25th February to 15th March 2013

25th February 2013

We ventured into Melbourne using the bus/train combination and suffered the same problem that we encountered 2 years ago where by the train returns to Mentone Station where you then walk through a subway to the other side of the railway in time to see the bus you need pulling away from the bus stop and heading into the distance.  We then sat around at a cafe with a coffee for the next bus in an hour’s time.   We only visited Melbourne because we had to go to the electoral offices to do an absentee vote for the WA elections so that we didn’t receive a fine.  Voting in Australia is mandatory.

27^th February 2013

Rain has reduced our activities to nil.

28^th February 2013

We returned to the specialist to get Merry’s biopsy results.  These turned out to not be as good as we had previously been led to believe as the more thorough examination revealed more than was first seen.  It means that it can’t be removed with laser surgery and therefore requires radiation therapy over a 6 to 8 week course.  Much better than the knife with the possibility of no voice.  Fortunately we can store our caravan at Steve and Terry’s in Woodend and move in with Garon and Sue for the duration, if they can bear it for that long.  Racing down to Melbourne from Canberra in the hope of seeing a specialist proved to be a good move.  So far getting appointments with doctors and specialists has fallen into place very easily.  Merry meets with the specialist and the radiation team on the 7^th March for the final decision on the method of attack prior to the first treatment.

2^nd March 2013

We packed up our annex, etc and moved out of Dingley Village and towed the caravan up to Woodend and managed to manoeuvre it into the parking area beside the house without any tree lopping required.  We settled in with Steve and Terry whilst Foxy argued with Badger (their dog) and Gypsy (their cat) as to who was in charge, which turned out to be Gypsy and Foxy and Badger resolved their differences.  In the afternoon Steve and Barry attacked the gas heating system that had stopped working as the installer had advised Steve to contact the manufactures, but that couldn’t happen until Monday and this is Saturday.  They found a hidden blown fuse in the igniter circuit which resolved the problem after it was replaced.

3^rd March2013

Other than a quick visit into the town for a small amount of shopping and a couple of photos, Merry had an afternoon of social chatter while Barry did an oil change on the car.

4^th March 2013

This was another day of socialising with our hosts and making future plans. 

5^th March 2013

We went with Steve and Terry on a trip to the small town of Molden and took a stroll around the town to take a few photos of the points of interest and moved on to Castlemaine to have some lunch and then walk the town.  On the return journey we called into Taradale to check out the railway trestle bridge before heading home via Kyneton where we had a quick look at another grey stone bridge.

 6^th March 2013

We packed all that we considered necessary to take with us to Garon and Sue’s, which almost filled the car and headed for Melbourne in the late afternoon and endured the frantic rush hour traffic getting through to Beaumaris.

7^th March 2013

We met with Merry’s surgeon and Radiation therapist at Murdoch hospital expecting to meet a team of ten but in fact a tea of fifteen had already discussed the situation and decided that radiation is the only option as the problem is a bit worse than first thought.  We are now waiting for an appointment for anMrI scan to get a better idea of what is going on.

8^th March 2013

We went out and bought a new computer for Merry as her current one is like us, getting old and slow, and generally becoming a painful experience, unlike us.  The idea being that we will be using a worthwhile fast computer for a devious little scheme (legal) that we are getting involved in with Richard.  

10^th March 2013

We drove out to Woodend to Steve and Terry’s again to collect some more of the caravan contents, and spent most of the day with them and Steve’s sister, another Sue.

12^th March 2013

We used the train to the Caulfield racetrack railway station and spent most of the day at the Caravan & Camping Show which is always dubious were we are concerned as it is difficult to leave without buying anything.  However, on this occasion it was at least something that should prove very useful, in the form of a TV antenna.  The caravan has a wind up antenna which we found to be only partially useful from a very early stage of our journey as it only receives horizontally transmitted signals.  When we got to Adelaide, some years ago, we bought another unit that fitted externally that can be rotated to receive a vertically transmitted signal.  Many of the country areas use the vertical signal.  When all else fails we use our satellite dish.  The new antenna is a retrofit unit to replace the roof mounted wind up antenna that can receive both transmission systems, which will replace the old horizontal bar.  Once we have proved it works to our satisfaction we will try to sell the additional external antenna which has to be removed each time we pack up.

15^th March 2013

The MRI scan appointment is not until next week, but Merry has had a blood test done as a prior requirement.  Now we just wait again, which we aren’t good at.