Home at last

Business Class passengers escorted to the head of the queue for boarding - very privileged. The 14 hour flight to Dubai outran the sun as far as Dubai so dark all the way. Got 5 hours sleep and managed to watch the new Star Wars and the last Hunger Games films.

Dubai airport awful. Changing planes means another pass through an overloaded security system. Lounge vast but crowded - even queue for gents - but plane boarding starts early so no queues. Total daylight trip to Manchester so gave up on sleep and watched Bridge of Spies.

Lovely early arrival, case in first 20 off, the do it yourself immigration queues longer than those with a human because machines designed by the same people who design supermarket self service tills.

Home by 13:30 (00:30 Aus) and sunny and warm (for Yorkshire) with hedges just getting that green mist of early leaves.

Australia has politicians even more awkward and slippery than UK ones so that aspect a nightmare. But standard of living good, lots of outdoor life, cafe culture in even the smallest town. Risk of fire or crashing due to animals a worry. People - wonderful.

But would I go back? Can't wait.

Here endeth the lesson - a collecting plate will be circulated amongst readers.

PS

The waiter just put down a chocolate cheesecake - no chance I could resist

bon voyage

Last day here and quite emotional. Gentle walk around the town to see the architectural styles over the decades and the rebuilt historic buildings.
Lunch in town then a tour of the town area - the bush is so close - and a simple afternoon with drinks outside under  the roof underhang.
Car arrived on time and farewells tearful - well I was. Lots of hugs that must last.
 I came to Australia mainly to meet relatives. What I found was that I met people who by chance were related but were instant friends, people I must see again.
I've seen Victoria both in its beauty and its brutal side. Some trees we passed today 2 years ago had been burnt by the bushfire. Now they have blackened trunks but their tops are green and new trees sprouting from the ground. I've seen beaches that look as if they are from a fim of South Pacific, clean almst emty beaches with deep blue sea lapping. I've seen animals that are so strange and people who are so open hearted and generous - including complete strangers.
Who wouldn't want to return here?
Just finished a simple meal top up, champagne at my side, in the Emirates Lounge having negotiated the security and brders systems - you find at the last minute you have to fill a form in before you go even though they hotograph your face and your passport. A quick trip to the vast Duty Free for Chanel no 5  - well a b has to smell nice - then the long, long walk to the lounge, so long I feel I have saved the airline a fair few litres in fuel by meeting them halfway.
Flight leaves 22:25 (11:25 GMT Wednesday) and arrives 05:30 Dubai (12:30Aus,  01:30 GMT).
Tehn another flight at 07:20 (03:16 GMT, 14:16 Aus) with arrival Manchester 11:20 GMT (22:20 Aus) and hopefully home by 15:00 GMT (02:00 Friday Aus)

Oh Joy.

Irons with feet

I have to share with you my ironing experience. My linen shirt I'll need for the flight (sleeves for UK weather) needed ironing as it was almost as wrinkly as me. I borrowed the iron. I am used to standing an iron on its end when not in use but not here. the iron has feet. Lift up the iron and the feet retract, and stay retracted until you again put it flat on the board when there is a schizzz noise and three feet emerge and hold it off the board surface to prevent burning. If you leave it on the clothing part way it won't burn as the feet will cunningly decide you are a morn and emerge prevent all those iron shaped burn marks on your clothes.

Simple but brilliant.

Choo choo

Today, after waking late from exhaustion of yesterday's zoo with 2 year old whirlwind, was a slow start and then a trip to Seymour Heritage Railway Centre. Not what we were expecting. The yard was full of locos, 1 steam, the rest (around 17) diesel in various stages of restoration. Rail gauge is Irish 5ft 6inches. 1 engine is the same as BR shunter. This is the first main line diesel loco type.

The guide who had worked his way to Operations Director of Victoria Railways showed us through several carriages that were reserved for royalty, heads of state and senior Australian politicians. So I have seen the Queen's bedroom (1953 tour) and the seat that held Lady Di's bottom. The carriages vary in condition and are of differing ages but are wonderfully equipped.
I cannot show you a photo of Lady Di's seat as it might raise male blood pressure.
Simple lunch in Seymour. Gentle drive around a very arid landscape though trees still green. Gum trees tap roots go as depp as the tree is high so they can tap in to underground sources. We looked at one lot of 10 acres with a pond (called a dam) almost empty as the creek that serves it is bone dry where a house could be built with a fabulous North facing (=South in UK) view over to hills. So quiet, just parrots and magpies but other visitors had to include a kangaroo or two as their droppings were evident. This plot owned by another cousin who is uncertain whether to buid so the plot is an escape from suburban Melbourne for him and his family and a trip to the wild for the grandchildren.

Car to airport put back to 7.25pm tomorrow - odd that the distance is around half that from Manchester to home which has been free but the Australians want a $22 surcharge. Oh well.

More mountain confusion and Wombats

Seems there is a peak the range I saw called Blue Mountain so I wasn't all wrong. Am researching whether there are a Green Mountain or Brown Mountain.
Today, a Bank Holiday, was to visit one of Melbourne Zoo's three sites - this one at Healsville was started as a refuge for injured wildlife but is now a large zoo.  With us was litte Zoe, a 2 year old with attitude with whom no minute is boring. The flying display was not just of birds of prey but parrots as well, all trained to fly low over the audience. I saw all the main animals of this country - Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Tasmanian Devil, Dingo. But didn't see an Echidna, spiny anteater. But we saw on the drive back. My favourite, the Wombat

Obiously an ancestor of the Labrador.
Amazing how a tired tot can be reawakened by a visit to a chocolate factory which also makes ice cream. There must have been 500 cars in the car park and they kept coming.
Sadness for me was saying goodbye to Marini, Andrew and Zoe (supertot) as my visit ends. They were instant friends when we remet after a gap of around 9 years and we've met several times this visit. I will truly miss all of them.

I stand corrected

It wasn't the Blue Mountains I saw yesterday. What was said was "that's why the Blue Mountains are called that" so although these were blue, my apologies to the Macedon Range for accusing them of belonging to the Conservative Party.

A family day, 2 2 and a few month year olds and a 14 monther. With their parents of course. Celebration of my cousins birthday - he's a model train fan.

The train was made from marshmallow and sugar, the track chocolate and the ends of the sleepers were blueberries.
Inside

Beat that Chris!

Off to rural Australia

Having been bushwacked by my cousin Steve on Friday night I no longer needed the train and we travellled to Broadford about 50 miles North of Melbourne in a big arc to the West of the city through the countrysde. We passed Hanging Rock, nice place for a picnic (and it is the one in the film) and Mount Macedon and had great views of the Blue Mountains. And they are blue but this is the effect of the sun on eucalyptus oil in the atmosphere from the heavily wooded slope.s As I took the opportunity of  a stop to take a photo I realised that a kangaroo was in the field close by. It eventually bounced off to join a mob of others further down. So graceful.
And then  the carnage.
Kangaroo and Wombat (think a corgi shape weighing at least 30kg with a big black nose) bodies by the side and even in the middle of the road. Both are marsupials and signs encourage drivers to report kills to allow volunteers tosave babies in pouches.
Small towns are growing madly as people move out from the city to have a better life in the country and commute to work by train. But each has at least cafe serving good coffee (and most other drinks) and calorie laden cakes. And even where supermarkets trade, the range of independent shos seems to survive.
A stop for supplies at a supermarket  - almost all fruit and veg and meat had "produce of Australia" on the packet. And these drinking coconuts I've seen all over. Dehusked for the buyer.

Into Broadford, a small set of shops but surrounded by plots being built on or up for sale so it is bound to grow dramatically. Just 1 hour by train to Mebourne so commuter land. Like all expanding towns it means farmland is disappearing fast. It strikes you more when you see the Great Dividing Range in the distance and realise that one side is basically desert and the other is the more fertile area.
My cousins house has just been built and in Australian style is a bungalow with what Brits would call a corrugated iron roof. Forget though shiny zinc finish, these panels are colour bonded a light grey. The house is marvellous and spacious and I'd just like to highlight some differences to UK style.
A solar water heating panel is on the roof and this feeds hot water logically to a tank - but it is outside. And should there not be enough solar heated water, the gas heater is alongside it on the outside wall. The large box on the roof is part of the air cooler system using evaporation of water for the cooling needed and it is fed through ceiling vents. Unlike air conditioning, it works best with a window open as it is bringing in fresh air all the time in use. In fact most opening windows and all doors have flyscreen doors/window covers. In the winter the air system feeds other ceiling vents and the gas heater - in the roof! - heats the air. The heater has to be instaled before the ceiings go in.
I find the small differences between home and here sometimes more interesting than the more obvious things.
Out in the garden massive pumpkins are growing even bigger, tomatoes ripenng and a dwarf lemon has many green still fruits also ripening slowly. The effects of 20-30C  temoeratures. Whilst this a quiet area the cockatoos have a raucous cry and near to dusk ensure the world knows they are roosting in the nearby trees. Magpies are almost tame and at dawn have this amazing bell like call, straight out of jungle films.
Another fascinating day

1st cousins once removed like buses

You don't see one for ever then 2 come together. Today the elder (more mature?) male cousin (forget the rmived bit) Arthur and his great wife Valma took me to beaches South East of Geelong. Yesterday was rainy and big waves in that area as I saw some from the bus. Today calm waters except surfer beaches, blue skies and sea

A good lunch in Anglesey, nobody spoke Welsh though, and we walked, one of us barefoot, on soft sand patterned with cuttle fish shells, delicate pink fronds possibly a soft coral and real sponge. Too small for bath use and sad I can't take any back.

 Even found a ball washed up but sadly no Labrador to throw it for.

We ended up at a viewpoint near a vast phallic totem, not Aboriginal - Sorry it was a lighthouse, a delicous mango smoothie for me at the tiny tea shop at its base then back to Geelong. You have to see beaches like this to believe them and you don't need to go to Queensland. Knockout.

They dropped me back in the city and I'd just finished phoning home whilst trying to find a place of alcoholic refreshment when a text arrived saying the other cousin (less mature?) Steve and his lovely wife Helen were sitting outside a restaurant 2 minutes away. When I joined them I joked they were a day early to give me lift to my place and then found they had booked into the same hotel as me and were staying the night ready to ferry me to their place tomorrow saving me a luggage (and beer bottle) toting via Southern Cross. Impossible to put into words what I feel about today.

Great Coast Road - and rain

Raining all day and after a great coffee downtown pondered my options - it is legal. It had been suggested that the Great Coast Road would be a good tour but being crammed into a mini bus with 11 other tourists was not a turn on.
Then I found the bus to Apollo Bay. Run by the Government at a tremendous loss, it is a 3 hour + journey to a surfers paradise (£17 return!). 2 hours between buses then same journey back - but the views especially from high up in a coach of surf crashing onto both sandy and rocky beaches were superb. My photos cannot do them justice due to the movement of the coach and the rain.
You don't seem to see 1 cockatoo at a time - they come in mobs. In one field several hundred had gathered to feed and there were never less than 10 or so.
The road is cut from the cliff like a goat track- it started as jobs for returning soldiers from WWI - and thus dips and dives and has tight corners and is none too wide - well motorway standard by Wensleydale comparisons.

 However those with a good memory will remember that not too long along the Wye River community was hit by bush fires. And so was the road. Whilst most houses I could see from from the coach were OK despite the blackened stumps right to the edge of the beach, I could see the odd wreck higher up where homes had been lost.

The surprise was the regreening with ground plants starting well, many apparently dead trees covered with thin but vigorous green and the tree ferns with a 6 foot blackened stump and a bright green display of fresh fronds on top almost as high again.

There's not much in Apollo Bay, umpteen restaurants, several surf shacks and tat shops. But lunch and wine passed the time.

Then back via Anglesea and Torquay - never realised they were so close - with a bag of 2 bottles of local red for home and  4 bottles of the local breweries best, only the empty bottles of which will be taken back to the Fox and Hounds.

And I my visit to Bairnsdale is now "celebrated" on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/RightTrackToursAustralia/

Hate to think what that will do for Janet's business.

A pleasant, if wet, day

Hottest night in Geelong ever. At 3.00am, 4.00pm GMT, the temperature was 30C. Not seen during the hottest day in Wensleydale. But I was, of course, sleeping the sleep of the innocent as justy deserved.
Yuch, instant coffee for breakfast but thank heavens Victoria folk value good coffee (for one reader the owner of this hotel appears to be ex RAAF cargo sporting a C49 T shirt) so getting a good big mug of excellent coffee is so simple. Kind of proper rain but you get wet and dry at the same time.
Hopped a bus to Queenscliffe. Imagine Melbourne Harbour as a circle with a small bite out at the bottom.  Previosuly I had been at Sorrento, the Eastern bit of the bit and Queenscliffe is the Western side of the bite. The car ferry between the two places takes just 40 minutes through some nasty currents so they are very close. And I found this beautiful lady all steamed up - but not for me

.

3ft 6" gauge. There isn't really a cliff and this town is built around the fortifications to protect the harbour which became the Sandhurst of Australia. The pilots are also based there. Australians seem to think that as there's is a big country, ice cream scoops shoukd be gigantic My honeycomb and choc chip caramel scoops were certainly that and I am not complaining. Brymor, take note. Needed a Labrador's length tongue to prevent drips.
Now whilst petrol is around half UK prices,  though price seems to vary by around 20% , beer is double the price. Micro breweries are breeding like rabbits and that ought to deoress prices but £6 for a pint is a bit much. The one I tried tasted oddly of aranges and I gather this a fad at the moment - not for me.
A trip back on the bus and the down to the waterfront. Although this is Geelong Harbour, the water is crystal clear, not blue given the clouds, but clear to a fair depth. I found a restaurant that not only served food at a time that I wanted to eat but also had a decent local wine list and ate watching yachts racing just a few hundred yards away as I toasted them in sparkling wine.

 I hae a choice tomorrow, both bus trips (really cheap) and may end up in Torquay - and without jet lag!

Bad day got worse

Nt too bad a start. The train started on time then crawled through the Melbourne suburbs as far as South Yarra and we had to get off as the train in front had somebody underneath it. So instead of straight in to Southern Cross Station and a train that missed the bulk of the rush hour it took 2 trains to get to Southern Cross and then on to another antique train. Now the air conditioning might have worked if the train had the correct number of people but this one was stuffed so a sweltering trip to Geelong.

The hotel looked great from outside. And that's it. I think I can stand it for 4 nights if I find plenty to do in the day. and I am sharing a bathroom with 3 young girls - though not simultaneously they tell me . And to add to the woes I found I still had the keys to my last hotel room.

Bright spot - just 100yds away a pizza place run by Italians with a wood fired oven and Peroni beer. Wish I could make Pizza bases like that.

So tired, sweaty and bit down at present. Sorry folks.

Last day in Gippsland

Checkout from Bairnsdale today and what an experience it has been. I have to admit that being carless I would have had a more limited experience if it had not been for Janet and Peter Burton, Rightrack tours, who were exceptionally hospitable.

Any Australian reading this should consider coming here. Plenty for the older ones to see and do, and the little ones will love the beaches. Go to Tyers Lake beach and the small ones can learn water activities in complete safety in front of a pretty good cafe/restaurant, the Watermill..

The hotel, the Riversleigh,  has been good though one eccentricity is that whatever time of day and wherever I am in the main part of the hotel has been Robin. She seems to do everything, desk clerk, bar tender, housekeeping and even gardener.

As for Bairnsdale the council needs a kick up the backside for not encouraging visitors to stay rather than motor through to the Alps or Sydney. I have been lucky enough to meet a whole raft of entrepreneurs who are trying to make a tourist ( and in many case local customer) based businesses.

They aren't helped though by the restaurants. According to Trip Advisor there are 55 restaurants here. They really mean 55 places to eat which is not the same. There are lots of places that, during the day, you can get excellent coffee and cakes but all the restaurants I've looked at bar one seem to put quantity over quality and this must be the beer batter capital of Australia. And most of those close on Mondays! My advice if you are coming here - book each evening in the River Grill though they keep the same menu for weeks bar the fish of the day.

And strangely the big supermarket only stocks 1 Victoria wine and that comes from the other side of Melbourne.

If I came again and the tour company hadn't grown, I'd hire a car from somewhere near a suburban rail station or even Bairnsdale.

Right 12.35 train for the almost 4 hour trip to Melbourne and then Geelong train.

Back to Lakes Entrance

A curious rain has settled here, mist with rain so fine it evaporated off your clothes straight away. Caught the first bus to lakes Entrance and took a bit more time to look around than I had yesterday. It is a working fishing port with fish and shellfish sold from the dockside.

But Lakes Entrance is a typical bucket and spade resort as far as shops go. I walked over the long bridge to the spit of land on the other side of the harbour and down to the sea. This is 90 mile beach and though I cannot vouch for its measurement, it disappeared into the haze and over the horizon. The sand is beautiful, the sort small children dream of, but so fine walking is hard work.
Lots of birds today with the Australian Robin, a bt like an English sparrow with very vivid red breast, pelicans, black swans, what I believe are Ibis, white with a long curved beak for rummaging along the shallows and cormorants drying their wings.

But the mist and the heat turned the air into a Turkish bath and I realised that my clothes were now wet despite the rain having stopped some time before through sweat. So next bus back, a shower and then I found the washing machine so I have a load of several days dirty stuff going round in it now. This is being typed in the garden with anther glass of this wonderful Redbank Emily sparkling wine.

When I found there were 55 restaurants in Bairnsdale I did not quite understand 1 word - restaurant. Last night was at least better than the revious one with an enormous platter of fish, calimari, large prawns and scallops - but all in batter. One more go - shame the best restaurant does not open on Mondays.

Another hospitable day

Janet, my guide of yesterday, picked me up and we plus Georgeous George

an Italian breed of sheepdog that doesn't herd but protects, went to a market at lakes Entrance.

From there a short drive to Lake Tyers beach with warm large pools of water great for kids learning to paddle board or canoe. The local pelicans came and went.

Back via the village of Metung and I can see why so many people retire there, right on a lake.
On the way some great viewpoints to see the amazing beaches like this one

A quiet afternoon after having been thoroughly spoilt by a couple I had never met beforewho went more than an extra mile to make me feel welcome. Humbling.

The lesson from today is to return to Lakes Entrance on the bus tomorrow. Pelicans are difficult to photograph as they seeem to know and turn away. Perhaps dolphins or whales, who knows.
But I have ensured that a token of my gratitude will be on its way to both these great people.

Worst meal so far

Got back late and went to nearby pub. Fox and Hounds would get 2 Michelin stars by comparison

Hospitality impossible to repay

Before I came I tried to book a tour with Righttrack Tours from Bairnsdale. The only problem is as Bairnsdale is not known about by many they only cater for groups but promised to fit me in if a group couldn't fill the bus. But no bookings. Instead the owner picked me up, refused all payment except a cup of coffee and a piece of cake (and later some white wine)  and took me to a food festival, 2 wineries and a blueberry farm. The First winery, Nicholson River I had already tasted and I tried some other wines from other grape varieties - all excellent. The second one, Tambo, I did not like the reds, not my taste, but I bought 2 bottles of a white, one for home and one we consumed later. At the blueberry farm the blueberry season was over but we found that they send blueberries to the Nicholson winery to make a liquer from it. Think good quality Port. A half bottle will be going home.
Now I guess some of you think, out with a woman and he keeps talking about a bottle of wine later ...
the truth is we picked up her husband, an academic now part time with RMIT University and drove to Paynesville where they have a yacht and we have been sailing on the lakes. Nicely windy at first and boat leaning to 25 degrees but calmed later. And the wine was perfect for it with cheese and crackers.

I do have devious plans on ways to say thankyou when I get home but already we are off to Lakes Entrance Market tommorow together - this time the dog is coming as chaperone. I honestly admit I am overwhelmed by both of them.

Tapas does not translate

But whatever you called it it was good. Reality was a choice of half meal sized platters. Calimari partcularly good and most were served with pea shoots which were delicious.
Local wines brilliant and a sparkling where the same grapes as champagne are grown 550-700m up, higher than Penhill, was better than many champagnes. And it is called Emily. And if you ever meet Emily she is pale, bubbly and good value. But whilst the big estate Australian wines we get in the UK are good, these smaller ones can beat them.
This morning the rain of yesterday has left behind a perfume different to a Summer shower smell in England but just as delightful.

Just like home

It is peeing down. Am reaching for a jumper (no not a wallaby). It has become cool and there is thunder hammering. I'll be able to see the rapid greening I have been told about.

Hate English Summers?

But how would you feel if every chemist shop offered to perform a biopsy on any area of skin you may be worried about? Skin cancer seems almost the norm here and despite awareness and regular treatment it still kills.

A bad attack of rust in Yorkshire doesn't seem so bad after all

History - sometimes shocking

Early morning dawn chorus.  Cockatoos  and magpies I think, magpies here do not appear to be crow relatives and hence have a lovely bell like call.

The town is just a grid system, sadly lots of empty shops, but massive Woolworth, Coles and K Mart plus lots of outlets for all you need in the bush or on the sea.
And this place would not be out of place in a spaghetti western

I made may way over what were the railway tracks to the Keeping Place. For my emotional stuff go to TripAdvisor but suffice to say I was fed up with institutions praising everything about the Aborigines - except the Aborigines themselves. This place moved me to tears. Sadly when a young waitress at a nearby cafe - probably a Saturday job - asked where I had been, she had never heard of it.  Should be compulsory education akin to the Holocaust.

A walk by the river but soon it became too hot even for my walking companion

 One good thing is the availabilty of water to drink. Served automatically with meals and with these devices dotted around - the bit athe front if for filling your bottle.

Before I left the UK I had tried to book a tour from the local tour company. It seems that deamnd is low so tours are laid on for groups rather than being freely open. However getting here I found no tours operating. But this is Oz and and wizard (witch?) waved a wand and I have a personal tour of two wineries set up for tomorrow. No charge but I buy lunch and pay entrance. Seems a great deal to me.
Tonight wine and tapas - wait for the next exciting instalment!!!!

First night in rural town

This was the hotel that greeted me, dating from around 1880

Elegant refurbished residence and my room off a courtyard. Joy - a silent air conditioner, much needed. Then I realised what was missing. The lack of phone not a surprise as most people now carry mobiles and with no big hotel services available no need for wired system. It was the fact that there is virtually nowhere to store clothes. Then my tiny grey cells worked it out and were confirmed by the receptionist (actually she does everything). As this is on a scenic motoring route and at the junction of the Princes Highway to Sydney and the Alpine Highway to the Australian Alps, most people are ony here fro a night or two.
Desperate to eat I was directed next door. Would you feel that this is high class establishment?

 Inside is a different story. An old stable now houses an up to date restaurant. No squeezing of tables for maximum covers here but well spaed and airy. Fabulous range of local wines and the food - well superb. My review on TripAdvisor.

Moving on

Check out day from Melbourne. First stop a present for Labrador, a toy kangaroo holding a boomerang (they do that all the time) and with a joey in its pouch. He may on receipt of it forgive me for my absence or may raise doubts about my taste.
Despite the station being a short walk away I took the circular route tram in the opposite direction for one last look around.
Southern Cross Station is both coach and rail and the rail part has 16 platforms some divided into 2. The diesels are kept idling with consequent noise and fumes unfortunately. And AUstralians love their fast food, seemingly hundreds of outlets. My choice an icy fruit mix concoction. But most people on the train ate something, an iced doughnut, an oriental bean dish whose smell filled the carriage, a wrap.
The journey to Bairnsdale is a little under 4 hours and 281km (175 miles) so speed not great but cost, UK should note - off peak single $34 or just £17.
An elderly diesel engine arrived with 4 elderly carriages. These are wider than UK so seating 3 one side 2 the other. This is a reserved seat train yet, excluding the 1 first class, there was 1 reserved coach and 2 unreserved. In the UK they try to limit long distance train stops and get travellers between stops to travel to the next stop to board. This one stopped often to pick up until it got some way out despite there being more frequent local trains.
Melbourne is sprawling. Mile upon mile of industrial and residential landscape - a graffiti artist's heaven it appears. Once the sprawl has gone it is continual building sites with new homes going up. Boom town.
Finally the countryside.
Trees and trees, loads of them, bringing wonderful greenery. Fields often outlined by them, roads and tracks lined both sides and likewise streams, Sadly a few skeletons of trees long gone. For much of the journey the land is large  (very) fields appearing to be mainly grass. The colour varies from sand to a sand base colour with just a smattering of green mist, here and there a bright patch of a hardy weed or where there is just a little more water. Whilst I spotted an orchard with trees covered at the top - protection from sun, birds perhaps but more probably hail - and another of maize but cattle seem to be the "crop" mainly. These herds have to scatter from each other rather than close herd so they can find enough grass left behind.
The line follows roughly that of the Princes Highway, the alternative to the shorter Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney. And for a long stretch we were paralleled by a pipeline - water, gas, oil who knows - not buried but above ground. The odd English name town like Stratford.
We hit single track and got to Bairnsdale on time. Take a note UK railways. 1 platform and now the end of the line.
A gentle 20 minute walk to a lovely Victorian hotel/guest house.

Melbourne, a summary

Today I leave for Bairnsdale but I thought Id round up with a summary of my impressions of Melbourne.

I cannot praise it highly enough. The people, from all races and mixed ones though mainly, as you would expect, the non-Caucasian were mainly SE Asia. The publlic transport is fantastic with not just the tourist tram circular route free but all trams in the centre. If you want  want to use a tram outside the centre (or bus or train) you need to buy a prepaid card and load it with money. Unlike Hong Kong Octopus card you cannot get a refund on the card or unused cash at the end of your visit so a bit hard on tourists. And the instructions are a bit odd - you have to tap your card on on all forms of transport but not off on trams.
I've used rail as well and though a bit tatty, really effficient. But the folks here love their cars, driving hell for leather between the very frequent traffic lights. The lights do mean crossing roads is easy and drivers and cyclists(!) are very polite with pedestrians. By the way to turn right (the drive on the same side as UK) you get in the LEFT lane. All that traffic does mean the air gets a bit thick (though no smog) as can be seen from what happened to this poor duck exposed to the atmosphere.

There are some rather impressive toilets dotted about

and I only scratched the surface on what to do and where to eat.

BUT my overwhelming memory is trees. Streets are lined with them both native introduced so elms and oaks and sweet chestnut are side by side with palms.

These don't just give shade and reduce the temperature but their green makes up for the problems other plants have in growing here. And the reason is the heat. Temperatures in the 90s have not been uncommon and whilst most places and some trams are air conditioned, it can be a struggle moving around Sunglasses, hat and factor 50.

A wonderful place and, if you get the chance, try it.

Beer

Went to a pub that had 8 different craft beers. They had a taster package of a choice of 4 beers in small glasses slotted into a wooden platter with a pizza for $10 (£5). A good introduction. Aussies lie their beer very carbonated and fizzy so that was a bit of a let down and of the 4 only 2 really had any hops. The one from Tasmania though was very similar to the beer on tap at the Fox (rather than pump) from Dales Brewing Company. had a pint of that afterwards.

Who needs a fish tank

sea horses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn6mEwtp4hQ
Ray and shark plus other edibles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xyLPZB2rAQ

Last full day

Started badly. Wanted to go to the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art so hopped on a tram and

it was closed. The material is the same sort of steel used for the Angel of the North that just rusts a little.
So tram back and a gentle walk along the river bank. Now I am used to grease bands around the trunks of fruit trees to stop insects climbing and I know Australia has some mghty big insects but this was absurd.

However it turns out these are anti possum bands for native trees as possums can do a great deal of damage to them - you see you learn something from this blog!
Over the river there was a lovely 1924 built boat mooring so after a trip around the mall (tried 2 malls today and both disorganised and with multiple food and drink outlets often sharing the same shop) and a coffee I paid for a trip up river for 30 minutes as I had been down river Monday.
We started off and 5 minutes later found upriver was closed so the trip became a 1 hour one down river - not what I wanted. Mind you the boat below was long overdue to berth

When we got back though we found that the river was open again so we stayed on board and did the original route. Along one bank in the gardens are barbecues that anyone can use. on the other there is an area of sports buildings including the Rod Laver tennis centre and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Although many of these are new, this area is a legacy of the 1956 olympics.

Boy was it hot and I had to beware because there were some shares roaming about

The sea life centre - wonderful and of course you can walk under the tanks. I started by taking still photos but then went video - will add Youtube addresses when loaded. they even have penguins in an icy area with swimming tank and had raised 2 chicks grey and fluffy.

On the way back to the hotel I saw a real ale pub where you can get a meal accompaned by 4 different beers (small glasses). Guess where I'm eating tonght!

Avoiding heat and beer testing

The heat starts to build earlier and today well into the 30s. Early stroll took me to the Great Exhibition Hall. Very Grand.

but too hot to stay outside so into the Melbourne Museum. Now like all city museums it has its fair share of fossils and dinosaur bones but they had an inside/outside recreation of a Queensland Forest complete with animals and fish and very tall growing trees that was superbly done
Generally interesting and the way Australian institutions treat indigenous culture is odd. they praise it and hide any reference to what has happened to these tribes (not so true of NGV). So these sails from the isands in pride of place

A very moving section on WW1 following the lives of named people who jined up and non sanitised versions of their outcomes - one General committed suicide through guilt.

A quick trip to a brewery pub to check out local brew, only as a favour to our publican of course. A cloudy beer not unlike one produced at home. A tough job but someone has to do it.

Then to Melbourne Uni to an Art gallery. I walked into a room not knwing it was to be used for a lecture. Several artworks adorned the walls including

The lecture was to be for medical students in part of their course on ageing.  Thank heavens they weren't to be surgeons seeing the way organs had gone for a wander in anther direction. They had to earn how to describe what they see to make it intelligible to somebdy who had bever seen it.
Chatty John had to to talk to the lecturer who turned out to have a PhD from Cambridge so we compared notes on many things including the size of skies in various places.

Walking back (shady sides of al streets) I coud not help to ntice the difference in architecture
Old

 New

Far too hot to stay outside and hotel happy hour is at 4pm - whooos it has started.

p p pick up a penguin

Not allowed but you might see them. Another tram this time to the seaside area of St Kilda. A great Italian meal washed down with typical Italian wines (made in Australia) then out along the pier to the end. Totally entertaining kite surfers put on amazing displays. And a common cause breaks barriers and so people happily chatted - did you know a mix of B vitamins can reduce anxiety? Learnt that from a Tasmanian GP.
There is a spit going out made of large dumped rocks so many nooks and crannies for the fairy penguins to roost. Patience was needed as virtually dark before most came in. Still there was a warm up act.

This guy (plus his mates the diver bird and water rat) put on displays in front of the crowds and then as it was almost dark the first of the penguins came in. Many went to an area where nobody was allowed and their squawks were amazing. Some swam under the boardwalk we were on to get to the rocks behind us. This one was illuminated by a warden with a red light (no flash allowed), a colour they cannot see.

We are sailing, we are sailing

My doctor once prescribed a sea cruise but the cruise company would not take the prescription in place of money.Took the ferry to Wiliamstown. The ferry starts near the Eureka building, the tallest in Melbourne. At the top there is a viewing platform that moves out over nothing - then the floor turns transparent and I am informed that there is a sound effect of breaking glass. Guess the cleaner has a lot of work to do on that floor.
The building has a to covered in real gold (flaking off) to represent the Eureka gold mine and the red strips represent the blood of the miners killed by police some time ago.

To Williamstown down river through the dock area, the town that came about after the first settlers in the area landed (they got the convicts to build it of course).

I would now like to introduce you to something vicious, Toblerone cheese cake

I asked the waitress how many calories it had. She claimed they all fell out when it was cut - so this is no calorie Toblerone cheese cake. 

Lovely mix of old and new architecture with tree lined roads.

Then back on the ferry for the next adventure.

Subsidence

A term to bring fear to the heart of any UK householder. Here it seems normal from my observations of the results and histories recounted. All due to the fact that the earth bakes dry to depth and then swells in the rains. Some is temporary and doors that wouldn't shut in Summer doing so in Winter. Even more modern properties built on 1 concrete slab seem to have problems with the slab possibly tilting.

Perhaps UK insurers should shrug off their fear and realise that with changes to climate they will have to accept it as normal offset by the number of contractors that specialise in the remedial work and hence far less expensive than UK.

I'm in love

She is young, beautiful and strong willed. I hasten to add she is 2 and if Prince George needs a consort who can handle politicians when he is king, then he she look no further. utter determination to go exactly where she wants ignoring pleas to return even when attempting the record for the first person to walk across Melbourne Harbour wearing a nappy.

T

This is Zoe -  a girl with a future uness she attempts that abrted record.

A day at the Seaside

Visited a younger branch of the family yesterday in a suburb in Mount Waverley (mountain not spotted). A fairly affluent part of Melbourne and house prices on the up. In general as a Brit might imagine, bungalows with air conditioners attached but increasing these being replaced by 2 storey houses and large new blocks beginning to resemble the British approach of cram in as many as possible.
Lawn mower enthusiasts weep - the whole area is heavily treed, mainly conifers, giving shade and cooling and that plus ultra dry ground means that at this time of the year not much else grows. Obviously at the right time it does as I ate some of the veg grown and saw the home made jam stocks.

We drove to the Mornington Peninsular that forms the East of Melbourne Harbour and ended at the town of Sorrento. I presume Italian immgrants settked here and judging from the shops and restaurants there is still a strong Italian population. Delightful lunch and beach walk followed, of course by ice cream. From there to a viewpoint at Arthur's Seat (that is something to sit on and not somebody's car) and the vast area of Melbourne Harbour with the skyscrapers of the city just visible though the heat haze was before us.

I had said that I wanted proper Barramundi and I and the now further extended family ate wild
Barramundi, a hunchback looking fish salmon sized, cooked with an Indonesian slant and steamed in a steamer that I claimed was less a steamer and more a supertanker given its size.

A delightful friendly, laughing family day

Culture

Federation Square hsts a variety obuildings including the Australian Centre of the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Primrily I went to NGV to see the indigenous art and it was worth it. Styes ranged from what may be considered commercia and ripe for print sales to naive and dream impressions. Lots of sculptural items too.

But also found the galleries devoted to non indigenous Australian artists fascinating too and lost mysef (not difficut in a buiding that shape). My favourite stye is Impressionism nd several artists had studied in Paris during that era. Some glorious items. The trend towards celebrating the Outback when Australia moved towards city living early in the 2th Century presented some haunting landscapes.