Who goes first?

 The air temperature might be 24° but what about the water temperature and it looks dark in there, it's also  slippery, it's also rocky and all with bare feet.  My feet were a dappled pattern when I got back to the room later.  I was hoping for some more sooty grunters but nothing doing. Nevertheless once you got in it was a pleasant flow.  We had finished our egg and lettuce sandwiches so it was time to swim it off. PS we used eggs a bit in the evenings when a large lunch had been consumed, scrambled, poached and frittataed. No wonder we only went out for a cooked breakfast once. No more eggs for a month please.

Stoney Creek

The weather has closed in badly for two days but we are here so what can you do. The room is small like a cruise ship but there is no quick stroll to a pool, lounge or bar.  This trip requires getting out each day and today is Stoney Creek. This is part of Barron Gorge National Park which we have been to before. There is a sign that declares no maintenance whatsoever is done on this track up Stoney Creek. Beware! The rain kept coming and the rocks and stones were wet and slippery. It is a tough uphill walk for 1km to an old weir. We stopped here as it is another 1.5 hours of relentless, trackless rocks and water to get to the falls proper which you can see more easily from the Kuranda train.  We had half our lunch here and had to wade to get to a bank with a tree for shelter to sit down. We retreated back down after an hour or so to another spot with a gravel shore. The rain really hit here and soaked everything but we were wearing swimmers so went into the water anyway. It was coolish in the water but the other half of our lunch warmed us up.  It was about 30 mins here as we needed to keep moving to get warm. This reminded me of the Tassie days when everything was wet. There was a guy at the bottom reattaching the sign that says no track maintenance beyond this point. Good on ya.

                                        

Chezest

 We are trying to step up our walking distance and this morning got it out to 4.5km. It was raining overnight so we put on the spray jackets but the Sun came out, the steam was up and the heat was on.  Not super hot but around 24° this morning. Along the way we spied the old ambo station which is now a cafe. Chezest seems a Frenchy type of name and the prices match those in Paris as well. The quality is very good though with a muffin that was huge. Tick off another venue that we wanted to try. There are only so many coffees you can down.

Whales Wont Wait

 We heard reports about whales off the bluff three days ago. There was debate about going out to see in a complete fog blanket. It lasted all day but it seems that was only us on the bayside while the oceanside was clear with frolicking whales winding whorling water wheels.  So we were late to the party yesterday but the Sun was out. I was so rugged up and sweating as soon as we got on the path up to the cliff tops. We could see to Torquay one way and the Heads the other way and not a whale anywhere in between. It was a good walk along the tops and back to Diver Dan's old spot for a sit down. It happened to be happy hour, so good timing.  A toast to the coast.

WWII Tunnels

 The Japanese bombed Darwin over 60 times and there is still a lot of infrastructure around from back then. The fuel was stored in tanks on Stokes Hill but was obliterated a week after it was finished. So they went under ground, digging 400 metres into the hillside. The entry point was a little tight if people were coming out the same way. The larger tunnel opened out where displays and a film was running about the attacks. Only one is open from the 11 tunnels that were dug. The East Point defences have more to tell.

Balcony Obs

 Yes we are used to looking out at the passing parade but I will use the hour or so before our visitors arrive to catchup on Debbie's online photos. So far on this rest day I have done some exercises, swam some laps and finished a 4 km walk. We went out onto the moonlike sandbank that has popped up in the last few years. That means the sea is retreating at this point and I would say it is 500 metres across.

mega fallen tree

mega sand pit

Balcony Slow

 Yes we are having the long earned rest day. Three days of Grandie sitting then two days of bush walking has got me needing a good lie down. I got to 21,400 steps yesterday that has got to be close to a record. The pool here is so good. Immaculately cleaned and maintained daily. I got the snorkel tube out and went for about ten laps with a few rests. As well there are two spa pools to lounge in. There is a group here who gather at 7:00am each morning.  

Kondalilla Falls

 We drove out to Kondalilla via MontVille. We have seen this picturesque town before but not the falls. We spent an hour at the first swimming hole for lunch and a drink. This also had a good waterfall. The swimming was good but deep and not to cold. We took the long descent to the bottom for spectacular views of the main falls. Another hour was spent at the bottom. Despite the rests the going was hot and sweaty to get all the way back up. This was a great day trip and worth the effort.

Walk to the Reef

We got the Taylors on a morning constitutional to the reef area on the way to the Dell. Yes well, if you are walking there then you may as well go all the way to the top.  The morning was so calm that we could see what we could not see before.  There was an aerial view of the reef and for the first time I noticed that it had a wavy pattern to it rather than straight sides which can't really be seen as you are swimming along. The snorkelling would have been very calm except the Sun was not out. Also the mineral springs area was clear of grass and being so calm we could clearly see the mineral water bubbling out of the rock shelf.  You could bottle that.

notice the shapes below the surface near the yellow marker

Swing Bridge

 We spent the afternoon having lunch on the beach which was salad rolls from the bakery. Very tasty not to forget a bottle of the bubbly stuff.  It was quite hot for the morning walk but things were getting a bit overcast so we decided to pack it up in favour of a walk to the far end where the swing bridge crosses the river.  There is a cafe here which may have suffered some flooding so it was not open but looks to have potential if they sell a wine for beach goers. We made our way back to our deck where this blog is being typed. The overcast has turned to spots of rain and that was not in the plan.  We have reserved a place at Tottis and have heard the meatballs are meaty.

are you open?

St George River

 The whole national park is closed here due to on going fires however there are coastal walks we have found that are still ok. Of course we could rerun the coasteering course from 20 yarv ago but this time we took the old tramway route to the St George River. It was 6km in total from the hotel room. There is some ups and downs with photos along the way about how the route was chiselled out from the rock. Now we are ready for a lie down.

St George

the tramway hauled logs out

Big Party Big 4

 All the Grandies have made it here to Yarra Valley Big 4 and for the first aftyernoon we have had a blast. Of course I did not know they were coming even though there were a few hints. We have walked the creek, ridden the bike track, swam the pool and jumped the castle. Phew! This weekend reminds me of the JLL adventure weekends where we got up at 4am to start the race at the top of Mt Buller at 5:00am. I remember riding thru Healesville here on my way to Melbourne. 

Willie Return

We haven't been back for a while but with a few events clustered around this medicine day then we will be here for a few nights. I think one of the Alfred strategies is to leave as much time as possible between appointments so that if one is late, like today being one hour late in the morning then it does not impact the afternoon. However when we race up to get into the chair on time we are waiting for another hour and twenty minutes. It's a good thing I am not complaining, I think.  Our taxes at work. At least the walk around the park was in good sunshine.  Not sure how much work gets done when you spy these meetings of various worker teams sprawled on the grass half asleep.  Another dose down and at least four to go.

flying saucer coming in

lazy lunch hour

A splash in the park

 Another six weeks another walk around Fawkner park. This time it was with leaden skies and they opened up perfectly about halfway around. Today is testing day with bloods first, followed by MRI  and lastly PET scans. It was more like splashing than walking. At least the japara is still waterproof even if the  zippers are broken. Noted a mansion is being renovated in Toorak Rd. Looks like a big job.  Did not notice much else as i had my head down.

not sure what this is 

Goodrest Mansion

Milk Maid

 We managed to get a walk in before brunch at the Bungalow.  There is a sign along the rail trail at Mannerim which declares wild flower orchids to be seen in this area. We kept one eye on the sky as we wandered along the trail and dodging bikes that were coming thru at the same time. Those bike riders! It was the correct time of the year and we know the area has been well watered. There were plentiful blooms and bulb spreaders were all about but are there orchids.  It was a detailed stroll with head down but success came after 500 metres with the Milk Maid. 

look at that sky

the flower board

Milk Maid

Three Rings

 I had to pick up some replacement Sunnies after losing my old ones on the marathon day. This was in Ocean Grove so we drove a bit further to Barwon Heads to check out the shot put facilities.  There are three rings and one with a cage and it turned into a three ringed circus when bus loads of schoolies arrived for training purposes. We were not there 5 minutes before we were swarmed by hordes and they were using the ring for baseball not shot put, which is what it is meant for.  I thought you needed a mound for that anyway. No phasements. We got out of there and did a walk of the parkland which was a least 2kms around. 

the toe boards are missing

2km path

forest section

Pembro for the StemGro

Yes no rest for the best. Today is another round of medical mayhem. For some reason there is always something but in the end it is your taxes at work. This time around, there was a considerable delay due to the blood test from last week being done in QLD, but the results of which were not to be disclosed to the Alfred in Victoria where the patient happens to be sitting in a chair with her arm punctured to the max. This did not seem to concern the officiousness of officialdom. So another blood test was done and we waited for the results in the chair. In the meantime this seemed to be a good time to do another lap of the Fawkner.  I took no shortcuts and the traversal required 7500 steps to get around. It was only another hour after that to get the Pembro fully absorbed. This blood's worth bottling.

ancient house

ancient shed

Fawkner Stones

Spring Flowers

 It's not proper wildflower season as yet however there are hints as a few blooms emerge.  Not sure why backyard orchids are Winter and bush orchids are Spring but there is another four to six weeks before those start showing through. Along the rail trail today there are boards showing the various native orchids and what to look for. We did see some ground huggers that had unfurled with the Sun but as usual you need to get right down to Earth for a better look.

Wood Sorrel