Spring in Melbourne

Saturday, 29 September 2012


As we are unable to attend the AFL Grand Final, we decided to have a look at the Grand Final Parade on Friday, instead. With thunder rolling in the distance and very black skies closing in fast, we donned our warm coats, found the umbrellas and set out for the Melbourne CBD. We decided to park at the Victoria Market (we knew we could find our way their easily), unfortunately a large proportion of the Melbourne population had the same idea. With time running out, we decided to leave and find another car park, told the parking attendant we didn’t want to play as we couldn’t find a parking spot, so he parked us in an “unofficial” spot. We then had a mad dash through the puddles and pouring rain to get down to Collins Street and find somewhere to stand where we would be able to see the parade. It absolutely poured the whole time, we became wet through but enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the crowd. A band near us played the teams’ theme songs, the Hawthorn song received a lukewarm reception, the predominantly Swans crowd sang and cheered their song, and everyone booed the Collingwood theme song! The parade was much bigger than we expected (not just the teams’ players), with the Carlton draught horses, the AFL Cup, the umpires (Chelsey received a huge cheer), the Brownlow Medallist, the Auskick teams, three marching bands and, of course, the players and coaches.

Following the parade, it was a quick dash to Laurent Patisserie to dry out, get warm and have lunch. We parted company for a couple of hours to browse a few shops in peace, and surprise, surprise, some bought himself another shirt!
We had a lovely dinner with my aunty, catching up on news from a different branch of the family, before returning to the caravan. The wind picked up during the day and blew a gale all night, with much rocking and buffeting of the caravan – probably good practise for the sailing tonight on the Spirit of Tasmania.

This, of course, means that this year’s trip is now at an end, but will continue in April next year.

Go Swans!!!

Family Reunion

Thursday, 27th September, 2012

A warm and windy day in Melbourne, with a quite strong northerly blowing for most of the day. The morning was spent browsing the many antiques and collectables at the Tyabb Packing Shed; a wall mirror did find its way into our vehicle.

The afternoon and evening were spent at a family reunion, arranged by second cousin, Kevin. This was the first time I had met any members (apart from Kevin) of this particular branch of my father’s family. There was much telling of stories, swapping of photos, attempting to work out where we all belonged on the family tree and generally forgetting names. Hopefully contact will be maintained in the future.

Frankston

Wednesday, 26th September, 2012

Last night, dinner with Norm, Milton and Margaret was very enjoyable, with lots of talk accompanying the meal.

This morning we were a little slower packing up, not wishing to join the Geelong rush hour traffic when we drove through the centre of the city. We had a fairly uneventful trip north to Melbourne, but the very strong cross wind made hard work of the driving. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the West Gate Bridge and with the bend in the road, we had a tail wind. However, Citylink did seem to be having some communication issues – 2 kms before the Burnley Tunnel, the signage announced the right hand lane was closed in the tunnel, so everyone in that lane merged to the left, slowing traffic considerably. One km before the tunnel, signage informed us the LEFT lane was closed, so again there was a mass traffic movement. When we actually drove into the tunnel, ALL lanes were open! We had decided to pay the toll for Eastlink as well as Citylink, but were rather amazed that the expensive Eastlink toll only allowed us one trip, one way! It did make driving to Frankston much easier, though.

We are staying at the Big4 Frankston Holiday Park, which is a nice park on the outskirts of Frankston. We were allocated a site, walked down to check it out and discovered a car parked on our slab. Back to reception (who knew who it belonged to) and then had to wait for the young lady in the caravan next door to get out of bed (11.15 am) and move it to where it should have been parked in the first place. We did a wonderful job of reversing onto site, only to discover that the draw bar was only about three inches above the grass, owing to the bank. Back to reception, after checking other available sites, then having to move sites. (Bad luck about the sleepyhead!) Again, reversed perfectly onto site.

This afternoon, we visited Jayco to purchase a few replacement light shades and a new outside LED light, then it was on to Carac for some LED light globes, which don’t fit! At $25 each, they will be returned for a refund.

The weather has turned rather rough and the awning has been retracted, just in case.

Lunch in Sorrento

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Three months to Christmas, just in case anyone was wondering!

Another chilly start to the day, but at least the wind had dropped. Cousin Norm had suggested we travel to Sorrento for lunch, via the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento and return. After deep perusal of the weather forecast, I agreed and Norm collected us for the short drive to Queenscliff. As we had a short time to wait, we embarked on a mini-tour of the town, with a quick look at the large fort – and Norm’s favourite coffee shop! Back to the waterfront and we came across a protest demonstration (evidently some people would prefer the United States not send their servicemen to Darwin); the protestors and their children were having morning tea and the half dozen or so policemen( who were keeping an eye on any developments) were busy enjoying kicking a football. We received smiles and waves from both police and protestors as we went on our way.

The ferry journey takes 40 minutes, with two large catamarans leaving both ports on the hour. We didn’t take the car (too expensive), so travelled as foot passengers in the relative comfort of the coffee lounge and upper deck. The sea was very calm (luckily!!!) and Cat was quite happy to sit on Norm’s knee for a while and watch the water police milling around beside the ship. Once we were on deck as we neared Portsea, we immediately spotted a seal on his back, waving to us. In the distance we passed by the old quarantine station and some rather pleasant looking houses, complete with beach/bath houses. Cat thought it would be more prudent to sit on the life rafts, just in case!

After docking in Sorrento, we “did” the main street (well, the only one actually) before deciding on “Buckley’s Chance” for a very enjoyable lunch (no, Nathan was not there). The weather had warmed up to a mild 15 degrees, but it was a little cool on deck for the return voyage. It was also a little less smooth, with same swells developing as we crossed The Rip. We stopped at Norm’s house for an inspection of his garden (very nice indeed) before returning to the caravan.

Tonight we are having dinner with Norm, his brother Milton and Milton’s wife, Margaret.

Monday, 24 September 2012

Another very cold morning, which didn’t improve much as the day went on – I think we reached a very tropical 14 degrees at one stage!

We crossed the Murray River into Victoria and after a few bends in the first few kilometres, we travelled in a virtual straight line to the Hume Highway junction, driving right through the middle of Shepparton well before the shops opened. The road was fairly good, being double highway most of the way to the Hume, then, of course, it was freeway. The country in the north of the state looked very green and lush – all the dairy cows had happy faces.

The Western Ring Road was fairly congested (lots of trucks!) and plenty of road works didn’t help. We stopped for lunch shortly before reaching Geelong. Like Shepparton, it was necessary to drive right through the centre of Geelong to get to Portarlington, but it wasn’t too bad (Daisy Tomtom knew exactly where she was going at all times today).

We are staying at the Bellarine Bayside Caravan Park, Portarlington – this would have to be the biggest caravan park we have ever seen, with over 800 sites and right on the waters edge of Port Philip Bay. Fortunately, not many are occupied at the moment. When we saw our allocated site, we quickly decided that there had to be another one which was not wet, completely shaded all day and under a huge pine tree. Back to reception, not a problem to move if we wanted. The sites are very large (room for a caravan, car and boat) so we left room for the car to be parked on the side opposite the door, which meant some nice grass under the awning. After getting all set up, turning on the heater and shutting the door, we decided to read the 20 page booklet of rules and regulations. Big mistake! We were supposed to have the side of the caravan against the site boundary. Decided to leave the caravan where it is and apologise humbly and profusely if challenged.

The weather is yucky.

Tocumwal

Sunday, 23 September 2012

It was a very cold start to the day, with the temperature hovering around the 3 degrees mark at 6.00 am but it did quickly warm up once the sun came up. The Newell Highway was quite bumpy in places between Forbes and West Wyalong, probably due to the large swamps and wetlands both sides of the road. Truck traffic was also quite heavy on this stretch of the road, but the majority of the trucks seemed to be heading to (or coming from) the west.

Between West Wyalong and Narrandera, the road was good and the country looked great – large paddocks of fluoro yellow canola, lovely green wheat and patches of deep purple Paterson’s Curse (a weed, but looks pretty). We stopped for a break at Narrandera and a driver-reviver cup of coffee and bickie. This was a pretty little town, with some old buildings, large trees, a lovely old cricket ground and a tiger moth plane.

Shortly before Narrandera, the weather started to deteriorate a bit and the wind picked up – quite a strong head wind, in fact. It was really interesting watching the fuel consumption reading increase rapidly, in direct proportion to the fuel level decreasing. We thought it better to stop at Jerilderie for some fuel, just to be sure, to be sure.

We are overnighting at the Tocumwal Tourist Park – another small park but lovely grassy sites and beautiful amenities. With a drive-thru site, we have been able to stay hitched up. This is another Big4 caravan park – we have found the standard of this chain is generally very good (with the exception of Mackay) and have saved quite a bit with our discount and have qualified for a free polo top!

The Dish

Saturday, 22nd September 2012

The Swans flag is flying proudly today after their defeat of Collingwood last night. Grand Final next Saturday – we will be in Melbourne but, unfortunately, will not be able to attend the game as we need to catch the boat home on the same day.

We quickly found out this morning what mornings in central New South Wales are like – COLD! The heater was very smartly recovered from storage under the bed. Today, though, has been the most glorious day, with clear blue skies, no wind and the temperature in the low 20s. I have a feeling this may change rapidly in the next day or two. We have been so lucky to have been able to wear our shorts and t-shirts for so long.

This morning we left Coonabarabran for the 305 km drive to Forbes and the first part of the journey to Gilgandra was through some lovely grazing farmland; we even saw our first sheep for many months. The country was a bit hilly but we soon dropped down to the Western Plains. We had a short “Driver Reviver” stop in Gilgandra for a cup of coffee and a quick look at the Cooee Museum. Today is the first day of the school holidays for Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, so there were many, many campers and caravans on the road today.

The monotony of the drive was broken for a short while as we followed a “Yank tank” type of fifth wheeler who was obviously out for a Saturday drive, until he came to a passing lane and took off at top speed. The driver of our vehicle became a little agitated and told the other driver just how inconsiderate he was (or words to that effect). Shortly after this, we had the “pleasure” of on oncoming truck attempting to take a corner too fast and moving over to our side of the road.

We didn’t stop at Dubbo, but did make a sudden decision at the turn-off to the Parkes Radio Telescope (made famous in the mover, “The Dish”) and made a sharp turn left. We had an enjoyable hour at this facility (including lunch), and Cat thoroughly enjoyed helping up with the technical stuff.

We are staying in the Big4 Forbes Caravan Park, which is a small park but has lovely green, grassy sites with garden borders. After settling in, and catching up with some laundry, we had a quick drive around the town, saw the free campers along the bank of the lake (and wondered what they did for hygiene purposes???) and refuelled ready for the longer drive tomorrow.

Coonabarabran

Friday, 21 September 2012

The trains didn’t bother us last night (don’t think there were any) and the trucks on the nearby Newell Highway weren’t really a problem either, especially once the thunder started. We had a lot of thunder last night, an enormous amount of thunder, actually. Thunder also means lightning to match, which we also had plenty of. Fortunately, the centre of the storms seemed to bypass Goondiwindi by a couple of kilometres, which meant we didn’t receive too much rain.

Having stayed hitched up, it was an easy pack up this morning and we were on the road before 8.00 am for the drive south to Coonabarabran. The traffic wasn’t too bad to start with, but the road did deteriorate the closer we got to Moree, then became very bumpy, with a poor surface between Moree and Narribri. Because of the road condition and road works, this was the section of road where the traffic did really build up, with quite a few trucks coming up behind us. I must say that the truckies today were very well behaved and we didn’t hear one naughty word! The highway bypasses most of Moree, so it wasn’t necessary for us to drive through the town, nor did we need to stop there.

The country around Moree/Narribri is extremely flat, with grain and cotton being the major crops. There is no way a farmer would set out to plough his “top” paddock before lunch – most likely it would be before the end of the week! The sky was very thunderous and threatening looking all morning, but we were lucky to escape the rain. After Narribri, the flat paddocks gave way to scrubby hills – the bush looked very pretty with the wattles and brooms in flower.

We are staying at the John Oxley Caravan Park n Coonabarabran – quite a nice park, with large grassy sites, some shady and some sunny. The town does have a Woolworths, so we were able to stock up on some essentials (the packet of M & Ms in the glovebox is nearly empty!).

The Swans flag is being faithfully flown today, in readiness for tonight’s game.

Artesian Spas

Thursday, 20th September 2012

We were both up bright and early this morning and we hitched up and on the road by 8.00 am for a bit of a long drive to Goondiwindi. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with the promise of some heat later in the day. We kept to the motorways, which although a bit longer and also toll roads, made driving so much easier and quicker as far as Ipswich, then it was a double highway all the way to Toowoomba. We did encounter some road works, which did slow us down a bit, shortly before the steep climb up the Great Dividing Range and into Toowoomba. There were lots and lots of trucks on the road, which meant lots and lots of truck drivers, which meant lots and lots of foul language (truckies seem to have a very limited vocabulary), which meant the two way radio was turned off on quite a few occasions. Fortunately, the radio chatter did settle down once we were through Toowoomba and heading for Goondiwindi.

The vegetable growing area of the Lockyer Valley gave way to the large open spaces of grain and cotton farms, with very dry and stunted scrubby bush and large prickly pears for variety. We did pass through a koala area and were saddened to come across two dead koalas on the side of the road – so sad. The road between Toowoomba and Goondiwindi wasn’t too bad, but a bit bumpy in sections. Our lunch stop was in a rather dirty and barren truck pull-off (no nice picnic areas on this road) before we reached our destination shortly before 2.00 pm.

We are staying at the Big4 Goondiwindi Tourist Park, previously known as the Gundy Star. This is a nice park, with very long drive-thru, shady sites. With the temperature hovering around the 33 degree mark, today we are looking for shade! As a bonus, the park has an artesian spa heated to 38 degrees and a swimming pool at a mild 28 degrees. Of course, it didn’t take us long to set up and find the bathers (long time since they have seen the light of day), before lowering ourselves into the artesian spa. With the air temperature so warm, the water didn’t feel too hot or physically draining. Naturally, someone (no names to be mentioned) decided to show off and did a lovely belly flop into the swimming pool – he did remember to remove his hat but completely forgot his glasses! I even cooled off in the swimming pool for a short while before returning to the warm spa.

We have just discovered the caravan park is right beside the train line.

Movie World

 No way!!!

Purrrrrrrrrrr

 Is this George?

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Monday evening was spent visiting Brian and Jenny – we had a lovely meal and spent many hours catching up on news. Daisy Tomtom was very good about finding their house, but did have a blond moment on the way home and took us into a cemetery!

Tuesday morning meant a flattish tyre (only the bottom bit, fortunately), so after pumping up the tyre, we went looking for the nearest tyre repairer. Luckily, the problem turned out to be a loose valve, so was easily fixed. We joined our daughter-in-law’s parents for lunch at their home and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours before leaving, loaded down with food and presents. The weather wasn’t so kind, being a little cooler (long pants were the order of the day) and a rather heavy shower.

Wednesday morning was lovely and clear after more overnight rain and we left early to travel south for our first ever visit to Movie World on the Gold Coast. Traffic moved well and the trip only took us an hour. We were so glad it was a “quiet” mid-week day and not a busy weekend; with so many children and teenagers there, not to mention thousands of adults, it was hard to believe that only Tasmanian schools are on holiday. Perhaps a lot of schools were having a student free day! We headed straight to the Ice Age 4D show and thoroughly enjoyed being sprayed with dinosaur snot and bounced around in our seats. The show was perhaps a little scary for the very young children in the audience, one littly lasted about 30 seconds before having to be taken outside. Then it was a rush to the stunt cars show – again, great fun. Apart from the three roller coaster rides, these were the only shows. We did spend some time browsing in shops – Cat rather liked the Harry Potter outlet and had to be convinced he could not play quidditch. He also wanted to have a ride on the Superman roller coaster – he definitely had to go by himself! However, I did relent and go on the carousel, just to stop the sulks.

Of course, there were plenty of characters to meet – Les very quickly spotted Cat Woman perched on top of a car! Naturally, I headed for the good looking super heroes, even received a cuddle from Batman himself. Cat wasn’t too keen on the Joker, but certainly was very happy to cuddle up to Cat Woman. Les also learnt that it is not a good idea to get in the way of Wonder Woman when she is chasing some baddies. Marilyn Monroe also appeared to keep the gentlemen happy. We found a nice park bench on the footpath and did some people watching while we waited for the parade at the end of the day. A VIP was led to a special viewing area quite near us; was it George Clooney? He certainly looked familiar.

The journey south only took us an hour – the journey north took us two and a quarter hours! We ended up having to “park” on the Pacific Highway for an hour after a southbound car travelled through two sets of “cheese cutter” barriers and median strip shrubbery, causing a ten car pile up. Not hard to imagine how happy his insurance company will be!!!

It was a very enjoyable day, helped by the lovely warm weather.

Southbank and the Brisbane River

Monday, 17th September 2012

The warm, sunny morning quickly became a warm, cloudy morning – possible thunderstorms forecast for late in the day. As soon as the peak hour traffic had cleared, we spent a good hour looking for the required bolt which was broken yesterday. The recommended supplier couldn’t help, and sent us to Arrow Caravans. I had a lovely time looking in new (and very expensive) caravans, including one with a fold down deck, while Himself went looking for his bolt. One was available, but it was thought a spare wouldn’t go astray, so it was off in the car again to another place for their last bolt!

Daisy Tomtom really earned her money today, with all the local running about before making the trip into the city and finding Southbank. We found an underground car park under the Performing Arts Centre without any trouble, paid a rather hefty parking fee and eventually managed to find out way out to Southbank. The Brisbane Festival is currently being held each night, so a few extra attractions were set up, including a lovely Chinese lantern walk. A Chinese tour party arrived at Southbank at much the same time as us and we both met at the Nepalese Pagoda at the same time. Someone (can’t mention his name) was very cheeky – he stood behind the door of the pagoda and when one unsuspecting Chinese chap was having his photo taken, very seriously I might add, two fingers in the shape of a V were held up behind the head of the aforementioned gentleman. Although not speaking Chinese, it was not hard to work out that the photographer was not amused!

We wandered through the rainforest walk and past the beach and swimming pool areas, with the assorted water features and eventually came upon a large mirrored sphere on the river bank – very impressive.

Although Leslie is not fond of ferris wheels and heights, he decided that the enclosed capsules of the Wheel of Brisbane would not pose a problem, so after having the obligatory $35 photo taken (and leaving it behind), we embarked on our ten minute journey. The view was really only spoilt by the heavy clouds, which did make everything look very grey. All went well until we stopped right at the top while more passengers were unloaded. Fortunately, the nice man opened our door first when we returned to ground level. It was rather a dash to the nearest coffee shop for a rather ordinary coffee to settle the nerves, and a rather ordinary sandwich for lunch. I think we selected the most ordinary place to buy food!

Having decided that the next excursion had to be at ground level, we settled on a river cruise (one of us does not like boats!!!). Although a little chilly in the wind, it was quite interesting as we travelled down river (or is that up river?) as far as Newstead, passing some very impressive dwellings on the way, remembering that the majority of these buildings had suffered badly in the recent floods. The number of apartments along this relatively short stretch of river is mind boggling, considering that they cost anything up to $8,000,000 each.

Back on terra firma once more, it was time to find the car! We didn’t have any problems finding the building we had exited from or the first of the many tunnels which had to be negotiated on our return to the carpark. I do have to say that we are now very familiar with many of the tunnels underneath the Performing Arts Centre, especially as we arrived in a carpark which didn’t look familiar and didn’t contain our car. After some backtracking and more turns and tunnels, we eventually found the car and the way out.

Traffic had increased considerably since the morning, and with many uncharted roads to be negotiated, Daisy did well to get us home, with only one minor hiccup when we nearly ended up in a toll tunnel.