Jets Jet Off

 We had a huge flypast this morning as jets were heading back to home base however do you think I could see anything of them with this low cloud cover. Kaia wasn't much interested in jets when we were waiting at the rendezvous near Cafe 42.  We did some sand castles on the beach which were quickly demolished and the only flyer she was interested in were the seagulls which were being chased.  The handover was quick as Asher was asleep in the back seat and there would be more traffic on the way back.  So it will all happen again in two years.

Asher leads the Way

 Two Grandies went on the post-prandial walk and Asher says that if she sings the Elsa song then she will get so strong that she will get all the way to the end and back.  That was a good idea except it turned into more of a run than a walk and Kaia was non stop right behind her. Whatever Asher does Kaia does.  It was a good thing Kaia stayed behind with us today rather than go with her sister to the airshow or they would have been flying all over the place. Don't forget your earplugs.  Today was reading, drawing, playing, more reading, playground, lunch, sleeping and we still have the afternoon to go. Those Grandies! 

Good Walking

Good Ball Skills

Good Penmanship

Good Balance

On the BoardWalk

 We drove around to the RippleSide area North of Geelong. There is much large boat action here and at the moment a lot of aviation action as well being a lot closer to Avalon in this spot. We also called into Cafe 42 however they have removed the meatball roll from the menu. Drat! I guess it went the way of the lobster roll. I made do with a pie and peas.  I guess I am keeping up my veggie value with peas. All these veggies are harming the local environment though, as my carbon emissions have increased to the point were anyone nearby will be claiming carbon offset points. Too much information. It was the calmest I have seen here. People were just floating on the surface in relaxed fashion so we got in and did the same. 

Beach Report No823

 Went across to check out the state of things as we have not used our own beach for some weeks.  There have been some bottles down in the culvert area for a while and I saw it was fairly dry so I got down into it for a proper look.  There were four plastic bottles and a rubber ducky.  Now there is a rubber ducky race at Barwon Heads where 1000 numbered ducks are tipped off a truck into the river. I wonder if one got away.  The rest of the beach was ok.  The usual butts, plastic lids and rope pieces. I did find a bikini top and a Marlboro smokes pack which have not turned up before.  There is also a lot of burning off at the moment not to forget the daily bombing runs this week that shake the house from across Corio Bay. 

PS If you want to check out some of the AirShow there is a youtube channel called Aviation Spotters Online.

Maps on Stamps

 There is a link here to my article from the other day.  Each electronic edition is loaded into dropbox. You do not need to join up in order to read a copy so ignore those requests. There was a button to download a copy but it may not be there now.  Apparently it was a big article so has been segmented into the next editions as well.  I think there might only be two members of this worldwide society in Melbourne and I had a reply from the other one. In the article I refer to a stamp from Reunion where I checked the co-ordinates on the stamp where the Easting (Longitude) was out by a couple of degrees. He pointed out that at the time the stamp was produced (1907), France was stubbornly sticking to their own prime meridian which of course ran thru Paris rather than the one everyone else was using at Greenwich.  At least that accounts for one of the anomolies I found.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2cu222kgyg4hatqejz4xe/TNCP-89-April-2025-PDF-Final.pdf?rlkey=385q4pvkne18obrgevvjnc8e6&st=ewue3vys&dl=0

should be 55E not 53E

A conference in Washington voted on the Greenwich meridian for universal use in determining time and navigation in 1884 but France held out until 1914. Those Frenchies!

Garden of Rama

 Arthur C Clarke is a bit of a legend when it comes to science fiction. The 2001 Space Odyssey always come to mind and there were follow up books for that one being Odyssey 2010 and Odyssey 2061, so it should be no surprise to me that the Garden of Rama is not the last volume in this other story.  When I first got Rama vol 2 as a Hugo winner way back, I had to hunt for Rama vol 1 to get things in the right order.  I found them and read them only to find I needed Garden of Rama which is vol 3 and took some years to find a copy.  This story is suddenly reproducing the various ills that effect the Earth and translating them all into space. These space farers may as well have stayed at home.  So now I need to track down Rama Revealed which absolutely positively is the last volume in this saga. 

Back on the Bike

 It has been a week since the first dosage so we expanded the exercise routine with a bike ride of 16km which is a bit longer than the last ride from at least a month ago.  We stopped at the coffee van but have to bring our own green tea bag for this stop.  This spot is right next to the train yards where they are always tinkering with something. This time one of the station shelters was being rebuilt and they had also left an engine on view outside the main shed.  I think they should put some time toward getting the turntable working agian.

You can hear Chinooks underwater

I have done a bit of snorkel in my day and experienced and seen my fair share during the swims but getting buzzed by chinooks has to be right up there.  My hearing has improved of late so the unmistakable chatter of helicopters sounds different underwater. I can't say how but it does.  They buzzed by three times and I emerged to film one of those passes.  Back here preparations continue over at Avalon.  There were strifing runs and bombing runs with much explosion.  Back to the water, the JawBone is one of the better bay locations I have found so far for a snorkel. There are always good sized fish as it is a sanctuary afterall.

Published

 Some yar ago during COVID, remember that word, most of us were scratching around for something to do. There was a European website that took articles and papers featuring stamp themes.  So being a properly qualified cartographer I wrote a paper about Maps on Stamps.  The problem was that I could never get in contact with these guys.   The mathematics behind getting a round surface onto a flat paper has long been removed from my brain however I did not want to write anything too technical.  The paper languished for some years until I joined the CartoPhilately Society.  These guys have a journal and are always looking for articles so I dusted off the words and gave it over.  

A snapshot of the printed article

Early AirShow

 Yesterday it was Roulettes, this morning it was Chinooks.  Williamstown is getting buzzed by aircraft on a regular basis.  Three times a pair of chinooks went overhead and some of us are trying to have a quiet snorkel. I get that they are coming from Avalon and also Point Cook with Essendon involved as well but flying over Williamstown and the city must all be about pre publicity.  The skies will be dotted all week.

Great Blue Yonder

Estelle's Big Four

It doesn't take long to get to four.  Estelle's house is bursting with new toys so it is time to move out the old ones. There was a bouncing session early in the afternoon however we joined the party with Grandma and Grandpa back at Estelle's house. The veggie patch is thriving here with many things we have not tried, like rock melon, beetroot and chilli peppers. We had some feather fine strands of pulled pork that had been on the heat for 17 hours with home grown salad.  After a long day we were ready for the all night Milan-San Remo bike ride. Not! I will have to leave that for a replay.

her first barbie doll

James hasn't moved so fast

blown candles

Fish Diver

 A Pacific Gull is twice the size of normal gulls and this one was having no nonsense from the interlopers after it caught a fish and started tucking in right on the rocks in the Jawbone area.  I went down for a snorkel this morning. I was in for about 15 to 20 minutes and when I emerged this gull was there tearing  into a fish.  The fish I was filming in the water were way bigger than the bird itself so this fish was a good meal size. Some Japanese tourists arrived and they were filming on their phones and the lenses on these phones were considered professional quality when they showed me some closeup video.  I may have to rethink my opinion of phone lenses. These were easily twice the size of my phone lens.

Willie Town Weekend

 Debbie is having a meditation weekend starting today, run by her business partner Pete.  It seems to me these sorts of retreats are held in the rainforest where you stay for the duration and can taste the serenity, not the back blocks of St Kilda. Due to current medical issues everything is being tried out. I did get in a gym session just now with 20 mins on the bike machine for 7.5km and 8 minutes on the rowing machine for 2km of distance.  The other news here is that the hard working manager Penny is retiring soon, so we are hoping the next person keeps this place in the same ship shape condition and keeps our backyard mowed.  I am being buzzed by roulettes just now, don't they know the grand prix is finished.

Ozone Ribs

 This beach at Indented Head has a lot going on.  The Ozone is always a target for snorkellers and each time I go there I find something different.  There is also the pelicans, however the fishing boat hire was not open yesterday which is the main draw card for the pelicans. They were still around though. Our beach friend Jill spied a parking space in the caravan park so we sat ourselves at the Western end this time which meant the approach to the Ozone was from a different angle. This way I spied the ribs of the ship broken off but covered in growth.  The visibility was good but as usual a lack of fish. I did see one larger zebra fish darting around.  The boat sheds here are big. The last one sold, was shed 11, in 2017 for $116,000.  The sale of these are rare.

Breakfast Nook

I have featured the breakfast nook position before but now I have found the video version. After Debbie started doing some of this, the neighbour next door was seen for the first time ever on her deck. It is a good spot.  Ahh the serenity.  I spied something never seen before. What happens if a slower mega ship is approached from behind by a faster one?  Well it seems the channel is wide enough for a passing lane. I have seen them passing in opposite directions but never an overtaking manouvre. 

Knees and Tomatoes

 We found a tomato plant that had been planted by birds outside in the street plot of ground that we have never considered for veggie usage.  This is a full blown plant with 30 large tomatoes on it.  For the last two weeks they have been mostly green or yellow.  In that time with all the sunshine, they are ripening in a hurry. We have picked 10 so far and the taste is tomatoey. Not sure if passersby will be helping themselves but we do have a net over them. I went to the doc to check out my knee this morning. He said for a guy turning 70 this knee is still ok for all the work it does.  He also washed out my ears which I have never had done in my lifetime. I have been snorkelling a lot lately and I have been compacting wax into my ears with plugs.  Is that too much information?

NaturoPath vs Oncologist

 We have seen this issue before with main stream medicine poopooing alternative approaches.  BUPA has removed naturopaths from their claims list, putting them firmly in the Quack category.  Debbie spent two sessions with an emminently University qualified naturopath, who prescribed three supplemental pills.  The Oncologist immediately threw one out, studied the second for 30 minutes before agreeing with it and gave the last one the OK straight away. So there seems to be some common ground there. He mainly said it was gut health that you need to concentrate on.  He said increased veggies was good but add beans, of all kinds.  I think this could end up like a scene from "Blazing Saddles".

BroadBeans - take the skin off first

After Dinner Dolphins

 There has been a review of certain habits around here and a new one is going for a walk along the cliff tops after the evening meal. Now most of the time we would take a phone to get a snap along the way but not bring a proper video snapper.  Dolphins have appeared regularly this Summer and for two nights in a row this week. So last night I was ready. I had the panasonic with me but you guessed it not a dolphin to be seen. I do have a poor mans view from phone video below, but I will keep the camera handy. Another change to eating habits is the replacement of pots and pans that have had a lot of their coatings rubbed off and bare metal showing thru. Now these were the Baccarat brand that cost an arm and a leg and they do have a lifetime  guarantee.  Which we may follow up on but in the meantime we have gone for a cheaper version and maybe these will be replaced every two years.

We could hear dolphin chatter

Dismantle

 I must have spent 6 months getting some trips happening in May and June this year and now I have spent the last three days trying to undo it all.  I have never had the unpleasure of going thru this procedure before and it involves a different pressure. The international trip has insurance and the first thing they say is to claw back what you can and then come to us and bring the paperwork.  I am still waiting for an official letter from the doctors but had to start the cancellation as the cruise penalty amount was going to double if the cruise was not cancelled before yesterday and the insurance people would not be happy.  There is also the possibility of credit card insurance needing to be applied as well. This is going to take some sorting. Not what I would call a retirement hobby.

The Sun is still setting

Fern Bugs & Water Pipes

 After the long backboard saga we now find that one of the tree ferns has a heap of harlequin bugs coming out and we have seen them on another plant as well. These are sap suckers and mainly go for fruit. They are native to Australia so hopefully their Aussie predators will cut them back. In the meantime I went across for a cleanup of the beach which is looking very clear after a sunny long weekend. I did get some plastic containers washed down the creek but otherwise just a few butts, lids and rope pieces. The other drama was a burst water pipe in our street yesterday. Now this brings back memories of my Melb Water days. The depots I frequented were always tending to burst pipes on a daily basis in Summer. In this case Barwon Water was on the job quick and had it sorted by the end of the day.

harlequins

Trudeau Vector

 One thing about all these appointments lately is that there is a lot of waiting around which means lots of reading time. Even then you have to get up and stretch by walking one lap of the park. This writer is relatively unknown to me at least. There are elements of this book that I have read before in another book called Ice Station Zebra by a way more famous writer where just about every story of his has made it into film. In this case icy arctic setting, check,  isolated frozen base, check, mysterious deaths, check, Russian spies, check and of course submarines poking their conning towers where they shouldn't, also a check. The big difference is a nasty bug that is lurking in the depths.  I would still recommend this one as the pace is good even if the setting is cold.

Octopuses Garden

 I unloaded the GoPro camera from Point Lonsdale.  The tide was on its way out so it was a bit of a hurry to get amongst it.  The area is marked by valleys of sand with rocky walls which are covered by plants.  So my method here is to follow the valley until it runs out and maybe there will be another one beyond the next greenery. The sand is whipped up initially until you get deep enough. I have seen huge rays here but this time there was one small one as I was coming back in. 

Asher & Kaia Rock the Pools

 We went down to Point Lonsdale to meet up with two of the Grandies.  This is a good beach for snorkeling and when the tide goes out the rock pools are good for exploring.  Asher is at the right age to tackle jumping waves and surfing on the small body board. While that was going on Daniel & I went out with the snorkel.  This is a lot different to quiet water.  You are constantly pulled and shoved. The octopuses garden is really flourishing here, it is so thick it moves with the waves and brings on a vertigo feeling which is hard to describe. When the tide receded the rock pools came into play. There was fish but also sea snails and small crabs to be picked up. Asher and Kaia spent an hour here climbing, looking and splashing.

iced coffee

in the trenches

exposed reef but with hazards

a shell ring

snail without a shell

Excellent Weather

If there is an orange glow at night then the morning is quite a sight. Debbie has moved the deck table out for a better view and also doubles as the breakfast nook.  More like the breakfast roost high up over the water.  We are scheduled for a morning rendezvous at Point Lonsdale so have been scrambling to tidy up for the cleaner and get some beach gear together for grandies.  The obvious question is 'why is there a tidyup before the cleaner?' It is something to do with having a straight run at things and not being distracted.

Zebra Fish

That is two mornings in a row now that I have been across to our beach for a swim.  Temperatures were similar however this morning the breeze was up a bit.  Although I describe it as a slight breeze it was enough to stir the water so that the quietly bottom hugging green stuff  became a cloud.  The shallows were fine but out beyond the end of the rock wall where the fish were yesterday, the current was bringing the watery fog as well.  The fish were still there and the red sponge that is growing in the middle of nowhere also stood out from a distance. I have the sponge here from yesterday and compared to today.

the calm

Zebra Fish

Red Sponge Day 1

Red Sponge Day 2

Deeper Beach

 The afternoon was to good to resist so we gathered umbrella, seats and drink pack and headed to Port Arlington.  After 15 minutes we were setup on the beach there, so close. The advantage is that the water is deeper closer to shore at low tide compared to Clifton Springs. It also means that the sea grass and algae does not get a hold as easily.  This beach comes with a crowd as does ours, but this beach is bigger and can hold a lot more people. The most packed section was directly across from the caravan park which we were well away from. A pleasant two hours was spent cooling off.

three shapely yachts

Melbourne City

Good Weather

Can't let days like this go without getting outside.  I started with a swim at 9:00am. The tide was high with little wind and the Sun was out.  The water temperature was good and so was the visibility.  I mainly followed a school of zebra fish around the end of the closer groyne. I did not swim all across to the other groyne as a could feel a knee niggle but I went half way. The green goo is sitting mostly undisturbed on the bottom at the moment.  Later we got the bikes out for a shorter ride however the knee was fine during the whole ride.  We did a 14km slow circuit, stopping for coffee and the newspaper.  Those bananabenders might be having poor weather but right now it is perfecto here.

morning swim

morning ride

green tea under a tree