Wet, wet, wet - also at the founder of Lonely Planet's place.

I thought that it was my turn to take some kind of initiative in the group - so organized transportation for 12 people to go to the party that we were all invited to at Toni Wheeler's (the founder of Lonely Planet) place. Nice evening. He is a very friendly and humble man that together with his wife, Maureen has changed the way most of us travel. His house is a globetrotter's home with a special modern oriental atmosphere - like a Jim Thomson's house of our time.. Beautiful art and artefacts - grand living room with a spacy terrace - perfect for a party for 50 people.. The house has a beautiful garden with a large swimming pool and goes down to a little river - you see no other houses from there - just beautiful nature.. We had a great bbq all freshly prepared by a chef followed by a wonderful cake assortment - some of the best so far in Australia (eat cakes everyday - and can say that they are generally very good here..). AND a lot of wine. Actually too much wine.. But when the company is good - you know.. Also met a little group of former and present Lonely Planet employees that did participate in Tour d'Afrique together with Toni Wheler in 2009.
 This morning I was a bit hung over - and it was pouring down rain. We followed riding paths all through Melbourne going to the southeast of it to Philip island where we are now. It was great (but wet and cold!!) to ride through the city - especially along the Yarra river and the harbor area with lots of new residential buildings and quite some sailing yacht ports. And following cycling paths at the other side of the city along the ocean gave us a good impression of how some of the well off Melbourne people live. Big houses built very close to each other along the water front. It was Sunday and a lot of people were out in the rain running (among others a women's run with around 1000 participants), cycling and meeting for other sports.
 Hurried to catch a ferry before 12 to go to the island. It was kind of unpleasant in the rain and headwind - but no other choice.. So was a bit worn out when I reached it just in time. Total anticlimax: the ferry was cancelled because of heavy winds and we were redirected going by train and bus + waiting for a couple of hours in between to go to a bridge going to the other side of the island where we did not arrive to camp before 6 pm. Had to go to another campsite to get a cabin - and had no time to shower before dinner. It all ended fine as Janice that we know from the Bamboo last year came with (more) red wine - yes it is a bit over the top - now I had wine everyday since a week - seriously over the top!