Point Lonsdale

Rode to Point Lonsdale today and took the sandy route as the low tide was 9:30am. We had bacon and eggs at Pasquini's but at the next table the following was heard between two old codger types,

"We have to go on a cruise every second year, otherwise she will never get in the van! Even then every third night has to be in a hotel!."

The things  some retirees have to do.

3D Waves

New Season Record

We mark days at the van on a calendar but I need to mark the 26th April as the latest day of the year to be spending the afternoon at the beach.  We have been told by our other beach bums that previously the 22nd of April was the latest that we had spent time over at the beach.  There seems to be a regular mid week beach clientele here. Max the bartender gave us a wave as did Mike the gardener.  I bet they didn't work all three days on the long weekend like we did.

Boats, Waves and Rocks

PS Watched the GOT yesterday and thought it was a bit of a nothing episode.  Not sure about this idea of getting ahead of the books.  John Snow may yet rise, plenty of other dead people do.

Big Wheel ride

Can't let a day like this slide by without a Sunday Ride.  We followed the Maribyrnong as far as the Big Wheel which was taking regular customers but no huge queues like we saw at the London Eye. We took a circuitous route via North Melbourne to get back but it was mostly on road with copious amounts of traffic.

pods

23 km circuit

DeMazzi's Stone Grill

As far as do it yourself cooking goes the super heated stone platter method means there is no excuse for the chef over doing the steak because you are the chef.  They don't believe in turning people away at this place. We were packed in so tight I thought there would be sardines on the menu. As it turns out I did cook my own prawns as well as slivers of steak.  The jug of Sangria brought back memories as well.  We sat in a square in Pamplona once and a jug of Sangria was sitting out in the Sun just wasting away.  But it was meant to entice the customers.

Bubble Blowing Babies

Collendina Report No 156

It needs to be recorded that a 30 degree day was achieved on 20/04/2016.  This was a as good a beach day as you could expect in the middle of summer.  Except when we went for a wander down the beach and our stuff was raided and the theft of my buttered roll was detected.  Yesterday's inductee Max was just 50 metres away. Then there was the tradie who was supposed to be working on someone's van but said it was too good on the beach so just happened to have his surf board in the back with his tools. Then there was the metal detective who did look a bit hungry, sluicing that wand of his from side to side then side to side again. He seemed to be pocketing stuff from time to time. Like a gold ring it looked like but not a sandwich.  Not sure if it has a sandwich mode anyway in order to detect sandwiches. Then there was Mike the nudist who went past on his bike. But we did find the culprit in the end. I managed to get his mug shot below.

Suspicious tradies

Sandwich Mode Apparatus

Running Plovers

Gull the thief

Collendina Report No 2671

Not sure if this is the latest date in Autumn that we have ventured over to the beach but it was quite pleasant,  not much wind and a temp of around 25.  Some of our regular beach bums  who probably have been observing us for years and whom we have also noticed on the beach, just have to introduce themselves. Max from BWS wandered over to say hello. This follows Mike who gave as a wave as he wandered past. The plovers have successfully flown the nest so we have the beach back again.

Autumnal

St Ali's Not

I believe this Shingles problem is on the wane. We decided to test this theory with a short ride to St Ali's this morning as the last time we couldn't get in due to a 40 minute wait. That was two yar ago and now it is not called St Ali, it is called Green Park.  The eggs here are good, with home made Hash Browns, however you need to ask them to make the coffee hotter.  Other than that there was much more room to sit at 8:00am.

Green Inside

Bike City

TV Life

Our Samsung TV died after 8 years of continuous use. It was $2900 in 2008 and we just paid $895 for a slightly bigger one. We did resist the urge for an UltraHD (4K). Because this is a Smart TV I will need a keyboard which is another $100. The streaming from the network attached storage is sluggish so most likely it will be another $50 for two cat 7 cables. The sound seems to be lagging but there are some firmware updates we haven't done as yet.  As well the wall mounting bracket will be at least another $150. But overall we should have a better view.



Not curved Not 3D Not 4K

Blinky's Beach

Last time we spent an afternoon at Blinky's and we did it again today. The planes rising out of the ground are a highlight. The rock pools are good but it seems if you sit too long on the greenery it will give you a rash and I have enough of those at the moment.

Lidgbird

Blinky Pools

Hill climb day

Its Mt Gower day today however I have had to give it a miss due to this tricky rash on my leg. Fortunately the cloud has cleared from the top just in time to reveal the view so there should be a good report later.  Other island news includes the ratification. An island referendum has agreed by 10 votes majority to proceed with the extermination of the rats. There are still a lot of procedures before the end.  The Turns will be leaving for Siberia in a few weeks to join the Mutton birds who have already left.

Lose the fluff then fly North

Butterfly

LHI low tide

Did some more low tide rambling today. We are off to the Anchorage shortly for pizza night so I am doing this quickly. Also the shingles is spreading over my leg some more so I need to run around in budgie smugglers. The coral shots are from an above water camera this time.

Soft Coral

KingFisher

Clam Hunt

Went for a ride and a walk to the far end of the island. We timed it for low tide so that the reef was exposed.  This area is alive with clams. We walked to the Anchorage for tea and walked back afterwards with torches.

another megatree

Turn

More LHI walking

Did a walk today to the valley of the Shadows. This area is full of those ginormous banyan type trees that send down the shoots that eventually turn into trunks.  There was also a view of Ball's Pyramid from parts of the track. Finished the day with a barbecue on the beach and a snorkel out to the Sylph Hole where a large ray lives at the bottom.

Ghostly Pyramid

Valley of Shadows

Tiles and Shingles

The other day I spied a guy pulling a house down so we stopped and asked how he was going to get rid of it all. He said down the tip so I got 12 tiles off him to aid the removal. You always need some spare tiles.  So since being here on the island I have had a persistent ache and pain in my left thigh and a particular bite mark was starting to spread. Turns out they have full time doctor here on the island and he has diagnosed Shingles which seems to be a serious problem since I have to take 17 pills a day to get on top of it. 

Mega trees

Shingles is not fun

Middle Beach

Went to three different beaches today with the emphasis on low tide rambling over rock shelves and coral terraces.  Huge snails and clams were observed out of the water. Seems that LHI has two different time zones. During summer they match up with Sydney but when daylight saving ends they only put the clocks back 30 mins.

Snailing along

Clam

Physical day on LHI

We took the Max Nicholls Memorial Track over the ridge to North Beach and then on up to Mt Eliza. The track is open to the top as all the sooty terns have left on their migration. There were a few injured ones still left behind. We also carried snorkel gear as well and swam the 500m out to the wreck of the Favourite. This is also a very good coral reef area with many fish. There was a giant cod inside the wreck. Debbie swam inside for a closer look. The day was finished off with a Barbie on the beach with snags and Wahoo. 

Snorkel friend

Barbie view

Snorkel

Mostly had a beach day today. Found a good rock pool with some trapped fish and a long prong orange star fish, The snorkeling here showed some good fish including a double header.  Later we moved back to Settlement Beach for another swim with the turtles. There was a large turtle here that was stationary while we moved around it. Mt Gower was clear of cloud all day.

Qantas dwarfed by Mt Lidgbird

Lord Howe again

Spent most of the day getting here. The previous day the plane took off but turned around due to heavy weather. So far things look the same. I have run over a rat and we have had a swim with the turtles already. Tea was at the bowls club last night where we had kingfish for $60.  Prices vary, the bike hire is cheap at $7 per day. Overnight rain has cleared Mt Gower of cloud for now.

Ratification continues?

Two hills must mean Testicular cloud