Time for Home

Sunday, 28 September 2014

 

Grandsons at home

Waiting for the bounce

"Friendly" rivalry

Our final day; tonight we will be on the Spirit of Tasmania for the final leg of this year’s journey.  It has been a very enjoyable trip, with many new roads travelled and people we have met along the way.

Yesterday morning, Denise and I left the boys to their own devices and had a girls’ morning out, with our first (and only) stop at the Black Pepper outlet in Dandenong.  We were very pleasantly surprised to discover a sale in progress, with nothing over $25 – in fact, the average price for all stock would have been $15.  After selecting a few armfuls of clothes and spending quite some time in the change rooms, we both made our selections and were very happy with the final charges.

The afternoon was spent decorating the caravan park’s television lounge and preparing nibbles, etc for the big game, which quickly became rather boring for everyone, except for a couple of people.  Unfortunately, 2014 wasn’t the year for the Swans to have their name engraved on the Cup.

The warm day remained balmy throughout the night, although the wind did pick up somewhat and the awning creaked constantly.  Shortly after we went to bed, we remarked on the amount of noise and voices, especially children’s voices, which seemed to be emanating from the large caravan next to us.  Finally, I had to get up and look out the bathroom winter in an attempt to discover the source of the noise.  It certainly wasn’t coming from the caravan next door and was getting louder and louder; when I looked out the side window, I noticed three people standing under our awning.  With me in my nightie, I threw open the door, switched on the outside light and asked what they were doing there!  “There’s a possum here and he is so cute.”  I have seen a brush tail possum on numerous occasions!

This morning we will start to pack up – the awning is in, owing to the strengthening winds – and will visit Chadstone Shopping Centre, just in case we see something we might need.  The caravan park have kindly offered us a late check-out, so will stay here until 3.30 pm.

 

After being on the road since June, we are now more than ready to return home to family, friends, bowls, the garden …

Grand Final Parade

Friday, 26 September 2014

 

Police horses getting into the spirit

A few of the police in attendance

Pipe band

Carlton horses

What it's all about

 

Some of the AFL teams' flags

Farewell, Jonathon Brown

Hawthorn band

J. Roughead (token Hawthorn photo)

Swans band

Buddy and Daniel Hannabery

Adam Goods, Lewis Jetta and children (including a very relaxed daughter)

Former Swan - Big Bad Barry

 

Royal Arcade

Despite showers being forecast, the day was fine, sunny and warm.  Just perfect for the Grand Final Parade.

We headed into the city this morning, making sure we had plenty of time to get a good position to watch the parade, but were still too late to be able to stand against the barriers, however, we were able to stand immediately behind the early comers and had a good view of proceedings.

The security was absolutely incredible; probably a dozen or more police walking in a group both before and after the parade, at least two officers beside every vehicle, bike police patrolling constantly, the police helicopter hovering overhead and that’s not including the professional security personnel.  There is a fair amount of tension in Melbourne at the moment and a gas leak and evacuation at Chadstone Shopping Centre this morning very quickly became a bomb threat.

Following the parade, we spent an hour or so wandering the new shopping precincts and Myer redevelopment, before returning to the car and a very stop/start drive home.  We were quite relieved that it was only mid-afternoon and not peak hour!

May the sun shine on the Swans tomorrow and they finish with the higher score.

Frankston

Thursday, 25 September 2014

 

Yesterday, with warm winds and very threatening skies, we undertook a spot of retail therapy.  First stop was at Jayco for some new feet for the caravan jacks and we ended up with a new television antennae as well.  We then did our bit for the profits of Crabtree and Evelyn before heading to the DFO at Cheltenham.  This was much bigger and better than our last visit a few years ago and we were pleased to find both Macpac and Kathmandu.  Himself even had to make a couple of trips back to the car!  The remainder of the afternoon was spent visiting relations at Langwarrin.

By early evening, the threatening clouds were no longer threatening – they opened up and we had heavy rain all night.  This morning was also very cold and drizzly and the clothes dryer was put to good use in the laundry.  We had a very enjoyable lunch at Waves, in the company of a couple we met in Eastern Europe a few years ago and have stayed in contact with.  Trevor became a particular friend of Cat at the time, and Cat was invited to join us today at this lovely restaurant overlooking the Frankston beach.  We were also kept entertained by a class of young ladies learning surf rescue.

By the time we returned to the caravan park, Barry and Denise were on site and all set up.  Not having seen them since early May, there was plenty to talk about.  Talk soon turned to bikes and it wasn’t long before we were all in our car and heading to check out the folding bikes at Aldi.  One of them followed us home!

Portarlington to Frankston

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

 

Today, we completed the circle and arrived back in Melbourne; we are staying at Frankston for five nights.

The sunrise was just magic this morning, as the sky turned pink and orange before the sun actually came up over the Portarlington jetty.  The morning was mild and sunny as we hitched up for the drive around the bay to Frankston.  Our first stop was at the Jayco dealer in Geelong for a new door handle, then it was the easy drive along the freeway to Melbourne’s traffic.

Yesterday, we had noticed a large amount of smoke coming from the Werribee region and this morning the thick, brown smoke was very apparent.  However, when we eventually arrived at the sight of the fire, it was simply burning off happening in some paddocks.

The drive through Melbourne was uneventful and our eTag was put to good use, especially on Eastlink (five bips on this stretch of motorway!).  We were set up before lunch and then the tool kit came out for the door repairs.  I gather it was a bit fiddly, but evidently YouTube was a big assistance and no naughty words had to be uttered.  This afternoon, we travelled back to Malvern to spend a couple of pleasant hours with some relatives.  We certainly made our contribution to the tolls today, with three trips on Eastlink.

The weather has been superb today – a very pleasant 27 degrees all afternoon.

Portarlington

Monday, 22 September 2014

Thought we had been transported to another country

Sharing lunch with two determined magpies

Portarlington beach and jetty

Family gathering

Jack Rabbit Winery

New door opener

Yesterday, we left Ballarat and moved the caravan to Portarlington, on the Bellarine Peninsula, quite a pleasant drive to Geelong and then along the peninsula.  Although the day started off quite cloudy, this quickly cleared to a clear, sunny day – with a definitely cool breeze coming off the water.

We are staying at the Bellarine Caravan Park at Portarlington, an immense park with only a few caravans at the moment, despite being school holidays in Victoria.  We look out across the beach and Port Phillip Bay to the distant skyscrapers of Melbourne.  Such a beautiful spot, made even better by the weather.

We enjoyed an afternoon visiting with my cousin, Norm, who was more than happy to take us for a drive in his new car.  We had the pleasure of a family dinner at the local club, with Norm’s brother and sister-in-law joining us and sharing many memories of family and caravan holidays.

The superb weather continued today and Himself (after carefully checking the park regulations) connected up the hose and washed both the caravan and car.  This morning we visited one of the local wineries – Jack Rabbit – and sampled a few of their wares.  This winery also has a very posh café and even posher restaurant attached to its cellar door – and the most wonderful view over the Bay.  Next time we are in the area, we will definitely return for a meal.

This afternoon I hopefully entertained the local historical society (at Norm’s invitation) and talked about the plight of Australia’s female convicts in the 19^th Century.  There were plenty of questions, so fingers crossed that most people learned something.

Unfortunately, we also lost the outside door handle to the caravan today – it has been hanging precariously for some time and today was when it decided to come off.  We can get a new one tomorrow from Jayco but until then, one of us has to stay inside or else the screwdriver has to be used – with appropriate mutterings.

Sovereign Hill

Saturday, 20 September 2014

The Swans are in the Grand Final!!!

 

Chinese garden

Chinese shop

Temple

Chinese lanterns

Yes, no, maybe???

Red Hill Mine

That's $160,000 worth of gold being poured

That's part of the process in making humbugs

Humbugs!

The candle maker

First, choose a coffin,

then a hearse.

A moment of reflection in the Methodist Church

Not sure about the bowling action

Resetting the head

Boris and Leslie

Masonic Temple

Waiting to be served ...

 ... while listening to the music.

Doctor's surgery

Motley lot of troopers

Ballarat miners' cottages

Miner's cottage at the diggings

Cobb & Co coach

Another cold day, but very pleasant in the sunshine this afternoon.  We spent most of the day at Sovereign Hill, thinking it would be very crowded on the first day of the school holidays.  Not many Australian tourists there at all, in fact not many of any sort of tourist there at all this morning.  I would say probably about two thirds of the visitors were Chinese tour groups, left on their own for a few hours.  With the obvious influx of Chinese visitors, all the signage is now dual language, the Chinese village has been extended and there were even special Chinese language demonstrations.

Although we have been here before, the day was very enjoyable, especially with the new exhibits.  The self guided underground mine tour was thrilling, with the voice of a Cornish miner directing us through the very dimly lit tunnels to his workings and we were lucky enough to be present as he discovered the Welcome Nugget.

The photos can really speak for themselves.

Following the visit to Sovereign Hill, we crossed the road to the Gold Museum, which contained a lot of gold coins and an interesting section on the early days in Ballarat.