We had traded some of our timeshare points for a week in a timeshare on the Mornington Peninsula, a resort area about 60 miles south of Melbourne. It's an area where Australians vacation and we didn't come across any other Americans while We were there.

The resort was just outside the town of Dromana. Our 'villa' was roomy with two bedrooms, a living room and a full kitchen and we spent our first day there shopping in the town. There was a supermarket a bakery and a bottle store – what more do you need. Since it was the week before Easter the staff in the bakery were all wearing bunny ears.

The next day it rained so we spent the day going through the shops and art galleries in Dromana. There was one shop selling pearls that was owned by a marine biologist who works in the seed pearl industry. It was very interesting talking to her.

The next day it cleared up and we drove to Mornington about 20 miles up the peninsula from Dromana. We walked around the town and had lunch in a really nice cafe called Sherlock's. We also went to the regional art gallery which had an exhibit on children's book illustrations.

The next day we went south walking on some of the beautiful beaches that line the . The water was really too cold for swimming but it was nice walking on the sand and watching the waves. We stopped in the town of Sorrento and had lunch then we checked out the galleries and the shops including a LuluLemon -- Laura was shocked.

The next day we drove up to Frankston as Laura wanted to visit a sculpture garden. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor exhibit. The gallery was in the midst of a sculpture competition, the winner of which got a $100,000 prize. There were some 35 entries fr om sculptors from all over Australia.

The next day we went to a street market in Mornington and I went to the Mornington library for free wifi. The next day we drove back to Melbourne so we could catch our early flight to Auckland the next day. After the problems we had driving down to the peninsula, I was really worried about the drive back. But everything went off without a hitch.