Woosang Was There and now Here... apparently

An early wake up was easy as we all woke up around 0430hrs. Unheard of. Seriously who gets up at this hour. I had a hole night’s sleep which is a first in a long time. I do like this hotel. Really.

Joined the queue for security and X-ray machine search and as we approached they just let people in. The X-raying was taking far too much time.  Pointless. My bag although offered was ignored. OK….Should brought that beer. No seriously it was silly.

We waved Tim off on his deathstar flight mid afternoon, and finished watching the show.
Our plan of shooting the Static displays was foiled when we were all ushered out at 1700, way earlier han the 1800 closing time advertised. I was more than a little ticked at this. So I shot almost nothing. Grump.
We expected the car park to be a mess and so we dug out our cold drinks that we had in the car fridge and waited. After 30 mins David spotted a way out, woke the guy in the car next to us up and we escaped to the north instead of sitting in the jam. The guy in the green commodore that had been chatting to me was told to follow our lead and all three us of escaped the gridlock.

YAY!

Onwards to Euroa, which was to be our sleeping place.

A simple hotel, it was very 1970′s but spacious. The room service was cheap and so we rang our order in, having gone to the Seven Creeks Pub for Dinner. I think the pub gets the chef from the restaurant next door to cook and it was quite a lovely meal.

Back in our hotel room some time later and we all crashed due to a long day in the heat. zzzz

A lot of the day was in Mt Gambier. David was determined to see the caves that was had missed the last trip (2 weeks ago)
Brekkie at Sorrentoes but the noise factor in this large cafe was a big downer. The coffee was lovely but I could not subtract bacon from the omelet which meant I had to settle for a breakfast that I was not in the mood for. I asked the waitress what Jews and muslims do and she said you order something else. Grunt. I love omelets and I can’t have one and the attitude was too bad. She did manage to get chilli flakes for my scrambled eggs so I forgave the cafe a little. Still its unacceptable to say too bad to a customer.

I did enjoy the caves and I did find it fascinating that cave divers do dive the western cave. it is a hugh grade and so very difficult but wow to crawl over all those jagged rocks with 40KG of gear geez!

Drue, David and I enjoyed a rare treat of cheesecake and I had one of the nicest coffees in ages, dunno if it was the BEST in SA but it was lovely. From here we seemed to drive around and around in circles. Drue got to see the blue lake and it was blue today and we had a brief look at the other crater lakes. I was laked out here and grumpy as to me, we had done all that Mt Gambier had to offer and there are other little towns to explore on the way east. The weather was grey ad miserable and so all photos would be grey. Grump.

BUT That is just me when tired. David found a few second had stores and we searched them for the book but to no avail.

The drive to Colac was fast, it wasn’t that far really, and the people at Colac remembered that we had stayed two weeks before.
Beau and Evan caught up for dinner as they were in the area and we had dinner in the excellent restaurant that the hotel has to offer.
David made friends with the owner’s wife who was delighted at the attention. She was a fun person. The bar girl made his pink drink just the way he liked it. AND  We got a few bottles of excellent new Zealand wine and dinner partied on.

I crashed almost as soon as the boys left for Lorne. Early start for Geelong on Day 7

David vanished to find a train that was due out of Warnambool Yard. He was gone went I woke up, so I had a lazy morning with a bowl of cereal and a few coffees… Drue stayed in his room twittering. Neither of us are in a rush.

David returned and reminded me to go next door to the bookstore to search for the book I was lusting over. It was closed until 11am so David took us to see the Lady bay lower lighthouse which is tucked away in a tourist village. You can see it from the verandah. I only have a canon shot as it was too far for the iPhone. SO here is the Upper lighthouse

Due to my interest in Lighthouses David took us to Port Fairy. The Lighthouses website stated a 300m walk…. a short (cough) walk. After 1.9km around Griffith’s island, we decided that the 300m info was slightly off. Mind you, we saw wallabies, mutton bird holes and lots of baby birds chirping, a dead pengiun, there were ganets flying close to the coast and I was a little sad that I never got to see a tiger snake. MInd you it was gale force winds and we got sand blasted on the beach. FINALLY we found the elusive lighthouse. (but by this time we had missed am tour at Port Nelson or so we thought)

At the Lighthouse, David did a nudie pose before diving for the rocks in the other side of the when, behind Druey and me, some older people had arrived.. HUH?? Where did they come from??
After D had gathered his items, we had a look, there was a short cut, well sort of a short cut but a paved path of 1100m to the car park so we headed back that way. D’oh!

Portland was cold and rain. Rats this beautiful town was draped in cloud. Three ships were in port and one in the bay awaiting a berth. We took photos of all the ships that we could see but one berth is tucked into a corner and very difficult to photograph.
We agree on a lunch location, the General Gordon Hotel on the main road and the dining room was filled with oldies. I mean the very old. The meal was good but the clientelle explained the veggies mushed up with cheese. Easy to chew food for sure.

A quick stop in the second hand book store with no success and off to do the rest of the Great Ocean Road.

Wind mills entertained us greatly and we stopped at a wind farm. Greenies tell you that this is a viable alternative to coal, but they only run when there is a gale, and they are very noisy. Not good for the find summer weather when there is no wind.

Cape Nelson Lighthouse
Arranged at cafe to get tour, had to wait 20mins for guy to arrive, as it was arrange as you turn up tour arrangement. The previous tour had been 2 day ago. Hmmm Had the web site said that, we would have not dawdled on the way here. Sigh.
The lighthouse was is great condition, still in operation and had two assistant lighthouse keepers instead of the usual one. They lived in relative luxury of the times and a lighthouse keeper here was paid £150 a week which was a HUGE amount. The wife of the last Assisitant keeper said they thought is was a holiday and they stayed for over 20 years before retiring. Long tour as far as lighthouse tours go. Included a look through one of the cottages, and an intensive talk on the area and its uses. We had a look in the signal hut with the signal flags which was cool

Most of the way down the lighthouse, David realised that he had left his glasses at the top of the lighthouse. D’oh!! SO he headed up and when he returned he had his iPhone as well that was next to his glasses in the light room. OOPS!!!!

At Cape Bridgewater there was a blowhole. Alas it was not blowing so we wandered over to the Petrified forrest. Odd rock formations. Certainly better in the sun. (If he had any)
Right next to the blowhole is a wind farm, they like them in victoria, and so we did a video of the noise the damned things make.

Crossed the border at Nelson and so we did the compulsory stop at the signs. I crossed the border by foot to take a mutli exposure with the boys driving to pick me up.

Back in Mt Gambier. The only town in this wretched state that I can tolerate, and David had us at a different hotel. It is basic but rather large and so we were happy with the decision.
A visit to the Valley Lake, saw us underwhelmed as the sun and disappeared again.

Dineer was at a “higher end” establishment, but it was really a confused cafe. It served burgers and lobster tail on the same menu. The service was slow and we almost walked out in the time it took to even take the order. Some garlic bread was placed on the table and a little confused, we nibbled in it as we waited the 30 minutes for the entrees.. Our fried camerbert arrived cold but the brushetta did not. We enquired and the lady said the garlic bread that had arrived 20 minutes earlier was the brushetta. UM…. NO. brushetta had chopped tomato, onion etc not just butter and garlic. You can’t call garlic bread brushetta.
Luckily the mains were good, but again it had a sauce so very spicy that you could not taste the subtle flavours of the meat. It could have been beef except for the texture. Stupid cafe aiming above its station.
After dinner, we went down the Big sink hole for time exposures. A family of possums entertained us for a while and when the biys started to be eaten by mossies, we headed for bed.

Day 4
Hot sleep, tossing and turning. The aircon was directly over our heads so you get your head cold but the rest of you overheats. BUT the bed was lovely and I certainly didn’t want to get out of bed. SIGH

David’s plan was to drive the Great Ocean Road and I wanted to see the light houses we missed before. First point of order was Anglesea and the Angahook Cafe. It was a general store and cafe and the food was nice but the coffee was a fail. Oh well

The handed me a mug of coffee that was burnt and too hot and even had a spoon!!! I mean a spoon in the coffee… it’ll take out my eye!

I liked this lighthouse EXCEPT the cafe were rude about toilet usage… and told me to return to the carpark, the toilet sign lead nowhere and eventually there was a lady who said it was in the valley. GEEEZ more than 300m away as the sign indicated.  This lighthouse is lovely but the facilities are terrible. The tours here of the light are $12 which you can get a small discount on if it is quiet. We were in a bit of a hurry so we declined. A shame.
Onwards to the Memorial Gates of the Great Ocean Road.

“The Great Ocean Road is recognised as the world’s largest war memorial and is dotted with numerous structures that honour the memory of those who lost their lives fighting in the First World War and other conflicts.
Four memorial arches have to date stood over the Great Ocean Road. The first was at the site of “The Springs” toll-gate, near Cathedral Rock. It read: “Returned Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Great Ocean Road” but was demolished in 1936 when tolls were removed.
A second Great Ocean Road arch was constructed at Eastern View in 1939. The arch weighed 50 tonnes and stood until 1970 when the Country Road Board indicated it wanted to demolish the arch because it was too narrow and a traffic hazard. A public outcry prevented its destruction, but the job was soon completed free of charge by a wayward truck.
In 1972 a third, larger arch was built also at Eastern View, but was reduced to charcoal by the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. Initially it was decided not to replace the arch, but public opinion was too strong and a fourth Great Ocean Road arch was built on the same spot where today it remains a popular photo stop for visitors to the Great Ocean Road.” Details from Heading west Drue got car sick and eventually fell asleep. With no protest from the back, we turned off to Cape Otway. This road passes through the national park and lots of people camp here in there campavans.. You have to negotiate people just stopping in the middle of the road to look at wild Koalas. We pressed on.

So we had desert. Soon, after drowning a lot of people then turing the rain to ice, it suddenly cleared. SO we cleaned our plates and headed out. Still windy but now a lovely Blue sky. Awesome.

Huh its true what they same about Victorian Weather. If you don’t like it, wait 10 minutes.
We climbed the Lighthouse and we talked to one of the employees for ages. I think Druey was a little bored. I can talk for ages about Lighthouses just as I can about cameras. LOL Boring aren’t I?
The man had a book on his desk that I am now lusting after. I got Tim to have a look for it on-line and the only place that is afordable is the author’s website. DAMN IT!!! I wanted it for now, this trip!!. BUT the author’s site is cheaper that most 2nd hand versions by a lot.

The trip back after such an entertaining afternoon was made better by the sighting of 4 wild koalas. Now as you know I have not processed my 7D photos so all I have of the koalas is only faily crappy photo. BUT its the first time I have seen koalas in the wild.

Port Campbell

After the lovely meal, we headed off to see the Lady Bay Upper Lighthouse. One of a pair of lighthouses (the other being Lady Bay Lower Lighthouse- which was invisible at night) The Lady Bay Upper Lighthouse at Flagstaff Hill, Warrnambool was moved stone by stone from Middle Island to its current location on top of Flagstaff Hill. The alignment of its light and the Lady Bay Lower Light guide ships into Lady Bay.

SO we gave up and David took Drue to Warnambool station to see the last of the three services a day that this station gets.

Holbrook wake up and we headed south for breakfast, Albury Maccas was our target. Drue rejected Ettamogah pub at Table top (The original one)  so straight to Albury Station! A lovely old building it is alway a pleasure to visit. This time as we apporached the station we saw an XPT in the platform… HMMM It was not the time for an XPT… then we remembered that track works in Victoria has all passenger trains terminating here in Albury. The first freight train travesed the section only recently and it was not yet open for poeple traffic.

As you can see the weather was just horrible. Wet, cold and welcome to Autumn.

Off to um officeworks….. yes… officeworks it is a tradition with us that we go to Officeworks during a holiday. (OK silly but we seem to do it) Went in for a pencil and of course $80 I got a pencil…

Onwards over the border to Victoria, stayed on the freeway with the intention to get to Geelong and Torquay to spend the afternoon in the spa of our 5 star hotel. We stopped at Glenrowan at Ned Kelly’s ;ast stand fo Drue could have a look at a historical place and it was here that the day started to unravel.

I was showing Drue iPhone HDR, and when we had done that, he took some photos with his 7D. Well, tried to…. His camera, less than a year old had a shutter fail. ARRGHH That meant no photos for him this weekend. Drue would be a very sad traveller with no camera. SO on the highway towards to Geelong, we rang around the JB Highfi shops in Vic. We rang the camera shop that David and I like the staff at and they on the phone arranged a swap or did they???? Hmmm… Lots of calls to Ben who foudn the receipt and faxed it to David’s phone. SOOOOOOO now we had to make a 3 hour detour into Melbourne. **SIGH**. We looked at the app for Melbourne’s metro system and found thw farthest west station in the Zone one ticketing and headed for there. Hello Laverton…. Found by some miracle, a park at the station and we ran/hobbled to the station. We had 4 minutes to catch the fast train into Flinders St Station. Just made it. And Only just.
A quick ride up Elizabeth Street  on a tram, just so Drue could say he had been on a tram, to the JB camera store.
They had a look at the camera and the invoice and, even though we had said on the phone that the camera was 11 months old…. rejected a swap. The camera was too old but as it was still under warranty,  they would post it to canon. OK … but that does not help for the Airshow. Hmmm we talked with Venice and Drue decided to get a backup body, a canon 60D. A nice camera, same feel as the 7D but a little slower. Same battery  but uses SD instead of CF. OK.. the 550D was only $50 cheaper, different battery, plastic body and SD cards.. so the 60D was a no contest. Drue walked out poorer but thrilled at his purchase.

Next door to JB camera, is Micheal’s also a camera shop, but a much much bigger one. They handle second hand, new and lomo cameras. Most cool. They also hire out lens and have a camera museum on the 2nd floor. I headed for there (All free) and the boys went down the road to Teds and some other camera shops.. (Elizabeth is great for all camera wants)

Catching up with the boys up the road, we walked back to flinders st station and again had to run for a train back to Laverton. Make it so it was all working. As we watched Melbourne go by, Drue got to know his new camera.
It was now afternoon peak time and David was sad at being caught in evening peak hour. Ugh… every city has horrible traffic.

We finally arrived in Torquay in the late afternoon. We were staying in the Crown Plaza and the reception guy was all smiles until he saw that we had booked via Wotif.. suddenly he went cold and demanded a drivers license and credit card due to wotif bookings. He actually said that. He was slow, sully and rude. We were placed a long away from the beach front, even though the hotel was essentially empty and had to take the fire stairs to get to the second floor. Funny thing is each of us earn around double or more of his wage. He can be a snotty as he likes but everyone who had a paid booking at his hotel should be treated the same. He has not seen Pretty Woman obviously…AND I did put a compalint on the feedback form.

Outside on the otherhand was cold, very cold, windy and wet. UGH..  I wanted to stay in but the biys wanted to see Torquay. Which we did and looked like drowned rats after.. It was damned cold!!!!

Dinner was lovely at the torquay Hotel/Motel and the entree ruined the rest of the meal by being exquisite.
Returning to the hotel, the biys went swimming (nuts) whilst I stayed in. It was wonderful!!! Hot shower, a head dryer, lovely crisp sheets and my reading, plus the TV. I felt relaxed.
The boys returned and we watched TV before Drue went to his own room.
David and I watched our Big Bang Theory, and Kitchen Nightmares before falling asleep. ….