Day 209 - 211 Wilsons Prom

This is the area that I previously mentioned, Wilsons Prom. This is where the Melbournian families come to escape the heat of Melbourne. It is a National Park, that has caravan, camping facilities, mosquitos by the trillion and about the same number of sand flies.... Stephen is still suffering 10 days later. Needless to say that the weather followed us and it turned mighty hot..Stephen and I had managed to get a powered site which was a godsend.
Tidal River, the area were the camp sites are, is a lovely spot, very well laid out with a bridge and boardwalks all over.

This is the safe beach at Norman Bay, we spent a fair amount of time in the water, even though everyone had said that the southern ocean was too cold... it was great. My arm did a turn on me when I had been body surfing for the first time in years.
We had met up with Alan & Alys again and on the first morning (before it got to hot) we walked out to Pillar Point. The view behind us is another shot of the Norman Bay. That night it was very hot and A & A decided to go home and try and save their plants. We stayed on and with the help of the aircon, and the Australian Open on TV we managed.
To keep cool we also went for a drive up to The Saddle, (one of the highest spots), no walking though toooooooo hotttttt. We did however go for a walk down to Whiskey Beach and spied this Rastafarian with attitude, whipping his huge head of hair from side to side, with water going everywhere.

Day 209 Fish Creek

We were on the road again, and oh, boy was it a good feeling. With a heat wave coming in Melbourne, we headed for the Victoria equal of  Albany in WA, a place called by the locals "The Prom"I will do a separate blog for Wilson's Prom, but this is just a little bit of fun. On the way down we stopped at a place called Fish Creek, it is a pretty little place, and really the last town before you get to the National Park boundary. Stephen was highly amused by this offering... quote"They must have bl...dy big Sea Eagles here to drop a fish that big!"
Apparently this fish on the top of the local pub was originally upright... I think that it is more effective on it's side. The rest of the village has many more fish themes, with public seats made with fish designs, and mosaic tables with fish scenes.

Day 206 Packing Up MELBOURNE

Yes we are back.. we have had a lovely time while in the climate varying Melbourne. There really are to many photo's to post so we have picked just a few.. This one is of the Southern Star at Docklands. It took me a while with my Vertigo to get to the edge...can you see the terror in my eyes!!!!
We visited many wineries over the month, this one is Mitchelton , just outside Nagambie. They have a observation tower, with all the main cities marked in direction and distance...Stephen pointing home.
We met up with some of Stephen's past life. This shot is of Jan Kronberg MLC, showing us around her work place...Parliament House. We, including the budding Liberal parliamentarian, Kristian, were given a guided tour and lunch in this fabulous building. We got to many of the areas that most do not, with someone who had the knowledge and the enthusiasm to enhance our visit. Thanks Jan.  
Kristian got to stand and sit in the Upper House, and Lower House for that matter. The architecture and decorations were unbelievable.
Would you believe that after Parliament House we went to the Melbourne Gaol. This is the Gaol were Ned Kelly was hanged. Stephen in a padded cell....I wish!!!!!!!

This is only a small part of our visit..we headed to Portsea for lunch, travelled the 96 tram, from Brunswick to St Kilda, voted National Geo's second best tram ride in the world...now that was an eye opener. Yarra Valley to wineries, bike ride from Launching Place to Warbuton, out to Daylesford to the natural springs (there had been spa's there, but not anymore), Stephen and Kristian had a boys day at the Mornington Peninsular RACV Great Australian Rally, and I got to go to the Tennis. What else, oh yes, watched WA get thrashed by VIC. in the 20/20 match at the MCG, dinner on Lygon Street, visited the Victoria Market at least three times..... mmm food, visited many friends and family...caught up with some that Stephen had not seen for 20 years or more...then got the mundane done..like getting the van serviced, and the leaks stopped!

Now we are two days off being on the Road Again....can't wait.  Alan & Ayls have already left and will met us at Wilson's Prom...watch this spot..it's on again.

Day 165-Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne in a very sorry state..luckily our friends Alan & Alys were only to happy to see us and were not concerned with the fact that we were a few days early. We have set ourselves up in their back room and Turtle is in their storage spot. We intend to stay around here for the next few weeks. 

Kristian (Stephen's youngest) has just moved down from Sydney and we are catching up with him over the Christmas and New Year period. 

There are a lot of friends to catch up with so this blog will go into slow mode for a while.

On the note of the blog... we have had many comments that people can not get onto the comments section of the blog.

Here are some tips..

Click on the comment section.

Type in your comment in the box

Type in the code word shown in the box provided. (Make sure that you copy this exactly)

Type in a gmail account. This is a free email..no in box or out box just an email address for you to add to this blog.  

Then type in a password.  

(Just remember that the email address must be an individual address, so if when you add your address and password and it comes up with incorrect password , it could mean that the email address is already in use.. eg. alison@gmail.com does not work but a1i5on@gmail.com does.)

Then don't forget your email address and you can comment away on our blog....and please do because we really love to hear from you all!!!

Day 164 Leaving Apollo Bay

After an horrific night we decided to move on... we had intended to sty another few days but the weather forecast was miserable. We were soaked to the skin and started off on the Great Ocean Road in much different conditions to the last trip.
I must admit that I was not impressed with the conditions. Falling rocks and branches on the road... these are some of the smaller ones...I missed the others as I was holding the camera to tight!!!!!
The small creeks from the other day were now rushing through and ripping out the sand banks to get to the sea.
Very dramatic....very scary....we had a car towing a surf board trailer, jack knife in front of us... all in all not impressed. Stephen even admitted that it was the most interesting drive he had had in 30 years.
This was the heads..... there was a cloud bank in the back ground that just stayed there and appeared not to move...eerie!!!!

Day 162 Day drive of Great Ocean Road

In amongst the wet weather we managed to find one fine day... Stephen jumped at the chance to leave Turtle behind and drive to the official beginning of the Great Ocean Road, turn round and drive back..stopping at many of the outlook spots and places of interest. I can't put them on here there are to many, this is just a sample to give you an idea of the beauty of this rugged coastline. This is the memorial to the diggers who after returning from the First World War, painstakingly, built this winding road. You can see the Arch in the background, which I believe is about the fourth that has been erected, the last one was burnt down in the terrible Ash Wednesday fires. The jacket on the rock behind me is so well sculptured that you want to pick it up. thinking someone had just put it there!
The next two are from Teddy's Lookout, just outside Lorne, it gives a really good idea of the cliff roads and estuary bends.

They don't call this the shipwreck coast for nothing...and as you can see you can get up close to see some of the ship that remains on this rough coastline.
Had to add this... I took it!!!!!!!!!  Every turn and rise and fall of the road brought more scenery like we have not seen since we were in New Zealand.

Day 160-164 Apollo Bay and Surrounds

We got to Apollo Bay and stayed in the Pieces Caravan Park. The wind was still to strong to even put out the awning. Met up with Kerry and Peter our neighbours on a wet and windy night. Turtle obliged with us all gathered round the table... we had also sprung a few leaks..most amusing!!
Apollo Bay is a lovely little village/town. It had many memories for Stephen, so we did a little memory lane driving and then some new adventures.
This is the tree walk just north of Apollo Bay. It is one of four in Australia...considering my vertigo I am pleased to say that I have now done 3 of the 4. The last is in Queensland, I believe, so we will put that one the list of things to do.
This one is for JJ...remember this from Tasmania....not quite so scary, no one bouncing the suspended arm and this one did not have a see through floor.
Now you may wonder why I have added a well light lighthouse. This is the Cape Otway Lighthouse. It is stuck out on a limb...check it out on the map...it is also the lighthouse that was used for the TV series Round the Twist as well as in one of the Mad Max movies. It is amazing what you find out when you look around!