Wilson's Prom

Paul and I have been meaning to go camping for weeks but chickened out a few times because of bad weather forecasts. So this Friday after work, we decided to go for it and drove down to Wilson's Prom. Wilson's Prom is a huge national park on a peninsula south-east of Melbourne - it's got mountains and rivers, and people go there to hike for weeks at a time.



We got to the campground as the sun was setting and by the time that we put up Paul's new (not actually that new but unused) tent, it was dark. Then the wombats came out.



We'd been told not to leave any food in the tent because wombats plough right though the tent to get at it. During the night I could hear one munching on grass really close by.

In the morning we had breakfast on the beach.





Then went for a walk around the headland to get to the next bay. On our way, we met this rock wallaby, who didn't seem to be too frightened of us.



Also on our way, Paul found a bee's nest inside a hollow tree, with a nice round hole about face-height that the bees were flying in and out of. On the way back, when he didn't see any bees coming in our out of it, he thought it was a good idea to poke his head in the hole and shout 'hellooo...!'. That made some not very happy bees.

At the bay, we thought about going swimming but the waves were pretty rough...ended up just standing in the water getting splashed by the waves.



Still pretty good.

When we headed back, we found out that it had been raining heavily in Melbourne, so we were lucky we'd avoided it. It's raining today. Apparently it's not usually like this. Maybe it's my influence.

Kayaking on the Bay

Hot...sunny...

We decided to go kayaking on Saturday, so I found a kayak hire place in Mornington and off we went. Here's me on a kayak (taken with Paul's waterproof camera).



The bay was pretty calm but I've never been kayaking in the sea before and it was quite cool to feel the waves. We paddled around and pulled up on a quiet beach round the corner, and had a swim.

The Long Weekend in Tasmania

This Tuesday there is a public holiday in Victoria because of the Melbourne Cup - a horse race. People must take their horse races seriously round here.

So to make the most of it, we decided to take Monday off and go to Tasmania for a few days. Tasmania is a small (small being about the size of Scotland) island south of Victoria, only about 45minutes flight away. Apart from a few rumours of inbreeding, people tend to say good things about it.

On Saturday morning we arrived in Launceston, pronounced Loncesston and definitely not Launce-ton or Lawncesston, which is a small city in the north. It's old and it's got some very pretty buildings. We had a look around and then went off into a nearby forest to do some zip-wiring through some tall trees.

We had a short walk through Cataract Gorge, which is right in the centre of the city and probably very popular on most weekends, except we found it pretty deserted because it was raining a bit. It was cool - very quiet apart from the peacocks.





We had a good roast dinner in a pub then when it got dark, we went on a ghost tour led by a guy in a flat cap. There was only a small group of us, and we walked around listening to stories. None of the stories were particularly chilling or convincing but they were told well. I think it was to make up for the lack of convicing stories that at the end of the tour they took us into a garage (old stables), closed the door so it was dark, and played some spooky music. The tour guide distracted us while he pushed a button to release a stuffed dummy, which swung down from the rafters on a noose.

On Sunday we left Launceston early and started driving along the Tasman highway, which I had guessed was the scenic route to the coast. Unfortunately, it started to rain pretty heavily and the fog closed in when we were going over the forested mountains. The road was full of sharp bends and we could hardly see ahead of us. But Paul is a very good driver so it wasn't too worrying. Here is a sample of the not-so-amazing view...



The road continued like that for a couple of hours. We did go through some small town but it was early on Sunday morning, and everything was deserted. We did not find anywhere for breakfast until we came across a middle-of-nowhere roadside stop selling postcards, instant coffee and raisin toast. So that was breakfast.

We drove on to reach the coast and got to a town called St Helens, where it was still bucketing down with rain. Here is me standing outside a coffee shop looking wet.



The tourist information had a helpful lady who made a few suggestions. She persuaded us to book ourselves in for a penguin tour that evening, but there wasn't much else we found to do. We went to a scenic lookout to have lunch, but predictably the scenic lookout was surrounded by fog, so we couldn't actually see anything. We also went down to the ocean. Here is Paul looking bedraggled.



We were not having very much fun at that point so we decided just to get to Bicheno, an hour or so down the coast, where we'd be staying the night.

When we arrived, we had a look around and found the blowhole:



Then miraculously, the rain stopped.



So we climbed a rock.



Had some fish and chips for dinner.



Then watched the swell breaking on the rocks in the evening light. Very pretty.

And later we went on the penguin tour. Unfortunately even though the rain had stopped, it was extremely windy so it was difficult to make out what the tour guide was saying. Also the wind meant that the penguins were behaving very cautiously because it made the grass and bushes quiver a lot, and made it harder for the penguins to look out for their enemies. But they were still cool. Very small things. The tour is designed so that you see the penguins as they come ashore in small groups after dark. We were encouraged to stand still with our legs apart so the penguins could walk through, but they didn't. It must have been the wind.

On Monday it was still sunny but cold. We had another early-ish start and had a great drive down through Hobart (capital city) and beyond down the Huon valley where they grow apples. We did a bit of cable hang-gliding:



Followed a sign to 'The Big Tree':



Then headed back towards Hobart.

Mount Wellington overlooks the city and there's a road which goes right up it, so we went and had a look at the views.




(Not feeling so grumpy as I look there.)

We got down in time to have a quick look around Hobart before everything closed, then went for dinner on the harbour. The place only did fish and chips, but they presented it in lots of different ways. I had a grilled salmon on chips with a side-salad. After discovering there was not much more to do in Hobart at that time in the evening, we headed back to the airport. As a whole, the trip was pretty good and generally less wet than it seems from the pictures. Tasmania definitely reminds me of the UK more than Victoria. Apart from the kangaroos, wallabies, Tasmanian devils, and rumoured Tasmanian tigers.

No plans for next weekend and I'll try to keep it that way.

Sovereign Hill and the Great Ocean Road

Last week we visited Sovereign Hill, which is a fake 1850s gold rush town (though they really did mine gold there). They had loads of old fashioned shops and houses, with people all dressed up. We went to a musket firing demo and a wheel-making demo, ate some old fashioned liquorice, dressed up for an old fashioned photo and did a bit of gold panning (unsuccessful). So that was fun.




Then this weekend, off we went eastwards early Saturday morning, visiting Geelong (pronounced Jelong not Jeeeelong) for breakfast. By lunchtime we'd reached the Great Ocean Road - basically a twisty cliff ocean road built by convicts. The weather was great. Then we took a diversion on a whim following a sign to a treetop walk, and found ourselves on a road which was nothing but corners - we kept turning left and right for miles and I felt a bit sick. We did find the treetop walk in a small rainforest. It was pretty high up. They have massive trees here. And it did rain in the rainforest, though the rest of the day was blue skies.

Afterwards, we went on to the Twelve Apostles - they are what people associate with the Great Ocean Road.


Those are only two of them. And a couple have collapsed so there aren't actually twelve any more. Here's a couple more Apostles and Paul.


We stayed the night at a place called Port Fairy which was cool because it had buildings like you might see in the UK (i.e. over 50 years old, stone). We went for a walk around a small island there where there was a lighthouse and wallabies. There is a video including a wallaby scratching itself below, if my internet connection can cope with uploading it.

The Mornington Peninsula

This weekend the weather has been brilliant - sunny but not too hot. Good weather for Paul's youngest nephew's birthday party. I watched the children (mostly about 5 years old but a couple of kids in their 30s) playing on the bouncy castle and had some green birthday cake.

Paul and I went to the Mornington Peninsula, which is not too far away from us. If you look at the map, the centre of Melbourne is on the coast of a bay that is sheltered by two big pointy bits of land that almost meet, and the Eastern one is the Mornington Peninsula.

We visited Mornington craft market, which was massive and very busy. Half the stalls were selling yummy stuff (bought some strawberry port) and the rest were selling crafty cool things. I did buy my first christmas present there because I guess I have to be prepared well in advance this year.

After that we headed further down the peninsula and got to the start of a bike track for a cycle down the bay path. Here is a photo of me and my brilliant new bike, which I bought the other week.



And here is a pier a bit down the way, where people were fishing.





Early start tomorrow for another week at work. Weather permitting, we'll be off camping next weekend and we're planning a trip to Tasmania in a couple of weeks.

It's been a while.

I haven't posted on this for ages - for a while because I didn't have much to report and then also because Paul and I went to Spain for a wedding and afterwards travelled through Europe. I've put some photos on facebook but it would be inappropriate to blog about it on 'Helen goes to Oz'. Or maybe just there is so much to tell it would be a big project.

So to start things off again here's a few photos from this weekend, officially springtime now. Paul and I went to the beach (not a great beach in Aussie standards but pretty good by mine). Also I went for a walk in Lysterfield Park, where there were loads of kangaroos. At one point the herd decided to move en mass and headed off jumping one after the other across the path. We watched them for a while - there must have been about 30. They go pretty fast too.

Spot the kangaroo (cos Kangaroo's spotted you).


Bull ants - they're massive and they like to bite, apparently.


And this is an Australian 'daisy'.



And philosophers will understand why I got excited when I saw this black swan. Paul says that here, it's the white ones that are weird.


And another thing about the wildlife - magpies swoop on you. I got swooped in the supermarket carpark so I ran away. Pedestrians are advised to wear cycle helmets around the place. Cyclists are advised to arm their cycle helmets with cable ties sticking up out of it.

Strange country.

Trains and Trains

People criticise public transport a lot here. There are some good points to make, but in comparison to cities in the UK, the challenges faced by the public transport system are more difficult because Melbourne is a city designed for cars. Last Tuesday, there was a power failure at one of the main stations so a lot of commuters were left stranded for hours. On Friday, all public transport was made free for the day as an apology.



Paul, Sarah and I just got back from doing the tourist thing on Puffing Billy - the old steam railway that runs from Belgrave to Gembrook. The weather forecast was not good, but it turned out alright. Just a bit cold though, especially when you sit out on the ledge of the train windows. And there was a slight thunderstorm, but we had just gone into the tearooms when it started so we all remained fairly dry.