September 2012

We were up early again this morning for a 30 minute drive from Frankston to Trailblazers factory at Braeside. We had been having trouble with movement in a couple of seams at the front of the caravan. After Phil from Trailblazers had had a look at the van he decided that he would need the van for about 3 days to strenghten the front section of the van. However he had no room in the factory for a day or so and we drove to his old factory nearby and left the van locked up there. There was no power at the old factory, so we left the van with the fridge running on gas - we hope that the gas doesn't run out as the fridge is fairly full.

After leaving the van at Braeside we drove over to Chadstone for a bit of shopping while we waited to make contact with Kirrily who was not expecting us to arrive at her place until Tuesday. We did a bit of shopping, had a coffee, some more shopping, then had lunch before deciding to go and see a movie. We went to see The Sapphires which is about an aboriginal girl band that went to Vietnam in the sixties to entertain the troops. If you have not seen it then we would thoroughly recommend it as we both really enjoyed it.

After seeing the movie we still had not heard from Kirrily, and not being certain whether she was even in Melbourne, we decided to go back to the Frankston Holiday Park and stay in one of their deluxe cabins for the night. We bought ourselves a couple of TV dinners and settled back to watch the Brownlow Medal count on TV. Jobe Watson was a very worthy winner and it is appropriate that the medal for the best and fairest player is named in honour of Charles Brownlow, a former Geelong Footbal club player and administrator. Later in the evening we caught up with Kirrily and arranged to pick up her keys from the office the next morning.

No photos today.

We awoke this morning to a beautiful sunny day in Queenscliff. After breakfast we walked into town for papers, a bit of shopping and a coffee at the Queenscliff Inn, and on the way walked past the Queenscliff Croquet club where games were in progress. When we were walking back to the caravan park we saw two large container ships making their way through the Heads.

A beautiful day at Queenscliff

Queenscliff Croquet Club

Imports from China coming through the Heads

More imports from China

After lunch we called round to see Ray and Fay Lyons (Daryl's parents) who have recently moved from Leopold to a new house at Queenscliff. We were given a tour of their lovely new house and met Daryl's dog Gus, a Jack Russell cross. Ray took Di and David down to the new marina for a walk around and a coffee. Back at the house we were loaded up with frozen whiting fillets, fresh broccoli and fresh eggs from their garden. It was good to catch up with Daryl's parents again and see their new home and garden.

Queenscliff Marina

Queenscliff Pilot Boats

Tomorrow we will be up early to catch an early ferry to Sorrento before driving to Frankston for the night.

We were up early again for a 340 km drive around the Great Ocean Road to Queenscliff. We left Warrnambool at about 9:30 am under threatening skies, and as we drove through Nullawarre the rain started, and it rained on and off for most of our drive as far as Apollo Bay. With hindsight it may have been better to take the shorter route through Colac as we got no photos of the sights along the Great Ocean Road because of the weather. We stopped for lunch at Apollo Bay and filled up with fuel before continuing on to Queenscliff in slightly better weather - still cloudy but no more rain.

We arrived at Queenscliff Tourist Park, which is located at the recrearion reserve that is right on the waterfront at about 3:00 pm and set up on site 19 - the largest in the park - which allowed us to remain hitched up. After setting up we went for a walk along the main street of Queenscliff, then baqck to the end of the street to look across the Rip towards Sorrento, but there was a cold breeze blowing off the water so we soon retreated to the warmth of the caravan.

Looking across the Rip towards the Mornington Peninsula

We were up early and on the road for our 340 kms trip from Kingston SE to Warrnambool. We stopped at Millicent for papers and some bread rolls for lunch and continued on to Dartmoor for a lunch break. One of the attractions at Dartmoor is the World War I Avenue of Honour Memorial Carvings, that are carved from some old cedars that were planted at the end of WW1. After lunch we continued on towards Warrnambool, but made a detour into Port Fairy to see whether any whales were still in the bay - but no luck.

Parked at Millicent for some shopping

Dartmoor WW 1 Avenue of Honour

Avenue of Honour

Two up

Spring blossum at Dartmoor

Parked at Dartmoor

No whales at Port Fairy

Port Fairy from the lookout

After arriving at Warrnambool's Fig Tree Caravan Park we set up on a drive through site for one night - we did not bother to unhitch the van so will be able to get away fairly early tomorrow. Shortly after we had set up the van on our site David and Sally from Tassie drove past - we had not seen them since Broome when they were travelling with Nick and Christine Tall. Later on Daryl Lyons (Yablett to you Minihashers) arrived to say hello - he is on milking duties at his sister's farm just outside Warrnambool. After a couple of beers we went to Logans Cafe Restauraunt for an excellent meal. Daryl is hoping that he and Janine will be able to come over and have a look at Tassie some time next year.

We were up at 7:00 am this morning to pack up for our trip to Kingston SE today. Just as we started to pack up it started raining in Adelaide but thankfully it was only a light shower. After emptying the holding tanks we were on our way by 9:30 am. Our track out of Adelaide was up the very steep highway over the Adelaide Hills that ended up with us doing 55 kph in 2nd gear. We stopped for lunch on the shores of the Coorong Lakes and eventually arrived at the Kingston Caravan Park at about 2:00 pm and set up on a drive-through site for one night.

Drive-through site at Kingston SE

After setting up we went for a walk through Kingston to take a photo of the Big Lobster.

Cape Jaffa lighthouse (now at Kingston)

Di on the Kingston foreshore

The Big Lobster at Kingston