Broadmeadows

11th December 

My last day in Australia and having so much time before my flight it was hard to know what to do.

I didn't need to check out until 11am so I did a bit of route planning for New Zealand.  

I'm renting a car that converts to a sleeper & I have a cooker, chairs, a cool box & also a small tent. 

I left the airbnb & got the bus then train to Southern Cross Station in Melbourne where I found out that, to get to the airport by public transport, you need to get a train out to Broadmeadows. 

Broadmeadows is where my Mum's hostel was when her, Auntie Margaret & my Nana & Grandad first came to Australia in 1958. They stayed in Nissen huts and my mum used to play with kids from other countries that were there and went to school on a bus.

She said when they went to school they put on Australian accents, then back at the hostel reverted to English.

Due to limited time I'd decided not to bother with going there, especially as it is supposedly not the most palatial of areas anymore......but it seems fate has brought me there!

Of course the hostel is no longer there but there's still an immigration centre, sandwiched between a military barracks & an industrial estate.

I took a few pictures & tried to imagine the Nissen huts from 70 years ago & my Mum running around. 

Mum sent me this email & pictures:

Photo taken in the Hostel dad is 36yrs old standing by an old gum-tree where I would sit feeding large ants sugar ..you can see the Nissen huts behind it was just bush then could see a mountain range in the distance x 

Mum said:

Dad looks a bit thin ! All the children coming back to the Hostel from school on the school buses would run to the hostel canteen with our jugs for hot chocolate and rock cakes (they were like rocks)

 our packed lunches for school consisted of date sandwiches and an apple..x 

There was a bit of a park & lake there which I sat in for a while in the sun. There were lots of birds including these large white Cokatoos 

The area did look a bit rough tbh.......must be something to do with names beginning with B......like in Oxfordshire the 3 dodgy areas are Barton, Berinsfield and Blackbird Leys 😂

Waiting at Melbourne airport. Jetstar flight delayed. I think they might be Australia's answer to Easyjet. 

Bye bye Australia 🇦🇺 xx