Road Trip With Mum to the Bellarine Peninsula

 After my three nights with Kerrie, I picked up a hire car and headed out to pick up mum at Springvale. We then drove to Gary and Arlene's at Eyensbury where we spent the night with them. Was nice to catch up with them and also Matthew and Ben. Gary took us out that night to The Homestead for dinner.

The next morning after chatting with Arlene mum and I headed off, first stop was just past Torquay where we visited the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie, and enjoyed a hot chocolate and checked out the chocolates for sale.

Then we headed to Barwon Heads where we had booked accommodation for two nights in a very comfortable little unit. The weather was lovely for a winter's day in Melbourne, we headed out for a drive to get our bearings. This was a lookout over Ocean Grove.

We then headed down to the beach, which had a ramp right down to the beach so no stairs and enjoyed a walk along the beach, it was a lovely spot.

The next morning was lovely and sunny in Barwon Heads, we headed off for a drive around the Peninsula, first stop was some lovely farmers markets, then we headed to Portarlington which is at the northern part of the peninsula, whereas we were staying down south, About half way across we ran into thick fog which stayed with us all the time at Portarlington. We walked out on the jetty and breakwater.

Finally after heading back south along the eastern side of the peninsula the fog lifted and the sun came out. We stopped off just near Queenscliff at Swan Bay and enjoyed the calm of the bay and some lovely sunshine. We had called in to look at the Marine Life Education Centre but it was closed. However they had some signs around explaining the importance of the area for bird life and how there was one bird that came from Siberia every year to nest! It was a lovely spot and nice just sitting in the sunshine.

Then we headed into Queenscliff, which was a lovely seaside town with lots of old buildings. We enjoyed some lunch at one of the cafes, had a wander around and a bit of a drive, found some local fish to buy for dinner.

Then we headed back towards Barwon Heads via Port Lonsdale, was a good spot to look across to Port Nepean across the other side of the Heads into Port Phillip Bay

 Another walk out along a jetty, lots of people fishing on this jetty.

We walked around the Port Lonsdale Lighthouse

Then headed back to our little unit for the night. Sunday morning we headed home to mum's and Monday after helping mum around her unit I headed to the airport for the flight home to Canberra. It was a lovely week away, catching up with my friend Kerrie then a little road trip to mum to an area neither of us had really spent much time in.

Catching Up With an Old Friend

 I headed down to Melbourne for a week, I was catching up with a friend- Kerrie Robertson, we went through Teacher's College together and have had a few adventures over the years, including walking the Milford Track in New Zealand when we were in our 20's - we go back a long way! I haven't seen Kerrie for a number of years so it was lovely to catch up and spend a few days together.

I had a window seat on the way down and was amazed at all the snow on the mountains, it was quite a sight.

We were staying in Kingsbury, north of the city. I was a bit concerned about how I would get around as I have a tear in my meniscus and walking tends to hurt. As it turns out Kerrie had a sore knee, so neither of us was cramping the others style! It was a short walk down to Plenty Road where we caught the 96 tram into the city. The first day we went to the Picasso Exhibition at the NGV, had lunch in Federation Square then checked out some of the art exhibitions in the Federation Square Galleries- couldn't help but take a few photos of the bird related sculptures!

There was also an exhibition of these large skulls!

By the end of the day we had to both ice our respective knees and also test the theory that Koko Black Chocolates have anti inflammatory properties!

The next day we headed back to the city, this time getting off near the Exhibition Building and visiting the Melbourne Museum,

We then headed into the city and checked out the Block Arcade, had some lunch and I introduced Kerrie to Haighs Chocolates!

Jack's New Pram and Chiko Rolls

 Jack is no longer able to walk on his morning walk, this has been going on for a number of years, but try leaving the house without him and he howls and whinges and carries on. So a few years back we got a pram from the Green Shed and we pushed him around in the pram, he loved it and would bark at other dogs, he wasn't at all embarrassed about being in a pram!  Well last week the wheels fell of this plan literally! Now this pram was purchased for $15, quite the bargain and I think it was a better pram than my kids ever had. Well we managed to find a better bargain and a better pram! I put the call out on the local Buy Nothing Group and we picked up the new pram on Friday and it didn't cost a cent- Bill was delighted.

Here is Jack ready to go in his new pram. Now that winter is upon us, he has a wheat bag under his blanket to keep him warm- otherwise he shivers.

Here is the local hobo ready to take him out for his walk. Bill has his cornflakes on board to feed the swans, he collects cans along the way and has a stick to bash down any thistles he sees along the way. His cheap  hiking boots have given up the ghost so he is now wearing his dad's old shoes. He Jack and Luna set off 6 days a week for their morning walk!

I recently discovered some Chiko Rolls for sale at a new reject shop called Top 10. This was a blast from my teenage years and Amy had no idea what Chiko Roll were. It turns out that a friend of ours has a husband who just loves Chiko Rolls, so we invited ourselves for dinner so we could cook them in their Air Fryer- I just can't bring myself to deep fry anything . So Amy got to experience a Chiko Roll for the first time and I suspect it will probably be another 40 years before I have another one! A fun trip down memory lane.