Sunday, 12 April, 2015, Day 1 of Great Ocean Road trip

Our Great Ocean Road holiday

I spent hours organizing our vacation this week.  When I plan a holiday, I look at everything there is to see that I think we might be interested in.  I also plan how long I think it will take to do each activity including the time it will take to drive between each place.  Then, we go with the flow once we start on our trip.

Day 1 (Sunday, 12 April, 2015)

From our Melbourne unit, we drove to our first stop which was the town of Geelong (about an hour from the unit).  At the Eastern Beaches, we walked along the Geelong Bollards Trail.  Bollards are wooden poles (reclaimed timber pier pylons) which have been painted  to represent over 100 historical Geelong characters. There is also a carousel and a ferris wheel along the way.

Victoria Baths swimmers (swimmers characterizing the Victoria Bathing Establishment (1870)

 Geelong harbour

 Dad in front of Cunningham Pier

 Me beside the Sail Captain bringing live birds to stock the nearby Botanic Gardens aviaries) and beside them is a Steam Captain of the Steamship S. S. Edina operating from 1888 - 1938

Carousel

Volunteer Rifle Band playing "The Geelong Polka" - this group represents players in Geelong's first band concerts which were held in the Botanic Gardens in 1861

Dad with scallop fishermen and woman from the early 1800's, fish and crustaceans from Geelong were marketed and sold locally as well as in Melbourne

 Early Geelong Footballer - a nearby field, which became Transvaal Square, was used for football practice

 Town Baths Swimmers Club - a progression of lifesavers displaying the changing styles of men's swimming trunks

 Eastern Beach

 Bathing Beauties - the beach front was the venue for beauty competitions from the 1930's

 Eastern Beach and ferris wheel

Our next stop was the town of Torquay.  There we did the Torquay Promenade Walk which is section 2 of the Surf Coast Walk.  The surf coast walk stretches 66 kilometres from Torquay to Lorne.  It was a beautiful walk and the ocean views were lovely.

View of the beach from the Esplanade in Torquay

 Sailsurfer on beach in Torquay

 Torquay war memorial

Dad looking at view from Point Danger

 View from Point Danger

 View from Point Danger

Me eating an aussie meat pie (with 'tomato sauce') for lunch

The third stop was Bells Beach.  This is Australia's most famous surfing beach.  Every Easter, the Rip Curl Pro surf carnival is held at Bells Beach.  The Rip Curl Pro is the longest running surf competition in the world.  It attracts surfers and spectators from all over the world.  This surf carnival was finishing up the day we got there, but there were no surfers in the water by the time we arrived.

 Sign for the Rip Curl Pro surfing carnival

 Bells Beach

 Bells Beach

Bells Beach
  

Our final stop for the day was in the town of Anglesea.  We first went to the Anglesea Golf Course where we had read would be tons of kangaroos.  Micalla (cousin Deanna's daughter) is involved in a project at her local library where she received a paper person called Flat Stanley (based on books by Jeff Brown) and was asked to send Stanley to a relative who would take him around with them on their travels, take photos of Stanley doing these activities and then write a blurb about Stanley's adventures to send back to Micalla.  His adventures will then be part of the Flat Stanley adventure book which will be made.  The reason I mention this is that we see kangaroos all the time in Hervey Bay, but we stopped at the Golf Course so that we could get some photos of Flat Stanley with kangaroos.  It was amazing to see the kangaroos on the course while the golfers were playing the game.  I wonder if a golfer has ever hit a kangaroo with a golf ball.  We were not supposed to go onto the golf course, but who could resist seeing (and photographing) all those cute kangaroos.  We weren't the only ones on the course checking out the kangaroos and we were asked a couple of times by the golfers to move so that they could take their shots - oops! :-)

 Mother kangaroo feeding her junior kangaroo

 Sun shining through smoke from a controlled burn-off

After that, we went for another walk along the Surf Coast Walk.  We didn't go far on this section (#8) of the walk as we really wanted to see more of the beach than we were seeing.  So, we gave the rest of the walk a miss and decided to go down to the beach and walk along it.  We both love the water and especially walking by the ocean.

View from the Surf Coast Walk

 View from the Surf Coast Walk

Me on the beach in Anglesea

Our first night's stay was at a B & B in Anglesea.  Ian, the owner of the B & B, and his son, Dev, greeted us warmly, .  It turned out that both had lived in Canada for ten years as Ian had married a Canadian woman.  When that didn't turn out, Ian and Dev returned to Australia and started the B & B.  It was a three bedroom house with a large rec room downstairs where Dev stayed.  Our room was the master bedroom with an ensuite - really nice large room with a very comfortable bed.  We also had full access to the living/dining room, kitchen and internet.  Ian provided fresh bread, bacon, cheese and eggs for breakfast, although he didn't cook it for us.  We were surprised about that since, whenever we have stayed at a B & B, breakfast has always been cooked for us by the hosts.

Sunday, 12 April, 2015

Dad came dog walking with me on Monday and got a good workout.  I am not sure he will come again, but at least he tried it out.  He ended up having to walk a couple of dogs who like to pull on their leashes.  Since he grew up with dogs, he knew how to get them to either stop pulling or to pull less.

Dad and one of the dogs he walked

As I still had one '2 for 1' coupon to 'Hogsbreath Cafe', Dad and I decided to use it on Monday for lunch.  I had ribs again since they were so good when I went with Robyn last week and Dad had ribs and a steak.  Dad agreed with me that the cooking of the food has improved greatly since we went last year.  We might just have to go a few more times to make sure. :-)

 me and my dinner of yummy ribs at 'Hogsbreath Cafe'

Dad with his dinner of ribs and steak at 'Hogsbreath Cafe'

After lunch, I met up with my friend, Maureen, for afternoon 'tea'.  We went to the 'Boat Club' where they have a really nice cafe.  Maureen had never had an iced chocolate and so I told her that she just HAD to have one (and I did, too :-)  and she also wanted to share a passionfruit cheesecake (to which I agreed :-)  Both were yummy!  Maureen was my counsellor when I was Primary President in our ward.  Maureen is the same age as Nana and we get along like a house on fire.  She and her husband travel a lot and it was great that we were both home at the same time, so we could have a lovely afternoon together.

Maureen with her iced chocolate and passionfruit cheescake

View from the 'Boat Club' cafe

On Tuesday, Dad and I took my babies, Garfield and Violet, back to the Animal Rescue.  I am sure that they weren't happy to be back there since they had had the run of our house for a while and I was sad to have to take them back, but at least I know that they can come back to us the next time we are in HB.

After that, we went to Robyn's as she had a list of things for Dad to do. :-)  She is finding that there are things that she doesn't know how to do as she didn't have to do them when Geoff was alive.  Most of the things were technology based and Dad was able to help her out with all of them.  Dad needed some shorts mended and Robyn was happy to do that for him.

We had our friends, Faye and Bill, over for dinner that night.  Bill works for QAC (Dad's work) and the four of us get along really well.  Since we are all travelling so much, we don't get back to HB at the same time very often (they live about 15 minutes away from HB).  We had a lovely dinner and chat - it was great catching up with them.

On Wednesday, we had to go to a funeral for our friend, Des, who was a member of our ward.  It was a very short funeral which was good.  When it was time to go to the graveside, we took Robyn with us in our car - the cemetery we went to is where Geoff is buried and this was the first time she had been there since his burial.  She had a hard time being there, but she wanted to do it for Des' wife, Margaret.

On Thursday, I met up with Bronwyn and Chantelle at 'The Coffee Club' - Chantelle was back in HB for the school holidays and when she comes back to the Bay, the three of us always try and get together.  Brownyn is a retired teacher who does contract work for the school she worked at before she retired (just two half days a week).  We talked a lot about how teaching has changed so much and how it's killing the passion for many of the teachers in our schools.  It is so sad.  I have always loved teaching and I feel so blessed to have been able to teach at R. J. Lee for so many years.  It gave me a chance to just teach and it was such a joy to go there every day and to help my students learn.  More teachers are leaving the job all around the world and we are losing so many good ones.

me and Chantelle at 'The Coffee Club' - you can't see my iced chocolate :-) (Bronwyn took the picture as she didn't want to get her photo taken :-)

On Friday, we flew to Melbourne and we are now at the unit.  It's a bit cooler down here than it is in HB, but I am still able to wear my shorts. :-)  Dad and I are looking forward to our week long holiday along the Great Ocean Road (on the southern coast of Australia).

Sunday, 5 April, 2015

Dad got home on Friday and he was so happy to be home - and I was so happy to have him home.  Dad was quite pleased at how the course went overall - this was his first time teaching this course and the students all thanked Dad for teaching them and said they hoped to see him again some day.  He actually flew out of PNG on Thursday, but arrived in Brisbane too late to catch a flight to HB.  He stayed in an airport hotel for the night and the first thing he did after checking in was go to the grocery store nearby and grab a caesar salad and a tropical fruit salad.  He wasn't able to eat those in PNG and was longing for some fresh fruit and veggies.

I kept myself  busy this week to help pass the time by quickly.  I went dog walking on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I've found that it's really helping to keep me motivated to walk.  Since I have made the commitment to be there, even if I don't feel like going when I wake up in the morning, I get myself moving and get there for 8am (pretty good for someone who is not a morning person, eh? :-)  One of the ladies who is normally there was away Monday and Wednesday and so Claudette and I had to walk all the dogs ourselves.  I was quite tired and also quite soaken (from being out in the sun for over two hours), but it was a good workout.

I am loving my two babies, Garfield and Violet.  They have been good company this week, especially Garfield who likes to sit near me wherever I am.  I am so glad that I found out about fostering cats - it's gonna be sad to have to take them back to the Rescue on Tuesday.  But, it's great that I can go and get them again whenever we are back in HB.

 Garfield

Violet

My visiting teachers came to see me on Tuesday morning and even brought me homemade pikelets (little pancakes).  I always enjoy having my visiting teachers come -  it gives me a chance to get to know the sisters a little better since it's hard to do that on a Sunday.  They are changing my visiting teachers next month, though, so I will have a chance to get to know two new ones the next time we are in HB.

Robyn and I went out for lunch on Tuesday - when we went out to celebrate my birthday last week, we each filled out a ballot and received a 'two for one meal deal' coupon which had to be used within three weeks.  Robyn and I both had a rack of ribs and they were so delicious - they had this yummy bbq sauce on them and they came right off the bone.  I think that they have a new chef at the 'Hogsbreath Cafe' - we have been quite pleased with the food lately.

Robyn and I with our barbecued pork ribs from 'Hogsbreath Cafe'

On Wednesday, Robyn came over for lunch.  I found this new recipe for chicken fajitas and I wanted to try it out.  It is such an easy recipe: just chicken, red and green peppers and an onion.  The chicken is marinated in a spicy sauce and it is amazing!  Just add tortillas, salsa and sour cream.  Robyn and I both loved it and it's definitely one of my new favourite meals.  After visiting with Robyn, I went to the mall and met up with two teacher friends, Bronwyn and Kim.  It's always nice to meet up with friends and catch up with what each other has been doing - and having an iced chocolate is just a bonus. :-)

I asked Robyn if she knew how to properly frame this beautiful cross stitch which Terri-Ann made me - Robyn did a great job of blocking the work and then found this beautiful frame for it -  it now has a place of honour in our front hall so that people can see it when they walk in our front door

Bronwyn, Kim and I at the 'Coffee Club' with our drinks (mine is an iced chocolate, of course :-)

On Thursday morning, I went over to Kawungan State School where I used to do the majority of my supply teaching.  I wanted to meet up with the grade one teachers and see how they are doing this year.  There used to be seven of them in the grade one team who had been together for a while, but the vice principal in charge of the primary group of teachers decided to break up the team this year and so now there are only three of them on the grade one team.  We had a nice visit catching up and they were really pleased that I came in to visit them.  I told them that I hadn't been teaching for two years and that I was too old to deal with behaviour issues and so I wasn't unhappy to not have been around to teach.  They could all totally understand where I was coming from and thought it was great that I was getting to travel around with Dad so much.

On Thursday, I was supposed to meet up with my friend, Haidi, for an iced chocolate and a long yak, but she messaged me early in the morning to cancel as her daughter was sick.  I decided to call Robyn to see what she was up to since I didn't want to go home and we met up at the mall near her house.  When I mentioned an iced chocolate, she asked if I still wanted to get one (didn't have to ask me twice :-)  After picking up some indian food for lunch (which was pretty ordinary), we went back to her house and just hung out for the rest of the day.  It's been nice spending so much time with Robyn while Dad has been away and she is happy to have the company.

Yesterday, Dad and I went to a baptism of a young man called Jesse.  The missionaries have been teaching him for a while and it was so nice to be able to support them and Jesse by going to the baptism.  I always love baptisms, especially because it reminds me of that wonderful day back in 1974 when I was baptized.  I can still remember the amazing feeling I had when I came up out of the water - like this weight had been lifted off my shoulders - a very happy day for me! :-)

Sunday, March 29, 2015

So, I have learned from last week that the way to make the time go faster while Dad is in PNG is to fill up my days with activities - so, that's what I did this week.  The dog walking at the Animal Rescue is going really well - I am getting two hours of walking done three days a week and the dogs are loving getting out for a walk.  It would be nice to be able to take them for a longer walk (they get a 15 minute walk each), but there just aren't enough of us volunteers to go around.  I am so glad that the other ladies don't mind taking the dogs who pull for their walks - I love the ones who walk nicely beside me. :-)

On Tuesday, Robyn and I went out for lunch to 'Hogsbreath Cafe' to celebrate my birthday.  The restaurant sends a coupon for a free dinner when it's your birthday.  I ordered prime rib with a jacket potato and salad.  Last time we had that, it wasn't great, but I decided to try it again.  They must have hired a new cook cuz it was amazing - so delicious - I mmmmmmed throughout the whole meal. :-)

Robyn and I celebrating my birthday at 'Hogsbreath' - our prime rib dinners were delicious

On Wednesday, I met up with my friend, Denise, and we went to visit with a woman in our ward who we used to visit teach.  Ashnita and her husband have three girls aged 8, 7 and 1 and I had not yet met the one year old.  Their second daughter has autism and it's quite severe in relation to her behaviour.  So, Ashnita rarely gets out and loves to have people visit her.  We had a really nice visit and it was good to be able to meet her little girl.

Me, Ashnita, Charlotte, and Denise

On Thursday, I met up again with Haidi at the 'Coffee Club' - she told me earlier this week that I had corrupted her (re: iced chocolates) and so we just HAD to get another one this week. :-)  I couldn't argue with that, could I?  We had a delicious iced chocolate and a great two hour chat - we might have to make this a standing appointment. :-)

Me and Haidi at the Coffee Club - after finishing our yummy iced chocolates

On Friday, I picked up Robyn and we drove to Maryborough (half an hour from HB) to go to our friends' house for lunch and a swim.  Dan and Lyn live in a house by the Mary River - the view out the back of their place is really beautiful.  They had made us a delicious lunch of salads (one of my favourites) and afterwards we went for a swim in their little pool which is in the front yard.  They have grown plants around the pool so that you can't see those in the pool from the street.  It was great being in the pool and yakking for  a couple of hours.

Dan, Lyn, me and Robyn swimming in the pool in Dan and Lyn's front yard - what fun

Dad's week went well and he's glad that he only has a week left - the guys are doing well on the course for the most part, but Dad is getting tired of not being able to go out of the hotel other than to work.  He did walk out into the compound this week and sent me some  pictures so that I can add them to the blog this week.

 view from Dad's hotel in PNG - you can see an airplane in the background

 view from Dad's hotel

 units which are part of the compound which Dad's hotel is in

 pool at the hotel - Dad hasn't been in it and he's only seen a couple of people in it - the weather hasn't been co-operative - it is the stormy season there at the moment  

 security guard at the back gate of the compound (barbed wire on the top of the fence)

four guards at the front gate of the compound

Sunday, 22 March, 2015

Well, I can't say that I am bored anymore! :-)  On Monday, I drove over to the animal shelter in town to find out if I could do some dog walking.  I had seen an article in the newspaper about a need for volunteers there, so I thought that would give me something to do while Dad is away.  When I went there, however, I found out that they only had one dog and already had a young girl who came in to walk him.  They did need help in the office which wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, but I thought that it would at least keep me busy.

However, on Tuesday I went to the animal rescue place near the airport and found out that things were quite different over there.  They are attached to the Hervey Bay pound and have tons of dogs and cats who are waiting to be adopted.  They have about 20 dogs at this time and are always in need of dog walkers.  A bunch of ladies come Mon/Wed/Fri and so I decided that I would join them on Wednesday to see what the routine is.  I also asked about fostering a cat and they said that I could choose one that day and take it home.  I chose a big fluffy strawberry blond cat named Garfield.  He is lovely - he is cuddly and loves to be stroked.  He will come and lay on me or beside me on my chair for a rub or a nap and then will jump down onto the cold tiles and lay on them for a while in front of the door often to get a nice breeze.  I can keep him until we start travelling again and then will take him back to the rescue place.  Then, if he has not been adopted by the next time we are in town, I can go and bring him home again.  I am loving this as I have wanted to get a cat since we arrived in Australia, but it just wasn't possible with all the travelling that we do.

Garfield

On Wednesday, I met the ladies at the rescue place at around 8am and they showed me the ropes.  Basically, I put a leash on a dog, walk it around the cricket field nearby giving them a drink half way around, put them back in their cage when we get back to the rescue place and then move on to the next dog.  It takes about 20 minutes all up to do each dog.  On Wednesday and again on Friday, I walked a total of six dogs which took me around 2 hours.  I can tell you  that I got a really good workout. :-)  I was sweating buckets by the time I was done both days - the temperature has reached over 30C each day this week and by about 9am, the sun is shining strongly.  I have enjoyed doing the walking, though - the dogs get a walk and I get exercise, so it's a win-win situation, I think.

ready to take a dog for a walk

 my favourite ice-cream here in Oz - a Magnum Ego Caramel - I treated myself for my birthday :-)

inside the Magnum Ego Caramel ice-cream - doesn't it look amazing!

I put a sheet on top of the bed sheet on Dad's side of the bed so that Garfield could sleep on that side, but NO, he sleeps on my side :-)

On Thursday, I went out to lunch with my teacher friend, Bronwyn, to a local cafe called 'Salt Cafe' to celebrate my birthday.  It's right across the road from the ocean, so the view was lovely.  We ate and chatted for almost three hours - it was lovely to catch up with her.  She and her husband are both (mostly) retired and they both love to travel, so I always enjoyed hearing about their journeys.  Two of their four children live in the U.S. (her husband is American) and so they seem to be travelling there almost as much as we travel to Canada.

enjoying another iced chocolate at 'Salt Cafe'

 Me and Bronwyn at the 'Salt Cafe' enjoying our lunch

view from our table at 'Salt Cafe' - beautiful scenery,eh?

On Friday, after dog walking, I asked the woman in charge at the rescue place if I could foster another cat and she said 'yes'.  I had seen a cat called 'Violet' when I was there earlier this week, but she wasn't cuddly like Garfield was, so I had chosen him to come home with me on Tuesday.  Then, during the week, I began to think that I really wanted her to come home with me - how could I resist a grey cat named Violet? :-)  She is beginning to come to me and will let me give her a couple of pats, but mostly she just wanders around the house.  I am sure that she and Garfield are enjoying the freedom of roaming around a huge house.  Garfield, however, was not happy that I brought Violet home and has hissed a few times at Violet.  It reminds me so much of Belle and her hissing when we brought Tabby home. :-)

Violet

Can you tell that Garfield is not impressed with our new cat, Violet :-)

Robyn came back to HB yesterday and I am so happy that she is back - after chatting on the phone for a bit, we arranged to meet up at the 'Coffee Club' for an iced chocolate and a proper catch-up.  We then saw each other today at church and then had a good long yak on the phone tonight - we talked so long that her phone actually went dead.

Things are going fine with Dad in PNG, but he is starting to go stir crazy with not being able to get out of the hotel other than to go to the airport for training and to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  The weekends are especially hard as he can't go out at all during the two days.  He has been keeping busy doing his prepping - this is the first time that he has taught this course and he likes to be super prepared and so most of his time at the hotel is taken up with working on that.  We get to Skype twice a day which is great - we talk after he comes home from work and then again before he goes to bed.  Even though it has been really hard for both of us to be apart, I am grateful for this kind of technology that allows us to keep in touch.

Sunday, 15 March, 2015

I have tried to keep myself busy this week while Dad has been in PNG and Robyn has been holidaying with her daughter.  I went to the Family History Centre on Monday to have lunch with my friend, Denise.  She is the FHC Director so she is there on Mondays and Fridays.  We like to go for a walk when we get together, but it wasn't going to work out this week, so lunch was it.  There was another lady at the FHC who decided to eat lunch with us and so Denise and I didn't really get to catch up that day.  So, on Tuesday, I drove to Denise's house after lunch and spent a couple of hours with her getting lots of talking in.

On Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment for a skin check - fun.....not!  My doctor gives us one every year just to make sure that there isn't anything suspicious happening on our skin.  Anyway, my doctor told me that he wants to take out a thing on my back - it's like a skin tag - and he wants to get it checked out.  He only does procedures on Tuesdays and he said he was full up for March and that he was going on vacation for the first week of April.  So, my name has been put on a waiting list in case someone cancels.

On Thursday, I met up with my friend, Haidi, at the 'Coffee Club' in Eli Waters for lunch.  I had an iced chocolate for lunch.  They are so filling that I can't have that and eat as well - so, of course, I chose the iced chocolate. :-)  We stayed there talking for almost three hours - it was nice to catch up with her as well.

On Friday evening, I met up with my friends, Alison and Thea, and Thea's daughter, Rachel  at the movie theatre.  Thea had called me and asked me if I wanted to join them in seeing 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'.  Robyn had loaned the first one to me and so I watched it during the day on Friday and I gave it a 7/10 and I would say that the second one was a 7/10 as well.  Afterwards, we went to the 'Hogsbreath Cafe' for dessert - I had a trifle sundae - it was okay - nothing to write home about - I should have ordered  the mud cake. :-)  We did have a nice time chatting and laughing together.

I was hoping to be flying to Wagga Wagga today to spend a few days with Auntie Norma, but since I have to wait and see what is going to happen with the doctor's office, I had to put that off - sheesh.  If the doctor's office doesn't call me tomorrow, I might see if I can fly out to Wagga on Wednesday and then come back on the following Monday in case I get a call to come in on that Tuesday.  It's such a hassle, but I want to be around if I get the call to go in for the procedure.  If I do get  to go to Wagga, I want to do some family history with Auntie Norma, including asking her questions about her childhood.  I am hoping to use this information to write Poppy's life story.

Things have been going okay for Dad in PNG.  He is staying at a hotel right beside the airport and basically spends his time in either place as the training room is at the airport.  The training manager has been picking Dad up at the hotel in the morning and dropping him off at the hotel at the end of class.  He has also taken Dad to the grocery store twice so that he could pick up a few things.  Dad has been eating breakfast and supper at the hotel (usual expensive hotel food) and then eating noodle soup and snacks for lunch.  It's not great that he can't go outside of those places, but it's for his own safety.  Even the training manager told Dad not to go anywhere unless he had a driver to take him.  Dad has been kept busy when he is not teaching, though, as there is a lot of prepping to do for this course.

We are talking to each other on Skype each day, but the internet in PNG is a bit dicey, so it's not always consistent.  We can text each other, but it is really expensive for Dad to text from PNG and so we don't want to do that too often.  We are both looking forward to him returning to HB. :-)