To the "Bush"

We were scheduled to go to our time share in Kyneton, northwest of Melbourne (Mel bun as the locals say), on Friday, but Rob had gotten Steve and Ron some very good tickets to go see a "footie", Australian Rules Football, game Friday night. Rob's team, the Western Bulldogs were playing in the season opener. So we decided to go to the resort on Saturday morning instead. We picked up the 8 passenger van on Friday and drove to the grocery store, instead of walking, to pick up a few items to take with us.
Victoria had been having fast-burning bush fires and in fact they had evacuated the resort the week before so we were concerned but we were assured that it was safe there. We had to check as late as the day before and checked the local news to make sure that no new fires had broken out, so we started out early Saturday morning. It was very easy to find and as they advertised it, it was in the "bush". As we drove into the resort, we saw three kangaroo feeding on the resort grounds.
We had gotten a two-bedroom unit with two couches that made out into a bed, so we had plenty of room. The units were individual cottages set far enough apart that each one had its own privacy. We decided to drive into the town to get some more food for the refrigerator. It was just a little over a mile into town. We checked out the facilities while there.
When we returned to the resort, Rob and the kids played putt-putt golf and Ron and I checked out the nice, covered heated pool area. It had a sauna, a hot tub and a children's play area. The resort had it's own lake stocked with fish and had paddle boats for rent. The game room had all kinds of pool tables and games for the kids as well. We would have plenty to keep us busy. On Sunday we decided to drive to Hanging Rock the scene of the movie, "Mystery at Hanging Rock", the movie about the 4 girls and a teacher who disappeared into thin air in the early 1900s. It was a hard climb so some of us did not make it to the top. It was very scenic. We went back to the resort and Ayley got bit at least 10 times by gigantic fire ants while playing out side. We doctored her as best we could and decided that we would leave early the next morning and head back in case she needed to see a doctor. Steve also wanted to check on the flight that was to leave on Wednesday going back to the states.
When we got back on Monday, we called and the flight was still on. We decided that it would be best to leave that afternoon on the train. We still had our rail passes so we could travel to Sydney, then by city rail to Richmond where the RAAF base was. We had reserved a room at Richmond Inn because it was just across from the last rail stop. We could sleep Monday night on the train and would arrive at 7 am Tuesday in Sydney.
We also had an all day pass for the Sydney city trains, which was included in the Backpackers Rail pass package that we had bought in the states. When we got there, our room was ready so we could leave our bags and have a place from which to call RAAF Richmond at 2:00 Tuesday afternoon to find out if the plane was taking passengers and to get on the list in case it was. We had heard that it might not since there was some special cargo that needed to fly and they could not passengers. We were doing a lot of praying. At 2:00 on the dot, Steve called and they took our information and put us on. We were very relieved. We met another couple that was staying at the Inn and that also planned to go. The next morning we caught a taxi to the terminal at RAAF Richmond. We cleared customs and boarded the plane almost an hour early. Next stop Hawaii.