Leisurely day at Mt. Gambier....

We started off with a leisurely day, you know,... sleeping in, playing on the computer and having a couple cups of coffee.  And we thought we'd start with the closest track near our park.  And our first track was straight up this hill.  And I mean UP!!

This was taken about a third of the way up.  In the picture on the right, do you notice that tower at the very back of the hill?

That was our goal.  And we made it to the top of Mt. Gambier to the Centenary Tower Lookout.  360 degree views.  It's also the lookout for the Fire spotter, who happened to be there.  Not only is Victoria susceptible to fires, but Mt. Gambier too suffers from these conditions being surrounded by plantation forests.  They too, were caught out big time on Ash Wednesday in 1983.  He said some of the people were still distraught and couldn't bear to watch the news from the current Victorian fires. 

And once we finished having our tour and talking to the locals about the lava formations and the fires, we made our way back down to the carpark.  (Down is always good.)

From that point, we drove into town and had a look at a famous sinkhole and a cave.  There are quite a few caves around this area.  Understandably since the whole town is built on the side of a volcano.  There's bound to be quite a few caves and sinkholes.

The Umpherston Sinkhole. Originally owned by Umpherston, he tried to create an oasis for friends and family.   It originally had heaps of water in it where they could go rowing or swimming.  Then it was sold off and left unattended for a while, and then in the 1980's the community resurrected the sinkhole, by putting a park inside and creating a tourist attraction. 

And then there's the Engelbrecht Cave.

You'll notice the larger hole?.... but notice the little one in front of it?...Engelbrecht , a local publican in the 1800's thought it was an unused well and so deposited all of his rubbish into it.  They found bottles, tin cans, carcasses of dead animals, etc.  It took 6 yrs to clean it all up.  And there's also water in the underground caves that only exceptionally experienced divers can go through. (Well that leaves US out!) . But it was an interesting bit of history as well.

We even stopped in to see a sculpturing contest going on.  Using sandstone blocks, the sculptors, for the past week, have been working away on these blocks creating beautiful pieces of artwork.

These were some of the lesser pieces, but still fantastic to look at.

All were for sale afterwards.

 

 

And of course, I couldn't let this one go by without taking a picture of it.

It's a Ford Popular.  Year?..don't know. (neither did Chris)  But it's original and it was cute. 

 

 

 

And now, we're back at the van, relaxing and planning our day for tomorrow.  My legs are letting me know, that I might have gotten carried away with this workout, today.  But I figure it just means that I need to do more.

Collecting landscaping ideas....

You may have noticed that there's a few shots of roses.  I LOVE roses.  However, there are certain members of my family who do not.  Those said members have even been known to chop every single one of my roses down.  I even contemplated putting roses into the next house, but I worry that they won't survive.  And so,... while we cruise around the countryside,  You'll notice a few pictures of roses tucked in,  here and there.

 

And speaking of flowers...while we've been travelling, we've been getting ideas for the landscaping. 

We found a fence that both Chris and I like.  And it will suit the house. 

 

 

 

I also found some trees that I think would look good too.  I found those at the McDonald's restaurant.  I haven't taken  a picture yet, but I will.  I just didn't want to make too many trips to Maccas, it's hard to resist at the best of times.  We've been trying to avoid fast food as much as possible,.

And then there's hedges vs. no hedges.  I love their polished look,..he doesn't want to do the maintenance.  I also want to have a pergola in the back yard with grapevines growing on it.  He doesn't.   So, yes,...we have a few differences to sort out and we WILL get there in the end, so that both parties will enjoy the outcome.

In the meantime, we're off to Mt. Gambier tomorrow morning.  The van is cleaned up, the clothes are washed, and the larder restocked.  The car is vacuumed, washed, and fuelled up. And we've had a lovely walk around the bay before settling in for the evening.  Now.....what's on TV tonight or do you wanna play Scrabble?

Ready to go home?...not yet.

Chris asked me yesterday if I'm still enjoying this travelling and sight seeing and I thought about it, ...and I thought,..yes,..I am enjoying it. 

We've been on the road now for about 4 months.  I think I'm getting used to it.  When we first started on this journey, there's the excitement and wonder.  We've had points in the journey where we've HAD to be somewhere at a certain time,...like Christmas with the kids,...repair appointments in Canberra, and we stopped in to see Chris's Army mate Vic and his wife Maria.  And now,  we've got a deadline in Port Lincoln for the Scout meeting.  We'll be catching up with Col and Margaret for that meeting and then we're off up the middle of Australia.

But all in all, it's been great to see so much of Australia.  You always HEAR about these places, but we've never had the opportunity to see them.  And now, here we are, doing it.

I've managed to absorb some of the essence of Australian history.  Yesterday we stopped in to see Portland which is the very FIRST settlement in Victoria.  It was a whaling town back then, but now there's an aluminium smelter and an timber chip exporter on the docks.   We had lunch in a local bakery and there were photos on the wall from the early 1900's and some as early as 1870.  The lady told us some of the history about Portland as we gazed at the photos.

I've talked about people living in the early homes, but today we came across the Customs House,...which Chris accidentally found out is still in use as a Customs House.  The gentleman kindly asked Chris if he had his transfer documents. Startled,  Chris replied no, he's just a tourist, and then sheepishly walked out while I teased him.

 

 

 

And we also found out that the original court house is ALSO still in use today. We didn't bother going inside that one.

 

 

There have been times where I think I would like to go home, but this travelling really is a lot of fun and I'm not quite ready to give that up yet.  I feel as though I've adjusted to being on the road with the use of the caravan as our house.   But I know at the end of this trip,..there WILL be a house to go home to, and that there WILL be lots of work to do once we get there.

For those of you who are enjoying the photos...I've run out of my quota for Flickr this month(again), but you can enjoy them on " My Space" which is the link on the righthand side of the page.

And today, we're off to The Grampians, the western wall of mountains in Victoria.

Fourth day at Warrnambool...

The last couple of days here have been relaxing.  Yesterday we visited the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum.  It displayed some of the things found on shipwrecks inside Bass Strait.

 

Like this  Peacock, bound for the Melbourne Exhibition in the late 1800's.  Lots of silverware and parts of ships are also on display.  Even in the midst of the rubble a one carat Brazilian Diamond ring was found.

Bass Strait was a notorious hotspot for shipwrecks which is now why they have so many lighthouses along the coastline.

 

But yesterday we toured through this little coastal village with it's cobblestone streets and little shops. Reminiscent of days gone by.

We stopped in and had a lovely Devonshire Tea which consists of a pot of tea and scones (biscuits) lavishly topped with jam and whipped cream.  And as we ate, we sat overlooking the village and right out to the sea.  Very nice.

One fellow told us that a couple of the shops there,  were used in the movie Quigley, with Tom Selleck.  So Chris and I are going to get that movie and have a look again to see if we can spot it.

 

You can see the pub on the left, and there's a ticket office between that and the sailmaker's shop.  Well, I believe that these shops were used in the filming for Quigley.  I did find it interesting that there were posters glued to the walls in the pub that were left over from the filming.  These posters were depicting Californian information which I thought unusual.  Now I know why.  They must have used the posters for San Francisco gold rush days.

The days have been lovely, but there's a cold wet wind that cuts through you despite the sun on your back.  It gives us an indication of what the winters are like here. Brrrrr

Well, I'm off to prepare for our mountain journey into the Grampians.  The pictures look great and I'm excited to see it. We WERE planning on pitching a tent, but with the drop in temperatures here, we decided it's probably a bit too cold for comfort.  So it may be a  whirlwind day trip instead.

Domestic day at Warrnambool

Today is rest day.  We're here in Warrnambool and the sky is overcast once again which makes for a great domestic day.

1. Appointments are made.
2. Clothes are washed.
3. Crochet and reading done.
4. Scrabble games done.
5. Nap time complete.
6. Prepare for touring tomorrow.
7. Dinner at Taco Bill's.
8. Movie to end the day.

All in that order and we miss all the babies crying tonight.  It's all good.

My legs are sore, but my soul soars with delight...

There aren't too many words that can describe what we've seen today.  The majestic beauty of the land meeting the sea.  The red and gold colours contrasting against the azure waters.  It was UNBELIEVEABLE!!!

Chris and I started out early this morning and decided to take a walk along the beach.  But first we had to get down these....

The Gibson Steps,..and once we got down here, we had to go back UP.  But the ocean breeze was refreshing.  I didn't make it too far up the beach, but Chris managed to get some really good pics of one of the apostles.

 

 

After climbing back up the steps, I was exhausted!  talk about out of shape!..  But we made it and everything worked out fine.

 

Each outcropping was spectacular in it's own right.  And as the day progressed, the sea mist faded and the colours became more pronounced.

 

 

And then tucked into one of these inlets, was Port Campbell.  A few houses, a few units, a shop or two and this glorious little beach.

 

 

But my all time favourite spot was this one.  London Bridge.  There WAS two arches, but one of them fell in 1990.  This place gave me a sense of serenity.  Even Chris felt it, so we stayed for a while enjoying the ambience.

We walked until we almost dropped.  My knees were calling out to me and my back was a bit sore.  But this morning?...well, I'm feeling pretty good and ready to tackle another day.

Aah...The Great Ocean Road and the healing sea.

We said goodbye to Melbourne this morning as we headed out towards Geelong and the Great Ocean Road. 

What we SHOULD have done was taken the ferry from Portsea and we wouldn't have had to go by freeway to Geelong.  Ah well, this is what I call 'experience'

This is not an optical illusion.  The trees REALLY DID grow on a lean from the winds that come up from the south.

 

 

The Great Ocean Road is Victoria's pearl.  The lush green forest that rolls down the mountain side to meet up with the great blue sea of Bass Strait.  It truly is magnificent.  None of the pictures I've taken can truly explain the beauty of it all.

  And then we found this lighthouse between Airey's Inlet and Fairhaven. 

(Later I came to realize that there are quite a few lighthouses along this end of Australia through the Bass Strait.)

 

 

 

We're staying overnight at a small caravan park at Otway's Forest.  Tomorrow, we're off to the Twelve Apostles.  But before the night fell, we heard a noise in the tree and this is what greeted us, as we parked under HIS tree.

Recon...in Melbourne

Well, we've had a good look around Melbourne city yesterday.  We drove through Brighton where the wealthier folks live.  I LOVE the architecture.  Each house has it's own unique architecture. Did I say house?..I meant mansion.  Huge homes with tall, gated, fences.

And then there's the houses we CAN afford... But, no one is selling these at the moment.  At a mere $300,000, it's yours.  IF....you can find one for sale.

 

 

 

We went into St. Kilda, which is where Luna Park is located. It's also where my friend's daughter lived for a while.  The streets are like a maze of cars, wires, trees, trams and people.  We managed to find a spot to park that would fit the Cruiser and it's roof rack.

We were greeted at first sight with St. Paul's Cathedral and Flinders St. railway station.

 

The first thing we did was have lunch.  One must have sustenance to start their walking journey through the city streets.  Chris had a turkish sub sandwich and I had lasagne. 

We set out to find a free city tram to tour the whole inner city.  There was an historical commentary playing, but with the people noise and traffic noise, I only caught snippets of it.  Still, we could see the older architecture tucked in between the new.

This is the oldest building in Melbourne.  I'm not sure what year it was built as I couldn't hear that part of it.

 

 

 

This one looks like it's been selling opals FOREVER. It doesn't look much different from it's neighbours, but the newer buildings surrounding it helped to distinguish it's uniqueness.

 

 

 

 

Well, Chris and I drove around by tram, and then we took a river cruise.  Melbourne is a great place to people watch.  At least now, we've established where everything is and what we want to see.  So another trip into the city is a must.  To get any history on Melbourne, I think the museum should be first.  And......don't tell Chris, but I think another trip into a gaol is going to give us a bit of history as well.  And if it turns out to be too much on our feet, there's always the IMAX theatre.

Fires in Victoria

For the last two weeks, Chris and I have driven through some of the driest areas we've ever seen.  Paddocks, which had the remnants of their last crops, were gold or brown, and even in some cases, grey.  There was nothing green except for the grape vines on some properties.  EVERYTHING was gold or brown. Trees were losing their leaves, like Autumn had arrived early and some had already died.   Little or no stock in the paddocks.  Many lakes that we TRIED to find were bone dry.  And during the whole trip, Chris exclaiming '' I can't believe how DRY everything is".

And then Friday came and we landed in Melbourne.  The weather was warm and they were expecting a hot and windy day on Saturday.  So we prepared for the extreme temperatures once again.

But nothing prepared us for the hot searing winds that met us later in the morning.  The day got to 45C/112F and the wind gusts were up to 100kph/60mph.  And as I walked through this heat, I could feel that my eyes were trying to dry out.  And when I breathed, I took shallow breaths so my mouth and lungs wouldn't dry out.  It was hard to believe that the wind could cause such dehydration so quickly.  And with that kind of dry wind... It only took one or two firebugs and the fires were off!  And the devastation continues as I write.

Chris and I were catching up with some friends as we listened to snippets of the news.  Whole towns consumed by fire.  All those gold paddocks, now black or grey ash.  Quaint old homes now a smouldering mess with only their chimneys standing and tin roofs buckled, on the ground.  Livestock,..the farmer's livelihood, burnt.  Cars melted on the roads as people tried to escape at the last minute when the wall of fire was too intense.

Many of these people had no clue that the fires would be as intense as they were.  I'm sure many had already been through spot fires before and thought they would be able to handle these.  But because of the drought and the dryness of the crops and the trees around them, it proved too much.

Many firefighters  have come from far and wide to lend a helping hand.  The government also has stepped in to lend support.  This is one of the reasons I love Australia.  We all rally around together to help support those in a crisis.  Our thoughts and prayers are for those who are going through this hell and for those who are in the path of the fires.  God Bless.

As Victoria continues to burn.......

For our families's information, we're safely tucked away in the Melbourne suburbs.

We've passed through most of those areas before they started burning and there's some that we have yet to pass through.

Small spot fires have been started locally around some of the new housing estates, but they were quickly brought under control.

For all those other families in Victoria, our hearts go out to them and their loved ones.

In the meantime, Chris and I will making repairs to the caravan and fixing things up on the cruiser before continuing on with our explorations.

We say goodbye to Ballarat and hello Melbourne

We said goodbye to Ballarat this morning and hello Melbourne this afternoon.

This is what greeted us as we drove in to Melbourne.\

 

 

 

 

Sitting on top of the Bridge looking out to sea.

 

 

 

 

 

The skyline of Melbourne

 

 

Melbourne is going to be our pitstop.  We have many things to repair on the van and changes to do on the Cruiser.

The brake lights hadn't been working since Swan Hill.  The door handle broke off a couple of days ago.  The back window hasn't been able to open since before Christmas,..and then this afternoon, the power wasn't working.  And then add a hot day and Miss Moneypenny (our GPS) and me giving directions which led to us taking the scenic route to our stop on the OTHER side of Melbourne.  Also, I think we missed a couple of Toll payments as well.  So we'll be expecting THOSE in the mail. (oops)

Well, we got the brake lights fixed FINALLY this morning before we left Ballarat. (yeah!) and this afternoon, Chris fixed the door handle and the power.  So all is complete now, except for the back window and Mr. Grumpy pants is happy once more.

So, there's more fixing to do tomorrow as Chris wants to organize a new stereo which takes the IPOD and also a CB radio for the cruiser.  So we'll get all the repairs done first and then we might be able to play tourist.  I suggested a tour, but he's daring enough to want to take the Cruiser into the city.  Okaaay,...but don't say I didn't ask...we could be in for an interesting time here in Melbourne. 

Bendigo and lost pictures....

  Okay, no we didn't take a wrong turn and it's not pictures of Bendigo.  We were wandering around Bendigo and I found out that I still had pictures leftover from our Simpson Desert trip.  So being lazy, I've simply added them in with Bendigo.

(Notice the windstorm? ) This was a park, believe it or not...nothing for miles and the creative person who did this brought some fun to the desert. I didn't bother getting out of the truck.  It was like getting sandblasted and my skin is rough enough thanks. 

(When you go to "more photos'', you'll  see some more of these blended in with Bendigo shots.)

But back to Bendigo....where the temperature has finally cooled down making it a nice day to tour the city.

We started off on a Talking Tour on the Bendigo Trams.

Bendigo is a gold mining town and as you will see in the photos it was a very PROSPEROUS town!  Gold was originally discovered by two women who were out visiting the shepherds in the area and accidentally found gold.  The town swelled to 30,000 in two years.  But it seems that the people of Bendigo also put a lot back into their town.

The fountain, the gardens,  the government buildings, and the churches were built to rival their European counterparts.

 

 

There are so many of the original houses here and the people are still living in them today.  Normally, in most towns you would see one or two of the original homes, but here it's house after house after house. 

 

The Chinese culture is very strong here too.  We dropped in to the Golden Dragon Museum which is one of the best museums on Chinese history.  The Chinese came to Australia, not only to escape their own warring country, but they were forced to stop into Adelaide and WALK back to Bendigo because of taxes imposed on them.  And then when the mines started dwindling off, they started up market gardens from which they prospered. My admiration is their artistry in their woodworking skills and sewing skills.

 

Yes,..there's just so much to see, that it's almost overwhelming.  It's like ''living'' history.   Bendigo is a wonderful city, rich in cultures from all around the world.  I'm sorry we have to leave tomorrow as this is a place that's worth exploring a little more.