Monday, 13, April, 2015 - Day 2

We had planned to start our holiday this day, but when I read the wonderful reviews about staying at Ian’s B & B, I suggested that we start out on Sunday and have an extra day of relaxation, especially for Dad after working so hard in PNG.  So, we had a day with not much planned.  Ian suggested we go to a place called Queenscliff.  We decided to take him up on his suggestion after one stop we wanted to make which we missed on Sunday.

I love indigenous culture, so our first stop was to the Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre.  Ian told us that there wasn't much to it, but I still wanted to go and see what they had there.  The entry went through the gift shop and we spoke to a man there who played the didgeridoo for us.  This one, though, had two openings and the man called it a didgeri-two. J  After that, he invited us to walk around the centre.  We saw emus, took a nature path walk (which had signs about the plants there and what they are used for), threw boomerangs (Dad got it to curve a little), looked around the art gallery (I love indigenous art), looked around the room showing indigenous tools, food, etc. (which we think is used for tours) and finally bought something at the gift shop – a bottle holder – I  wanted to support the centre as they rely totally on donations and sales.  The centre does do tours, but only for schools and large touring groups.  So, although we had a nice time there, it would have been nicer to be part of a tour.

 Man playing a didgeridoo with two mouthpieces (didgeri-two)

 Dad with emu

 Me behind painted rock

 Sign explaining the name and uses of the plant 'Kangaroo Apple' (fruit eaten, only when ripe and soft)

 Dad ready to throw boomerang

 Me throwing boomerang in the air

 Seeds, nuts and cooking utensils

How they make a didgeridoo - including cutting the piece of wood in half, hollowing it out and gluing it back together

Bottle holder with aboriginal design we purchased

Showing how the bottle holder works (with a water bottle - usually it would be a wine bottle)

Queenscliff is a lovely little town on the ocean and Ian was right – it was a nice place to visit.  We stopped at the Tourist Information Centre to find out what there was to see and do in Queenscliff.  The first thing we decided to do was to walk to the Harbour precinct and walked along the pier.  At the harbour is a 42 metre tower which we climbed and were able to see 360 degree views of the town and harbour – beautiful views.  Along the harbour area are a number of cafes and we decided to try out an iced chocolate at one of them – yummy as always. J  I love art and love to walk, so we walked to Citizen’s Park to walk the Artist Trail.  These are a series of information boards highlighting the works of celebrated artists and photographers who have visited the region and captured the local landscape.  The original copies of many of these works are housed in collections in various galleries in Australia and I would love to see them as the boards we saw were beautiful.  We continued the walk up to the Black Lighthouse (one of only three in the world) and, after a lunch of sausage rolls (yum!), we finished off our time in Queenscliff by walking up and down their main street which had lots of old buildings (I love great architecture).

The Black Lighthouse

View from the tower

 Dad in the tower with the marina in the background

 Me and my iced chocolate

 One of the information boards along the Artist Trail

The black lighthouse

 Me eating a sausage roll (with tomato sauce) for lunch

Some of the beautiful architecture in Queenscliff

Before heading back to the B & B, we made one more stop in a little place called Point Lonsdale.  We took a walk along the beach and then made our way to the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse.  From there, along with lovely views, we saw the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ coming in (it’s a ferry which sails between Melbourne and Tasmania) and also saw children taking paddleboarding lessons. 

Beach we walked along in Point Lonsdale on the way to the lighthouse

 Dad in front of Point Lonsdale lighthouse

 View from the lighthouse ('Spirit of Tasmania' ferry in the distance)

 Man giving surfing lessons to children

When we got back to the B & B, we were relaxing in the living room when we heard a ‘knocking’ at the patio door and were surprised to see a cockatoo ‘knocking’.  Dad grabbed the camera and we took some pics.  All of a sudden, there were seven of them.  We talked with Ian later and he told us that he had been feeding them and that was why they had come at that time.  He decided to stop feeding them some time ago, but they still returned in the hopes of him changing his mind.

 Cockatoo on Ian's balcony

 Six cockatoos on Ian's balcony

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! :-)