6&7/2/17 For Sale

6/2/17 

  After a wet night , with 43mm of rain , we wake to another overcast day - and none too warm either !! As it turns out the maximum temperature for the day happened at 1:30AM - 19.5 degrees , and the days minimum - 14.5 degrees arriving at 2:15PM  . Yes that’s right , it was hotter near midnight than during the day .

  Anyway , back to the days events , we packed and hitched up and headed north - has to be warmer there right !!! Nope , not a chance , the temperature in the car kept going down !! We got to Tyabb and headed east to Leongatha . We were in dairy country , rolling hills , paddocks with cypress pine hedges used as wind breaks on the fence lines . So here's some horses .

 There were many small towns along the way , one was Meeniyan - it has a garlic festival in a few weeks time - that would be interesting , everyone smelling of garlic together !! 

  After a driver change , we continued toward Foster , stopping at the top of a long climb to check the view out to Wilsons Promontory .

  A bit further on was the township of Yarram , many art deco buildings lined the main road through , nowhere to stop and park was a problem , so we kept going and had to suffice with a drive through photo .

  Arriving at Sale , we went to the park on the western side of town , they charge a flat fee of $22 and then charge you for electricity used !! That was it for the day !

7/2/17

    A better than expected night , it stayed around 14 degrees !!  Time for a drive - we passed 3 turnoffs to Seaspray as we drove yesterday , so that was a destination for today . 

 Not far out of Sale is the Historic Swing bridge , not sure what we were going to find made things interesting . Stopping right on the approach to the bridge - it was chained off - we got out for a look , lot’s of cast iron & steel and a timber deck . The swing part is from the movement of the bridge to allow river traffic through - it pivots around the middle structure of the bridge , and was opened for use in 1883 , and it’s still used now - opening on Wednesdays and weekends . It used to be a manually opened bridge , but it looks like they have some slide on motors to do all the hard work now .

 The bridge is situated near the junction of the Latrobe and Thomson Rivers and was a huge help with all the river trade that occurred many , many years ago .

 Off to Seaspray , lot’s of cattle country out this way , and a stunning tree lined entry through wind swept cypress pines .

 The rain continued as we drove into Seaspray , it’s a small town with plenty of holiday houses and a few permanents , a caravan park , surf club & school . The rain wasn’t letting up , so we headed further up the road toward Golden Beach . There are many campsites beside the road and beach , and are looked after by Victorian Parks & Wildlife - they don’t cost anything , but you do have to go to their website and book them online . Some plenty big enough for caravans , we could fit into some of them !!! but you’d have to know which ones before booking ! 

  There’s a ship wreck of the Trinculo - an old iron sailing barque that ran aground here in 1879 - it was blown ashore by gale force winds !! There isn’t any where to hide along this stretch of 90 Mile Beach , so you would be a captive audience and take whatever was dished out !! The ribs of the boat are the only parts visible at the moment . We found out that there’s another boat right beside this one , just covered up by the sand , the Paddle Steamer Paynesville was forced to beach here after starting to leak shortly after leaving Lakes Entrance . There are a lot of other wrecks along this stretch of coast line .

 Back to the ute and off to Golden Beach . There is an RV parking area for 48 hours free camping , capable of fitting about 14 or 15 vans . 6 large spaces are on a bitumen area . A donation for use of services is requested . 

  There seem to be many holiday houses here as well as rental houses / units . The weather wasn’t really enticing us to stay , so we headed off to Loch Sport - about 30 klms away . 

  We weren’t expecting much here , as the other small towns were just that , small . Well did we have a surprise in store  , Loch Sport covers a large area between 2 lakes , has many boat ramps , a golf course , a bowling club , a school , police station and some shops - just about the most holiday houses we’ve ever seen !!! Especially surprising as there’s only one way in here , it’s restricted at it’s northern end by The Lakes National Park , Lake Victoria on the west side and Lake Reeves on the east side . There are some locals living there , but they would be outnumbered by the visitors !!

 Driving up into the National Park we found a lookout and got some views of Lake Reeves .

   Hema Maps in the ute showed us a road that would take us toward another locality called Seacombe and then on toward the northern side of Sale - that would be a nice round trip - pity there was a lake in the way - it was only about 40m across , but may have required a punt of car ferry to get across . Unfortunately for us , there wasn’t one , so we headed back the way we’d come . 

  And that’s how our day finished , after a drive around Sale - it’s a very big place - not sure whether it’s classified as a city or not , but it could quite easily be one !!

  The Thomson River runs by the side of the park , here’s a photo .

 A map link for you :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tVz3g7qnWDuR6Q4HaxlkaFw-Et8&usp=sharing

3,4&5/2/17 Both sides of the peninsular

3/2/17


  An easy day today , walking down to the boat ramp outside the park and over to the wharf where the  ferry goes to French Island and Phillip Island . It's all just outside the park , and is a busy boat ramp ! There are usually between 10 & 20 cars & trailers parked here most days . This is the ramp at low tide .

 The land across the water is French Island - about twice the size of Phillip Island , which is to the right in the distance - the ferry goes to Cowes .

  After lunch we headed to Hastings , which would be the largest town on this side of the peninsular . It has Coles , Woolworths , Aldi and a Kmart . There's also an oil refinery and Bluescope Steel plant . There's a marina , fairly large one at that , this is a part of it .

  That's it for today !!

 4/2/17


  An early start today , as there is an appointment with a golf course , we also had to pack a bag for an overnight stay . Arriving at McCrae at 9am , we go into our friends place - Toots & Marian - we had a couple of nights at their place in Forest Hill earlier in the week .
 After a cuppa & a chat we headed down to Bayview Golf Club , 5 mins away . The course is on the southern side of Arthurs Seat , on the side of the mountain , so we were in for an interesting walk . The first hole is a par 5 , all down hill , nice wide fairways and reasonable sized greens . The tee is to the left of the photo and the green way down the hill to the right of photo .

 After the first hole , most of the rest go across the hill making their way back up - makes for interesting golf - one hole you are on a slope from right to left and the next you are on a slope from left to right . There aren't too many places on this course where you are playing on flat ground .
  The first 9 holes was great , I had 22 points , and was looking forward to the back 9 . Everything was going fine , we teed off on the 12th hole - an interesting hole , the green is about 40m above the tee and is all uphill sloping left to right . The photo doesn't do it justice though , but the views out to the bay are great !!

 And this is my playing companion and good friend Toots !!

  The wheels fell off my golf for the next 3 holes - only scoring 1 point on each , but came good again  over the last 3 holes . I finished the back 9 with 19 points , giving me 41 points for the round - pretty happy with that !! We stopped and had a couple of quiet beers and enjoyed the views from the verandah . This is the practice green .

 We had several relaxing beers back at the house , enjoying the views from the deck - McCrae is positioned where all the ships have to turn on their way into or out of Port Phillip Bay . There were sailing boats racing around , multiple fishing boats & jet ski's , with the occasional freighter or navy vessel slowly cruising past . A pleasant evening was had , catching up on everything since we'd last seen each other . Probably one or two drinks to many , but a good night !!


 5/2/17


  A good nights sleep , we sat on the deck again for a while before breakfast , again watching boats & ships go by , Spirit of Tasmania going past while we had breakfast .
  After saying our goodbyes , we headed off , having had a great time with Toots & Marian !!
Driving back , we stopped at Dromana and went for a walk along the beachfront . There are lots of beach/boat huts along the foreshore , we walked past 80 of them , but there are many , many more !! They all have numbers , some have power attached , some not , some were in use today . Well equipped with chairs , tables , some had full kitchens inside , others just used to store all the beach equipment , kayaks , umbrellas ,Bbq's etc .

 One of the larger buildings had a mural on the side showing some older shops and the Dromana Pier .

 The huts make for a colourful back drop to the beach .

 The predicted rain started to come , so we headed back across the peninsular to the van . The weather on the other side was completely different , it was hotter and no rain - hmm , wipers one side and dry the other - not complaining though , the rain came later - 32mm so far !!
 A quiet afternoon was in order before the rain came , day done !!

31/1- 2/2/17 Melbourne & beyond

31/1/17 

 Back again , down the road a bit further , this time it’s Melbourne . We are visiting some friends , getting some new tyres , and getting our tow hitch serviced . 

  Catching up with Brian and Marian has been great , we haven’t seem them in person for about 5 years , but we just took off where we left off . Managing to squeeze the van into their front yard was fun , but we got there .

  After checking tyre prices at a few dealers , we decided to ring the local Bridgestone dealer at Vermont ( just up the road from where we are staying ) , they gave me a price of $200 per tyre - if we purchased 4 tyres - there was a $100 rebate that brought the price down to that . After checking our previous purchase , we found we saved over $300 from when we bought the last 4 tyres in Darwin and 4 in Geraldton !!! We were pretty happy with that !!

   Tyres done , it was time to find our way to Laverton North - on the western side of the city - we were on the east side !! The drive took us through the cross city tunnel and over Westgate Bridge and into an industrial area - a very busy one . There were semi trailers , B doubles , trucks of all descriptions and plenty of cars as well . Arriving near lunch time , we had to wait for the workers to finish theirs before they could take a look at the hitch - they removed it from the ute and did some maintenance and adjustments on a work bench , before reinstalling it on the ute . Job done , no charge , it was back to the east side of Melbourne .

  After watching a near miss , or more appropriately , a near hit on a roundabout , we concluded that idiots are driving everywhere !! 

  Back on the Westgate Bridge again , I thought to take a couple of photo’s . The bridge has 5 lanes both directions and is shaped like a reversed S , it is a spectacular piece of engineering and is also fairly high as well , which gives you good views of the city and Port Phillip Bay .

  Back into the tunnel , was fun also , plenty of traffic - 3 lanes each way !

1/2/17

   

   Today we moved south , down the Mornington Peninsular , leaving Melbourne behind . Deciding to go over to Western Port instead of Port Phillip Bay side was a good choice - the bay side is very busy even though school is back . 

 We checked out our friends place at McCrae , then did some shopping before heading down to Cape Schanck . We went past possibly the biggest market garden we’ve ever seen , it was bordered by cypress pine hedges , that are trimmed to shape - they border the farm . It appeared to go on for a long way - I’m only guessing , but it would have to be more than 300 acres - that’s a lot of vegetables !!

  Driving along we passed a few golf clubs - The National , RACV Cape Schanck - we drove in for a look . There’s accomodation units , there’s homes beside the course , a fairly large clubhouse is being turned into an enormous one - there are 4 cranes working on the new building . Fairways have been carved out of the natural bush .

  Arriving at Bushranger Bay in the Mornington Peninsular National Park , we headed out to a lookout over the bay . The walk took us through the native coastal shrubbery - the small trees are called Moomba bush , and most are out in flower at the moment .

  The lookout wasn’t far away , and revealed a long stretch of coastal cliffs and any beaches were all rock , if there were any beaches at all !

There was another little flower on plants beside the track closer to the ground .

  Back to the lighthouse carpark , there’s another walk that loops back around to the carpark and also takes you down the cliffs to Pebbly Beach and the Pulpit . There were many steps and a timber boardwalk to get you down there .

 The soil down here is strange , it’s grey & orange , with some sections with cream coloured veins and it’s all very fragile , breaking away . There is a layer of basalt rock here as well , apparently it was lava flow from volcanoes and was over 300m thick . 

  Back up the steps and to the carpark , we headed off to Flinders , a small town on the way back up the eastern side of the peninsular . There’s some beautiful gum trees lining the road into Flinders , they’re out in blossom now - vivid orange & pink .

 We headed out to West Head , a surfing beach beside the local golf club and a naval firing range . 

There are some enormous houses here , this one has 4 columns and a large portico on each side of the house , it has views out into Bass Strait .

2/2/17 

   Today we headed to Arthurs Seat , a curious name for a mountain that’s 314m above sea level , but it has great views over Port Phillip Bay . There’s a gondola ride that goes up & down the mountain , very popular . It was also popular with an artists group , they were perched here & there painting the views of the bay , the gum trees , and anything else that took their fancy !!

 After catching the views , King Falls was the next stop . Not expecting much after some of our recent waterfalls , we took to the 1klm walk up & down to the falls & back . The trail took us through Black Sheoaks , down to fern lined water courses and occasional grass trees . The falls were as we suspected , just a dribble of water on the rocks .

 A green breasted little bird ( like the technical name ) appeared on one of the bridges before hopping down onto the mossy rock - didn’t seem to be bothered by us at all .

 Time for some lunch down beside the bay , it’s a bit windy today , not overly hot - only 24 degrees .

  Next we drove down to Portsea and went over to the beach side - very breezy and cool - didn’t stay long there .

 We decided to go to Point Nepean - the eastern side of the entrance into Port Phillip Bay . You can drive to the gunners cottage , and you then have to walk or ride or catch a bus to visit the point . This was a strategic point during WW2 , gun turrets and observation points , training areas , bombing and shooting ranges . 

 This is the largest area of the coastal moomba bush in Victoria .

  Cheviot Hill is the highest hill here , and was the main observation point and has a couple of gun positions . One gun turret we looked at is made of steel - looks a little like a mask for a koala !!

          The turret overlooks Cheviot Beach - yes , the same one that Harold Holt went missing at all those years ago . I’m a bit amused as to why anyone would decide to swim at this beach , there’s rock shelves , not much sand and lot’s of rips !! It would have been different then most probably - he would have had to swim a long way out to get in the russian sub hahaha .

 360 degree views from the top were impressive , we saw the Queenscliff / Sorrento Ferries cross over .

Time to ride back to the ute , stopping for a look at the cemetery and the old cattle loading ramp in the bay . 

  On the way out you go past the old quarantine station - another day for that inspection though . Enough for today !!