, half fearful look on his face. 'What is making that noise?' he asked me, pointing at the ground. It took me a while to figure out he was talking about the crickets.

The next morning they (everyone except Finn and I) checked out the 12 Apostles then took a helicopter ride over the coastline, which is amazing, and came back raving. We walked to the blowhole over land that looks just like where Will and Gerry grew up. Then we went into town for lunch and a walk on the beach. The weekend erased all previous mishaps. There was one more little mishap, but this was nothing to do with Ger and Lorraine. Will had Euey down on the beach where the tide was coming in. I was up in a cafe with Ger and Lorraine cause the younger two were sleeping. When I came down Will and Euey were running away from waves. They knew how big they got, but I didn't. We were standing on this ledge and Euey was playing in the sand.

I gave Finn to Will so I could put Aoife's hair in a pony tail and in came one of those waves. Before I knew what was going on Will had jumped off the ledge, had Finn by one arm (literally, hanging by an arm) and was grabbing Euey to stop him being dragged out. Scary. Apparently I was just saying 'no no no no' and Will didn't know if I meant 'no, don't take my son' or 'no Will you're doing something wrong'. I can't remember doing anything except looking on in horror.

Thanks to Willy's close watch and quick reactions the only lasting horror was the drenching.