December 4th 09 to December 21st 09

Friday 4th December 09, Saturday 5th December 09 and Sunday 6th December 09

Watched the second test match

Monday 7th December 09

Barry re-visited the doctor today as the appointment had been changed due to the doctor being ill. He had to see a different doctor and received a referral to a specialist with an appointment on Thursday 10th.

Tuesday 8th December 09

Attempted to make contact with Emma three times to wish her a happy birthday but failed each time, but left a message.

Wednesday 9th December 09

Nothing.interesting happened today

Thursday 10th December 09

Took the annex down as it was dry and there was a threat of rain, ready to move out on Friday.
Barry visited the specialist who elected not to use surgery but gave him a cortisone injection into the joint at the base of the thumb. This nearly overpowered his relatively high pain threshold.
We returned home to watch the PGA golf on the TV. The wind got quite enthusiastic so we put the outside chairs, etc, into the car and put the awning away and the rain arrived.

Friday 11th December 09

Finished preparing to move on, but as we were only going 60kms down the road there is no hurry. We then received a phone call about a parcel for us which was to be delivered to Garon/Sue’s address but could not be signed for as they where both at work, so we had to drive over to the couriers to pick it up. Returned and then departed with the van to the Loch Memorial Reserve where we set up the annex for our thirteen day stay. Possibly due to there being plenty of time, the annex went up the easiest and most perfect looking to date. Merry claims the credit for this as she took a much greater active part in it due to my thumb still being painful. The truth is the supervision was exceptional.

Saturday 12th December 09

We took a drive up and over the hills behind our campground not knowing where it went to, but just to have a country drive and a look around. The whole area is very hilly and green as it winds its way around a deep valley that provided spectacular views between the breaks in the trees and hills.

We arrived in the small village of Poowong with its statue of a packhorse, but unfortunately were unable to acquire any history attached to the village.

We drove on around the valley until it dropped down into the larger town of Korumburra which is the nearest town to Loch with a supermarket, of sorts, as Loch only has a half empty General Store. We returned via the main road which was only 15kms, instead of the much longer scenic route, with the intention of having lunch and then watching the golf on TV. However, after watching some of the golf we took our chairs and cups of tea/coffee, and sat and watched the local cricket match which the local team one decisively. It was a 40 overs limited overs game.

Sunday 14th December 09

The Loch market is just across the road via the swing bridge from our campsite so we planned to give it an early going over. It turned out quite rainy so delayed that for a bit until it stopped. We walked across expecting to see virtually nothing there because of the weather but were very surprised to see a huge display of all the usual plants, veggies, secondhand books and tools, and all the sparkly crap that wouldn’t sell anywhere other than a market.

We bought some genuine fresh cut, home grown veggies but wasn’t tempted by anything else, and then left as it had started raining again, although we did complete the full circuit of stalls first. Merry went back for a second look and to get some tomatoes which we had forgotten and took a lady from another caravan which was parked nearby, with her. By this time the rain had stopped so she got a better look at all the stuff that hadn't been packed away.

In the afternoon we walked into town for a look around and to give Foxy some more exercise and on returning to the campground we discovered the presence of the local Schnauzer owners and friends (other breeds of dogs) having a BBQ and trials day. We joined them later when they were having their trials over a short obstacle course and gave Foxy a couple of goes. Her first try being the better attempt and the second being the one that was filmed. There were only two Schnauzers, a Scots terrier, a cairn terrier, a Jack Russell, two other small terriers of unknown breed and Foxy. None performed like champions but we all enjoyed it, and the dogs appeared to also so long as they got their treats. Unfortunately most preferred to stop and eat the treat during the trial, rather than chase the owner to the end of the course to get it.

Monday 15th December 09

This was a day to catch up on the washing, but managed a walk into town for the exercise and some bread and then installed an upgrade on the other computer from Vista to Windows 7.

Wednesday 16th December 09

We drove over to Wonthaggi which is the largest coastal town for shopping and involves driving over hills and valleys with hard-to-take views to do some shopping in the largest town in the area. This town also provided the cricket opposition on the weekend. After the shopping we drove to Inverloch via Cape Paterson, calling to various lookouts on the way.

We had stopped at a lookout called Eagles Nest and were part way into preparing lunch when three bus loads of school kids arrived and exploded on the scene. The kids here never seem to be at school, so we are beginning to understand why they seem to be so thick.

We packed up and moved on to a lookout that had access to the beach and boasted some caves, but the tide level only allowed us a look at them, not in them.

Inverloch is a small, pretty town with plenty of beach and parks to enjoy. We then drove out to Philip Island to get all the information on the Penguin Parade, dog arrangements, etc, and a quick look around Cowes, prior to returning home. We will have to leave Foxy in a boarding kennel overnight on the Island while we do the Penguin Parade at some time as we can’t retrieve her after the parade as that is around 9.00pm, so will have to collect her the next morning. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photographs after dark as the flashlights tend to blind them, which prevents them feeding, finding their nests and eggs, or even their way back out to sea. Whilst it is possible to film in low light there are a vast number of idiots who would use flash regardless because they don’t have the brains to disable the flash facility. As always, the majority suffers because of the minority space wasters. It must be extremely hard to police with virtually everybody having a mobile phone with camera facility on it. We can’t do it today as we do not have Foxy’s inoculation records with us.

Thursday 17th December 09 & Friday 18th December 09

Watched the 3rd test match

Saturday 19th December 09

Raining in the morning but cleared in the afternoon which provided us with the chance to watch either the local cricket match or the test match. The latter option chosen but that was partly due to the low temperature not just the difference in quality.

The local team followed up their win with their Christmas celebration and a 21st birthday party in the club house so we had very little sleep as some stayed overnight as they would not have been able to drive back to Poowong, and were still here in the morning.

Sunday 20th December 09

Drove out to Dalyston to visit the market that was supposedly happening, but obviously we got that wrong, so continued in to Wonthaggi and did some shopping. We then continued on through Inverloch to Cape but in the car park found the usual ‘no dogs’ signs and was informed that it was a half hour walk to reach the water and therefore half hour back, so gave it away as we couldn’t leave Foxy locked in the car for that long in very warm weather.
We drove back home via Leongatha so we could see we could check out another town in the region, and then back to Loch via Korumburra.
We then watched the remains of the Test match.
We were joined by two other caravans and a motor home for an overnight stop.

Monday 21st December 09

Drove to Philip Island with the intention of leaving Foxy in the kennels whilst we did the tourist thing and the Penguin Parade, and pick Foxy up in the morning. We had booked Foxy in via the phone but when we tried to book in for the Penguin Parade we told it was booked out until 1st January 2010. We cancelled Foxy’s arrangements and drove on out to look at Rhyll and then through Cowes to ‘The Nobbies’.

These are two rocks that sit just off the coast where they have built boardwalks though some of the nesting grounds so there is a slight chance of seeing penguins, along with the impressive coastal scenery.

We scored one burrow with activity, although difficult to see. We followed the coastline around to the official Penguin Parade area and had a daylight inspection, and managed a glimpse of another nesting penguin.

We stopped in this area for our picnic lunch but were confronted with the problem of not being able to open the back doors of the car. Barry had packed a folding chair in the back along with the picnic gear and the chair as pressed up against the internal lock which could not pop out, therefore not letting the external handle operate the unlock mechanism. We couldn’t get to the picnic gear over the back seat because of the cargo barrier. Barry eventually managed to lever the BBQ plate up upward with a spanner (the only available tool, as the toolbox is also in the back) but this was not easy. He then hung Foxy’s leash over the top of the barrier and clipped it to the BBQ plate handle and pulled it upward, whilst levering with the spanner until it was up on edge. This allowed him to move the picnic backpack by reaching around the barrier which dragged the chair forward slightly and allowed the locking tab to move when we used the key remote to unlock the door which then allowed the door handle to open the door. A testing half hour which we fortunately won and enjoyed our lunch all the more for it. We now know how not to pack the back of the car.

We started to drive to Grand Prix circuit but turned off to the Pyramid Rock which was a interesting piece of caostline and then drove on to the Grand Prix race track and visited the museum which also gives you access to the water gardens and the viewing platform. This provides an impressive view of the track and countryside.

The track was in use at the time by some very effective bike riders (it is used 280 days of the year for club practice, race practice, BMW test ground, tyre testing, etc).

We drove back homeward stopping off at the chocolate factory (Panny’s Belgium Chocolate) and then into Newhaven to take a photo of the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.