4/11/2018
Sunday Having slept well, R & R woke shortly after 6:00am and had coffee
and breakfast. It was a cool cloudy
morning about 11*C so R & R dressed well for 8:00am Mass with C & C. They all went together and after Mass the
community opened up their hall with the leftovers from their fete the day
before. RA borrowed some cash from her
brother, CT, as she wanted to buy something and had not taken her wallet. When they returned, everyone had a cup, while
C & C had breakfast and R & R watched the children play on their
ipad. As D, CA’s son, hoped to get the
jet ski out of the garage, R & R needed to put the camper down and shift
it. RL just parked it on the road until it
was decided where to move it to. It was
still, cool and cloudy so the decision to go to the beach with the ski, or not,
had not yet been made. CA and D whipped
up a lunch to please all takers with the choice of hotdogs with white rolls or
sausage sizzle on wholemeal bread. After
chatting for a while over coffee and washing up, CT made the decision to work
on the front garden. Everyone put some
effort into cutting and sawing some of the trees or bushes or weeding and
pulling up the kike in the garden bed.
CT did think that he might call that part of the garden, ”R & R’s
corner.” in memory of their assistance.
Shortly after 3:00pm CT and RL went to the tip with about half the
garden refuse, saving the other half for the next day. When they got back, it was time for coffee
and a biscuit. CT & CA went down to
the shops for some groceries while RL and RA negotiated where to put the
camper. There was trouble with the
jockey wheel slipping so RL had to use, not one but, both jacks to steady the
camper so that jockey wheel could be re-adjusted. It was early dinner, all round at 6:00pm, of
chicken and salad so that by 7:00pm everyone was watching the news. RA wrote her diary while everyone watched a
singing competition on TV. S, R &
R’s daughter rang so RA took the phone down stairs and chatted for a while
before returning to finish the diary quickly before retiring for bed. R & R really enjoyed their afternoon
gardening. They had been really glad …
of the opportunity to help C & C with a job.
5/11/2018
Monday It rained heavily on and off during the night so R & R slept
well. They woke about 6:30am to a
pleasant 14*C with a mild breeze. The
forecast was for a rainy morning clearing to a warm and sunny afternoon. After breakfast, R & R remained in the
camper so as not to disturb anybody in the house and read a post draft before
selecting some photos for it. About
8:30am RA spotted the cards R & R had bought for their grandchildren and
wrote on them so that they would be ready for the post later in the day. Half
an hour later, R & R went inside and upstairs to join CT and family for
coffee and a chat. It continued to rain
steadily on and off all morning so heading to the beach with the jet ski was
not an option. Eventually, about 11:00am
C & C took R & R shopping down the coast at the Rosebud shopping centre
where RA posted the cards. They looked
round all the shops. It was extremely
busy what with all the tourists and regular holiday makers taking an extra-long
weekend by including Monday (which is not a public holiday) before the
Melbourne Cup Day holiday. It was
surprising to see how many children and young people were with or without their
parents shopping and eating out during the lunch hour on a wet day. If people can’t sight see or go to the beach,
going to the shopping centre looks like a good alternative! R & R wondered how many classrooms would
have empty seats for the day. R & R,
along with C & C, went last to Coles to pick up some groceries before
returning to the beach house for a late lunch of chicken and salad sandwich at
nearly 2:00pm. RL helped CT load CT’s
ute again with more garden refuse and they headed to the tip while RA and CA
went to the Dromana shopping strip to look through the three ops there and go
to the local IGA. By then the sky had
cleared and the day had become quite warm and sweaty. D & D and the children had also gone out
and they returned mid-afternoon. When
everyone was back, they had drinks and cashews and made a plan for dinner at
6:30ish. It was more like 7:00pm by the
time everyone was seated and the food was ready for serving. Everyone ate well. After dinner, CT drew a highlighted route in
R & R’s Melbourne UBD maps to show the best way for R & R to exit the
city when the time came. It was well after
9:00pm when R & R returned to the camper downstairs in the garden to eat
their orange before going to bed. It had
been a pleasant day sharing travel stories and learning more about C & C
and their family … learning to accept and appreciate others.
6/11/2018
Tuesday R & R slept well again and woke to a morning that looked like a
repeat of the morning before. After
breakfast, about 7:40am, RA commented on the heavy mist sitting on Arthur’s
Seat. A few minutes later, as she sat to
write diary and RL sat to read, it began raining, quite heavily, on the
camper. The sounds could be quite delightful
when there was no urgency for the canvas to be dry to pack down. There was thunder and, again, it was quite
comfortable being able to enjoy the wintery weather and not have to be driving
in it. RA published a post before R
& R went inside to join the relatives.
Upstairs everyone was reluctant to get out as there was no need, what
with the weather being so bad. So, for
quite a while R & R read their books at the kitchen table. Sometime mid-morning, Z, R & R’s eldest
son rang and it was nice for him to chat also with C & C. It continued to rain all morning and when it
finally cleared about noon, C & C took R & R for a walk down to the
Dromana jetty and along the foreshore.
It was grey and the beach was quiet but R & R could just imagine
what a lovely spot it would be for families in summer with its brilliant blue,
clear, still water and a clean sandy beach.
Add to that the charm of the little beach boxes all painted in bright
colours. Believe it or not, one of those
little sheds with no amenities (some have power) costs the same as a small unit
just back from the beach, somewhere between $250K - $300K as an average, but
ranging from $155K-$615K. During the
mid-1800s Dromana’s focus changed from being a provider of wood for Melbourne
to a place to holiday and it became fashionable to build or own a box. By the time they all returned for lunch it
was almost 2:00pm and so everyone was seated with food when the TV was turned
on to watch the Melbourne Cup race; a first for RL. Eventually, C & C began packing things up
and putting them in the car to return to Melbourne for commitments the next
day. E, RL’s sister, rang to say that J
had been moved to a rehab hospital where hopefully he would be able to develop
better movement in his troubled knee. CT
picked up the cat, popped him into his carrier and packed it into the car as
their last task before leaving R & R at their beach house. They planned to be back again by Saturday
evening and R & R thought they might still be around by then. R & R read for a while before retiring to
the camper. Since D’s children, R &
K, had not seen inside it when D & D looked the other day, they were
curious to see where R & R slept.
The children were quite impressed and lay on the bed hoping to stay a
little longer. RA wrote her diary while
RL had quiet time. Dinner was not a
problem as there were leftovers of chicken patties and salad and they had
already eaten well all day. R & R
took dinner upstairs and watched a little TV for a change. S, their daughter, rang so RA chatted for
quite a while with her before retiring.
It did seem strange that, for once, … R & R did not even have any
plans for the next day.
7/11/2018
Wednesday R & R slept well again and woke about 6:30am to a not too cool
morning at 11*C and the forecast that the high for the day might only be two
degrees more. The wind was in the
20km/hr range from the north west and there was a chance of rain in the
afternoon. R & R had breakfast and
did a quick job on the freezer/fridge before having a shower. About 8:30am, they were walking down to the
Dromana strip to see if they could get RL an appointment at the dentist since
he had been experiencing discomfort with one of his back teeth. As they were walking J, their brother-in-law,
rang. R & R leant against a dark
wall in the sunshine but out of the wind, and away from the traffic, to chat
for quite a while and warm their bodies.
The dentist was most obliging and offered an appointment for the
following Tuesday which RL gratefully accepted.
While R & R were there, they went into all four of the local op
shops before returning. RA was frozen
but hoped that the day might improve.
After a cup of coffee about 10:30am, R & R agreed to head down Point
Nepean Rd to Portsea (about 25kms) and back again with the intention of running
the Ute to maintain power in the Thumper for the fridge while taking in a few
sights as well as op shops. RL parked
the Ute near the Sorrento jetty. R &
R sat out of the rain in the Ute having lunch and coffee while watching the
water in the bay. The car ferry came in
and turned around to back up and allow the passengers and vehicles to
disembark. R & R walked along the
beach for a while, as the sun had appeared briefly, so they could take photos
of the ferry. About 1:30pm, R & R
headed back towards Dromana with a view to catching a few op shops but RL was
concerned that his tooth may need attention sooner than Tuesday. RA looked up another dentist in the area and
fortunately they had just had a cancellation for 4:00pm. RL was dead keen to take it, so they filled
in time stopping at every op shop along the way, as it was not far with a
couple of hours to fill. R & R
agreed it was hardly worth going back to Dromana and then going back out again
to Rosebud, even though it was so close.
One way and another they managed to pop into about five op shops in the
area and into Woolworths for some sandwich bags, as they had run out. Just before 4:00pm, R & R were seated at
the Orion Dental centre at Rosebud filling out forms. The appointment was very short with RL
needing a script filled for an antibiotic to settle an infection to see what
would happen. Luckily the chemist was
just over the road so R & R made a dash for it in between the showers. Both were glad to be back at the camper at C
& C’s house for a cup and to be out of the weather by 4:45pm. They watched some news on TV while RA wrote
the day’s diary before making dinner. K,
RL’s sister rang while R & R were making dinner. After dinner, RL just needed to veg. out in
front of TV so RA just flipped through some recipes. It had been an icy cold day and RL’s tooth
was giving him trouble. RA hoped … that
he would be feeling a little better in the morning.
8/11/2018
Thursday R & R woke about 6:45am to a cool but dry morning with a forecast
of a high of 14*C, strong winds of 26km/hr from the west and rain only later in
the night. Somehow it was not an
accurate prediction as it rained heavily for about an hour. After breakfast, R & R sat with their
backs to the sun reading in an attempt to defrost. It was 9:30am when R & R got into the Ute
for a drive around the back side of the Mornington Peninsula with a vague plan
to start at a beach that J, their brother-in-law, remember as a child. The beach was called Rye Ocean (or Rye Back)
Beach and having driven south to Rosebud, RL drove east on Dundas Road across
the lower part of the peninsula to take the roads as closely as possible to the
eastern coast. Rye was hardly a family
friendly beach with waves crashing over rocks and sand churning in the water
where the rips looked treacherous. The
wind was icy cold, with R & R feeling much warmer just sitting in the
car. R & R were keeping an eye out
for rock pools, which J had mentioned playing in, but saw only a few rocks on
the water’s edge; nothing that children might play in. From there, RL drove to Gunnamatta Beach
which had a very similar appearance. The
beaches are all included in a long strip of coastal parkland called the
Mornington Peninsula National Park which protects the diverse environments of
more than 40kms of rugged coast as well as the beaches from Portsea to
Flinders. Boag Rocks were about a
kilometre south of Gunnamatta Beach but just far enough for R & R not to
want to walk there on such a blustery morning.
Instead RL headed for Cape Schanck.
The road moved a little away from the coast and there were diverse small
farming activities including horse stables and ranches for trail riding, market
gardening in the open, and undercover (including strawberries and potato), a
boutique brewery and many wineries. The
land was hilly but not steep being near Arthur’s Seat and Red Hill which
dominated the peninsula. R & R
arrived at Cape Schanck and its Lighthouse shortly before noon and enjoyed a
walk around the lighthouse grounds and lighthouse keeper’s cottages before
walking along the track and on the boardwalk to the point. The boardwalk had several ramp sections in
between stairs and was just amazing! It
protected the fragile coastal vegetation and fauna from the hundreds of people
who were keen to traipse down and back up every day. R & R were not sure who was more excited
to see an echidna under the board walk; them or the Japanese tourists. There was something very appealing about
standing on the black rocks and pebbles at sea level and looking back up at the
lighthouse high on the cliffs above.
Built in 1859, the lighthouse was the last of a series of beacons that
were designed to assist safe passage through Bass Strait between mainland
Australian and Tasmania. So many were the
shipwrecks in the area, that sailors, had come to dread the passage thinking of
it as threading the eye of the needle. R
& R retreated to the Ute for warmth while they ate lunch before taking a
quick walk to the Bushranger Bay Lookout.
So, it was 1:15pm when they headed for Flinders. This time the road followed the coast more
closely and was quite steep, up and down with bends of suggested 30km/hr speed
limit. There were more small farms. RA
was surprised at the way common pine dominated the vegetation on the verge and
in the farms, as driveway and wind breaks.
As RL drove through Flinders, he spotted an op shop and needed no excuse
to stop. R & R parked at the
monument to Bass and Flinders and their coastal exploration of the area in
1798. From that vantage point they were
able to see the jetty below, across Western Port to Phillip Island and the RAN
gunnery and navigational beacon reserve to the south. RL drove down to the Flinders Pier where R
& R had coffee and rang their daughter, H, after walking out on the pier
and reading all the signs about the history of fishing and communicating via
telegraph from Tasmania. Never mind
overland telegraph, the submarine telegraph cable of 320kms was successfully
laid and in operation in 1869, connecting Tasmania to Darwin and ultimately the
world! The message had to be carried by
hand up the steep hill before being telegraphed to Melbourne. It would take another 30 years before boosting
equipment enabled the messages to go directly to the top of the hill. With the Navigators assistance R & R
drove to Point Leo. Point Leo had a very
big caravan park which backed onto a beach that was largely protected from the
bigger waves and RA thought it might be a lovely place to stay with a
family. It was about 3:30pm when R &
R took the stairway beach access down to the shore where the Point Leo Boat
club had a boat launching ramp. Again,
RA set the Navigator for assistance even though she had a map and knew the
route. RL followed it up and down steep
hilly country side with orchards, vineyards and horse studs through Red Hill
and towards Arthur’s Seat. Much of the
drive there was flanked by Arthur’s Seat State Park so it was difficult to see
the coast on either side despite the height above sea level (314m). Then the road down from the top near the
chair lift took a series of switch backs, with speeds of as low as 15kms/hr,
for a couple of kilometres before ducking under the M1 freeway to Melbourne and
ending up in Dromana. RL had driven
exactly 99kms for the day. It was 4:15pm
as R & R sat to read more maps with a cup of coffee. Between 5:00pm and 6:00pm, R & R walked
back down to Dromana foreshore to take in the huts and jetty and shop fronts in
the main strip again. After dinner, R
& R put RL’s photos on the laptop and deleted some in an effort to keep
them organized and keep the number down.
S, their daughter rang so RA turned the laptop off. R & R retired soon after … and hoped that
the next day would be a little warmer for more sightseeing.
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