Tuesday, 29th July 2008
Wangaratta, Myrtelford, Bendigo...and still travelling!
On Thursday, we embarked on an half hour drive to Wangaratta for the first performance of the day. We received a very warm welcome and the students responded well to our programme filled with our music, video presentation, a testimony given by Janice and some food for thought prepared by Joe. Straight afterwards we dashed back to Myrtleford for our second performance of the day. By 4pm we were exhausted and boarded a van to go to Bendigo, a 'mere' 3 hours away from Myrtleford. Aargh! The next morning in Bendigo we finally had some time for ourselves and once the sun had set, we were very kindky invited for (a fab) dinner at one of our hosts. That evening we had the honour of having with us Bishop Joe Grech as well as Robert Galea.
Saturday was the day that saw us depart from the 'gold rush' city, as Bendigo is also known, and make our way to Melbourne, thus bringing our successful tour to an end. We learned that this was no ordinary day for local football enthusiasts as there was Aussie (no) rules football match taking place in Melbourne. The city was infested with supporters of all ages, all wearing scarves and memorabilia of their team as were the trains, which were packed. This of course didn’t stop Joe from asking one of the supporters on the train for details about the game! We eventually checked into the hotel and surprisingly, though it's winter over here, for the first time since we arrived in Australia, the sky was covered by a thick grey blanket of clouds.
In the evening David got the opportunity of meeting up with some relatives, whereas the rest us had a warm dinner in a restaurant close by on a rainy saturday evening. The following day unfortunately started on a bad note due to a mix up in the accomodation details. This meant that we were left without breakfast, because as we discovered we were accomodated on a room only basis. Though the disappointment was substantial, it certainly did not stop us from having a good beakfast some place else. Even though the start of the day was inauspicious to say the least, as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining; this is because it was Joe and his wife's daughter first birthday. Happy 1st Birthday Elisa from the SALT family!!
After breakfast we decided to visit the Queen Victoria market. After hours of running around, and several unsuccessful attempts to find a reasonable price at several stalls, Manuel and Joe bought their much desired Didgeridoo. Once they succeded, they couldn’t help not going back to the first stand and showing off their new buy to one guy who had asked for double the price. By this time it was late afternoon and we went to a mass at St. Francis Church which was jam-packed with people. After supper, Janice unwisely decided to wager a doughnut with Karl on which route to take back to hotel. Sadly for her, Karl won the bet for the second consecutive time; thus forcing Janice to buy him a delicious doughnut.
We then left the best for last, as Joe and his wife Svetlana threw a small party between us to mark Elisa's first Birthday. This involved the traditional 'Quccijja' and a delicious cake to top it all. This marked the end of our second day here in Melbourne.
Salt is a youth band currently touring Australia as part of World Youth Day activities.
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A great round of applause for SALT for all you've done in Australia! We miss you guys, may you have a safe trip back home!