This is the view from my room in the hotel in Lorne this morning. With sparrow.

And this is the hotel. Very nice apart from a slight aroma of disinfectant and a need to haul the suitcase up four flights of stairs to the second floor.

So I drove again – from Lorne along the remains of the Great Ocean Road through Torquay to Geelong. Although I was told that I should definitely go there, I was a bit underwhelmed. Nice pier though.

The Great Ocean Road was a work creation project for returned servicemen after the First World War. It was built between 1919 and 1933 so overlapped with the unemployment of the Great Depression . It is described as the largest war memorial in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ocean_Road

Then to Melbourne. On the way I listened to Queen’s greatest hits, realising that, as well as Freddie Mercury, three other people on the album are dead – George Michael, Montserrat Caballe and David Bowie. Age is creeping up on us. Returned the car, covered in dead bugs, to Hertz and walked to my new hotel. This is sumptuous, especially compared with some of the others. I booked the smallest room but they have let me upgrade for an extra $30 a night. I have a bed, a sitting area – with a tv that rotates between the two – a kitchenette and a washing machine in the bathroom. Oh, and a Rubik’s cube for those boring moments.

As I was too early to get into my room I went shopping. That’s Christmas with Rachael’s family taken care of. Saw this …..

Have spent the afternoon lying on the sofa reading my book and listening to the Australian equivalent to Radio 3. Just like at home, really. This evening I am off to see the Australian Boys Choir sing Christmas music in an attempt to get myself in the mood.

Concert was lovely. There is nothing like a group of 7 – 10 year olds doing Do you hear what I hear? to reduce the assembled company to a sodden lump. One of the guest soloists was a countertenor who was in the Vivaldi in Sydney. The smoke doesn’t seem to have affected his voice.