Avalon Update

It is Industry day at the Air Show, so lots of flights but no real entertainment of the masses.  We have been watching the practice sessions from a far but with the aid of spyscopes and video you can get a seat near the tarmac.  It is difficult to maintain focus when you are at the maximum.

                                                                       Landing

                                                                     Strafing Run

The Collectibles Shop

There is a shop in Queenscliff that has old stuff and also sells stamps in plastic bags.  The guy on duty was filling in for the day and could not find them. When I first moved to Geelong I searched for stamp shops and the only reference was a sometime dealer who only opened occasionally and was mostly retired.  We were driving through Drysdale as you do, and Debbie spied this small flag on a house which said the "Collectibles shop".  We go around the back and this broken down house is full of toys (mostly cars), posters, coins ,comics, all manner of stuff and stamps in plastic bags.  The shop man said he doesn't advertise because he is wary of the council. He said the guy who makes up the stamp packs for him is a retired dealer from the area. Ding.  I bought one bag for $6.00. There were 1200 stamps in it so around 0.5c each.  

Aussie Picker

Wall to Wall stuff

Council Complaints

We rang up the council for our first complaint. I can't believe it is a coincidence that one week after the council start blabbing that they are installing an underwater sculpture park, particularly suited to snorkeling, that two mini bus loads of tourists turn up and park across from us on the verge. This operation looked very commercial but no advertising on the buses. Each bus had 10 people and out the back of each came tubs of wet suits, snorkels, flippers and towels and off they all went down to OUR beach lugging it with them.  We have ignored all the cars parking and the hustle and bustle during the school holidays but this is a Tuesday in March and we don't want buses blocking things off for hours. The council were sending someone straightaway. As it turns out we were leaving for a bike ride and were not waiting around. When we got back about 3 hours later the buses were gone.  The council are meant to be ringing us back with their report.  I believe this lot mistakenly thought this was the Dell.

We're on to you

The Sunken Gallery advertising Pic

The Show in the Air

Planes, planes and more planes and its only Monday.  I can tell you that whatever the mission is they make sure it is scheduled in the morning so they are back in time for lunch.  The fighter jets are impressive. I saw them criss cross the sky multiple times in only 5 minutes. Every time I tried to lock on, stealth mode kicked in and I could not find them in the blue sky.  A squadron came much closer and finally I could focus on.

Beach Walk

More like a wilderness walk and only a kilometre from our front door there is an area that is totally deserted. We did see foot prints but the only people we saw were on the sea doos.  This is quite a rocky walk in places and we dodged plenty by walking thru the shallows. The access point is nasty but I timed this for low tide and on the way back we took the low road as the tide allowed.  There were many formations and critters being exposed including the most red looking lava rock I have seen.

Kelp

Crustaceans

Some where only we know

Lava Rock

Hot Rocks

back to civilisation

Rocky Road

Rocky the Dog went for a long walk to the Dell and back so he was in need of a rest and he wasn't alone.  Interesting how the Doggy Doo had to be retrieved from the sea water. Errk.  Lunch was home made pizza and plenty of it and there was even a spare for Jeff to take home. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating birthday cake on the deck and watching the waterworld go by.

one pizza two pizza more pizza three

Rocky knee knocky

old swimming pavilion

low tide ramble

More Snorkel

We have guest snorkels although we don't have guest flippers so we need to get some more flippers as even goggles are good enough with the clarity of the water at the moment.  Two hours was spent lazing on the beach except for the swimming part.  The other big item today was the fly past of three planes in formation, so low and fast I didn't get time to get out the camera. The middle plane was gigantic and turns out it was a C17 Globemaster flanked by two F-18s.

Beach Time

Build up to 40km

Went for a short ride to the other end of town. The ticket office at Mr Potato Shed is across the other side of the new freeway works and they have not got their internet ticketing working as yet, so you have to go to the shed to get a ticket.  We tried the coffee truck near the train station on the way back.  There is always someone buying coffee no matter what time of day. The ride was only 16km and we have to build up to 40km before flitting off to Europe.

ByPass

Coffee and Q Train

Also went for a swim - cross training

Scanner runs hot

A quiet day means getting the scanner out.  I have continued to wade thru Nana beryl's green album, a couple of which I have picked out.  I have also continued with my stamp year books having scanned 2015 today so there are only three years after that, then it will be the turn of the cancelled (used) stamps. My stamp database is back on track having to duplicate some hours re-entering data.

Any one for Ice Cream?

Tickled

Bush Walks

and Bicycles

Ankle Biters

Trips to Melbourne are now a co-ordinated itinerary of multiple venues and destinations. If you are going to make the trip then don't waste a minute.  So first it was lunch with my parents then off to Keilor for some colonoscopy goo but also to check out nearby hotels. After that there was at least 2km of walking inside WestField to return three items all at opposite ends of the centre.  Turns out our new waterproof GoPro does not allow for the changing of a spare battery. So why did they sell us a spare $40 battery? Then it was picking up Nana Beryl, getting across to Daniel and Bianca's for some Asher Time. The last venue was the Pascoe Vale pub for  three hours of Birthday chatter.  And there's always the getting home part.

Chew and Spew

Long table

Bald Head Conference

Harvest

There will be less planting next time as there is just too much produce.  After the tassie week the tomatoes have gone crazy. Only a few have been lost to birds as the netting is working well.  As it turns out the neighbours have no tomatoes due to the location of their plants getting extra sun, so we have been able to give them some. I have a recipe for tomato soup but it says use canned tomatoes as these have the seeds removed. How do you get seeds out of tomatoes?

Bucket Loads

There are hundreds more

The Rail Trail

A hardy group, not including me, walked the rail trail today (17km).  I gave them the horn as I drove past on our way to meet them at the BrewHouse. It is another one of those boutique beer brewers but housed in an old pub.  Before that we wandered the town. I had been chasing a stamp collection for six months and the shop man said he sold it to someone else!  I wasn't going to pay $60 for it anyway. After a long lunch it was still warmish so we spent two hours over at the beach. How life stylish.

A bruhaha at the brewhouse

Kicking back

UnderView

Got back in the water today. Also had a rather cloudy view in the water yesterday but today was much clearer although there is this eerie suspension of grass as you swim thru.  Storms have pulled a lot of sea grass and the shore is black and thick with it.  The distance was longer this time, going along the pier and across to the groyne. 

                                                                     Under View

Sea of Black

Cemetery Hill

Went to check out the bike trail and how it is faring with all the new freeway works. So far its earthworks confined to the paddocks.  There is no bridge construction as yet so right of ways are still clear. Not sure how long this will last.  On the way back I visited the dead centre of town. It seems like there is plenty of room for expansion with lots of open space for more residents.  Some of the facilities are smashed and worn. The oldest I saw was 1856 but a lot are unreadable. The streets are funny here named after religious persuasions like metho street or presso street if your presbyterian.

EarthWorks background at a place to watch trains

Old and Broken

Corruption

I have repeated this tale a few times and I will do it again. Always take frequent backups. From now on every time I have a stamp session in the database I will take a backup copy at the end of the day. Previously I was doing it weekly.  I  tried opening my database yesterday only to get the dreaded 'Unknown format error'.  I noticed there were Windows and Office updates when I was away and I believe they have effected my database. I think I may have tried to open it in between the finishing of an update (eg a reboot).  In getting ready to go to Tassie last week I did not backup the database but the previous week's backup is working fine. Now I have to re-enter around three hundred records to get back to the same point.

Fruity attraction

I am meant to be resting up which I mostly am but I did go for a short ride into Drysdale and back.  I have to build up to 40km by the time I get to Lake Constance in mid year.  The birds have been having a feast here on nectarines and tomatoes while we were away but that does not seem to be enough, as they have dug huge holes as well. We also spied a possum last night heading for the nectarines.  Now I know why there are 20 or so pips in our back yard.  Hopefully he doesn't get into our roof, like the rat did a few month's back.

We'll need a shovel for this 

St Andrews Inn

We had 2 hrs to kill and the Launceston Airport is not your most up market, as you can't get any services until you get thru security.  We spied this older establishment with around 30 mins to go. It was a coach stopover point for travelers back in the day. It was built in 1845 by the convicts and still very solid.  I recommend the vanilla slice.

Ben Lomond

Coffee & Cake

Dining Room

Two bedrooms with ensuites

Fairy singular

We saw a few dead penguins in our ramblings over the past week. In the centre of the Binalong Beach is a fenced off penguin rookery that goes for around 200 metres.  We positioned ourselves just before sunset but penguins have their own timetable. The procedure is to wait till dark then gather on shore and scurry en masse up to the burrows. So we waited and waited. This is no Phillip Island, no lights, just cold and dark but it was interesting and I did see one penguin.  I bet they all came out when we turned our backs.

Fairys at the bottom of the Garden

Storms one day Sunshine the next

We had a cooked breakfast at the Lichen then did a beach walk to the far end of the Binalong Beach. This took around 2 hrs.  We made up some sandwiches and drove off to find a different view of the Sloop Rock down Garden Rd. There are numerous beaches and camping grounds along this area. We found Taylors beach which was next along from Cosy Corner. This was opposite the rock and from here it looked more like a milk bottle.

Beach House

Lichen 

Milk Bottle ?

Fire Resistance

We couldn't help ourselves, there were people out on the beach swimming in the rain and doing the beach thing but we had to start the fire.  It is not the first time we have had a fire during Summer in Tassie.  And we got the NetFlix going again so we just let the storms fly past.

We're Liken Lichen

We are hunkering down here at the moment. There is a freezing rain outside but that is not to say it wont get sunny again soon.  I am looking out across the Bay of Fires which everyone would be needing right now. The local boat excursion set out earlier on its "three hour tour" but I think Gilligan must be in charge as I can see they have turned around already.  The colours here are distinctive, even with this rain the water looks green.  Last night we tried our host Geoff's pizzas. He is into pizza as there is a big pizza oven in our backyard and when we go to his Lichen restaurant he is there serving us more pizza.

Green Waves

Lagoon

Make your own

Binalong Beaching

Yes the Sun has stayed out for a day although it was slightly windy but we were prepared with the wind break sun shelter. Nobody does beaching like we do. We were better prepared than the locals. The sand here is that squeaky kind which is highly rated for beaches. The Binalong is the world's 90th best beach, fancy that.

Lichen

Cove

Beach Camp