We have managed to celebrated birthdays with Rachel and Christine here in Melbourne over food and drinks. And for Steve's birthday....well unsurprisingly his celebrations stretched out over various weekends and dinners.
Steve flew up mid week and I joined him on the Friday taking a small plane (40 seater) that barely got up to the clouds but it was a smooth flight and the Sky Bus to the airport was much rockier!
We enjoyed blue skies and sunshine and a two night stay in a very dated hotel aptly named The Grand although Grand it was not. Mildura is definitely a country town but not a charming or delightful one. It's much more rough and ready but we enjoyed dinner at the brewery and walks by the river. We also spend an hour at Orange World where we were serenaded by a man and his guitar with his "Welcome to Mildura. Mildura is magic!" song and a tractor ride through the citrus orchard. I don't think they'd had a visitor swing by since 1986 so rolled the carpet out for us!