Updates

Hello all.

We have just spent the last 2 hours updating pictures beginning from Jan. 28 in Christchurch. (Finally found an inexpensive connection) For some reason, we can't add pictures to a couple of them, so here are the pictures.

View from our hotel window in Lakes Entrance Feb. 2.










A boat in the harbour at Lakes Entrance with a subliminal suggestion for Ron Sprung.












The beach and pier at Christchurch.












Tram car in Christchurch.












Punting on the Avon River in Christchurch.
















Stuffed Kiwi in Christchurch.












Arts Centre in Christchurch (old University of Canterbury).

Canadiana – sort of

I was wearing a t-shirt with very small ‘Salt Spring Island, BC’ printed on it. A rather strange hippy-type fellow stopped me at a supermarket and asked me if I was from Canada. Apparently, he is an Aussie who was in Salt Springs a few years ago following a music group “Midnight Oil” that performed there. I think he just wanted to talk about all the places he visited in Canada – including Regina. Quite a character.

Another thing – there is a travel expo in Wollongong – the door prize is a trip to Canada. The picture was of Banff, of course.

The lady at the hotel checkout in Jindabyne had a Canadian experience too. She is actually a Brit who visited BC (where else?) for six months. She thought it was lovely, of course.

Bateman’s Bay (for Feb. 9)

The day dawned sunny and windy, but, by the time we checked out of the hotel at 10, a bank of cloud had rolled in from the mountains, spitting a few drops of rain. Going back to Thredbo didn’t look like a good proposition, so we pressed on to the East. We stopped after 65 km in Cooma to connect to Telstra wireless at a McDonald’s. By the time we got connected, logged on, downloaded and answered email, uploaded our blog, and downloaded bank and credit card info, we had burned an hour and a half. We burned a lot of time trying to upload pictures. For some reason, all the editing features do not show on screen anymore. We played with a few ideas, but we had other stuff to do and didn’t want to burn to much time. We will have another look if we can get online today. Any ideas Carla?

Leaving Jindabyne, the land was rolling prairie and low hills with some trees. About 40 km after Cooma, we started descending from the high tableland below the Snowy Mountains to near sea level along the coast. The first several km was gradual with long sweeping turns. Later it became quite steep with many of the usual switchbacks through rainforest. The coastal area was mostly low hills and very green compared to the tall dry grass we had seen for the past many days.

We stopped to stretch our legs in Narooma. Our guide book suggested a walk on the Mill Bay boardwalk where we should listen for the Bellbirds. The walk was a very pleasant diversion along the shore of the bay. The Bellbirds weren’t quite as pleasant for Celeste. These birds have a loud and shrill call, something like a bell, but flatter and not as prolonged. I thought they sounded a bit like the squeak from a pulley that needs lubrication or a sign swinging on a rusty hinge. However you describe it, it bothered Celeste’s ringing ear.

We stopped for the night at Bateman’s Bay, where we had a beautiful view of the harbour from our hotel. We got a good taste of coastal heat and humidity. It must have been over 30 degrees and humid when we checked in at 5:30, the first time we have run into this. Later in the evening, after it had cooled down a bit, we explored the town, found an internet place that we will check out tomorrow, and guiltily bought a bag of mini Mars bars at Kmart. I spent the rest of the evening reconciling credit card and bank statements with our receipts. The dirty work must be done, even on holidays.

Shopping

Not that Glenn isn’t fun to shop with but I must say if you want shop for clothes – Barb is the one to take. She was able to help me find what I was looking for at a good price in no time at all. She has a good eye and a talent for finding what you want and what looks good.

Jindabyne (Feb 8)

We left Bright about 10:00 with Tony in the lead and drove a twisty mountain road
over a pass to the next valley. After an hour in the valley we stopped for lunch, said our farewells and parted company at about 12:30. It was a sad parting. We have had so much fun together over the last several days. We can’t say enough about how much we have enjoyed our stay here. Barb and Tony are generous and gracious hosts and excellent company. We share similar points of view on so many things and were able to solve most of the world’s problems. I highly recommend the Jones Hotel to anyone visiting Melbourne. Barb sends her love to everyone back home. She misses you all, even though Cheryl will have a black mark until she writes or emails and sends some pictures. (Gail got off the hook with the wedding pics and DVD.)

We drove for another hour in similar terrain to the last couple of days before turning into the mountains. From then until half an hour before we checked into our hotel at 5:30, we were on a winding mountain road so narrow that they didn’t bother to paint a centerline for 80 km. For that stretch, top speed was 80 kmph, there was a curve slower than 60 kmph every hundred metres or so, and there were several hairpins posted at 15 kmph. Tony said it was one of his favourite roads, and you know what that means – it was one of Celeste’s least favourite. We took it easy on the twistiest parts and encountered less than a dozen cars, so it was quite tolerable and the scenery was beautiful.

We stopped for half an hour to tour a power station, one of several in a network of dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and power stations that make up the Snowy Mountains Scheme that supplies 11% of Australia’s power and regulates the flow of water for millions of acres of irrigation.

We also stopped for half an hour at Thredbo, one of the country’s main ski resorts. In summer, they run the chair lift to the top of their ski mountain on the edge of a plateau. One of the peaks in the plateau is Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko. We were thinking of riding the lift and hiking to a view point, but we got there just as they were shutting down for the day at 4:30. We might have been able to get to the top, but would have had to hike all the way back down. Doable, but not an attractive proposition. We might go back tomorrow.

After the Jones Hotel, we are pretty spoiled, but there wasn’t much letdown at our hotel tonight. It is an apartment with a full size kitchen including stove, full size fridge, and dishwasher. (They usually have a bar fridge and sometimes a microwave.) There is a washer and a drier in the bathroom. (Not even coin operated!) And there is a large balcony that just screamed out for a bottle of wine with a simple supper. After that we went for a walk and returned to catch up on my vacation accounting and other computer housekeeping while Celeste did some laundry and watched a movie until she fell asleep.


By the way, Happy Birthday Laura! Not sure if we will have internet access on the 11th.

Bright (Feb 7)

Tony and I rode in his Porsche (eat your heart out Ron Sprung, but Happy Birthday anyways) to the Airways Museum of Australia, an Air Traffic Control museum, if you can believe it. From there we went to the Royal Australian Air Force Museum. We returned at 1:30, by which time the women had returned from shopping, and quickly jumped into our cars for the trip to Bright, their vacation home located between two National Parks.


We drove for an hour on two lane highways through rolling tall grass prairie with quite a few trees, then an hour and a half on freeway through similar terrain, then a half hour on a secondary road to the foot of some high hills/low mountains, then a half hour up the valley between the hills to Bright.

Bright was an 1850’s mining town that now makes its living from tourism. It is a picturesque town of about 2500 people surrounded by forested peaks. There is a small river running near Barb and Tony’s house that is dammed into a swimming hole with diving board, waterslide, slides and an adjacent playground, skate park and other attractions. They are also near a couple of ski hills. They love to bring Jacob up here to their little piece of paradise.



Barb and Tony’s place is a charming three-bedroom home with just enough yard to be comfortable without too much work. After unpacking we had a barbecue and went for a walk along the river and through town returning for a relaxing evening of visiting.

Melbourne (Feb 6)

We gave our chauffeur the day off today and stuck around the house. The first part of the day we spent updating the blog on the word processor. Later, Barb picked up her Mom and we all watched Colin and Lisa’s wedding on DVD. We broke for lunch and watched a bit of the Superbowl, and then we watched Tami’s wedding DVD, featuring Carla and Tyler. Auntie Agnes was ready to go home so we rode home with her. She expressed a heartfelt thanks to everyone in our family (including Grandma and Grandpa) for everything we may have done for her over the years.


We spend the rest of the afternoon uploading the blog, downloading email and replying to email. Tony barbecued supper and we spent a competitive evening battling each other in a game of Scene It (guessing movie trivia from clues).

Nickelback (a Canadian rock group)

Not that we have been listening to that much radio or watching that much TV, but it seems whenever we do they are playing Nickelback – even in the stores. We found this both in New Zealand and Australia.

Another tidbit – whenever we start talking to someone, a sales clerk, waiter, hotel employee – they pick up on our accent (or really the lack of an accent – they are the ones with the accent) and ask us where we are from. They all seem to know someone in Canada - usually Vancouver. We ate at one restaurant and ordered their specialty – scallops. Now we pronounced scallops as it sounds – with an “a”. The waitress thought it was so funny the way we said “scallops”. Apparently, it’s pronounced ‘scullups’! Anyways, most people we have come across have been very friendly and helpful and make an effort to understand what we are saying without laughing (to our face).

We were talking to one of the motel housekeepers whose husband makes handmade whips. He made some for a stuntman in Vancouver who trained stars such as Burt Reynolds and Hally Barry to use a whip in the movies.. This woman says she has autographed pictures of all the people this Canadian stuntman has trained using their whips. That’s as close to a brush with greatness as we’re going to get.

Melbourne, Day 3 (for Feb. 5)

Today was Great Ocean Road day. We left before 9 and reached the road about an hour and a half later. The Great Ocean Road is carved into the mountains along the coast, winding back and forth and up and down like most mountain roads. Again, Tony loved it. Around every corner was a new postcard perfect view. We stopped at Lorne, where Tony and Barb have holidayed in the past, to walk the beach and get some excellent fish and chips. From there the road continued along the coast to Apollo Bay, where it turned inland through hilly farming country before returning to the coast at The Twelve Apostles, a series of limestone monoliths that have been isolated from the cliffs behind them by erosion.



One of the features at the 12 Apostles was the story of one of the many shipwrecks along this coast. The Loch Ard wrecked here in 1875 and 54 people died. Only two survived because they were lucky enough to find their way to the beach in this sheltered gorge.


From there we went on to Port Campbell for supper. We then climbed through rainforest to a plain of rolling prairie for most of the trip home, arriving in the dark just before 10:30. Quite a workout for our chauffeur.

Melbourne, Day 2 (for Feb. 4)

We left at 9 and began the day with a visit to the home of Barb’s daughter, Tami. We met her husband, Paul, a very nice guy with the added distinction of having been an agricultural exchange student at North Battleford many years ago. Her two little guys, Jacob (almost 3) and Ashton (almost 1), are cute as buttons. They are in the process of moving to larger quarters nearby. Paul has done a lot of work on the house and yard and Tami is in the process of decluttering for prospective buyers. The place looked pretty good to us, so I am sure they will do well.

From Tami’s we drove through the scenic hills north of Melbourne, had lunch at an outdoor café in Healesville, then went to the Healesville Sanctuary wild animal park. This park is set up very much like the one in Christchurch, but it is quite a bit larger. In most cases, you actually enter the enclosures where the animals are confined. This collection was entirely of Australian wildlife. Very good. The highlight was the Birds of Prey show. How do they train them to do those things? We also saw wombats and platypuses (platypi?) for the first time.


From Healesville, Tony drove us along one of his favourite motorcycle tours through the Great Dividing Range of high hills/small mountains. Winding, hilly roads, just like NZ! It would be a lot of fun on a motorcycle, and Tony enjoyed it in the car too. The scenery was magnificent, from hilly green farms of grazing cattle at the beginning, to mountainous rainforest further on. We stopped for a beer, and then retraced our path back to Melbourne, with another stop for a meal in a small town along the way. You can sure tell that the motorcyclists like this trip. It seemed like there were as many bikes as cars on the road and the eating and drinking establishments we saw had biking posters and other features to attract that crowd. Unfortunately, some of these people drive faster than their skills permit, and we saw two places within one kilometer where people had wiped out and were being attended to by ambulances.

We finally made it back after 9 and were in bed not too long after.

Melbourne, Day 1 (for Feb. 3)

We spent the first part of the morning replanning our itinerary. Last night Ryan had suggested that we might get more out of our trip if we did not go west to Adelaide, but allowed more time for Sydney and the east coast. So we planned that as well as what we will take in over the next couple of days.



At 10 we departed for the Victoria Market. This was about the largest market we had ever seen, presenting virtually anything you might want to buy, from souvenirs to produce, baked goods, meat, fish, cheeses, luggage, clothing, etc., etc. Next stop was the Pint on Punt hostel and pub, where Carla and Tyler stayed while they were here. From there we went to St. Kilda Beach, right in the heart of town. It is kind of like the Kitsilano area of Vancouver where Darren and Sue live. We had lunch there, and then walked the sidewalk behind the beach. There was a beach volleyball tournament going on. We happened to notice some young women playing in their regulation beach volleyball uniforms. We checked out a huge cruise liner at the dock, took a short driving tour around the harbour area, and then stopped for a short visit with Tony’s Mom on the way back. Supper was delayed by a tour of Tony’s garage, checking out his new Porsche, his ’67 Corvette, his new BMW bike, and his old BMW bike that he is selling. He has nice toys. More visiting concluded a long, but enjoyable day.

Barb and Tony also have a beautiful home and yard. Although Tony laments the ban on lawn watering (since 1996) the yard is great, with a large patio, terraces, and many shrubs and flowers. Although the house is attractive from outside, it is even nicer inside, as Barb has done a great job of decorating, featuring many, many pictures, including several that include the Schwartz family. We reminisced about the good old days at Katepwa Lake and how Grandma and Grandpa Schwartz were like her surrogate grandparents.

Sunbury (for Feb. 2)

We had a confirmed reservation at Cranbourne because it was on the way to Melbourne and they had a hotel that belonged to our pre-paid voucher plan. Little did we know that we would want to return to Phillip Island. We were not aware of the Koala sanctuary with the raised boardwalks among the trees but we figured this was something we shouldn’t miss. So we left the hotel at 9:30 and backtracked an hour to the Koalas. It was again very interesting to observe unfamiliar creatures in their natural environment.


Although most of them were sleeping, there were a few of them moving around and we got a few pictures - unlike the Penguin Parade last night where pictures were not allowed. The weather was also much better, enhancing the experience. We lunched as we left and departed for Sunbury at noon.

The land that we didn’t see in the dark last night is flat to gently rolling, mostly cleared for agriculture with cattle grazing being the predominant activity. The road is mostly divided highway of good quality.

We neared the toll roads of downtown Sydney at 1:30. Unsure about the tolls and wanting to avoid downtown, we made a tactical error by turning off to another road, where we promptly got caught behind a trolley car that we could not pass. Eventually, we the trolley turned off, but we continued to plod along busy city streets. Finally, we met up with Barb Jones on the highway and she guided us to their home in Sunbury by 3. We later learned two things. First, after a closer look at the map, the toll road would have avoided the downtown anyway. Second, there are no toll plazas. It is all electronic. We would have driven along obliviously while they snapped a picture of our license plate. If we did not phone in to voluntarily pay our toll, we would have received a nasty bill for a huge fine some time in the future. Glad we know now!

After a few short hellos with Tony and Ryan, we headed off to visit Barb’s Mom, Auntie Agnes. She was waiting in the window when we drove up and was very happy and excited to see us. She came to Australia about 14 years ago, and this was the first time we had seen her since. We had a very nice visit and brought her up to date on what everyone was doing before returning to Barb’s for an excellent supper, followed by an evening of visiting and solving all the world’s s problems.

Cranbourne (for Feb. 1)

We began our day in Lakes Entrance which takes its name from being at the entrance from the ocean to a series of inland lakes. The lakes were fresh water behind the sand dunes of Ninety Mile beach. Many years ago they cut a channel through from the ocean creating a harbour for the fishing fleet which claims to be the largest fishing fleet of its kind in the southern hemisphere.


After a little bit of blogging we got out of the hotel at 10:00 and toured the town. We walked along the Esplanade observing the harbour until we reached a foot bridge across to the cut off stub of Ninety Mile beach. We walked the beach and had lunch and hit the road at 1:00.

We didn’t get far though. I had to send a time sensitive email so we sought out a wireless ‘hot spot’ in the next town. We stopped at the information centre but they weren’t aware of any so we asked for directions to the office of Telstra (Australian SaskTel). There they told us that the only hot spot in town was at McDonald’s which was across the parking lot from the Information Centre. So we returned, logged on, sent the email and downloaded our incoming email.

Telstra’s Hot Spot works differently than Telecom in New Zealand. In New Zealand you paid $10 per hour, used as much as you wanted, and carried over the balance indefinitely. Here, you have to use the full amount purchased in one session or it is lost. Needless to say, the short sessions are the most expensive. $5 per 15 minutes = $20 per hour, compared to $26 per 120 minutes = $13 per hour.

Shortly after leaving Lakes Entrance the land became gently rolling to flat and was cleared for grazing mostly for cattle with some sheep. Weather in the morning was sunny but by the time we left it had clouded over.

We stopped for some information and a bit of shopping at the turn off point for Phillip Island and then it started to rain when we left at 4:30. We had light to moderate steady rain and drizzle from then until we checked into our hotel at 11:30.

As we headed toward Phillip Island we passed through a range of forested large hills before returning to more gently rolling hills the rest of the way. Again, cattle grazing was the major agricultural pursuit.



We reached the Penguin Colony at 6:30 and toured the Visitor Interpretive Centre. Expecting large crowds, we went out to the viewing area in our rain gear and umbrella before 8:30 with the penguins arrival expected after 9:00. In fact, the penguins started arriving before 9:00 because the sky was darker than usual due to the heavy overcast. They gather in groups of about 30 in the surf just off the beach and then start waddling to shore. It was interesting to watch them assemble and then observe the parade of Charlie Chaplins up the beach. They certainly are ungainly on land. When they reached the dunes they funneled onto well trodden paths to their burrows. They waddled right past the viewing stands and boardwalks. Despite signs and park rangers warning of the importance of remaining still and quiet so as not to disturb them, many people were loud, causing the penguins to hesitate for long periods on occasion. As we returned to the Visitor Centre it was amazing how many penguins were standing around outside their burrows. It might not sound too exciting but it really was a wonder of nature. Pictures weren’t allowed because the flash startles the penguins, but we purchased a couple of their pictures. We left the Penguin Parade at 10 driving through the rain and dark arriving at our hotel in Cranbourne at 11:30.

The road today was mostly two lane undivided highway of pretty good quality comparable to Saskatchewan highways with wide paved shoulders but without the potholes.

There is also an interesting sounding Koala Centre on Philip Island that we will return to tomorrow.