Port Arlington Ride

There are a few ups and downs between here and Port Arlington but we took them slowly. It was a 25km ride there and back. We found all the secret places like down Boat Rd and Ramblers Rd where the miniature train is. We had lunch in the old shipping office which is now the RockWall@the Pier Cafe. When we got back there was time for an hour over at the beach complete with a swim.

Riddle me this - If you get on at Pt Richards station where do you get off? -   Pt Richards

Boat needs more work

Good steak sandwich

Stair Hanging 101

The Stairway to Travel is now open.  Spent another 3 hours hanging 10 frames all with travel themes to different countries over the years.  Getting the juxtaposition right is one thing but doing it on a ladder with one foot in space is a step up. (Get it Step Up).  I will need at least another 8 trips to Europe in order to fill the gaps in the stairwell completely. 

Showing a balanced knowledge

Stairway to Travel

There be DOLPHINS

Can't be too many houses around where you are sitting on your deck and a POD of dolphins goes gliding past.  It's always changing out there but this has to be the best so far.  Mind you there was a rainbow this morning that just swept across Corio Bay but I think I will have to give it to the Dolphins for stealing the show.

Beach Birds

Spent two hours over at the beach this arvo. This may have broken the record for the latest day of the season where we went into the water.  Not many people around but there were plenty of birds, especially the Blue Fairy Wren.  These birds ventured away from the brush and out onto the open sand. This must mean there are no dogs and not much wind. I haven't seen them on the beach before. Then came the Flame Robin. 

Female 1 on beach

Climbing Mount Seagrass

Flame Robin

Male

Female 2 on beach

Morning Jogger

I haven't been for a jog for two years due to the arch in foot problem. The Carlton captain is suffering from it at the moment as well. I did go for a stop start effort this morning. The tide was low and no wind to speak of.  I used arch support runners and thicker socks and only jogged on the sandy sections which has worked ok.  Previously you new straight away there was still an issue but so far so good.  Not sure how football players cope when they have to run 10 kms a day.

See the seagulls on the sea post

Hedge Fun

We have found some bushes that have not had any attention for some years.  I don't think the previous lot were garden literate. In their twelve month tenure, nothing was touched. These bushes are weed like and hard to kill, therefore can stand some severe cutting. The electric trimmer was put to good use and this time 'She who must be Obeyed' did not cut into any electrical cordage.

NBN Technology

Towards the end of 2016 the NBN introduced technology choice where, if you are eligible, you can apply to change the internet delivery service .  You could apply yourself or via your ISP. I spent three days on the phone to Optus and they have not heard about it or at least it has not made its way down to the people who work the phones.  I have now opened my own dialogue with NBN. I want to switch from FTTN to FTTP.  The next step is to pay a $600 fee just to get a quote which is non refundable. Then you get the quote most likely in the thousands.  I think I have found an FTTN node on a pole about 50m away. If that is true then the quote may be under $5000.

Stamp Stats

It has taken me four months but I have moved 1078 stamps from my older album to the new binder style albums.  This includes the time to individually scan and enter stamp details into a database 1078 times. There are now two volumes spanning 50 pages and they are also now in chronological order.  The final stamp in the album was from the last century being the 21-Apr-1998. It was a used stamp and nothing had been added in the last 20 yar.  The last mint stamp I bought for collection, was a Gold Rush series issued on the 20th May 1981. So now there are big gaps to fill in, however I have made a very large start with the purchase of a stamp collection covering 24 year books worth of mint condition stamps, spanning from 1980 to 2003. This dovetails with the time I stopped buying them which was due to some pesky arrangement to pay off a house I had bought.

Last Stamp

The Year Books

IFUDEX

I have started a 6 week maybe 8 week treatment to replace the skin on my forehead.  Over the years this area has taken a beating. I have cream which is going to get ugly before it gets better.  We finished cutting off all the fingers of the Staghorns yesterday and a dirty job it is too with a powdered form of dead staghorn floating in the air.

Just another day

Had a few visitors today. Pete the partner called in for lunch and his first look at our new place.  We turned on a good day as well. After that the travelling Taylors dropped in for some afternoon tea. Everything was discussed including some of our plants like the staghorns which are being eaten by a worm and also the lillypillies being eaten by the sap sucking Psyllids.  At least the gall wasp has not found our lemon tree.

Every brown finger has to be cut off 

Psyllids - nasty miniature cicadas

St Andrew's Brewery

The Freedman's decided to move shop but then they left this huge stable complex behind. So what better to do with it than turn it into a boutique brewery.  It is also a new venue for 30th birthdays and showing off new babies. I had my first Joshua nurse today, I guess I need the practice. The ferry ride was very smooth but it does make for a long day when you do it twice.

Yout Joshin me - Two Joshes

Party Time

The Pope's brown eye

Who Stole the You Yangs?

I woke up to a sunny morning but there were no You Yangs.  Day to day it never looks the same across the way. We had visitors who were celebrating their 10th anniversary together.  We spent a few hours over the beach and then finished off with some pool. The deck is a warm place in April if there is no wind.  We need to bring an umbrella up.

Beachniks

Sun Deck

No You Yangs

Other People's Poo

Managed to get another half dozen pictures on the wall today. The mountain of frames never seems to lessen and the available wall space never fills up.  Got over to the beach after the working day ended around 3:30pm. This time I went for a proper swim (with face mask and flippers) for about 200 metres.  I haven't managed anything like that since last summer. On the way back we took care of a nice packet of poo which had been bagged up and seemingly left just for us. There were no dog walkers anywhere so who else was gonna do it?

Some lethal looking spears

Walking with Poo

Venus

Just been outside checking out some interplanetary observations. We have noticed that there are times when you need to whisper out there as you can be heard at the end of the street.  I have heard conversations coming from boats on the water. It is so quiet. The hand held night shots weren't too bad either.

Venus below and left of the Moon

StarGazer

Mt Clifton

I got out on the bike today, just a short trip into town, checking out the post office and the library.  The Librarian assured me she could get any book that I wanted. Hard copy they would source it, soft copy you could download it.  I bought an extra stamp album, as my current project to re-organise my collection has spilled over into a second album.  On the way back i tried to find the highest point in Clifton Springs.  I found my way onto a court that was flat at the top. There were two unfinished houses and a vacant block up there but good water views.  In the afternoon we went to the beach as the weather had fined up again. The water still warm enough for a dip.

Higher View - No power lines

A close to shore reef

A commuter heading back home from work

Clean Up Clifton Day

We held our own clean up but there were only two of us.  We collected three bags of plastic in the walk along the beach area.  Not too bad considering the storm that blew thru. I remember a Bear Grills show where one of the campers gathered hundreds of plastic bottles and made a cushioned bed out of them.  The grass beds took a hammering with huge piles washed up and some fresh green ropes made of grass.

The grass corner

Rope

Garbo

I stepped in a well

I did not know we had a well. It seemed others new about it but I didn't. It looked like solid ground covered with stones but all this is decorative, disguising where the water is pumped from for the water feature.  I was cutting yet more branches from the olive grove but stepped down from the ladder straight into the well.  Before that we had lunch at our neighbours two doors down. I knew I was going so I baked a cake, my first fudge creation in an electric oven. He cooked his own pea and mint pizza in the wood fired pizza oven as well as baked chocolate puddings. There was no room for the fudge. It turns out his wife was one of my lecturers at Deakin Uni when I was doing the Grad Dip of Computing.  This was the first emergence of the internet with acoustic couplers and Hollerith cards.

The Chocolate Doughnut

CSGC

We tried this eatery about 15 yar ago but now that we are living next door we revisited. Prices are reasonable and cheaper if you join up. We stayed for the meat raffle but didn't get a sausage.  A storm has hit today so we tried the beach during the rain. Mainly checked out the creek diversion which is pushing the water onto the other side of the groyne.

Pool Shark

Clubbing Veterans

Smooth Flow

The Dish (Clifton Springs style)

After a second try we now have a dish so we can get back to some important bike ride watching. As well we have been given an IQ3 box so anything we had recorded has disappeared. I can't remember what was there anyway.  More technology involves the intercom system where we have now read the manual. We can pipe radio to each room as well as talk between rooms.   The latest guests have approved the new house and have fully settled into their room.  The required trip to the Dell was taken this morning, this time by car but the view was good on a still morning.

No cricket on this Dish

The farmer in the Dell?

GrandPa News

It's taken a while but there is going to be a gang of similar aged cousins all led by the Mighty Quinn who will be a tad older.  Not sure how it has worked out that the youngest has turned out to be the first with the offspring.  And now we have a sand pit especially prepared.

Distractions

Making the most of these late afternoons with another short swim at 4:30.  Back in time for sunset.  I got around to some of the last boxes today, which were all paintings and photo frames.  At least they are unpacked and some are unwrapped and a few have even made onto the walls, including a clock for the kitchen.

Approaching the sunset with tripodation

Swiss Time

Evening Swim

Come 4:30 pm and it was 31° so we ambled over to the beach for an hour.  It was a low tide again so we tested the waters out beyond the rock groynes.  It was as far out as we have been so far and still only waste deep.  The water has stayed warm. We were watching pilot training across at Avalon where a jet was doing touch and gos and then looping around in a big arc over the top of us.

Beyond the Groyne

Sea swimmer

Low Tide Walk

There was quite a low tide just over the way so we wandered down but turned right (east) towards the city. We hadn't been this way previously and it is rocky in places however you can keep your feet dry when the tide allows.  We went as far as the next groyne, there is a small beach here but the ever present dried sea grass abounds.  All manner of exercise occurs, from weight draggers to distance swimmers.

South Pole with Huskie (on the surf side)

Giant Plovers

Lonely Sea (on the Bay side)