Just a drive

Nicholas suggested we go for a picnic on Christmas Day. So Donna and I went for a drive to see why parks might be good. 

We drove around s not and ended up at Sugarloaf reservoir.  A great spot and maybe one to use.  It was however 35º in the shade so we didn't stay long today.  Just long enough for a couple of snaps and then back home where it is cool inside. 

Watsonia motor Show

Donna and I spent this morning at the Watsonia motor Show.  That is kind of an exaggeration of a name.  Basically it is a bunch of really nicely done up cars both restored and hotted up.  They park around the local shops so they get local trade while you look at the cars.

Here are some of the more interesting ones. 

Hopefully this is in order.  Check out the aspire in the Jeep, then the yellow one is the promotional vehicle used for the Mad Max movie,. Third, check out how low this is,  it is one of those jack up suspension cars. Lastly I just liked this old Fairlane 500, it is very similar to one my uncle Kevin had. 

Mt Buller

As fate would have it, as we were about to leave for home yesterday we looked out the window to be greeted by the most magnificent blue sky, not a cloud to be seen.  We decided that as the top of Mt Buller was only about a 30 min drive we could do it on our way home. 

Because it is almost summer we were able to drive a lot of the way and then just walk the last pinch.  That last pinch though is quite steep,  see picture. 

INSERT PINCH HERE

The walk though was well worth it.  There is a plinth on the top showing what is in every direction and just to prove we are there,  here is Donna at the plinth.  The view is spectacular although not great for photography at that time, the light is quite flat. 

INSERT DONNA HERE

Pinnacle Valley Merrijig

Donna and I had some points to use up so we decided to book into the resort here in Merrijig for a couple of days.  It is right at the base of Mt Buller surrounded by mountains in a gorgeous little valley. It is so quite and peaceful up here.  The Delatite River runs through the bottom of the Valley and you can sit and listen to it from the resort. 

Today we headed up to the top of Mt Buller.  Unfortunately the weather had closed in and the top was covered in cloud, so no sight seeing.  We are yet to see my Buller in good weather.

ONJ Wellness Walk

Not last weekend but the one before Donna and I completed the Olivia Newton-John Wellness Walk in aid of the Olivia Wellness Centre at the Austin Hospital.  It is a Centre that provides help and complimentary treatment for patients with cancer.  I haven't actually been there but I am told it is really very good.  Anyway we had good weather and it was a pleasant walk. 

We are now planning on doing the City to St Kilda walk/run but this time in aid of gastric intestinal cancer research, something close to my heart or maybe  I  should say stomach, especially now it is back.  So don't be surprised if you get an email from us asking to help raise funds. 

Anyway here is a photo of us just as we are about to start the walk. 

St Leonards

An almost sunny Sunday and we had off for a day trip in Bob.  Trying to vary the schedule a bit we head down to Queenscliffe. As usual we take a les direct route.

As we drive out of Geelong we decide to visit all the small places off the main roads.  There are some really nice little towns on the way.  Eventually we stopped at Pt Lonsdale where they had a market.  Donna can't go past a country market.  These little towns are right on the water and everywhere has magnificent views. 

Moving on we pull in at St Leonards for a bite of lunch.  A couple of hamburgers that were Ok without being great but a nice lunch anyway.  By the time we got to Queenscliffe it was time to turn around and head home. 

Belated Birthday present- Tiger Moth Flight

As a birthday present this year the family gave me a voucher for a flight in a tiger moth. So today I took my belated present and it was awesome.

But first -

I don't want to drag it out too much but we travelled over to the Lilydale airport via Healesville. Which isn't really a way to get there as you go through where the airport is to get to Healesville but I had a birthday voucher from the  RACV Club so we decided to make a bit more of a day of it by having lunch at the Club first. The RACV Club at Healesville is really very smart and the food always excellent. So Donna and I detoured to Healesville first. Donna had a superb looking T-Bone steak with steamed greens as a side while I had the more adventurous Braised Duck Gnocci which was unusual. In that I mean that the gnocci was unusual not the duck. It was unusual as instead of being smothered in either a creamy or tomato sauce it was cheesy with a very light sauce. All to make the duck the star of the meal, which it was. Both choices excellent and the view from the windows of the Club out to the ranges it is nestled in  as always spectacular. I do like it up there.

Enough food talk, the flight I hear you say. I was given a 20 minute joy ride of the Yarra Valley. A tiger moth is a very small plane from the first world war era. An open cabin bi-plane, they are noisy and windy. At the place where I did it they try to got you into the feel of the era as well by supplying an old style leather flying jacket and of course the leather head gear and goggles. They are so much fun, they feel all the changes in the breeze but are at the same time ultra manoeuvrable. We zig-zagged our way across the valley and turned some circles just for fun. As you can see in one of the photos below there isn't much visibility, either in front or out the side. I wanted to be about 30CM (1foot) taller.  

I so enjoyed the flight I would like to do some of the more adventurous flights like their aerobatics one where you get to do a loop. That would be fun. Anyway for now I've thoroughly enjoyed this flight. Thank you family.

NAGAMBIE

We got out for a drive in Bob yesterday. The sun was out and it was clear skies all the way. Unfortunately as it was between 8 -10 degrees it was a little too cold to put the top down.

Nagambie is one of our regular drive destinations and never disappoints. However yesterday presented us for the first time something we weren't impressed with. We went to the pub on the lake for lunch. We haven't eaten here before but there were quite a few locals going in so we thought we'd give it a go. Donna ordered risotto and said it was very good. I felt like fish and ordered the barramundi wth salad and chips. The fish was nice , the salad was nice, but the chips were not nice at all. They were flowery, soggy and just not good. I couldn't eat them and Donna tried one and rejected them also.

Oh well, we thought we'd go for a walk by the lake.   It was was quite flat and still and they have built a new walking path along its edge for a short distance. If you could get out of the wind as we did and sit in the sun it was just so pleasant .

In the picture, behind Bob, you can see the statue recently erected to commemorate Nagambie as the birth place of Black Caviar.

We keep saying we will come back for a weekend and we will, one day. 

Winner sounds part 2

Here is the run down for tonight. 

Winter sounds at Loyola

Tonight is Marcus' school mid year concert.  Marcus is in 4 bands plus he does his recital.  A busy programmer for him.   He's on drums and on bass depending on which one.   The photo is him practicing for his VCE recital before hand. 

Hobart weekend Friday

So far not a great start.  The plane was an hour late leaving Melbourne.  Then when we landed the baggage was delayed because of another late flight.  So instead of getting to Mona by around 11 we haven't made it out of the airport yet.  Hopefully we'll get there for lunch. 

It wasn't a great start but it improved when we got to MONA.  That stands for Museum of Old and New At.  It is an awesome art museum over three levels each featuring enormous galleries as well as hidden pieces.  It is all fabulous however the death gallery is an experience not to be missed.  It is no surprise it is ranked now as one of the top at museums in the world. 

We followed this with a bit of wine tasting.  In t the end an enjoyable day. 

Victor Harbour Big Duck Tour

Marcus and I went on the Big Duck tour which is a fast boat ride out to seal rocks out from Victor Harbour.  A lot of fun as the wind was blowing and there was a bit of chop.  The boat bounced and yes we got wet, not as much as I expected but it was fun.  When he wasn't deliberately getting it to spray us the boat rode the chop really well, surprisingly smooth

Victor Harbour

Apart from bouncing around in boats we did the tourist thing and went out to Granite Island and then caught a ride back on the horse drawn tram.  A sedate way to travel. 

All up I think Victor Harbour and surrounds have been the highlight of the trip. 

Waitpinga Quad bikes

Yesterday we had heaps of fun doing a quad bike adventure.  The guy has a farm of over 400 acres and you go around it on quad bikes.  On the way he points out some of the sites and things of interest.  He has a beautiful piece of land down to the ocean even though it was dry as a bone, it hasn't rained since October.  The dust and the dirt just made the ride more fun. 

Us on the bikes and Lev and Mary our tour operators.

Normanville

All 3 of us at another spectacular sunset. 

Goolwa and the Murray Mouth.

We headed out to Goolwa and then on to the mouth of the Murray River.  This strip of water behind the dunes is known as the Coorong. We had to cross the infamous Hindmarsh Bridge onto Hindmarsh Island to get to it. 

Friday and Saturday

We thought everything would be closed Good Friday so decided this would be the day we did the falls and parks.  There isn't much in the way of falls,  just a little spring feed one called Ingalalla Falls that isn't much to look at.  So we did a bit odd a loop around down to Cape Jervis and back to Normanville.

It was only lunch time and since nothing was closed we went to the info center.  They confirmed there was not much else locally to see so we drove over to Victor Harbour info Centre.  Things to do! 

Saturday was a waste or rest day.  Marcus doesn't get up until nearly lunch time so half the day is lost before it even starts.  We went to McClaren Vale for lunch and to get some chocolates.  We were told about this store there that did great chocolates.  It was alright,  we had lunch there which was ok,  nothing flash.  There was another shop there Robern Menz which does a range called FruChocs, apparently really well known in SA. We bought chocolates there and I bought some FruChocs.  They aren't bad, bits of dried apricot and pear wrapped in chocolate. Marcus and I ate them.

We get some spectacular sunsets from our apartment.  The sun goes down over the ocean and then a twilight lingers for about an hour after.  It is just as well there is a twilight otherwise it would be dark at 6.15.

Here is Strathalbyne and Marcus on air guitar,  look at the sign to his left. 

 

HAHNDORF

Thursday bee travelled up to Hahndorf ohik is about an hour away through some very picturesque countryside . We arrived a little after 10. AM just in time for breakfast. I had located a place on the internet that did chocolate or maple syrup Belgian waffles. It is called Chocolate at No. 5, had a look at the mocha photo below. Along with their own coffee and chocolate this place was an ideal place to start the holiday with a great breakfast. And so it was.

Hahndorf was originally settled by Germans so there are a lot of  German shops and German foods. We wandered around for about an hour looking in this shop and that before deciding to head off to Mount Barker which turned out to be  a nice country town but nothing flash, so we moved on to Strathalbyne . 

Strathalbyne is the opposite. Almost all of the buildings are historical and there are antique and collectable shops everywhere . It is claimed as the antique capital of S.A. We spent quite a while here going from store to store. We didn't buy anything which is probably just as well.

The  trip back was scenic and took in the little town of Mt Compass. We had a delightful afternoon tea here before finishing the journey home.

I've added some photo's from our room.

Melbourne to Lady Bay Normanville SA.

Yesterday we draw the 800 + Km to Normanville S.A.. A nice enough drive through western Victoria and thin up almost to Adelaide and then back down the peninsular to Yankalilla and then Normanville.  We bought lunch at a little bakery in Nhill and ate it in the park.

Everything went smoothly right up to the bit where we headed back down the peninsular .  The expressway we were to use is being re-built and is closed. Unfortunately the navigation couldn't understand that and kept trying to hate us to the  expressway, so it took a little longer than it should have but we got here.
Our room looks over the  golf course to the water. We had a spectacular sunset yesterday.

This is the view from our room.

New Toy

Recently Donna and I took custody of our new toy. I have wanted a cabriolet for a while and finally I have. I just love the colour of it too. It took Donna by surprise when I said "I'll take the purple one".

So far we've only been for a couple of drives. One up to Yan Yean reservoir the day we bought it, just to take it somewhere.

Today we took it for a real spin down to Anglesea, about an hour and a half away. An absolute pleasure to drive. With the top down at 100k you can still hear each other talk , not yell, talk. The wind breaks are great.

It is so much fun, just driving with the top down.

This is at Yan Yean reservoir.

It case you can't work it out it's a VW Golf soft top. We choose it over the hard top as Marcus can fit in the back of this, whereas we'd have to take about 5cm's (2") off his head with the hard top. It wasn't really a hard choice they are both great to drive. I'd have had either. But this one came in purple! AWESOME.

Here is the front of it at Anglesea Lookout.

Another day drive

We didn't really have anything planned today for this trip other than headed out in the general direction of Castlemaine,  or Daylesford. As it turns out we drove through both but didn't really stop much in either. 

To give you an idea of how we decide to travel have a look at the map. We traveled in a clockwise motion. 

That's because as we are driving along there was this really slow car in front of us.  When I say in front of us I mean 6 or 7 cars in front of us with at least that many behind us.  As we filed it into the tiny town of Bullarto we decided that rather than continuing on behind it we would make a turn and go look at an old church we once thought of buying to see what the new owners had done.  They haven't done much at all but more importantly we stumbled across the 20th Annual Bullarto Vintage Tractor Pull. 

These are great fun to watch and at the same time to admire.  There was some very old machinery on show and competing,. The 2 guys doing the commentating didn't look much younger than some of the tractors either. 

We arrived and the pull was already in action. This is in one of the earlier classes, I think it is pulling easier 3.5 or 4 ton.  They full the track on the speed with water to different weights depending on the class.  The track them slide along the sled towards the front as it is pulled along, making it harder for the tractor the further out pulls out.  The idea is to make it to the end which is 100 yards,  no metrics here. 

During the lunch break they have a parade of the tractors competing.  The 3 here were obviously a
family with Mum on front followed by the little one with the last one driven by a son wearing a gas mask! Hopefully all in good fun and not really need. 

Apart from the tractor Pull there was a car Club show,  a word chop competition and at lunch time a"ladies" phone throwing competition.  The phone throwing was funny with only a couple getting the hand of it.  One woman managed to land it right next to me and I was a fair way down.  Another managed to hit someone in the crowd which was funny for every one else. 

They put on a pretty good show. 

We stayed for about 3 hours and then moved on.  Round 2 of the pulls were about to start so we thought a good time to go.  We did make it to Castlemaine eventually via Daylesford and then around via Bendigo and home. 

100 years of military aviation in Australia

Yesterday the whole family travelled down to Point Cook (about 45 mins on the ring road) to the RAAF Williams Point Cook Air Base. There were so many rare old "warbirds" flying that Nicholas and I had to go and we dragged everyone else with us. Warbirds BTW is the expression used to describe when a military plane has gone on to find a use in civilian aviation. Nicholas and I have been playing a game lately called War Thunder where you fly WW1 and WW2 planes against other people. So it was really something to go and see some of them actually in flight. There were some very rare old planes still flying.

This is Nicholas in front of the PBY Catalina. This is one of the planes we both enjoy in the game and yes we did get to see it fly. It looks like a giant albatross in the air drifting around. That one comes later.

This probably the most beautiful looking plane there. It is the Stinson Gullwing made in 1935. There is over 4000hrs of repair work done it. It was just so nice.

Some of our favourite fighters the Mustang (front) and the Kittyhawk (Back).

They did have some really fast planes as well. This is the new F35 Lightning III fighter that the RAAF are purchasing. We didn't get to see this one in flight, shame.

At the other end of the spectrum, they had a Bristol BoxKite replica. One of only 4 flying in the world. It did fly on the day but we were too late to see it., it flew around 8am as it needs almost no wind or it gets blown over.

This is the Boomerang. These were built in Australia based on the American T6 Harvard however shortened both in width and length and a different motor. Great to watch. Nicholas flies one in War Thunder.

This is everyone's favourite the Spitfire (foreground) with the CT-4 reconnaissance (middle) and a KittyHawk (back).

This is one of the really rare planes on show. It is the Lockheed Hudson and is the only flying example left in the world. When it went up it did so with a Boomerang and a KittyHawk as escorts.

I said you'd see the Catalina flying. Here it is taking off, it really does look like a boat with a big wing on top. By the way it is painted black as they were known as the Black Cats and they flew mostly night missions and because of their long range (flying sometimes between 12 and 24 hours) flew bombing missions to Hong Kong and other distant places. It was a Catalina that was the first allied air plane shot down in the Pacific Region in WW2.

This was also a magnificently turned out machine, it is the Stagger Wing. 

If I work out how to add video I will put a couple of short ones up.

All the above photos were taken on either my or Nicholas' phone's camera.