Captain Hook

 We have explored the town a bit more but will not get caught out by todays non bike race. There a many clothing shops which we seem to wander into accidently and inside there they have stuff can buy.  The cinema has been spruced up and right next door is a bakery with the best looking rolls. We will be trying those today. The highlight though was the Lobster Roll. We have been watching the B2B channel and how they cook & catch their crayfish. Well we don't have a boat so this is the next best thing.

Wee Jeannie

 We used to ride to the Yarraville area from Essendon all the time, especially with the Sun theatre connection.  I can't remember the last time I went into a picture theatre.  Hhooly Dhooly found a cafe for brunch today which is situated right next to Yarraville train station where the trains are replaced by buses at the moment.  There is a large outdoor eatery next door and Winter is no hindrance to this lot, breaking their fast. We were cosy enough with a traditional big breakfast.  The quirky shops are always worth a visit here.

service station now house

Sun never sets here

Cafe 42

I did a longish ride some weeks ago and came across Cafe 42. I made a mental note to get back there and check out the inside.  It is a mad time to be finishing some Christmas shopping however we were out and about in this area so we called in for some morning coffee. This building used to be something else, most likely to do with wharves and unloading boats some yar ago.  Now it looks over a beach and a small harbour to one side.  It is a very picturesque spot and we need to revisit again for a proper sit down meal. If you were staying for a swim bring your own shade as there is none. This is the small beach as the bigger one is two hundred metres back also with no shade.

North beach

Rippleside beach

Palms Cafe

The Palms Cafe is an Italian restaurant in Mt Alexander Road. They have been in business for 33 yar and we had lived around the corner for 38 but had never tried this one out. There was one other group in there of about 20 large people having a class reunion from Rupertswood, so we had to make sure we ordered before them.  You could order anything Italian, except meatballs.  Tim & Julie were coming off three days of being serviced at the Langham however they thought this food was a good standard.  In the end we were blocked from getting out due to one oversized motorised mobile chair but they got it in so after a few drinks they had to remember how to get it out.

not a day over 40

Bellarine Tour continues

 How are you supposed to fit in 5 hours of Tour de France watching when we are doing our own Tour de Bellarine?  This tour was by car at least except for the start which was a walk along the beach to the Dell lookout and back again. We were just in time for our booking at Adina for brunch except the people on our table took their time so we had coffee while we were waiting.  It was a stroll down to the pier to check out the new ferry terminal being built there and all in good sunshine as well. On the way back we called in at the Fat Fox Gallery. We had never been in there before.  The resident artist wasn't at home but we could still look around. It's more like a tin shed and you would not be painting in here during Summer.  There was yet another stop at the Orchid Farm where much discussion was held on the ways and wherefores of orchid growing.  The last coffee was at our place with a 30 minute snooze before the Clancys headed off otherwise they would be nodding off whilst they were driving back. 

more cake

Dell view

succulent garden

pier pressure

You Yangs sailing

Fat Fox

sheep corral

Mr Grubb

 Sounds a bit down to Earth but the Oakdene Winery has closed its restaurant but still has a cafe called Mr Grubb which is still open for business.  We took some Clancys there for lunch and a quick tour of the grounds afterwards but it was a bit cool outside. Afternoon tea was at the local Artisans gallery where Debbie is doing her drawing classes.  There was another class happening involving piano maybe they were drawing one.  We have just made it back in time for  beer o'clock.

tasting

long lost riders

tall plant

Bric a Brac Coffee & Climbing

 We drove out of town to the Mt Leura park summit and did the 2km circuit walk before breakfast at the Lake Edge Cafe.  You can do longer walks form the bottom but the Big Breakfast  beckoned.  This cafe is uniquely positioned next to Lake Purrumbete and is the 4th or 5th lake we have visited in two days. It is a former school building that they trucked into position by the lake. And a very tasty breakfast as well. Back in town we checked out the antiques yards. Most of them are only open at the weekend.  On the drive back we stopped numerous times to check out the canola fields, whole buildings were being submerged in canola. 

Hola Canola

old windmills new windmills

Grand Central

SugarLoaf

Mt Leura summit

some large brac

a lot of bric

Point Lonsdale

 We can now use the Point estate as a thru way to get to Point Lonsdale.  We haven't ridden there for a year or so. The only change is the Lighthouse which is having some maintenance, including a paint job. There is a bunker down below that has been renovated which held a wartime search light.  We stopped for takeaway focaccia lunch and coffee.  It is still a busy spot and we must have encountered well over 100 bikes in our 23km ride. 

The Rip

A searching time

Our scaffolding was $1500 for two weeks painting

No Wind Ride

12° doesn't matter much if there is no wind to speak of. We went back over to Ocean Grove to pick up our newly maintained, disc braked, cross city, off road bicycles.  Complete with new stands and mud guards.  The Hendry cycle shops may have an association with that Evans man of Tour de France fame and they charge like top of the range as well.  We tested out the upgrades with a short 15km tour of the town.  One sobering place we found was the Ocean Grove Respiratory Centre.  There was a queue of at least 20 masked people waiting to be tested.  We also found the Kyosk Cafe which had a good atmosphere complete with log fire and squid boat lighting. 

Self Standing

High Tide gauntlet

Sea Change Wharf

No table service so it's Kybosh for the Kyosk  - Note squid lights

How green is my Pea?

Soup that is.  We are allowed out for exercise, so have Sunny day will bike ride.  We had to go to the post office as we were summoned by email to the PO Box.  However it seems government junk mail is permitted in the PO Box.  We also had letters to post so any excuse to get out.  We decided to drop in to the Bungalow but instead of coffee we had green soup with ham.  There was a woman there who exclaimed "Is that a camera? I haven't seen one of those in years."  She obviously doesn't get out much.

I'm starting to see succulents everywhere

Succulents at the cafe

Succulents in the soup

Corn Jacks

I recommend these types of corny fritters. They are something like a potatoe rosti except with corn. You can get them at Barwon Edge. This is the place on the bike track along the Barwon River but I cannot figure out if it really is a boat club. I suspect it is a front for the restaurant. It has immaculate sumptuous grounds with pools and lily fronds, fountains and crocodiles. Well the head of one at least.
When we got back I tried my swim as well so I am going to need a rest this arvo.  As I came in to the back yard there was a burst of feathers where a huge prey bird lifted off from under the veggie patch carrying another bird in its claws.

yesterday's evening stroll

Bike track rest stop

I was smiling

Long Week ends

Long week ends are off our radar these days.  So when we drove to Port Arlington which is busy enough but with the Bellarine Show on because of the long weekend we had forgotten about, then its no wonder cars were blocking the side streets. Just last Sunday we said there is no reason to do stuff on the weekend.  Here it is a week later on a Sunday we squeezed into the Adina cafe.  The food wasn't anything spectacular this time so we might move on even though it has a good view. We noticed the Mussel cafe has opened in an old place on the main street. That will work better next time.

Evening walk

Too late for Halloween

Coffee Time

We had more stops than a Moonee Ponds tram but we were on a mission to check out some new venues.  First was a walk along the coastal path to the newly rebuilt Dunes restaurant and Ocean Grove SLSC. It was so new that they were still trying to move all their surf gear into the under croft.  They certainly like avocado at this place.  Next was Hive Gallery and across the way was KYO quirky town.  In a word Hive was expensive with giant bronze snails and turtles while KYO was bazaar.  Many weird pieces hanging form the walls and rooftops. Lastly was Van Loon's with more normal nursery type fair. 

Coastal path

OG SLSC

Bring your crane to move these

KYO 

Geelong Showgrounds

Got the bikes out again with good sunshine so decided to try a ride into Geelong but not from Clifton Springs. We drove to the other side of Drysdale near the Curlewis Driving Range. This still gave us a fair ride. We followed the rail trail to the show grounds which had its weekly trash & treasure. This is a big venue with many stalls.  It had numerous junk food options nut I had my eye on Botanical a cafe near the botanical gardens.  The food was good. We had a half steak sandwich in sunshine when we started and spitting rain when we finished. It was a 30km round trip and now that we have done it there must be 50 cafes in that area.

Spring Wattle

Treasure for sale

Botanical