Day 6 Melbourne Tour: Sandringham Library and Ulysses Bookstore

The final day of the Melbourne tour dawned bright and Zoe and I had decided that we would take the car across on the ferry to Sorrento from Queenscliff.  It was a beautiful day and we had worked out the timing so as not to be too rushed.  There was even time for another short stroll along the waterfront where Alice-Miranda met some lifeguards and even took a turn conducting the band.

She was out and about on the ferry too, taking in the views from the upper deck, much to the delight of the ferry captains.

The Mornington Peninsula is a very pretty part of the world.  Last time I'd been there, it was for a golf holiday and heading across on the ferry brought back lots of good memories. 

 

 

 

Beaumaris has a very busy little shopping village and we found a spot for a snack before the event.  The library and community hall are in the same building and it was exciting to think they'd had to move the event to the hall because there had been such a good response.  We set things up and watched as the children and their parents arrived.  It was so lovely to meet girls who had come from quite a long way away, including the gorgeous Bella and another family who had driven all the way from Traralgon, about two hour's drive away.  I received some more presents including the beautifully drawn picture below by Summer.

It was a fantastic event - I really enjoy talking to the children and their parents and it was great to have such wonderful reactions from everyone.  The signing queue was long and it took until 3pm to get to the end of the line - such amazingly patient little girls and their parents.

 

 

 

We had a pretty straightforward trip to the airport - we had been using my iPad mini to navigate for the week and it had been excellent until the last few kilometres to Tullamarine - where we ended up next to a field with a bunch of plane spotters. Clearly the back road through the industrial estate was not the way to go!

Never mind, we made the plane in plenty of time and the journey home was smooth, fast and very efficient.  The week was fantastic and I loved every minute.  Touring is definitely a big part of my life now - in a couple of weeks I'm heading to Perth and Albany too (there is one spare day in the schedule at the moment if anyone is interested!), then Alice-Miranda and I are going to Alice-Springs too.  In the meantime there's plenty of writing to keep me busy too with Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco taking shape.

I can't thank the team at Random House enough for their incredible support and Zoe was absolutely wonderful, looking after everything, including me, all week!