Rakumba

It is a 20 min walk to Rakumba from our place and it is an over the top Christmas presentation and if I had my Grinch hat on the other residents probably dread the crowds and it is a court, not a thru street. With my Grandpa hat on this would be a good place to take Asher.  We deposited $6 in gold into their bucket but that is nothing compared to the $000s they won in prizes from the Geelong Advertiser.  Walking the streets at night without footpaths is a tricky business especially with this place being a car/kiddie magnet. Most people walk on the road.

GOT City

We were last here 6 yar ago and over on Lokrum Island it was 8 yar ago so GOT was just getting going. But not now. GOT is the theme. We were wandering around Lokrum and there is a throne in this ancient room. They have a museum with exhibits and half of it is GOT. It might make some historians take a walk of shame. When we got back to Dubrovnik we checked out where the final GOT scene was shot on that small pier.

I could be a Hedge Knight

Arya boards her boat

Dubrovnik

After Dark

We wandered around the centre of Geelong and had a closer look at the arts precinct.  We have been in the gallery before but it was our first look inside the new multi-story library. There was a martial arts show on with a choir group providing a musical background. Weird.  We went across the road to the GPAC Performing Arts Centre. There was a queue for Splash Test Dummies so we left.  Its worth remembering though as there are full on stage productions held here.

These guys look familiar but I can't think from where

Gumbuya Water Park

We think we went to this place around 25 yar ago.  It has been totally demolished and rebuilt as a modern amusement park.  There are four doors in a central intersection. Mind you two of those doors go to the same set of rides.  We had a look in there but did not try any rides.  The water park is the main feature with two gynormous climbs up to some water slides, which we did three times.  Also the lazy river has a set of rapids which i have not seen before.  The day was ideal at 27 degrees and mid week and a school day so no queues.  The lockers are a pain and the bread rolls were a bit chewy.  However the water park is of a high standard.  I haven't mentioned the Wildlife trail which wasn't bad but the water park is the main attraction.

Boomerango

Bucket Drop

Think Pink

Philately

I have a number of projects but they have been severely interrupted due to prepacking. Tonight I was given a stamp collection and some stamps are still required to be removed from their envelopes.  These stamps have been on the envelope for 20 and 30 yar.  Frank Ostenreid was a WWII German veteran who was captured and sent to Canada for the duration.  There are still envelopes here with stamps on them from Canada.  Now I just have to separate them.

The Official Photo

New home 

Warm Water Soak

Last Jedai

This was an improvement on Disney's first effort being Episode VII. I think Rogue One was their best effort so far.  It seems to me there is no body left to fight the bad guys now.  And another thing, how do they get so many bad guys?  We spent $97 for two of us, $39 on some sliders and $51 for two IMAX seats and $7 for one choc top.  You couldn't do that every day.

Bondi Again

A longish day saw us walk to the Crackneck and back about 4 or 5km.  This area was burnt just the weekend before we arrived and it smelt that way too.  Then we drove to Sydney taking around 90 min to get to the Adina apartments (parking around the back).  I booked this place twice without realising it!  We had pizza for a late lunch then sat on the beach for an hour. The clouds and wind started to lessen so we started on the Sculpture walk around 4:30. This was good timing as the sun was hitting the hilltop sculptures perfectly.  In the end we walked half of the displays and did not get  back til 6:00pm.  So far I think the DragonFly is the winner but we have not been around to Tamarama yet.

Ice burgers

Robot Fly issuing laser beam

Pocket Coffee

I have had a few goals along the way, not just sites and scenery but also culinary.  I had a run in with some snails which made me sick. Recall my post at the start of the cruise. The black pudding wasn't too bad.  The other three items on my list were tasted and tried except for one. The Belem custard tart was delicious. The cornish pastie (Oggly) was plentiful and tasty but the elusive Pocket Coffee was non existent.  This is meant to be an English specialty.  I checked numerous stores, super markets, specialty confectionary places.  I canvassed people in the street, store workers, demanded to see the manager. No one has even heard of it!  The airport here is dripping with chocolate. Every type and kind of choco treat is here, from Hershey to Cadbury and everyone else but there is no Pocket Coffee.

Daily Compass

The boat has a daily schedule which started out at 4 pages and is now 6 pages of fine print activities from 6:00 am to 1:00 am the next day, everyday.  Yesterday was a buffet type breakfast but don't eat too much because at  10:30 am was our sushi class. This went for an hour and our sushi rolls carried on for our lunch.  We had tickets to the ice capades at 5:00 pm which was an all dancing ice show but out at sea. We were then just in time for dinner but had to make it short to be in time for the 8:30pm show in the theatre.

Ice Rink in the Atlantic

Chateau D'Usse

We try not to do too much in one day. Chateau D'Usse was our second stop today after Chinon Fortress and they are only 10 km apart but we spent most of the day checking them out getting back to the hotel at 4:00 pm. This chateau is one of those picturesque versions. It inspired the Sleeping Beauty story by Charles Perrault when he visited there.  This chateau allows you to go right up to the wooden capping on the towers as well as venturing out onto the ramparts.

What a beauty

Escape Room

Laura organised an Escape for me so She, Rick, Debbie and I ventured to Flemington. This is the original concept room from which other copy cats have sprung in Melbourne, including the more corporatised rooms at Strike in Maribyrnong. We had 70 mins and made steady progress in our escape. Twice we sought guidance as well as each of us contributing ideas at the right time to emerge jn about 70 minutes.  Even just the one previous escape situation aids in completing this one.  These are fun, stay focused and ignore the clock.

We thought we were out

Secret Corridor

Third mystery room requires large spoon

Trick or Treat

I haven't really read up on Halloween rules or etiquette but in previous years we just ignored what was going on. Not sure if that qualifies you for a Trick.  Having started handing out the chocos yesterday it seemed to me there was never any consideration of the Trick. Every encounter was more like, here I am where is my chocolate? I was taking photos of kids and asking them at least to be scary in some way. Mostly it was a blank look and one kid wanted to know why his photo was being taken.

Confectionists

Sand Pit

Carving stuff takes skill and doing it in sand must be tricky.  I have seen it done on our trips where you  throw some coin into a hat but I have never paid an admission price.  There is a whole lot of work (fun) gone into these and then they get bulldozed. I reckon I could work out building with Leggo blocks but sand sculpture would take some practice. Don't think it will be a retirement hobby.



Yes Master Sidious

Game of Thrones v Game of Houses

George RR Martin spends a lot of time getting it right before keyboard goes to screen or should that be book goes to print.  In the meantime I have been wading through that other story, even bigger than Game of Thrones if that is possible. Wheel of Time is perhaps not more detailed but more wordy.  I am about 6000 pages in with approx 5000 to go. Daes Dae'mar seems to be the maneuvering element that is common to both stories. I used to know it as office politics or power broking.   

I noted the reference in Season 4 Episode 1 of GOT to Duncan the Tall. Joffrey in one of his rare lucid moments is reading the Book of Brothers and comes to the page describing Ser Dunk but is impressed by the need of four pages to cover his lifetime deeds. All in the room including Jaime Lannister acknowledge the mighty Dunk. 

Every successful TV show always has a follow up series 2. There is a penchant for going back and filling in the storyline explaining how we arrived at the current plot. It happened in Star Wars it happened in Star Trek.  I predict GOT Story 2 will be set 100 years or so earlier showing the Targaryen's at their height and Ser Dunk doing deeds.  The main issue could be George taking 100 years to write it.  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more of that earlier history has been put to paper in order to write this epoch.