Day 96: On yer bike and mind the bombs!

Bikes on the roof rack and we were off to Point Nepean for a good bit of exercise and an explore. There is a lot of history in this area and it is all to do with defending Port Phillip Bay and everything in it during the wars.

Our first ride took us to the Quarantine Station, which has a number of interesting buildings, such as the fumigation building where all luggage either goes through a steaming process, or is fumigated with formaldehyde gas. This is where many incoming people were quarantined for things like smallpox, influenza, dysentry, etc.

A tree-lined avenue at the Quarantine Station

We did kind of a loop ride from the car, so ended up back there shortly after the drizzle set in. This was an opportunity to have some lunch.

You gotta keep on the track, coz there are bombs everywhere...from the war days.

Post-lunch we headed off to the Point of Point Nepean, riding up and down hills, feeling much fitter than when we started this trip. We ended up at Fort Pearce and Fort Nepean, where you can have a wander in through all the tunnels and see where it all happened during the war. One of the most memorable moments was the gun placement from which the first shot of World War One was fired, and the first Allied shot of World War Two was fired. Amazing. The place is so quiet now, but it must have been bustling in those days.

The barrels that shot the first shots of the First and Second World Wars

The bike riding was very enjoyable, and it was interesting to note that we started our trip with a bike ride (via the Bellarine Rail 'n Ride) up to the Queenscliff Fort (on the heads on the opposite side) at the start of our trip. Here we are, at the end of just over three months, doing the same thing on the other side of the heads. It seems like a fitting thing to have done. We all enjoyed our day immensely, even though we got a little rained on.

Just goes to show - you don't melt in the rain. :-)

This used to be a gun placement. Now, if you stand where the gun was and say something, you get it back in surround sound!

A view back over Point Nepean from the Eagle's Nest lookout. Beautiful.

Day 95: Exploring the Mornington Peninsula

We had an explore down the Mornington Peninsula today, driving down the coast and taking in the beautiful scenery.

We made a detour to Arthur's Seat where Duncan took pics and we did the circular walk, which took in some William Ricketts sculptures, an indigenous garden, the Matthew Flinders cairn and a pretty spectacular lookout.

Meandering on further down through Sorrento and Portsea, we came upon Point Nepean and the National Park. We discovered that you can cycle all through the park, right up to about 500m before the actual point, so we are planning to go down there again (on a sunny day) and take the bikes for a good bit of exercise and exploring.

On our way back through Sorrento we sought out the historic park and the boys got rid of a lot of energy on the large play park.
It is really lovely and scenic and quite tranquil in parts of this peninsula, and I look forward to spending more time down there in the days to come.

Day 94: A padded cell and a boy in a bubble

Callum starts a new life in his very own bubble.

Andrew finally gets his padded cell.

Today we braved the traffic and headed into Melbourne City. Or rather I should say that Duncan drove us into city and I braved the traffic. It really freaks me out and I get quite stressed...lots of deep breathing, even though I don't really have to do anything other than help navigate (and Sheila does most of that).

Anyway, we paid a visit to the Old Melbourne Gaol where we found out all about Ned Kelly and a few other rogues.

Old Melbourne Gaol (top floor)

They also have a new Watch Tower tour, where you go through the whole process of having a charge sheet, are processed and popped into a cell where the lights are switched off until 'morning'. It was a good experience and this is where the boys got their mug shots and Andrew got his padded cell. I was 'arrested' for stalking (according to my charge sheet). Watch out.


On to the Melbourne Museum where they have a few more interesting displays than the last time we were here. Callum's 'bubble' picture above is actually an ant farm that you can look at from the inside. The spiders particularly freaked some of us out, especially the live ones. Check this out!

Spiders anyone? Callum is only about 20cm away from the glass! These are BIG. Eurgh!

After a good look around the museum and a satisfying coffee, we headed down to the IMAX to see Avatar in 3D. It was absolutely fabulous, of course. What else can I say?

Fortunately by the time the movie was over it was about 6.45pm and most of the commuter traffic had dispersed by then. Even so, there was quite a stream of red tail-lights on the freeway all the way home...

Day 93: Wet and cold

Yep, wet and cold indeed.

We went off to the Bayside Shopping Centre this morning, the main aim to find a Flight Centre. Mom has to move home as a result of her declining health - into a place where she can get 24hr nursing care when she needs it. So, I am going to fly over and help her out, because all of this is a bit sudden and she needs help sorting out some stuff. I managed to get tickets despite the looming Soccer World Cup, and I will be in and out of there before all the 'madness' erupts.

While we were there, we had a good browse around all the shops and did some grocery shopping.

This afternoon we had planned to go out, but it was an outdoor activity so the rain kind of squelched that. Instead, the boys and I hung out in the rec room and watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Tomorrow we are heading to the city centre to do some stuff (shudder at the traffic).

Day 92: Anzac public holiday

SLEEP IN!

How divine to not set the alarm and to not have to drive anywhere or do anything specific. We woke at around 9am for a change and had a leisurely morning breakfasting, drinking coffee, sitting in the sun and (in the case of the boys) playing on computers. Peaceful. Bliss.

After lunch we roused ourselves to do something active and headed off to Frankston beachfront for a walk. There is a lovely boardwalk, which we strolled along and were quite suprised to see so many people out and about, fishing off the pier, and a few crazy ones swimming. It is quite cool here, especially in comparison to Tamworth and beyond, though we see from our weather app that Tamworth (and beyond) has also had a plunge in temperature. Oh well, it couldn't last I suppose.

Boardwalk, Frankston Beachfront

The beachfront walk segued into a walk through the Sweetwater Creek Reserve. This was fairly gentle and not too long, although Andrew had the idea that it was all too much for him. We didn't take much notice and he made it in the end.

The Granite Bridge Walk, Sweetwater Creek Reserve

The evening has again been spent in leisurely pursuits, WHICH IS MORE LIKE IT!

Day 91: Melbourne

We are here.

OMG I cannot wait to be back in Tasmania. How many traffic lanes does one need? How many exits can you read, absorb and act upon at one time? Who wants to live in a place where it takes ages to get anywhere?! Up ramps, down ramps, off ramps, on ramps, fly-overs, drive-unders, express lanes, exit lanes, solid white lines, dotted white lines, speed up, slow down, speeding cameras, toll roads...not the sort of daily experience I would want to live with for an extended period of time. Give me nice, quiet Tassie any day.

Anyway, the point is that we got to Frankston in one piece and with only one unscheduled detour (not Shiela's fault - three exits on top or each other made it all a bit confusing as to which 'exit left' command she meant) but this was quite easily remedied. After four days of driving to get here, we were soooooo relieved to arrive at the Frankston Big 4 Holiday Park.

The boys (and the parents, more indirectly) were ecstatic to discover that the recreation room has free wifi...so they were off with netbooks under arms and they had a great time monopolising the TV and playing Internet games. We had to drag them back to the van for dinner. In the meanwhile, the parents were flaked out on the bed; Duncan having a read and me watching a movie. It was absolutely fabulous.

Tomorrow is the Anzac day public holiday, so I think we are going to SLEEP IN and, well, I don't know what we will do then, but that's something to figure out tomorrow.

Day 90: The earth is flat

Flat as a pancake out here. The drive to Shepparton passes through some of the flattest land I have ever come across. You can see for miles off into the (very flat) distance and it just keeps on going. The road was pretty flat too, and really quite straight most of the time, so the drive was not particularly difficult, just long.

The rain was out and about from around 5.15am and it kept coming all the way into Shepparton. In fact, it positively poured in buckets from the sky as we pulled into our drive-through spot for the night. The good thing about all of this though, is that those pesky locusts were grounded and so the car and van are actually cleaner than when we set out, rather than splotched with locust innards. The rain seems to have gone away now, so we hope to have a clear run into Melbourne tomorrow.

Duncan and the boys went out for a little stroll in the park when the rain stopped and Andrew came rushing back to tell me about all the garden gnomes that someone has in their garden. The house belongs to one of the permanents of the Park. He had good reason to be excited:

And that is just this side of the house!

So, tomorrow, all being well, we will be in Melbourne. We are heading for Frankson and will be hanging around those parts for a while. Our caravan has to have it's first service and it has been booked in. We have a few things planned in the meantime...

Day 89: WW: Where's Wally? NO! West Wyalong!

Moving on down south we come to West Wyalong. Where is it, you may ask? Well, drive through Dubbo and just keep going down the globe until you come to Wyalong. Then you go about 5km further and you get to West Wyalong.The plane outside the caravan park. There are a lot of randomly placed airplanes in or near these inland towns.

On the way, you pass through Parkes "The city of The Dish" and are tempted to divert to see the huge radio telescope for the photo opportunity and also because of the promise of coffee.
The huge 'dish' is the one that the movie "The Dish" is about. It is the dish that was used to follow the first man on the moon, live and as it happened, broadcast to the world. It is an impressive dish and, very excitingly, it moved while we were watching! Ooooooh!

Once you have been impressed with the big dish, you go for coffee and discover that somebody you have worked with for 10 years has a secret other life...hanging out with Elvis Presley. TC, you dark horse, who would have known! Here is the evidence, as was displayed in the coffee shop:

TC in his celebrity phase. Or maybe his evil twin?

You drive and drive and drive through clouds of locusts (we can't decide if they are grasshoppers or locusts, so we will call them locusts today) which get randomly splattered against the windscreen and van. Either they are suicidal or are very stupid. They are everywhere.

The Ace Caravan Park is pleasant and the showers are hot. A walk into the town for a bit of exercise and an afternoon to relax after the long drive.

All that is needed now is food and a nice, comfy, warm bed.


ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Day 88: The land of coo-ees

What you find as you drive through the inland part of this lovely country, is that a lot of the bigger towns like to announce their draw-card. Glen Innes is Celtic Country, Scone is the Horse Capital, Tamworth is the Country Music Capital, and Gilgandra is...wait for it...The Land Of Coo-ees!!!

Bonus points to you if you know where Gilgandra actually is. We know, because that is where we are now. If you are an ignoramus, then Gilgandra (The Land of Coo-ees) is about 60km up the highway from Dubbo NSW. There is not a whole lot here, but the town centre has a good feel to it and there is an observatory, although it is only going to open in June : ( .

Rotary Caravan Park, Gilgandra NSW

What they lack in terms of things to do and places to shop, they certainly make up for in grasshoppers and ants. There are lots and lots and lots of those!

The ants stream along in thick black lines that you might mistake for a crack in the pavement, before you take a closer look. You don't want to fall over in this town - you wouldn't lie there for very long because those ants will carry you off. (And there are LOTS of 'cracks' in those pavements. Scary.)

The grasshoppers were hopping as we parked our van, and the boys had a good deal of fun trying to catch them. (We told them the more they catch, the bigger our stirfry will be tonight!) Once they discovered that we wouldn't actually be eating them, Callum decided to feed the birds and proceeded to scewer them onto the barbs of the barbed wire fence. We did have a little discussion about this, just to establish that it is OK to do this to grasshoppers, but NOT OK to try it out with kittens or puppies! It wasn't a lengthy conversation.

There must be an outbreak of grasshoppers around these parts, because Duncan saw a truck pass us with millions of grasshopper corpses squished into the stone guard at the front of the windscreen. Also, a number of vans have pulled in looking like they have driven through a sh*t storm: lots of brown splodges all over the front of the van and on the car.

Hope they are gone by tomorrow.

Day 87: And back again

Bye bye Tamworth...thanks for looking after our 'home'

We woke up at 6am. We packed the car and we drove all the way to Tamworth. We unpacked the car, picked up the ute and delivered the hire car. We had lunch. We planned our route back to Melbourne, we phoned and made bookings. We booked the Spirit of Tasmania. We had a swim, we went for a test drive in the ute, we filled up with fuel. We took a picture at the Golden Guitar, we went shopping (no food in the larder...or fridge), we had fish 'n chips for dinner with a bottle of champagne.

Tomorrow...and for the next four days...we will be on the road, heading south.

Day 86: Dolphins el naturale

For those suspicious people who think I have knocked off my delightful husband...here he is, alive and very well indeed!

Today saw us cruising the bay, checking out dolphins - the wild ones, not the ones that do tricks for treats. It was lovely to see them in their natural environment having a gentle swim in their pods. There were several pods, some bigger than others, and all curious about the boat (which brought them closer).
Once the dolphins had drifted off towards the heads on their way out to see, the boat turned and headed for Shoal Bay for some boom-netting. On the way there Andrew got an opportunity to steer the boat (there was nothing out there for him to hit!) and was given a little certificate for his efforts.
Once in the bay, the boat slowed down and the boom net was lowered. The kids could slide down into the net (Andrew's choice) or you could just walk out onto the net (Callum's choice) and then you sit there while the boat cruises along, getting a little wet from time to time. Again, not something you would experience very often, so it was both memorable and enjoyable.
After lunch on the beach, we headed back to the cabin and relaxed. Andrew has made a friend so they played outside building little shelters, skate boarding and riding on the boy's scooter. We also had a swim in the rather refreshing pool. Brrrrr! I think we are going to have to re-acclimatise to Tassie when we get back. We are getting too used to the warmer weather.

Koala Bay Holiday Park swimming pool

The whole day was very enjoyable, but the best part was that we got a phone call this morning before we set out to say that the ute is READY TO GO! Hooray! It has been quite frustrating planning ahead because, well, we couldn't. So, tomorrow is an early start - we plan to leave here at 7am to get back to Tamworth by lunchtime. The hire car is due at 1pm, so we must make sure that we get there in time.

Four happy Grants.

Day 85: What a day!

Today was GREAT and certainly one to remember!

The morning started off with a lovely walk along the beachfront, then a bit of school work. Not in itself an earth-shatteringly fabulous start in the scheme of things you might think, but it is what came next that was so enjoyable.

We took a drive around to Shoal Bay again and headed for the Tomaree National Park. There is a walk to the summit of one of the Tomaree heads that we wanted to do, so off we went. Again we were at the very bottom and the summit, well, of course it was at the very top. So, up we went and had a great workout on the way. Much huffing and puffing, but definitely signs of being much fitter than at the start of this trip. It was kind of exhilarating in a sick, exercis-y sort of way. The views at the top were absolutely spectacular:

Have you ever seen the sea so calm that the clouds are reflected in it? Beautiful.

A view of Shoal Bay from the summit

Lunch was under a shady tree at Fingal Beach, en route to Anna Bay where we had booked a 4WD sand dune tour. This was a 2hour tour of the Stockton sand dunes, which included a visit to Tin City, sand boarding and collecting pipis. The dunes are 32km long and anything from 1.5 to 3.5 km wide. This was an amazing experience and we were very lucky to be the only ones on the tour, so we had our own personal guide and it was great.

A rare family picture

There is a lot of evidence of WWII in the dunes and it was strange to see the remnants of the barbed wire barriers and anti-tank concrete pyramids that still poke out of the dunes. The Japanese would have had a hard time getting through that lot had they ever tried.

Anti-tank thingies. (The rest are under the sand dune.)

Tin City is a very small settlement about 10km down the beach, which sprang up in the Depression. Today people still squat there - for free and with permission - but limited by a number of constraints.

Tin City

Sand boarding on the dunes was 'awesome' (to use one of Callum's favourite words). We were taken to one of the best and steepest dunes and given freshly waxed boards, with a quick lesson on how not to end up on your face (which was particularly helpful). We were not disappointed. Downhill was fast and smoothe, with a dignified dismount at the end. Getting up the slope again for another go was hard work and I think we burnt off a few calories in the process!

These are fairly self-explanatory:

Last stop was for a bit of pipi gathering. Not at all what we expected - a bit of 'Let's Twist Again' in the sand, digging your feet down to about ankle deep. You can feel the shell under foot if there is one there. Pipis are used as bait for fishing and one is not allowed to take them away from the beach. So we found some, then watched them dive back into the wet sand. Fascinating.

Pipis!

...and pipi collecting

There is also quite a bit of bird life along the beach and our guide pointed out a few different species, including a white breasted sea eagle, which was magic.

As we were on the afternoon tour, the sun and light was just perfect and Duncan took lots of photos. What a fabulous day.

Day 84: Horse riding!

A new experience for the Grants! We hit the trail on horse back at Sahara Trail Rides and had a marvelous time. Callum, Andrew and I decided that this was the very thing to do, and we were lucky because it was the last trail ride of the season. NSW schools go back on Tuesday, so holiday makers head home tomorrow and everything gets a lot quieter. (Yay) This horse riding experience caters for beginners (like us) and so we had very gentle and well-behaved horses to ride on. The trail ride took an hour and meandered by the river and through the bushland. By the end of it I felt like my knees were popping out and the bum department was getting a little sensitive. I did manage to dismount without disgracing myself - I thought my knees might give out and I would hit the ground on my bum - so that was a good ending.

After that we went to check out the 4WD sand dune tours and decided to book into one for tomorrow. Lunch was overlooking the beach, then we were off to Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay. We had a swim at Shoal Bay, which was lovely because there were no waves, it was pleasantly cool and we didn't come across any nasty sea life.

Dinner was fresh battered flathead and chips in Nelson Bay, courtesy of Denise Granny, who wanted to treat us. Absolutely delicious.

Shoal Beach

Nelson Bay

Day 83: On the move again

Not letting the dust settle under our feet too much, we set off once again today, heading for Lemon Tree Passage in the Port Stephens area. The drive (350km approx) took a long 4.5 hours, largely due to the number of little settlements that dot the highway, reducing the traveling speed quite considerably.

One of those settlements is the Horse Capital of Australia. Do you know which town that is? No? Well then, I know more than you do! The Horse Capital of Australia is the town of Scone.

The Koala Shores Holiday Park is lovely and green, sitting peacefully on the shores of a bay. There are many things to do in this area, so we should be kept quite busy over the next few days.

Day 82: Absolutely nothing

Don't you think it is stupid to say that you have done 'absolutely nothing'? After all, breathing and getting out of bed and going to the loo is something.

Well, we did do more than breathing and getting out of bed. We did Maths and Sound Waves and washing and swimming and book reading and Internet surfing and sewing and champagne drinking (and a bit of going to the loo). So, I suppose I should really say we did 'absolutely nothing important'. It was necessary.

This was a recovery day, and tomorrow we are heading off again in our hire car. Port Stephens is our destination and I reckon Saturday will be busy down there, but everyone is going back to school on Monday, so I am sure it will be much nicer then. We are staying till Wednesday...or as long as it is going to take for the ute to be sorted out...

Day 81: Driving

Today we drove from the Gold Coast to Tamworth. It took 7 hours. The route was very scenic and pleasant.

Today we found out that the new gear box for the ute has not even been freighted yet, so the ute will realistically only be ready from the middle of next week.

Today we decided to take off again and go exploring elsewhere, which we will do on Saturday.

Today we discovered that our caravan feels like home and we like being here.

Yesterday we decided that the Gold Coast has far too many people and is really built up and busy; stressful, not relaxing.

Yesterday we decided that we really like the quiet life of Tasmania.

Day 80: Wet 'n Wild Grants

While our friends in Tasmania are freezing their butts off, we have spent the day clad in not much more than bathers, slopping on sunscreen, swooping down slides and lolling on tubes in water. Yahoo! What fun!

After our warm-up at Movie World yesterday, we felt brave enough to try some of the Extreme H2O rides. Andrew just took it as a given that he would do these, but we needed a bit of convincing. Anyhoo, the first thing we did was the Tornado. What a thrill! It was such fun and really scream-worthy. A lot of stress was released in this (screaming) fashion today. Fantastic. I think we need to have one in our garden.

Up the wall...

And out the spout!

For those of you who don't know what the Tornado is, it basically consists of a short (but steep) enclosed tube ride on an inflatable, which then whooshes out into a big cone. You then shoot up and down the sides of the cone, working from the bigger end down to the smaller end, where you shoot out at the bottom into a pool. As I said, very scream-worthy. We did that one a number of times.

We also tried the Mach 5 slide while the adrenalin was flowing and the thinking through of the details was not high on the agenda. OMG! I had to psyche myself up to get up all the stairs to the top of the tower first...then you sit at the top of the slide which has a gate in front of it - that in itself should be a warning! Then, ankles crossed, hands behind head, elbows in and you're off. It was quite a slide - so fast that it takes about 10 metres of water trough at the bottom before you to stop (at this point your nasal passages get thoroughly washed out) and you can feel the burn on your shoulder blades. Pheeeee-ew!

The Aqua Racer was really very tame and dull after this. The Wave Pool was fun - a bit of a workout on the thighs with all that jumping up and down, while the Calypso Beach river (floating around on tubes) was very relaxing and delightful.

Andrew desperately wanted to do the Black Hole ride, but the rest of us were too chicken to join him. As it is a long black (so you can't see anything) tunnel that whips left and right and dips periodically, it was not our cup of tea. Callum and I did one of those in Malaysia and both felt like vomitting at the end. This one is longer. And starts very high up. Anyway, I did manage to find someone else to go with him: necessary because you have to ride the inflatable in pairs. He loved it of course.

All in all it was a good day (how could it not be?) and we are once again pooped and flopped in front of the TV, doing blogs.

Today marks the turn-around-point in our trip. We are not going to proceed any further north from here. We are heading back to Tamworth tomorrow. We might have to linger there into next week as we wait for the ute to be sorted out. It will be a good opportunity to catch up on some school work, as we haven't done any for a while (no room in the hire car for school books).

Fingers crossed that the ute will be ready sooner rather than later...

Day 79: MOVIE WORRRRRRRRRRLD!

You gotta love a good theme park.


We had a sensational day at Movie World and got to do all the things we reasonable thought we could do. Except for Andrew, who was disappointed that he is too short for the Superman Escape and the Lethal Weapon roller coasters. He also joined the queue for the Batman Spaceshot ride, but didn't want to wait. (This is the one that shoots you up a tower...)

Anyway, we did get to ride the Looney Tunes 'coaster and river rides, the Batman simulator, the Scooby Doo coaster (awesome), the Wild West Falls (flume ride - super awesome), the bumper cars, and see the Shrek 4D show and the Stuntdrivers show. We did the Wild West Falls many, many times and got really wet, but it was sooooooo much fun.

Wild West fun

There were quite a lot of people there today. Queensland schools went back today, but NSW is still on holiday, so there were quite a lot of those around. All in all it was very enjoyable and we are absolutely pooped.

Tomorrow we are getting Wet and Wild!