Day 13 - Running with Roos

One of the things I have especially enjoyed on this trip is my morning run. I've loved the experience of running on unfamiliar streets, never knowing what lies around the corner. My runs have thus far been city-based but this morning I lace up my trainers and set off across the uneven scrub of the bush. Almost as soon as I leave the immediate environs of the hotel, I come nose to nose (well, about 8 metres) from a large kangaroo. He looks at me - and we're at eye level - and I look at him. Will he run/hop? No, he just ignores me as I set off across the scrub. In my fifteen minute run (too hot and too many flies to stay out any longer) I encounter about 40 kangaroos and some turn and flee as they see me approach and others merely look at me and carry on grazing. Surreal. 

We decide that after all our travelling we need a quiet day by the infinity pool and it's hot and blissful and a perfect day for reading, swimming and ...doing nothing. One other couple stay at the hotel too whilst the others set off walking and hiking in the Grampian Highlands. Stunning scenery but everyone runs out of gas sometimes. As we get near to lunchtime, someone is waiting for the bar to open and I am looking forward to a salad or a sandwich. But the hotel remains resolutely empty and there's no sign of any staff - neither Paul, the proprietor, nor any of the other family members who work there. By about two pm, we are starting to get irritated by the lack of either food or drink and the neurologist husband and wife from Switzerland with whom we have been chatting are equally irritated. The nearest town is some thirty miles away so not a hop round the corner to your local Spar. Time to consult the internet where we discover on TripAdvisor that they don't do lunch. Surely they could have told us that at check-in? And the bar isn't open so between the four of us we amass two bottles of red wine and some peanuts and that has to keep us going till dinner. Luckily our Swiss friends are great company and despite rumbling tums we survive. 

Dinner together is fun and we exchange email addresses and perhaps we will meet them again on the Great Ocean Road. This is such a truly beautiful place but I shall be ready to leave tomorrow.