The Massage Lady

 Turns out one of the locals here that we have been catching up with for a couple of years has been trained in massage techniques. She is giving Debbie some massage therapy as a way of getting back on an even keel. (I can use that term because I live next to the water.) What a great present. Getting back to normal means looking at a few stamps which have been neglected of late. Mind you in Summer there is more interest in the outdoors than the indoors.  Nevertheless I have been tripping over a tub at the back of my chair which has been the depository for disgarded stamps. It needs to be close by so as to be easily reached. It has taken two or three years to fill up. It weighs 10kg. 10kg of dead weight paper is heavy. I have found a smaller replacement container from the Nana Beryl photo mountain, that I have reorganised a bit. It is one of those stack and store tubs. That reminds me I should get in a session of photo scanning soon. All in good time. 

The individual worth of this lot is probably at least $5000 minimum but in the scheme of things you would put this into an auction for $400 to $500.

Beach Time

 I went over to our beach today, twice.  In the morning it was uninviting, overcast, cool and breezy. I thought I would just check out any rubbish deliveries from the weekend and there was some small stuff like tops, butts and straws.  The water was murky but I went in anyway.  There were two rays along the way and they are always interesting. The second one had a crooked tail.  We went back in the afternoon as the Sun had come out.  You can tell when school has come back as we had it to ourselves for two hours. One scuba guy came but he went into the water and stayed there for the two hours.  Ah the serenity! 

Serenity Now

Great Ocean Road Race

 We paid money for a complete package at the World Champs but did not get there due to facial surgery.  That is all behind now so we were not going to let this one go by, especially after two years of COVID cancellations. Today we went to the Men's Elite and would have gone to yesterday's women except Sarah Gigante was not there so we concentrated on today.  The course was changed to the opposite direction that meant we were driving on the course in the same direction as the riders.  This means huge traffic delays if you time it wrong.  We watched the start on TV then proceeded thru the road blocks at precisley timed intervals to be ahead of the peloton.  Somehow we found street parking and were getting our way thru the city centre when we got to a feed zone only 10 minutes ahead of  Taco Van der Hoorn.  These soigneur areas are chaos.  We were standing right there with them as they were giving out stuff.  We moved on to the main straight and saw the four circuits of Geelong on the big screen with tables and chairs no less and alternated between trackside and backside. There was plenty of close up viewing of Cadel Evans in the VIP area as well as the riders at 60km an hour. Don't blink.  On a sombre note ambulances were lined up to take some broken bodies away as well.

feed station

table for two

Cadel presents

No one picked a 22 year old German Marius Mayrhofer to win his first race.

Point Lonsdale

 This is the beach area which disappears at high tide near the Point Lonsdale village. We tried the snorkel here for the first time today. The tide had dropped from 1.6m tp 0.8m so had halved by the time we arrived at 9:30am.  Crowds were already setting up but we only needed some towel space for less than an hour.  The tide was getting lower and there was no sunlight but visibility was reasonable.  There are channels between the ridges and foliage.  I headed straight across the growth field with just enough water for clearance.  A better way is to find a channel to the beach then use that.  There were good sized fish and the largest ray I have seen. It had three large fins along the tail.  Coming back in I was getting caught on vegetation but got thru.

This is one of the rare times we can get tea and coffee from across the road

                                                                    Lonsdale Snorkel

Lake Colac

 We have often breezed thru Colac but this time we stayed for lunch on the shores of the lake there.  Before that we packed everything up and took off around 9:30am.  Lunch on the foreshore was at Noon. There are the usual boating sheds, pathways, cyclists and barbecues as well as the swimming beach.  We have now unpacked and got a load of washing on the line. As for Clonmara in Port Fairy, I would recommend it even for the price at $220 per night. There is no pool and the road was noisy at times but the gardens are big. We had a deck and a spa tub, a herd of Llamas and two yaks. 

                                               A short video of the walk thru the lava channel.

more Clonmara

Lake Colac beach

Colac botanic gardens

Bugj Bim Sim Sela Bim

Around 12 yar ago when I last went to this spot it was called Mt Eccles National Park and we were only passing thru so we only did the crater rim walk and moved on. This time we brought lunch with us and took a few hours for a closer look. The renaming has also seen some new tracks like the one that gets down into the bowl of volcano lake itself.  More work needs to be done on getting rid of the blackberries.  We took a short drive to the Lava Canal walk. This leads to the lava tube entrance but is blocked now and does leave an impressive cave and natural rock bridge.  We had lunch here. Spread the blanket over some stumps, gives a nice table and seat at the same time.   

Australia Day wearable flag

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cave stairs in

rock scramble out

Lava Lunch

Koroit Revisited

 I have been to Koroit a few times and twice by bicycle. The first was on the Great Vic Bike Ride. I must say today was harder, as the rail trail surface was mostly hard stony ground, although the test areas for the upcoming surface upgrade, were a smooth pleasure to ride on.  It was a 36km ride with a coffee stop in the middle, so the bum bones got a workout.   The East Beach fish shop is an institution here and we even got some South Melbourne market dim sims.  This was all for fish and chips on the beach straight out of the paper.  The idea was that a late lunch like that means we do not have to do much for tea tonight.  We dallied on the  beach for another hour but have made it back for a late arvo snooze.  The sand here is powder soft and good for sculpting and bad for cameras.  I think I will be giving up on the traditional camera as it is impossible to keep this powdery stuff out of anything.

Almost totally flat

Koroit Station

The trail is also a sculpture park

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This one was on the Beach

reminds me of the Yucutan Incas

Clonmara

 We have made our way to Port Fairy for a three night activity. This time we are in a cottage called Clonmara. On the way we got a couple of egg and lettuce sandwiches for lunch from Colac but ate them on the foreshore at Port Fairy.  We unloaded bicycles, snorkel gear, suitcases and who knows what else. Be prepared. I am typing this on our deck while loking across to llamas and yaks. Long horned yaks, in the next paddock.  We rode out for an exploration of the area earlier this afternoon.  The rail trail ends at a siding wharehouse which is still recognisable.  We will try the other direction tomorrow.  We found the main beach and had a drink there for an hour or so.  The houses looking down on here are mansions.  Nearly time to start the barbie.

Our cottage

Australia Day eye sight

Zoo to the Rescue

 After a few froffies on the balcony last night as well as pizzas and snags we were ready for brunch this morning at the local golf club.  I checked they were open at 10:00am and the walk there was timed perfectly along the beach then up to the cliff tops. There were 50 mothers club members filing into the pokies but there was no breakfast.  You can have a coffee but that's it.  So we retraced our steps and drove off to the Zoo Cafe. Now they do a good breakfast.  

If the hat fits

Blue Wren Dell

Zoo coffee but no animals today

Estelle hits the road

 It was a flying visit by James, Heidi and Estelle, an overnighter but with plenty of Estelle action.  They spent some time in Ocean Grove and had some lunch here before the drive back to Melbourne. While Estelle was sleeping it off, there were plenty of discussions about looking for schools for her and if Catholic requirements had changed over the years.  We had the Tour Down Under on in the background and there seemed to be more ad time than ride time. At least an aussie won.  We are ready for the next guests who are just getting off the ferry now so should be here in 30 minutes.  I have washed and changed the sheets just in time. Whew!

Bluey Stars Again

TinkerBell flies again

 For the 2nd time we were off to the spiegeltent to see Peter Pan go toe to toe with Capn Hook.  We had a better view from the third row than from the reserved booth at the back.  Estelle was very enthralled with the whole thing and paid attention for most of the hour.  Afterwards she took to the Ferris wheel as easy as you like.  She is a bit of a daredevil.  The adults enjoyed the show just as much as the kids. Estelle has been picking strawberries and lemons with me out the back. She ate most of the strawbs and bit into the lemon rind.  Now that's a flavour full.

strawberry feels 

tink does her tink

Look at that

Hard Day

 Debbie has gone to pay respects and I need to do something useful. The abandoned barbecue at the beach has been annoying me so I went down to see if it was still there and lo and behold it was. Fat chance the culprit was coming back after two weeks so I lugged it all the way up the hill and got it over to the bin area. People were filling it with rubbish as well. I went back for a proper beach clean walk as there was no one around.  I picked up a lot this time, including 6 cans, plastic tubing, the usual numerous butts, lids and rope as well as a nasty dog poo bag.

After that I rode into Drysdale to check out the IT repair shop.  My hard drive issue continues. The problem was the controller board where a capacitor popped.  That area is away from the drive but the drive will not spin up.  They are sending it to the specialist for another look.  The turn around for these guys is months.

Half way up the hill

another trashy job

1945

 Debbie is still sorting here and has mostly got everything in tidy piles except for the desk papers. Yet another thing uncovered was a 1945 Herald that was reprinted about 30 yar ago. It is an authentic reproduction from the end of WWII.  I spent some time reading the ads and what films were on at the time, like Bob Hope in Princess and the Pirate at the Capitol Theatre.  The Board of Works were there as well.  It was also like an ad but urging people to conserve water before official water restrictions are imposed. We have heard that before, although now we have a desalination plant. 

My First Year - NOT

 I tried a new massage lady today and she lives just around the corner as well.  More and more people are working from home, if they can get away with it.  I have gotten back into some scanning as Debbie wants to place some photos with the sorted piles that she has got going here. The siblings will be able to peruse and choose some take home treasure.  One of the albums I did today says "My First Year" on the cover. OK I wonder who's first year.  Not a baby photo to be seen in it.  There are a few below.

I think that is BOP's tennis court

Woolley front yard ?

Cessna cruise

who's yard ?

Cycling mementos

We are sticking to the airconditioning here with indoor jobs.  I have not got back into the photo scanning of the Clancy backlog  as yet, however just looking through some more of the retrieved memorabilia  I found two cycling booklets. One is the Coburg Cycling Club rule book (1946) and the other is the Victorian Amatuer Cyclists' Union rules (1948).  I noticed an advertisement for a cycle and sports store at 351 Gaffney St. Now I knew that shop back in the 1960's and it was being used as a house by one of my class mates at BOP's but I can't remember  his name.  There must have been some Clancy cyclists back in the 40's for these books to have been kept. 

Trim Trimmer

 We have had this plug in long bladed cutter for some time and Debbie has been retired from using it due to cord  issues. We had packed it away for a couple of years but were forced to get it out becuase the shrubberies here have been ignored for some time. There is one down the side street that has never been trimmed back and now stops me from mowing the lawns there.  

I went for the swim this morning and conditions were poor.  Main complaint was visibility.  Suspended grass and cloud cover meant I could not see far.  There were a few rays around and one was in my face in the shallows. Surprised both of us.  I did a quick beach walk with the usual glass and butts being found. The big item was a buried beach towel and shorts.  I could just see the corner of it sticking out. It was wet, full of sand and quite heavy by the time I got it to the bin.

Point Lonsdale

 We haven't been to this beach for a while. You have to time it right as it mostly disappears at high tide.  About 10 years back a massive elephant seal named Henry used to come regularly to this spot. They used a large bucket tractor to keep him off the road.  These days it is kids 100% occupation  and dogs nil.  It looks like a good spot to try the snorkel especially at high tide as there are channels between the rocky stuff.  At first Asher would not touch the sea weed but with some coaxing she started to get some interest going, along with shells, fish and sand.

Squirters

Weed Hair

Hard Drive not driving

 The latest network drive I attached maybe 4 years back, lost power overnight on Friday the 13th and has stayed that way. I have taken it to an IT shop where various options will be tried to get it going. Not Happy.  The final visit to Baptcare yesterday, saw everything removed and delivered into our garage. Now we have to concentrate on that pile.  Also got to do the swim for the first time in a long while. It was a stop start effort as water was getting into my mask.  The beach looked clean enough despite all the usage.  The old barbecue from last week is still there, so someone has hefted this iron box down the hill but decided it is someone else's problem now.

This thing is still full of old coals.

Calcium Score 80

 Managed to get to the doc yesterday.  He was happy with the CT-Scan score whereby anything under 100 is a good result for calcium however the blood tests confirm my average of around 4.6 for the cholesterol score is being maintained.  Although it is not necessarily a problem, he wants to get this down and closer to three. For a period of time I am now on two pills per day, one anti-inflamatory and one anti-cholesterol. I had a look at the neglected strawberry patch this morning and picked out a whole punnet of strawbs.  Quite a few others had withered or been eaten but this should be a tasty lot for a few days.

Crocodile & Buffalo

 I think one of the appropriate grand child experinces was when Estelle used the booklet for drawing purposes and scribbled all over it.  We sweated over that for hours and Nana Beryl would have loved it being drawn on.  All those ankle biters did well and I noticed that Evie was always more interested when Cathie started singing.  I have a crowded view of the dance ceremonies when we were gathered around but it still gets the idea across.

More Nana Beryl Photos

 I have had a scanner at Williamstown as well as Clifton Springs so there is quite a library built up here (1514 photos) which were not considered for todays presentations. It is a quiet time this mrning so I am  wading thru some. Don't let anyone tell you that women's sport is not fiercely contested.

Always with the kids