Bordertown

I went to high school here and today I was shown some different things about it that I didnt know.

There is a small lake in town and a walking track around it, very pleasant walking amongst the trees and there is this town map with the creek running thru town.

Even though I have lived in the area for a long time I have visited family on a regular basis and still I did bot know this existed.

I am disappointed to realise that I did not take a photo of the lake, I think I was enjoying the walk too much.

We had a great visit with my sister and brother in law and were able to catch up with their kids and their kids, lots of chat and laughs.

Blue Lake Mt Gambier

Yesterday we were driving north to see my sister about two hours away and we stopped to take photos of the blue Lake. I do not use filters on my pics.

Now a days one can not cross the road to take a picture, there is an underpath and boy it was cold and windy, about 12 degrees I think it was at 11.30 am.

We had lunch at Naracoorte that was Warren's stomping ground when he was young and my family would go to the dentist there. We spent an enjoyable hour or so walking around and remembering the shops and people who owned them. Some had changed a lot others not at all.

We also drove out around the old farm where he grew up no one lives in the homestead any more and it was quite sad looking, a good puff of wind and I think it would fall in.

Port MacDonnell

It was a windy, wet and cold day today and so when Warren suggested we try out the local seafood that was on offer, I was out the door.

We went to a cafe on the waterfront. Warren suggested that we take a walk out the jetty but with the door being almost wrenched from our hands as we left, and the rain was coming down we went for a drive instead. Driving along the coast road, we called in here.

Getting fifty metres down the track, the heavens opened again and it was cold! we headed back to the car and went out to Adam Lindsay Gordon's cottage.

With a closed sign on it.

Using the GPS, we found there was a martine museum in town.

A mural on a building in the main street, too cold and wet to find out more.

This was one of the exhibits just inside the door, an outdoor wooden dunny complete with a red back spider on the seat. 

I have been to many museum but this one was very different, it had small alcoves featuring one aspect of the area. It has had many and varied industries such as soap making, tanning, beer making, boat making and of course cray fishing/lobster catching.

One exhibit was on rabbits and their fur and making akrubra hats 

In amongst these was an area dedicated to churches in the district and this beautiful pipe organ, it is the small I have ever seen, not that I am any sort of expert but it was stunning. There was also the damn, I cant think of the word but where the minister delivers his sermon from, lectern? and a church pew.

As someone walked into this alcove, the Lord's Prayer played softly. In many of the alcove, there was music or speeches about the display.

Caravan Park

We are at this caravan park for five nights, time to stop and smell the roses for awhile and Warren wants to do some fishing, although by his own omission, he is a crap fisherman but he still tries every now and then.

Our van is parked in a small bay surrounded by coastal trees and bushes, this serves as a wind break and a bit of privacy from the other vans as well. two vans and cars fit into these bays.

We would normally have the awning out and we did have it out but the wind was up and it was blustery so the awning was rolled up when I took the pic. The beach is just over the back over a sand rise.

We have a gate pass to come in and out of the gates, its a swipe card. There is also a code for the toilet and shower.

Thank goodness there is a larger written card on the door as often the first trip of a morning is completed without ones glasses. Also thank goodness it is a very easy number to remember, Warren's has an easier number. 

A ten cent piece is losing its monetary value but not so here.

Here inside the park a ten cent coin gets one a hot shower for seven minutes. I dont begrudge paying for a hot shower at all but finding a ten cent coin can be a bit difficult. Luckily Warren had a few in his tennis bag. I paid for some bakery items yesterday by cash and yahoo, got a coin back in my change. I said to Warren that there was my shower for the morning. I am sure that we would be able to exchange coins at the office but just haven't done it yet.

Fritz!!!

We drove into Mt Gambier today to visit a sister in law who is in hospital here. We thought that we probably should take something so went a couple of blocks to a large supermarket area. We selected a crossword book and a magazine and then asked if there was a hair dresser around. I had missed my appointment to get my hair cut before leaving as my hairdresser who works from home on her own, had broken her ankle and couldn't even stand so my hair was a bit woolly and so was Warren's. Yes, there was one and they could fit us in at 11.30, an hour away. Had coffee and did pick up some groceries as we had the fridge in the car that we could turn on. Yay, we are in Sth Aussie and that meant fritz! Warren went and queued to buy some.

Trust me there is nothing like "our" fritz, it has peppers and spices in it and is quite a strong taste with an orange skin around it.

Shopping done we went back to hairdressers and I dont know how come but it was almost 1.30 pm before we left the centre. There was a book store closing down and all books were out for $6.

Hospital visit done, we then went to a Telestra shop to find out how to apply for Telestra air. I hate going there as I always feel dumb when they start talking about all the stuff they talk about.

Tonight for dinner we had fritz and salad stuff and gee it was nice. He had done well by buying quite a large piece so we will have fritz for a bit I may even cook some for breakfast as a change, from memory it curls up just right to add an egg into the middle.

I do like my fritz and it is about five years since the last time I had some so I am going to make up for it.

Quarrantine

Heading towards South Australia the trees were getting larger and then we saw quarantine signs.Damn, we had forgotten about this. It is illegal to take fruit,vegetables, wood or grape vines into Sth Aussie.

A couple of kms further on, there was a bin to place these items in. We had cabbage, potatoes tomatoes and apples on board. We did think about continuing on but couldn't do it so we stopped and sent our fresh F $ V down in the depths of the bin. We did eat an apple each before going on.

Two other cars stopped and deposited  as well while we were there. We are at a small coastal town paying $25 a night for a few nights while we check out the surrounds. This is reported as the Crayfish (Lobster) capital so may have to try one while we are here. There is a place in town that sells cooked ones

South Australians do tend to have some different words such as a stobbie pole for electricity pole, fritz for devon (although fritz is much tastier than devon just ask any Sth Aussie)

Portland

Driving west from Warrnambool, we were heading to Portland but there was a turn off about 4 kms out of Portland. I suggested that we go in and see about morning tea. I wanted to see  what it was like these days. Portland was one of the places that we stayed in on our honeymoon. Nope, didn't recognize anything.

We realised that it was Australia Day and a public holiday but was lucky enough to find a French Bakery open for business. We got morning tea but opted to stay in the car as it was so cold and windy.

I did take a photo of the docks though. We thought this was wheat at first then decided it was wood chip.

A beautiful church overlooking the docks and alongside was a college.

A Fixing Day.

Warren was invited to see Andrew's place of work today (well, actually we were both invited but I thought it was more a boys thing so I stayed back). They had a couple of hours going through helicopters and stuff.

He came home and decided to fix things. The drip tray in the fridge falls out when we are travelling so he took it apart and glued it in place then he adjusted the broom rack so that stays in place. I thought I had better do something and so I mended my cardigan, it has had a small hole in it for some months, always intended to fix it but only thought about it when I wanted to wear it. When I packed it to bring (its black so will go with everything)I noticed that there was a second hole.I had bought a small sewing kit to bring along so I darned the holes, not the best looking darns but at least I cant see daylight through it anymore.

After a day of doing not much, we took a walk on the beach, after putting on jumpers, hard to believe that we are in the middle of summer.

The water was cold, there were people out in the water and this guy.

Allenford Cheese

We visited here this morning and found that there were two museums/displays attached. The first one was mainly on dairy equipment.

Warren trying his hand at turning the milk separator that we both used when we were much younger. I am also surprised to see such a thing in a museum but I was about eight so over fifty (gulp) years ago.

The main thing here is a milk cooler just off centre left, the milk would go thru a strainer and then over the stainless steel coils.

I just had to take a photo of this, we had one and it took pride of place between the kitchen/dining room and the lounge so it could be listened to which ever room one was in. A radio but it was always referred to as "the wireless"

After wandering thru here and another collection of engines, we went in to the cafe and had cheese tastings. Lunch was quiche for me and warren had a ham and cheese sandwich. We bought some of their products before leaving. have to keep in mind that we have a very small fridge. 

We were at the break water this afternoon and saw where the movie Oddball was made.

The sea was so blue.

What to do when a computer dies.

I used the lap top last night, checked emails and wrote up my blog before turning it off to cook dinner, yep, even we are on holiday some one still needs to cook! After setting it aside and getting up, I asked Warren if he wanted it to check out what there was to do in Warrnambool. Agreeing to do that, I passed it over to him.

He couldn't get it to connect to the internet, it appeared to be stuffed/broken/def not working. We checked our internet device was on, yep that was working, tablet was working off that, still no lap top.

This lap top has been a real work horse, we bought it second hand in China for not much money, it has been back and forth there several times, it has been to work with me so in my off times, I could continue writing my book, it has been used to write six novels (and they were still on it!)been on several camping and caravans trips and never missed a beat. I think we have had it about seven years. Warren tried to reset it and then realised that no wifi was showing up.

He went to the help thingy and it said "Ensure that your internet switch is turned on" what! theres an internet switch!. He turned it upside down and checked all around the edges and sure enough there was a small button. Seven years and we had not known that. We assume that by changing hands, one of us brushed the button and turned it off.

As this one is classed as my laptop, it was a relief to realise that it has not died and thankfully is still going strong as long as it is turned on.

Creswick to Warrnambool

Today we left Creswick and travelled to Warrnambool. We opted to go on the secondary country roads rather the usual trip along the Great Ocean road. The roads were all bitumen but small were a trifle narrow, thankfully on the narrowest of roads which went for 35 kms, we only met one car coming the other way.

It also rained on and off for most of the trip and was quite grey, it appears to be in the middle of winter instead of summer!

We saw some of these off in the distance probably 20 or so and then later we came very close to a few, they are so majestic, I think.

Arriving in Warrnambool, we located the caravan park, the gold plated one, costing us $58 a night. Its busy and crowded with lots of families and kids. When we checked I saw that it is a Family park, we are a member of Family parks and as such entitled to 10% discount. They told us that we couldn't not get the discount as the money had already gone thru to council, the only way to recover the discount was to stay another night and then they could adjust the price, so we stay one more night and only pay $30 rather $58, not likely.

Our camp site required us (Warren) to scramble up a retaining wall and thru three metres of bush to plug in.

There is also no sullage here people seem to let their sink waste go on the ground.

We are not far from the toilets but it is up a flights of steps/stairs. Not real happy!

The beach is about 200 metres walk and while there was a lot swimming, it looked cold and bleak. The kids across the way were dressing in wetsuits to go which was probably a good idea.

We walked along the foreshore for a couple of kms, I was glad to be wearing my cardigan that I bought at the woollen mills yesterday.  

Creswick woolen mills

I did not know these existed which seems a bit strange as how we used to live not far from here, I guess it was before the internet was so widely used.

We were going to go back to Ballarat and go to Sovereign hill but it started to rain and it rained all morning so we had a very lazy morning,stayed in bed reading it was nice and warm and comfy.

As our water was empty and Warren had fixed it he put a bucket out to catch the rain and once that filled he then put it into the water tank, nice fresh water.

This was the entrance this afternoon, it stated $15 for the tour but they gave us one for nothing. I think they have quite a few Chinese bus loads and there were tables and chairs so maybe they give them a full tour and morning tea. Three of the girls were multilingual, speaking Malay, Cantonese and Mandarin. 

Eileen who had all four languages took on the start and then left us to look around, we enjoyed speaking with her in Chinese.

This was part of 100 metre picnic blanket that they made, the previous record holder was 49 metres. Afterwards it was cut into blanket pieces and given to charity.

This was one of the displays, it was very well set out with videos and hands on things to feel. Even though it is called Woolen mills, very few items are pure wool, mostly it is mixed with Alpaca wool to make it softer. None of the wool, sheep or alpaca is imported, all Australian. They do some possum in some items and that is imported from New Zealand.

We came away with some socks for Warren and a cardigan for me, his socks were on specail, buy four pairs and pay half price and mine was $19 marked down from $69 

Lunch and the botanical gardens in Ballarat

I have been very good at packing lunch while on the road but today i didn't, we thought we could pick up lunch somewhere in Ballarat, well we did, just as well the rest of the day was cheap.

It was yummy and we couldnt eat it all thank goodness we had decided to get this between us. The "Kiosk" was at the lake and a little more than a cafe or kiosk. We chose to sit outside facing the lake and had a good view of all the waterbirds.

We took some of the wedges that we didn't eat to feed the ducks, Warren had them coming for several metres away.

There were quite a few of these black swans, so majestic looking, most of them were out further but this one came for a closer look. We had to go for a walk through the lake and gardens to walk off lunch.

I found a craft shop to wander through, it was based in Adam Lindsay Gordon's home, a small four bedroom place, Warren found a park bench to rest on.

I was impressed by the size of the trees in the park but we had been told that the gardens were started in 1888 so I guess that why they are so huge.

The brass plates told what they were and how old or how tall.

A very cold shaded place.

Ballarat has the busts of all Prime Ministers, the last one there is Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd has both his stints on his. 

Beautiful display of marigolds but Arghh! the gardeners were at the other end cutting off the flowers! What the? They explained that the flowers were too big for the bushes and there is expected rain in a couple of days so they were taking the flowers off to spare the bushes. The rain would knock them over with the weight of water and blooms. He said that in three weeks they would flower again bigger and better and the bushes would also be bigger and stronger. In the photo is part of Robert Gordon Menzies, who was Prime Minister during the war years.

Tram Museum in Ballarat

We have done the big things in Ballarat such as Sovereign Hill and Kryal Castle so we decided to do some lesser or maybe less well known things hence the Tram Museum. Best thing was it was free although there was a donation box at the entrance, I emptied my coins into it.

This is a horse drawn tram built recently and still used, will be in use on Sunday. It is a replica of what were used. The horse tram started around the 1880's and was up graded to electric in 1905.

We went for a ride on a tram that goes around part of the lake, the driver was changing the lever over so we could go back the other way. This one was built in 1916 and had beautiful wooden seats and leather straps to hold.

Back in the days when they wanted to abolish the trams some people fought to keep at least some for history sake. There was a comprise and they were allowed to keep six and run only where there were no houses as it was considered the trams were very rattly. We found it was a great ride and at $4 each well worth it. The driver was also the commentator. 

  

 

We woke to rain.

Our last morning in Melbourne and it was raining, not a great deal but enough to be annoying while we were packing up. We were heading to the Ballarat area which meant driving from one side of Melbourne to the other and then some.

About to crest West Gate Bridge, we used to drive over this regularly when we lived on the west side and worked in Melbourne city.

It was still slightly raining and thankfully cool.

We weren't real sure of where we were headed and later we wanted to pull off for a coffee and sort out the caravan park that suited us. I had seen signs suggesting to "take a 15 minute power nap if tired" good idea but there were no rest areas to pull over. Finally we had to take an exit into a small township to have our coffee and set a route for our next stop.

Arriving in Creswick which is about twenty minutes from Ballarat, great reviews on this park but we were lucky to get a park as there are two large groups  booked in for the weekend but he fitted us in. We are up the back, backed onto and over looking the lake.

We discovered this afternoon that we had run out of water, bit surprising but we had not connected to mains water all the way down, but as the tank was empty, Warren took the opportunity to do some maintenance on it.

While we are coming to terms with daylight saving it is rather nice to eat outside and stay out until 8 pm or so, trouble is the waking up later in the mornings but cant have it both ways.

Our day at the Aussie Open

Today was the day that we had tickets to the Aussie Open in Melbourne. We checked in at the local railway station yesterday it took about fifteen minutes to get a car park so we figured that wasnt an option. We got Myiki tickets, $3 for the card and the guy put $4 on them which he said would be what we needed to take bus and train plus return for the day.

Gates opened at ten with the matches underway at 11 am. We left the caravan park at 8.15 to catch a bus, had about a five minute walk. As we walked into the train station and found a seat the train pulled in. The station is the end of the line so it wasn't going anywhere for a few minutes.There were a few people going to the tennis and I hear them say that during the tennis they open the other end of the station so people came walk straight there.Once we got to Richmond, hoards of people got off and swarmed down the footpath, we were swept away with the crowds. That was no problems but finding where to go once we got into the arena was more of a hassle, luckily it was sign posted and we walked around the main arena because it was cooler to find the Margaret Court Arena where we had seats.

Although we were up high about nineteen rows back from the action, we were able to see everything, it was brilliant.

The camera does seem to put it further away than it actually was.

We saw Madison Keyes and Andy Murray.

Warren decided to wear his Emirates hat that he was given at the Brisbane International, I just had to take a photo of it.

Once we has finished watching, we took an easy walk back to the station and as we walked in, the train pulled up, I'm sure we were just lucky but it was great timing. 

Love it when a plan comes together

I bought a throw over dress a couple of weeks ago with the idea of throwing it on to go to the shower, then put it back on again to go from the shower/bathrooms to the caravan and get dressed with a little more room.

It took a few days to get organised but I slipped it on this morning went across to the shower block, showered, dried off and slipped the dress back on and wandered back to the caravan where I then got dressed.

No trying to balance on one leg trying to put my shorts on, no worrying about wet floors or trying to hurry as other people need/want to use the showers.

Heat and cooling

Well it has been hot and Yes, I know it is summer. We had a pedestal fan that we were going to use in the caravan on our travels but then warren decided to buy a tower fan that would swing. Yep, it was okay and cooled things down but to sleep at night it needed to be raised while we were in bed.

Yesterday before we went to visit Rob, we wanted to call in to a Bunnings as we were going to buy them a Bunnings card as their Christmas present (and a pedestal fan). Last time we talked to Rob, they did not have any cooling so the tower fan would be going to good use. Lots of fans at different sizes and then we saw this.

An evaporative cooler  It was about twice the price of the fan and they didn't have what we wanted anyway but it is almost like having an A/C and it is very quiet.

It does take up more space but I am happy for it to travel in the back of the car if need be. 

I did my accounting tonight while Warren laughed at me and happy to record that I am under budget (cooler wasn't included but takeaway fish and chips was). Weeks expenditure was $682.48!!! Of course we didn't buy any food for the week as we brought it all from home, will need to do some shopping and washing tomorrow.

It was take away tonight as the chicken that I took out of the freezer for dinner was still frozen solid with no microwave to thaw it, there was a problem. Warren was given a choice, fish and chips or tinned food, he didnt answer just started looking up the nearest chippie haha.

At $18, it was not the cheapest but it was very tasty, large pieces of barramundi and crispy chips which we couldnt eat all of them. 

Good Dinosoar

Ended up five of us went to the movies. Two to The 5th watch?, grampy, Lindsay (4yo) and I saw the dinasoar. It was quite long for a kids movie. Had to laugh at them eating fermenting plums and how they got drunk with a hang over the next morning.

Movies tickets are much more here than at home, we pay $8.30 and it was $12 today for us, even $18 for students.

Melbourne

We have a leisurely drive into Melbourne this morning. 9 (I wasnt driving!) We were booked into a park down in Frankson for a few days catching up with family.

The traffic is a lot and fast, the weather is cooler and I have promised to take a couple of grandkids to see a movie tomorrow.

Chocolate factory

We stayed at Junee last night and we had been told (on the road by some other travellers)that there was a chocolate factory in the town. Could hardly miss  it, it was housed in a huge building within 500 metres of the caravan park.

A very enjoyable entrance through a wooden patio covered by cooling grape vines. It was a very mild day so not needed but I could imagine sitting there when the temperatures are high.

We entered into the building and found a small cafe and lots of tables and chairs, there was no tour as such, people were welcome to wander through and watch what was happening.

This had chocolate tumbling through it and the copper tubs had three different types of chocolate covered almonds.

While we were there, two women came and holding a paddle on the rollers, they scrapped chocolate off the it, where it went into the white tubs. There was information written above all the windows so that the process could be followed.

As there was no entry fee, we felt that we should at least have morning tea and what was on offer, coffee and scones. We did only have one scone between us as they were massive and came with jam and cream.

Before leaving we did wander over to the buying counter and bought a couple of blocks, one of rocky road, one ginger and a small packet of freckles, large enough for a sweet treat after dinner

Wellington Caves caravan park

We stayed there last night. It is a very big park holding about 200 vans but apparently people have been declining in numbers. When we arrived, we were told that we could park anywhere and then we realised why, there were only two others there! One motor home came in later.
Great park with camp kitchen which has a/c, we sat there and cooled down while we checked emails. We had a swim, nice pool, a dad and his son came for a swim too, they were down in motel units.
Cooked in camp kitchen, going to be fried rice, frozen mixed vege and cooked pork. Trouble was, I couldnt find the rice! Our little pantry is packed and i pulled a few things out, then decided that I must have left the rice at home. I did have spagetti so broken into bite sized pieces, that  worked out ok with some sweet chilli sauce added.

Washing the dishes and putting tham away later I found the rice, it was up in the cupboard that holds the plastics, an obvious place of course! It was me who put it there!
41 degrees yesterday and once we pulled into Junee around 1.30 pm today, we have experienced cool weather about 25 degrees. I managed to get washing done but then because of storm and rain, it is hanging inside so we have spent some time watching tennis at the other end of the van.
Warren has located a chocolate factory so I dare say we will pay a visit tomorrow.

Manilla

We are staying away from the main highways and taking the scenic secondary routes. We stayed the night at Manilla, seems a nice little town with quite a large caravan park, again $25.

Of course sitting over breakfast, I had woken late, it is holiday time after all, I noticed on my tablet that it was 9.17 am. I had changed the time on mine but he hadnt. NSW are an hour ahead and we needed to be out of the park by 10 am. We drove out at 9.42 am, amazing what one can do when one is in a hurry.

Driving out of town, we saw an unusual sight for us any way.

I must admit that we cheated a bit on this photo. We saw it and while I am trying to get my camera out, we had gone past, damn missed opportunity. Warren said that he could take the next turn and double back into town which is what he did. The old guy driving the horse and cart probably thought we were nuts as we had waved to him each time.

Less than ten kilmetres from town we saw heaps of little planes. Warren had talked to people the night before and they were there for the para gliding competition. Apparently it is The Capital place in Australia to do it. Last year they had had 700 in the air at one time.

Hard to see in the photo.

Just before lunch we saw this.

Half a house being moved and taking up one side of the road and half of the other, cars coming the other way had to pull over. We followed for about 10 or 12 kilometres and then there was a road side stop and we thought it was a good time to have lunch. We had the CB on and they were going to pull over there too then realised that they wouldn't have fitted in the driveway.

The photos are a bit blurry but all were taken in a moving car.

It was very hot today reached 41 degrees.

Very blue skies and little cloud.