16th Jan to 28th jan 2010

Sunday 17th January 10

Weather has returned to winter conditions. The rest of the day was spent watching the test match.

Monday 18th January 10

Day of rest due to the wintery weather but in the evening we drove in to Rosebud (I don’t know who dreamt up that name for a town) to go to the cinema to watch ‘Bran nue dae’ which was quite amusing but surprisingly didn’t show aboriginals in a good light but rather truthfully, despite the amount of aboriginal cast and story line

Tuesday19th January 10

Nothing to report other than very cool weather

Wednesday 20th January 10

We shopped in Hastings and then played 9 holes of golf on the HMAS Cerberus golf course which provided a good walk for us and Foxy. In fact both Foxy and Merry were pretty well done for by the time we finished. Our fitness levels have declined somewhat, and having not played golf sine last January last year in Adelaide it was as well we elected to only do the 9 holes. HMAS Cerberus is Australia’s largest naval training facility which also houses the golf course. It only has 9 greens but has 18 distinct Tees so a second 9 holes is different to the first 9 holes. Allowing Foxy to walk round with us is most unusual and is the only course that we are aware of that allow, it but we haven’t actually tried at the outlying country courses before. City and larger town clubs would never entertain the idea. At one point of the course we passed a naval cemetery which has us rather puzzled as to why, surely the training isn’t that rigorous. The down side to the game of golf was that my personal chef was too shattered to cook dinner, and therefore had to suffer fish and chips from the local shop, which left a bit to be desired.

Thursday 21st January 10

Recovery after the golf

Friday 22nd January 10

Merry worked on the SAVE accounts whilst Barry watched the one day cricket match. The park is filling rapidly with make believe fishermen for the long weekend, consequently the noise level has risen exponentially. If it was just fishermen it wouldn’t be so bad but they bring their kids as well, and then forget to use them as bait.

Saturday 23rd January 10

The park is now about to overflow, and despite the size of the bay you can hardly see the water for boats. You could almost use the boats as stepping stones and walk out to fish from anywhere you fancy.

Sunday 24th January 10

The traffic on the water is now worse than on the roads for the journey down here. You don’t need to catch the Ferry as you can walk across the boats to French and/or Philip Islands.
Kev and Christine (fellow travelers) took us into another local village of Bittern to their Sunday market for some genuine fresh vegies

Monday 25th January 10

We drove down to Nepean National Park whilst Foxy was looked after by Kev and Christine, and took the Tourist Transporter Trip around the Park. These are two tractors towing five carriages each that leave the visitor centre every half hour and you can get on or off at any of the 4 major points of interest at will.

We went to stop 4 first

Fort Nepean which was a gun emplacement for protecting the entrance to the bay and therefore, Melbourne.

The entrance is also protected by the natural rip created by the calm water of the bay and Yarra River trying to leave the bay meeting the rough water of Bass Strait trying to enter the bay.

The emplacement allows you to explore the tunnels beneath them leading to the 6 inch shell storage areas, and gun posts, etc.

The guns apparently could fire the shells 9 kilometres.

We then went back to the visitor centre carpark and had our picnic lunch and caught the transporter to Stop 1 The old quarantine station were all migrants entering Melbourne had to spent time until cleared of decease.

We bypassed stop 2 which we visited a while ago and proceeded to Cheviot Hill that overlooks the beach where Prime Minister Harold Holte was drowned .

We climbed Cheviot Hill, walked to the Eagles nest which is a machine gun emplacement and observation post and then to the memorial stone just up the road

We finished the walk back from Holte’s memorial stone with a close view of one of the local metre long tiger snakes.

The effect of the zoom lens makes it look closer than it was but we were about 3 metres away which is quite close enough for one of the worlds most deadly

On the return journey to Stony Point we did a short detour in Portsea to have a look at yet another 'London bridge.'

Tuesday 26th January 10

We celebrated Australia Day with some of our fellow travelers and park management in the campers Kitchen with a BBQ lunch and sharing experiences, jokes, etc and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Later we watched the one day cricket match.
We had a disturbed night due to 3 ignorant female tent camper (baby whales with blubber obviously extending right up to the roots of their hair) who slammed car doors and where prepared noisily chatter all night until Barry used his usual 2.00am charm and tact to shut them up. Apparently they got the message load and clear. They also got a serve from management the next day.

Wednesday 27th January 10

We had to take the car to Mornington for its 80000km service which happens to be a big one costing $1050. This meant an early start to get there for 8 .00am, but as Barry normal wakes at daybreak which is currently at 5.40am (all you need after a disturbed night) he discovered a need to slam some of our car doors and run the diesel engine to warm it up in readiness for a 7.30am departure. He also had to repeat this operation as a precaution at 7.15am to ensure a smooth trip. We watched some of the Aussie open tennis and then took Foxy for a walk via a bush track almost to Crib Point, our nearest village about 2 km away.

Thursday 28th January 10

Collected the car from Mornington, shopped and attended to this blog plus a jigsaw puzzle.

Tues 22nd Dec 09 to Wed 6th Jan 10

Tuesday 22 December 09

In the morning we walked into Loch to get some bread and to take a few photographs. The afternoon we drove to the nearby town of Korumburra to look at the heritage town of Coal Creek. Unfortunately once there we discovered that once again we couldn’t take Foxy with us but as it wasn’t particularly hot we decided to leave her in the car while we looked around.

The town of Coal Creek comprises about 30 old shops and businesses that have been moved here from various places to look something like what an old mining town would have looked like, plus a steam train salvaged from the good old days.

A couple of the shops appeared to be operational under normal conditions but apart from the cafe none was operating on this day. This was because Tuesday is not normally one of their opening days – school holidays being the difference, but lacked the weekend volunteers.

The businesses were all fitted out with whatever they did or sold and the whole village was one of the best examples of an old mining town that we have seen.

There was just about every kind of business that you could imagine operating at the turn of the century and a small train (not the steamer) was operating as well. We didn’t find out where the train went to because it left just as we arrived.

Merry spent about twice as long as Barry looking around taking her usual hundreds of photographs. We spent about an hour in this village and were very impressed. We could have stayed longer but with the dog in the car this was not possible. Even the gardens were lovely with some still having spring flowers in bloom. As with a lot of Victoria the whole place was very English looking and the gardens were mainly English country gardens.

From Coal Creek we went for a drive to the Botanical Park where we had been told there was a nice walk beside the creek to take Foxy for a walk. The actual Botanical Park was very nice with lots of imported and native trees but the actual walk along the creek was a bit ordinary – the walk quite short and not much to see.

From here we decided to take a drive around the countryside as we were very impressed with the scenery in the area. Beautiful rolling green hills with cattle, sheep and horses grazing, and some crops here and there.

Merry programmed the Navman to take us to Strzelecki, Seaview, Drouin and finally back to Loch and so we set off. We spotted a sign that said somebody’s lookout so Merry asked if we could take a look so we turned off down a dirt track with some fairly steep drops on one side or the other. The track was only wide enough for one vehicle with nowhere to go if we met something coming the other way which fortunately we didn’t. After driving for about 5 kms we came to a barn and a farm gate and no lookout in sight so we turned around and went back to the road. At the road we took another look at the sign which said somebody’s outlet not lookout, still we enjoyed the views. On to Strezelecki. We came to a sign that said ‘Welcome To Strzelecki’ but we didn’t see any buildings but we did stop for some photographs as the area was very pretty. Where we stopped there was another sign facing the other way also saying Welcome to Strzelecki so quite what we were being welcomed to we really don’t know. We continued on to Seaview and turned onto a road called Grand Range Road, which took us through some spectacular ranges with scary drops off the side and again quite narrow. This was again a dirt road and I noticed that Barry’s knuckles were often white on the steering wheel. I don’t think he saw much of the lovely scenery. We came to a sign saying Seaview but once again no buildings. Our Navman said we still had 2.5 kilometres to go and told us to turn right, he then told us to turn left which left us a bit confused but as the paper map appeared to be to the right to get to Seaview we turned right. Fred (our Navman) then told us to perform a U turn as soon as possible but this proved impossible so we kept going. After about 5 kilometres we decided that we had made a mistake but we still didn’t see anywhere to turn around on this very beautiful but narrow and twisty road and Fred was still saying perform a U turn when possible so we turned him off. Our only option was to keep going until we saw a sign which gave us some indication of where we were going to and eventually this happened and when we saw a sign for a town which we recognised we headed for it. Drouin didn’t happen and we drove for considerably longer than we intended but I really enjoyed the trip and I think Barry did also when he dared to take his eyes off the road for a fraction of a second.

Wednesday 23 December 09

An early start to go to Packenham where there is a Diesel Gas agent to check the gas system on the car. The gas is once again playing up intermittently, unfortunately. Of course today proved to be one of those days when it was not playing up so the technician could do nothing for us and we had a wasted trip. To make up for it we decided to drive back to Loch via Drouin where we had tried to get to the day before but there was nothing much to see. The trip back through the hills via Poowong was lovely though.

The afternoon we packed up the annex as we were expecting rain the next day. Barry put the awning down on an acute angle to protect the chairs, etc, if it rained during the night.

Thursday 24 December 09

Finished the packing up and took the caravan back to Carrum Downs to the caravan park where we stayed before Loch to store it while we spent Christmas with Garon and Sue. We stopped for fish and chips in Carrum Downs and by the time we arrived in Beaumaris Garon was home. We dashed up to Southland for a bit of last minute shopping. I spent the evening watching Carols from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. It was raining so the attendance was down a bit.

Friday 25 December 09

After a lazy morning, Sue cooked a beautiful pork roast for lunch followed by Christmas pudding and brandy cream or custard. The meal was delicious and as usual beautifully cooked. Tea was ham, cold pork, cheeses, prawns and salad. Barry actually made an attempt to eat a prawn but only managed about half before it was rejected as poo.

Saturday 26 December 09

We left home with Garon and Sue at 8.30am to get the train into Melbourne to go to the Boxing Day Test (cricket). Colin the MD of Garon’s firm is a member of the MCC and he invited us to lunch in the Harrison Room in the Ponsford Stand. This lunch is put on by the ”29 club” which is a group of older members who only admit to being 29 and therefore, can continue to play cricket for as long as they like. We arrived at the ground at 9.30 and as we had general admission tickets as well we watched the practice of both teams and the start of the first session from about 6 rows back in the general admission section of the ground. When Colin arrived he took us through to the members stand and on to the Harrison Room where we started with champagne. This of course went straight to my head so I took the opportunity to find a seat in the Ponsford Stand (where padded seats had been reserved for us). The seats were on the second level where you get a superb view of the wicket but are still close enough to see the play properly. I had my binoculars with me to see the faces but I didn’t use them much.

Lunch was Tasmanian Trout served on a bed of potato salad with tomato and avocado, followed by medallion of beef with zucchini, potatoes and beetroot relish. A side of sour dough rolls.
Afternoon tea was party pies and sausage rolls.
Drinks were free between 12.00 and 4.00 pm and wine was served with lunch. I mainly stuck with water after my scare with the champagne.

The cricket was excellent with Watson run out on 93 and Katich caught on 98. Ponting was caught on 57 and Mike Hussey and Hauritz (sent in as night watchman) still there at close of play.
We missed about half of the second session with lunch which included an interview with Brad Hodge which was interesting n some respects but he should have kept his bitterness with the selectors to himself, but we saw all of the rest. It was a very special day and one we will probably never repeat. Our next trip to the cricket will be sitting with the riff raff again.

27, 28 and 29 December 09

We spent these days watching the cricket at home on Garon’s big LED screen TV. Pakistan put up enough of a fight to take the test match to a fifth day which was good.

However, we did drive down to Frankston to take a look at the sand sculptures display on 27th. This display was quite something, featuring moments in history. They use builders sand which apparently is square rather than beach sand which is round, to keep the sand together.

When the sculpture is finished it is sprayed with something which helps to stop it deteriorating. The display is on until 26 April so they obviously expect it to last until then.

Garon said that he went once before fairly late in the piece and the sculptures were pretty degraded when he went so it pays to go early.

We called into Dick Smith’s on the way home to try to get the software that I need to get my computer to recognise my Garmin GPS but it has to come from Garmin.

Wednesday 30th December 09

Leisure day

Thursday 31st December 09

We had a cold Turkey dinner (cooked by Merry in Garon/Sue’s oven once the method of turning it on was overcome), to celebrate the coming New Year but none of us stayed up until midnight, but some of us heard its arrival.

Friday 1st January 10

Leisure day

Saturday 2nd January 10

Barry helped Garon prune next doors jungle and to install a new fence post to get the fence upright again. This both removed creepers from the lattice on top of the fence and stopped next doors lemon tree rattling on the cat run roof.
In the evening, due to the lack of anything intelligent on TV, we watched ‘Wolfe Creek’ at Barry’s request as he had never seen it but has wanted to ever since spending two magical nights there, with two great friends and their dog. The film didn’t bother him and he would still go again if the chance comes his way.

Sunday 3rd January 10

Merry packed most of our gear ready for leaving tomorrow. Barry helped Garon finish off the fence now that the cement is thoroughly set and then modified the front gate slightly to stop it sticking during hot weather.
In the evening, for the same reason as yesterday, we watched ‘Slumdog Millianaire’.

Monday 4th January 10

Finalised packing at Garon/Sue’s and headed for Carrum Downs to do some shopping and retrieve the caravan from storage. We then drove down to Stony Point and set up the van and annexe.

Tuesday 5th January 10

Day of leisure watching the test match.

Wednesday 6th January 10

Another day of leisure watching the test match. Merry has befriended the lady next door and gone fishing with her. She has also arranged for her to look after Foxy next Monday whilst we go to Philip Island for the Penguin Parade.

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.

Tuesday 24th November 09

Barry visited the sunspot clinic and was found to be all clear.

Wednesday 25th November 09

We had a day out in the Dandanong hills visiting some of the gardens that allow dogs. Firstly the George Tindale Memorial garden which unfortunately had a large portion closed off from the public due to tree risk.

This of course meant that the entry donation became proportional to the amount of garden we got to see. What little we did get see was quite nice and in all probability the rest would have been as good if we could have seen it, but in the final analysis it wasn’t worth opening my wallet.

We moved on to Alfred Nicholas Memorial garden which lived up to expectations and gave us plenty of good exercise as it involved a walk down to a sculptured lake and arboretum.

This of course meant a long climb back out.

The hydrangeas were only just in the process of opening so in some respects we were a little early for the visit, but other flowers were finishing so we may have been too late but with gardens it is just down to luck. This garden did receive a donation.

We finished the garden tour earlier than expected so we drove out to Olinda Falls which proved a little trick to locate, and then meant leaving the car/dog in the car park at the picnic area, as dogs are not allowed in the Dandanong Parks. We ignored the last part and took Foxy down to the Falls with us, which were actually cascades rather than falls with little water despite the recent heavy rains, and didn’t really inspire us, but it gave us another climbing work out.

To fill a little more of the afternoon we drove on to Silvan Dam Reserve which we visited and enjoyed some years ago, and then headed homeward looking out for a café for afternoon tea and cake in one of the many sleepy villages. The first one in Kallista was very difficult to access the car park and once that was achieved we discovered they are closed on Wednesdays. We eventually found a spot in Belgrave where the ‘Puffing Billy’ train runs from, and sat in the alfresco area and watch the world go by for a while.

We also received the good news that our Adelaide friend Jenny’s cancer removal was successful, and that she is recovering well.

Thursday 26th November 09

Day of rest as weather is wet and stormy.

Friday 27th November 09

We drove down to Stony Point where we have booked in to stay after Christmas to see what we had let ourselves in for as it is a very small out-of-the-way place but looks peaceful for while the kids are on school holidays.

On the way back we stopped and had a proper look at the beachfront in Frankston.

We where pleasantly surprised how nice it was and discovered it actually had a small canal type river running along the side of the town.

Saturday 28th November 09 and Sunday 29th November 09

Watched the test match.

Monday 30th November 09

Barry visited a doctor regarding the strange way his thumb bends, clicks from one position the other, rather than a smooth bend. Apparently called a ‘trigger finger’ and has been referred to a specialist for possible surgery.

Tuesday 1st December 09

We drove in to Melbourne to the Botanical Gardens and found a parking spot right outside the gardens alongside the Yarra River at only 60 cents an hour. We chose this outing as the weather is fine and warm and ‘dogs are allowed’.

After entering the gardens we walk along one side of the lake for a while and then backtracked and walked round the other side to the tea room as it was lunch time.

Here we had a rather over priced lousy lunch but manage to photograph a ‘Superb Blue Wren’ as opposed to a ‘Splendid Blue Wren’ that we get in the south west of WA. We then wandered through the gardens to the visitors centre near the main gate and old observatory and put our names down for a free guided tour.

Whilst we waited for that to begin we crossed the road to the war memorial for a while.

The tour consisted of some old biddy telling her little stories as we wandered back through the gardens, some of which was of interest or amusing but much was total rubbish so Barry and Foxy tended to wander slightly apart from the small group.

After the 1.5 hour tour we made our own way through part of the garden that we had not yet seen and then made our way back to the car. We sat by the river for a while watching the enthusiastic rowing teams doing their thing, both learners and experienced, and then headed for home.

Wednesday 2nd December 09

Day of rest catching up on emails, etc.

Thursday 3rd December 09

Very windy so watched the Australian Open Golf.