MoonFace

 James was doing his own archealogical dig at a renovation of a school he is working on.  The refurbishment meant opening up a brick pillar and inside was an old marble stoppered bottle. The base had been broken off and was probably left there by one of the workers last century. It would not have been kids, as these bottles were prized for their marble inside the pinched neck.  This one is from GC Meader who ran the Franklin Carbonated Water Company.  Most of the bottle is readable including a cool Moonface  logo which was the company trade mark.  The bottle still rattles with its marble intact.

Reminders

 I keep getting these annoying reminders, messages, notifications or requests. How did your visit to the British Museum go?  I didn't go alright. We decided to do some gardening instead. This is a pressing concern for us way more important than the Elgin Marbles. Besides I have been to the Parthenon and I saw one half of those decorations but not the other half becuase you guys took them. Maybe it is a good thing that they are inside and out of the weather but I am sure the locals could have organised that although they were short of a dollar last time I was there. So in the end the Greeks lost their marbles and you gained some, so don't ask me again. 

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. 

Lara Museum

We were driving back from the Yous and came across the Lara Museum. This is a single story 1860's limestone set of abutting rooms with the main house on one corner but the whole complex built forming a square with an underground water tank in the centre. Not exactly a bit of Europe but still historic.  This was originally a gold miners hotel from the 1860's but became a 5 generation family home from the 1890s to 1990s.  The last 30 yar have seen it restored  to museum quality.  The car park has room for 10 cars and is never full except when the Ballarat historic car club decide to pay a visit.  We parked in the street and paid $5 p/p to get in.

Baker's Delight

Sicily redeemed

We did not think much of Messina but Catania is a winner. Mt Etna dominates and you can get a good view straight off the boat. We went into town and checked out the Roman theatre, Those Romans again. This time housing was allowed to be built over the top. I remember in Spain we saw a colosseum with a later church built into the arena.  It is amazing to see houses intruding into the Roman Theatre.  Many were demolished recently to reveal the theatre. We took a taxi around to the Lido. Private beaching is an industry. We paid 22 € for two lounge chairs and an umbrella only but the bottle of Prosecco was 12€ with a boy to carry it back to our spot. How civilised.

Mt Etna

Houses with a Roman backyard

Private Beach

Valletta highlight - Hypogeum

I have been to some old sites before but this is the oldest. Stonehenge came in at 5000 yar ago but thus was started 6000 yar ago at the surface and when they needed more room they started digging deeper. These guys were Neolithic types who could paint, sculpt and build using columns and arches. They lasted 3000 yar and at 1000 BC they disappeared.  Access is strictly limited to 10 people per hour, so I am glad I bought the ticket 6 months ago. The on site sales were for the end of August. After being buried for 6000 yar it only took 100 yar to cover the walls in green algae because of the hordes traipsing thru since 1902.  The site was closed for 10 yar until they figured out how to treat the walls and atmosphere in the structure. I have no photos as they are banned, there is an escort who watches your every move. This was still the best site on the trip. We used the Hop On Hop Off bus. These are a pain but do work. We walked across to the Tarxien Temple then got back on the bus for the Blue Grotto. We swam here which was refreshing and got back to the boat at 4:00 pm a 7 hour excursion.

Tarxien Temple - Skirted Woman

We swam here - first time I got out the GoPro

Maximilian

I have finished wading thru a shoebox full of stamps .  There were 3,000 stamps in there which I bought for 1c each. I plucked out around 300 which I have processed into my collection consisting of various themes including maps, bicycles and an odd mix of others that I might take a fancy, like the one below featuring Maximilian Archduke of Austria. He was put in charge of Mexico by Napolean.  He wanted to make a good job of it but antagonised the landowners and the Catholic Church by backing the peasants. Eventually the revolutionaries executed him. Unreal.

Issued 1864 worth $1.15 today

Torpedo Bottle

We have been down to the Dell numerous times, seen various bits of broken glass, even went to the local historical society.  The whole glass insulator adventure stemmed from that and today after deploying much of our garden ornaments, we found a torpedo bottle or what's left of it, in the backyard. The glass is thick. It has taken one week exactly but I can declare we are unpacked.  There are a few more boxes and the culling will continue. I threw out a huge bin of plastic today.  The public holiday has brought out the picnickers setting up right across from our house on the grass verge overlooking the water.

This bottle has been torpedoed

Grandma's Brag Book

Nana's Brag Book in this case. The cloud placement of all things continues. This one has an odd collection of different sized photos and paper clippings.  Its like your original analog version of a blog. 

How old?

Hedged in

Balearic Islands

Mallorca is the population capital but Ibiza is the party capital around here.  We are running out of a few things like toothpaste and sunblock.  We found some potatoe chips at last but they were a bit moorish.  We saw a few things here like the old town and its castle but the best was the Arab Baths. These must have been 1000 yar old and based on a Roman idea of hot room, steam room and cold shower room. There is a good bike track around the beaches that we can try next time.

Moor Moor

Ancient bath house

Bayeux

There is an historic record of the Battle of Hastings and a lot more besides woven into a 68 metre tea towel that was once used to cover wagons during the French revolution.  It's  nearly a 1000 yar old and still very colourful and well worth a look. The town is also very historic with many medieval homes.  William the conqueror is descended from Rolo of Viking fame, the first of the Normans and William uses much of his inherited viking tactics to beat Harold in 1066.

Bayeux canal

Tapestry

Fortress Royale

There is a large rock outcrop above Chinon. Three separate castles were built there over hundreds of years. The main characters were the Plantagenets being Henry II and his sons Richard the Lionheart and Prince John.  Chinon was the royal palace of England at this time but Phillip king of France did not like it so he went on the attack and put the fortress under siege for 9 months. Only 20 English soldiers were holding the vast fortress as it was impregnable but were eventually starved out.  500 years later Joan of Arc arrived during the 100 years war and immediately began winning towns back from the English.  This led to a long peace and the castle went into ruin.

Vienne River below Chinon Fortress

Chinon

We rode bikes to Chinon Castle on Lake Geneva a few years back.  Here is another Chinon on the Vienne River which also has a Fortress that we will check out tomorrow.  We spent a rainy day getting here to the Chateau de Marcay. This is an upper class chateau renovation. I think I preferred the last one which was more rustic and not renovated.  This is the Loire Valley home of the spectacular chateaux. The Chinon town itself is medieval and predates all the nearby chateaux.

Tower from below

Post Master General

As well as delivering the mail and printing postage stamps, the PMG also looked after the Telegraphic services, which meant they needed lots of poles for lots of wires and lots more insulators. That's where the Roberts' of Lake Tyers came into it with their Glass Works and a contract to make thousands of insulators.  The one below has come back to the family via Noel.  This is now one of the rarest glass objects in Australia. It was exhibited around Australia in the last year and won several first place prizes for historic record. Three Roberts brothers working the glass furnace each had a mold slightly different in the depiction of the G.

Glass Collection

Whose G was this?

Another brick in the floor

After 16 yar I have made it back to the Olympic site which is a huge area covering kilometres. I have a sore foot and no idea where the Boral Brick Road is. So in the car park I asked a guy if he knew where it was. Never heard of it. Turns out he works for Boral. Then after I said the brick has my name on it he remembered. just go down the main boulevarde he says. So we limp along and there it is. After some searching for block A22, then brick by brick.

Notice the Socks

Video History

Converting old Digital Audio Tapes (DAT) into files that can be viewed from the network is turning out to be another time taking exercise.  I must have at least 50 tapes that have been copied to files each around 60 minutes long.  Taking each one of those and identifying where clips start and finish to build up an index file of contents then to split those into components and edit them can take up to 4 hrs per tape.  I have done about 6 files so far.  These cover from the 2000 Olympics where I first used this camera to around 2009.  Before that it was Compact 45s. They will have to wait.

Arakoon

80 yar old tree

Had a look at Rowes Bay Caravan Park in Townsville. In 1951 you just picked a spot say under a gum tree. That tree is still there but a lot bigger.

set up 1951 style

same spot 2016

Clunes Book Town

The rain has gone away so we could get out and about to have a look. Esmond Park is where gold was first discovered in Victoria.  There are still many relics left from those days and much money was spent on buildings including the Queen's Fountain.  Also the bottle museum is worth a look if you have ancestors into glass making.

Nugget

Restored by Les

Please do not touch

Tarra Valley and other secrets

We have had the best day. We have seen at least 4 lyrebirds, an echidna and kookaburra, two waterfalls and the secret access to the ninety mile beach at McLoughlins.  This must be the most southerly access to the ninety mile beach and the day was 23° with no wind.  We started at Balook and drove down the Tarra Valley via the waterfalls to Yarram, which has some old buildings like the Federal Coffee Palace. 

Fern City

The Federal building

Jack's Magazine

I always wondered what exactly was behind those bluestone walls when I rode past on the Maribyrnong path. You could see it was explosives of some sort.  The bunkers are serviced by tunnels with tram lines that ran from the end of the canal loading bay. The gunpowder was stored here since 1878 and later was used in the munitions works higher up the slope. It seems the developers are circling but these five hectares of bunkers are being preserved.

Tramway for moving barrels

Last log entry was 1972