We were playing a few rounds of UNO after a hard days shopping. We got a new NAS drive, a google chromecast, a samsung S20 phone and a dining setting. Whew! Then we saw that that it was very pleasant across the way as we were playing these UNO rounds on the deck. We should be strolling on our beach even though we were supposed to be putting on the pizza as it was 7:00pm. We had it to our selves.
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| Splash of colour |
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| All calm |
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| Rock Rang Bird Hang You Yang |
Who has ever heard of cleaning up before the cleaners arrive. Well we gave the house a quick swipe over. One of our original cleaners, Sharon and husband Kevin was passing thru, so called in, as we had promised to let them see our new house even though it has taken three years to get it arranged. We passed inspection as she thought it was a clean scene here. We have actually been on the hunt for a cleaning service and have located one but have not made contact yet. We went to our source with the complete Bellarine network but could not recommend a cleaner however his daughter pipes up that she knows a cleaner. Sharon was on her way to a Ross Wilson concert so we sat them on the balcony for an hour or so before they had to zip off to the show. I will be on the look out for that show myself.
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| reflected selfie |
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| Suns out again |
We had wet day visitors but the rain eventually stopped during the afternoon. I took some running photos each hour of the the outpouring into the bay. The beach survived well as the rain was steady but the muddy bloom was ever widening. We had some prawns followed by crumbed gunard and apple pie. Couldn't get better in a restaurant. We walked it off around the garden and then down onto the beach.
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| Mud Bloom 1 |
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| Mud Bloom 2 |
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| Washed clean |
We are socked in here with steady soaking rain all night and into the day. When I look out there doesn't seem to be any difference between the water the and the sky. I did do a quick rubbish run along the beach yesterday. I was expecting quite a haul but there were no obvious piles where the boats had pulled up a few days back. I mostly got small items like cigarette butts. One other significant small item was the bright pink tip of a balloon, water balloon that is. Asher was dropping water bombs some weeks ago in our front yard and one of them I found on the grass at least 400 metres away. Our strawberries are flying and can be measured in punnets now.
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| Strawberry Fields |
This is the third and last book in a trilogy about Empire and is an 800 page finger breaker. As with other epic sagas, there are so many characters and plot lines the author has to work out ways of updating the reader about something 2000 pages back. Most of the loose ends were put away so this one is done and dusted but you never know if some TV man wants to film it then characters could be revived. The politics of this series was never ending. What with the magicians, the assassins, the lords, the priests, the aliens and not to forget the Gods. There was another thing called the rift and someone else called the enemy, these last two are still out there.
I have at least driven thru Victoria's larger towns but Hamilton is one I cannot say I have ever been too. You would remember something like Reg Ansett's Aviation Museum, a bit of a tin shed really and why is it in Hamiton? The drive back was cool in the morning and we had to get back in time for the online discussion of Debbie's Pure Bookkeeping Book. We did stop at the Inverleigh cafe again for morning tea. All up you can get from here to Dunkeld in less than 3 hrs.
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| Coffee Cafe Inverleigh |
Hamilton Gardens
It cooled down overnight and we postponed our walk up to the Picaninny as it was misty and raining first thing. Plan B was coffee in Dunkeld then a drive to Hamilton for lunch. We detoured to the gardens which are of a very high standard and similar but smaller to Melbourne's botanic gardens. These were created by the same guys and have trees over 150 yar old. There were some shops open but most were closed. We had lamb cutlets at the Central Hotel and very tasty they were too. The drive to the Picaninny is only three Km from our cabin. The walk is easier than the others, like Mt Sturgeon taking 3.5 hrs. Ours was 3km in total but we took our time with drinks at the top and good views of the Victoria Range.
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| There was going to be a big Australia Day show here but was moved. Boo. |
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| Sturgeon |
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| Abrupt |
We set off around 9:30 am and it was already 30°. The destination was Dunkeld but I wanted a swimming hole before that and I found a very big one called Lake Bolac. We had some morning tea at a now well used Inverleigh cafe. We also got some salad rolls for lunching on the go. We arrived at Lake Bolac at 12:30pm. There were a few groups spread out but we found a table which was handy for lunch and a dip in the lake. There was a few yokels practising their axe throwing. Many of the axe throws were going past the target and almost into the water!
The accommodation here has everything you need. I camped in a field below Mt Sturgeon about 5 yar ago during the Great Victorian Bike Ride where we rode thru this town of Dunkeld. I do not recommend staying here on Monday thru Wednesday. A lot of the eateries are shut early in the week. One shop open was the bookstore. I bought a secondhand book of one of the convict arrivals on the 26th Jan 1788. Good timing. We have got a booking for a bistro which is a one kilometre walk thru the bush to get to at 6:30pm.
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| A Lake for two |
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| Quality Books |
We went across just for a quick dip to cool off. There were numerous boats and sea doos and spear gun men so we did not snorkel. We had a drink in the shallows and then headed back. Two of the neighbours who have a holiday house three doors down, came and sat for an hour or so. They are debating whether to sell up and move permanently from Sunshine on the Maribyrnong River.
There has been plenty of entertainment on the water with the Geelong yacht club sailing regatta going past. There are hundreds of sail boats making there way to Geelong for Australia Day.
Regatta de Breeze
It is beach city around here at the moment. This is the fourth beach day in a row and there are a lot of cars around but it still does not make for that much of a crowd on the beach. Our CopaCabannah arrived this week and we are now officially kings of the beach as noone else had one. The snorkeling continues as the low tide is progressively retreating into night. Did not see any rays yesterday. We spied a spear gunman who shot two butterfish and says there were plenty more. I have not gone out that far for a while but will try today. The Dirt Lady is progressing and part of it is to get more of her clothing from the front yard.
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| Cool Cabannah |
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| Floral Gown |
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| Butter Fish |
The plantings are coming along with plentiful results. The big improver this time around are the strawberries. For the first time we gathered 10 good strawbs with plenty on the vine so it seems the harvest will be daily. Also the cherry tomatoes have burst out with a daily collection. The large tomatoes are there but are bright green and a ways off yet. The zucchinis are also sprouting large. We have the neighbours eggs so let's have egg and lettuce sandwiches for lunch. What no lettuce, just go out and grab some leaves, no problemo.
The other big project is the Plant Lady. This has been going for a couple of weeks now and she has been moved at least four times. She is now on wheels so can be moved and turned as needed for the next piece of clothing. She is mostly dirt so far but does have a bodice.
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| Bare Bones |
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| Dirt lady |
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| Bodice Lady |
There were more meetings and agendas until 1:00pm however the Sun had come out by then so we went down to our adventure beach. This is not done without some planning. Ideally you want low tide and no wind as the walk can be as long as you want even up to 10km to Port Arlington if you wanted. The trick is to turn right at the front door where we normally go left. We walked around 2km before setting up shop. We have not gone this way since last Summer. The beach conditions can change heaps over a year. There was hardly any seagrass the whole way. The tide was not quite low enough so we had to wade in long stretches but you can see hundreds of small fish trying to get out of your way. There are many rocks so reef shoes are better but sandy footfalls can mostly be found. We packed it up after a few hours and got back around 6:00pm.
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| There are small caves along here |
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| A short reef |
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| no sharing here |
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| the only cloud |
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| The good circle |
I have heard of Ruby Tuesday but today is Ruby Thursday. We had appointments this morning but on a 25° day we have to wander across to the beach. We got there around chinese dentist time. The tide was out which is not ideal for my swim. If you can imagine the seagrass as growing in linear hedgerows parallel to the shore then what I did this time was to go out deeper into the next gap between hedgerows. It is not as well defined but I did see one ray and a fat fish that sat on the bottom without moving. Quite a few dogs came in later as the low tide is suitable for lots of dogs but we would like them all to go to the dog park. Yesterday Nana Beryl was not the only one to get presents. I mentioned to Bianca some time back that I was on the hunt for red chocolate. It is a recent discovery and a top secret process. There are now four types of chocolate, milk, white, dark and red. The boffins are marketing it as Ruby chocolate but since I heard about it two yar ago I have not been able to buy it. Bianca got on the case and within weeks I now have a block of Ruby, specially made for David Jones.
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| Private Beach |
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| I haven't tasted it yet |
We only used one candle for an 89 yar old but that did not matter to Asher as she still blew it out as if there were 89 of them there. It was another of my fudged cake attempts but it did taste fudgy. Great Grandma had a leg issue so could not make it but Great Grandpa was there and Nana Beryl, who all seemed to be taken in a two year old's stride. There were the usual questions like, What you doin Pa? and during the afternoon you can hear, What you doing Great Grandpa? Our old cleaners Julie and Sharon (They are not old!) were there and we have decided we need a cleaner as well but would never get them down here although we are getting them down here on Saturday next. Asher got a present as well being about twenty of those supermarket stickies. These super market advertising geeks choose to make a few rarer ones like the glow in the dark cheese barrel currently selling for $100. She kept opening all the packets from Great Grandpa until the extremely rare silver hamburger popped out. Now I have been collecting stamps that have a rarity and a history and are over 100 years old but this small piece of plastic was non existent 6 months ago so why are people paying $2500 for it. It will be a nice addition to Asher's savings. We are finishing off this 22𝆩 day on our deck.
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| Stickie prizes |
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| Plastic Money |
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| Blow me down |
A bit of a rest day after yesterdays riding, driving and baby sitting. Haven't watched that much cricket this time around but saw a bit today. Also unloaded the video camera which features Asher's sore eye but it has now popped open so should retreat to its normal size. Hooray.
Asher remembers everything you say.
The Hyatt checkout is 12 Noon but I left at 10:00am to get my way to Docklands via Keilor and Essendon. I checked out the old stamp shop which is now a skin science place. Paul Obrien the secondhand dealer sign is still above the door. I picked up the Moonee Ponds creek track near the start of Flemington Rd. The new Yarra tunnel project is all over the place where it goes under Moonee Ponds Creek. I detoured twice on temporary bike bridges across the creek. Closer to Docklands the Film Studio is expanding and completely closed the track while sound stage 6 is constructed. I had to find the nearest road. It took 50 minutes to get back to Pascoe Vale along the Creek bike track compared to 30 minutes on the road.
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| Money for detours |
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| No money for detours |
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| Water Play |
This hotel is fully open for business, including the restaurant. They have this electronic method of checking in via your phone and then a door key is sent to the phone as well. I think there is a curfew on planes at Essendon as we did not hear any. It does not have a pool so I would not use it again as we could not get in over at the Mantra.
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| An Australia Day photo |
The barbecue deck is open for business complete with planter boxes, watering system and deck lights. At the other end there is a huge cubby house with kitchen, barbecue and sink. As soon as you put a metal pot on the stove it lights up red with cooking noises. I think Asher was more interested in the sink and getting the water out of it for splashing. We had snags, hamburgers and lamb shasliks off the webber which works a lot better now that it is level.
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| Planters |
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| Slow Progress |
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| Who has got a sore eye? |
We made our way to Brunswick to a huge coffee factory called Black Code. We met Heidi's folks Tony and Jackie for a lunch which James and Heidi sneakily paid for. It has taken a while to get us together but the count down is on for baby and the house move to Watsonia,which is about three weeks away. Tony and Jackie announced that they are moving to the Gold Coast and the only hold up has been the COVID business. The food was just the right size and a bit European. We got to know some of their interests and that they were going to retire ASAP.
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| Danger Signs |
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| Caffeine City |
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| table talk |
Always good to have new visitors around the place. Leanne and Shane arrived about 1:00pm for some lasagne and zucchini slice. The sidewalk market is still booming here. We received 6 or 7 large zucchini from across the road, so trays of zucchini slice were made up for a return however they had already made a freezer full so we had to get them across to our other neighbour who dropped off the excess dozen eggs the other day. But before you go take these two bottles of sauce, two jars of jam, a jar of chutney and something else I can't remember. Anyway back to the lunch, we had plenty of zucchini slice. We took them down to OUR beach even though it was a bit windy but they got the idea. We got talking stamps as their friend whom they just visited, was an avid collector and has now moved to Torquay.
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| I baked a cake |
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| The garden tour |
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| No swimmers today |
Seems like quite awhile since I have had a look at some stamps. It is a bit of an ugly day outside so we have been driven inside. Some garden projects got attention but it is suddenly cold. I have been chasing some individual stamps on the Delcampe web page. This is a complicated sales site where dealers and collectors gather from all over the world and not just for stamps but all kinds of collectables. I have been specific, like the first stamp in the world to feature a bicycle, which happens to be a Cuban stamp. I have been on the hunt for this and found one for sale in Russia. It has taken 5 or 6 weeks to get here but has finally arrived. The cost of sending it was more than the cost of buying it eg €4.50 to buy and €6.00 to send. This is the cheaper 1902 version, the 1900 version might cost me €20.00
Sometimes you can buy outright and other times you place bids until the clock runs down. I found a dealer in Sydney where I have bid on two of his stamps. This is the first time I have tried this on Delcampe. I am the only bidder at €1.00 each and now must wait 18 days until the clock runs down.
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| This is the version from 1902. |
I can tell you that the edge trimming of the lawns takes a lot longer than the actual lawn mowing. All the grass is enclosed on all sides by some form of edge that needs a trim. Then throw in the paths, driveways and concrete manhole covers. I also dropped the spool of line before I started which complicates the feeding of it thru the eyelet. I finished off with some poisoning of persistent weeds so the whole operation was two hours. The clean up day actually began on the beach in the morning. I collected a large bag of refuse including the most cans and bottles I have seen. I was checking the bushes at the back of the beach and found quite a lot where people were trying to hide it including two bags of poo. I need a shower.
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| weirdest item was a broken snorkel tube |
Our beach was quite busy for midweek. I noticed some party leavings like bottles and cans, so might try to get back tonight but most likely tomorrow for a clean up. The tide cycle has come full around to high tide at mid afternoon so ideal for my swim. I turned on the Gopro this time and recorded the same Banjo Ray that we saw the other day. This one does not fuss when anyone is around and continues to snuffle along the bottom for a feed. It was cloudy with some Sun but hardly any wind with an ideal 25°. We got back about 4:30pm and found a car parked on our grass. That is the first time I have seen this. I cannot be sure they were even at the beach as they were parked near our garage side and could have been visiting a neighbour.
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| Note Cool Cabanah |
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| A towing toy |
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| Pink Flamingoes |
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| Name and Shame |
