Muriwai Trip Saturday

The 'Rover' need another test run to check on fuel economy after tweaking, so we set set off to see how the gannets were getting on with their nesting.



The adult birds were busy gathering material for nest building - one egg was visible from where we were standing.

As usual, there were fishermen trying their luck out on the point

Doug took some nice close-ups of gannets here.

We then drove down to the beach and took a stroll along the sand. This man was having a good time whizzing up and down the beach on a kind of a sand board.

Doug was pleased with the petrol economy when we filled up at the end of the trip. Not too different from the Skyline.

Picnic with the 'Rover'.

We decided to take this rare fine day and try out a first, short trip in the Landrover. Hunua seemed a good close destination.

Doug has installed a handy handle which enables me to haul myself aloft. We haven't solved the problem of my dangling legs yet - I need a little shelf!

It took me a while to fine tune the air flow - too high tech for me! A lever that has to pull out, then over, opens a vent that allows filtered air to flow in through a mesh that keeps bugs out. Very cool! The window also took a bit of time to master. Press the button, tab will shift up and down, then you push and slide the window across, before it clicks down again.

The radio worked well - the bank of speakers across the width of the vehicle just behind our seats, was audible as long as we travelled on tarseal. I believe that this entertainment centre even has a CD player. I'm sure we will enjoy it when we go camping.

The plan was to try out the fridge/chilly-bin and the picnic table, before embarking on an overnight camp somewhere soon.

Our first stop was Hunua Falls. They looked particularly lovely when the sun came out and made a rainbow in the spray.

We then drove on to the Upper Mangatawhiri Dam. There is a palce to camp there, and lots of good tracks for mountain bikes.

After trying out our picnic table we took a walk to view the dam. You can see in the third photo that the dam is very full. It's spilling over just a little.

We enjoyed our day out.

Melbourne Zoo

The weather forecast for today wasn't good - showers and thunder storms by lunch time. We awoke to another lovely day so decided to go to the zoo while we could.
We had a much better day on the trams. We were fortunate, too, at the zoo. Seniors are really being spoiled this week. As well as half price admission to the zoo, young people were constantly jumping out of their seats to let us sit down! (We're not that old!)

As forecasted very black clouds began to gather about midday - the storm hit us just as we reached shelter after hopping off our last tram, near to home.

Here are some pictures of the interesting creatures.












It was a lovely zoo - the animals looked happy and healthy. We enjoyed our visit very much.

Melbourne Tuesday - riding the trams

After buying some same day pass tram tickets at our handy little superette across the road, we headed to the nearby tram stop. This was to be our first failure to understand the system - the numbers on the information boards just don't seem to correspond to what actually comes along. Eventually we followed what everyone else was doing and hopped on a number 109.

Our first stop was the State Library where Doug was able to look up some family history on the Grattans. They came from Ireland to Melbourne when his Gt-Grandfather was 14, he subsequently went to NZ about 10 years later and married Ellen Gorton born 1857 in Otahuhu. Her eldest daughter Isabelle was Doug's Grandmother whom he never met as she died very young. Gt - grandmother Ellen died aged 94. You can actually hear Ellen Grattan talk about her life through this interview made in the 1950s.



St George was slaying the Dragon in front of the library where we had our packed lunch in good Kiwi fashion.



Following lunch we thought a visit to St Kilda Beach was in order. We found a tram with 'St Kilda Beach' on the front. Pretty easy, eh? 'Nothing can go wrong'. We passed Luna Park entrance and the route details showed St Kilda Beach as one of the next stops. But the driver didn't announce stops any more and on we went for miles into the suburbs. Our trip ended when the ticket checkers hopped on board and put us off to head back. (They were actually quite nice, they yelled at the driver - told us that he was a trainee. They asked us if we were 'seniors', it's celebrating oldies this week - free transport etc.)

We decided to give St Kilda a miss and scuttled back into the CBD. The picture shows the view of leafy suburbs passing the tram.



Southgate is a flash shopping centre that can't be getting many visitors as the main entrance on the side of the Yarra is a demolition zone. We took this picture to look back on one day.



Melbourne shops were the usual bustle, we liked this one that sells Russian Dolls. We didn't go into Myer as we got lost inside there last visit.

To Melbourne

We left Ocean Grove about 0815 and Gertrude the GPS led us through the Melbourne traffic to drop our bags at City Edge Apartments office, as we could not check in until 2pm.

Then Gertrude took us through the traffic again to the airport to drop off the rental car. The little Hyundai went well and was equally as good as the small Toyotas, VW, Fords, Vauxhalls that we have used in recent car hires.





We took the Skybus into the City and were walking to the Immigrant Museum when we came upon this large Kenworth truck on its side, due to it not fitting under the rail bridge in Flinders St.

An enjoyable hour followed, watching the recovery process.

Doug said the driver would have got a 'DCM' (don't come Monday).

This apartment is very 'basic'. A hotplate but no pot - how will we cook our broccoli?

It's Doug's birthday today - he's enjoyed receiving texts from his kids. We've got a nice bottle of wine to have with our microwaved Chinese!

Ocean Grove

Ocean Grove has a 'holiday resort' feel to it. It is situated adjacent to a beautiful endless surf beach. The first place that we visited this morning was a nature reserve. It was only small with a few resident birds and this blue flowering creeper.



Next to the reserve was the local market with camel rides. The camels got a carrot as a reward. Doug thought that I should have a ride, but I declined.



After lunch we went to the local surf beach, where I paddled, while Doug enjoyed this dog, who chased seagulls for miles, right into the surf!



Further up the coast was the lighthouse at Point Lonsdale, looking across the entrance to Port Philip, Melbourne's harbour.

Tomorrow we will head for Melbourne fairly early. We will drop the car off, then use shank's pony and public transport until we leave, Thursday.

Great Ocean Highway

We had a lovely, seven hour trip today from Warrnumbool to Ocean Grove, travelling along the South Coast. It was a beautiful, clear day, and the views were breathtaking.



Some beautiful scenery from the tourist spots. The 'grotto' (2nd pic) was so lovely.



'London Bridge' was connected to the mainland until it fell in 1990, stranding two tourists who needed helicopter rescue. Some of you may have seen it before it collapsed.



The Twelve Apostles are said to be the most photographed part of this road.

We took a lunch stop at a lighthouse and saw numerous koalas in the gum trees. They are so chubby and gorgeous. Doug spotted an Echineada (marsupial egg-laying mammal like a hedgehog) by the roadside.

Warrnumbool Friday

First thing we went to the whale viewing location at Logan's Beach where you can view Right Whales on a good day. We only saw surfers; it is late in the season.



Then we headed down the coast to the nature reserve at Tower Hill, built around a dormant volcano. This was a most interesting place, and free! The reserve has been replanted and restocked with animals since about 1966.

Apparently snakes sometimes bask on the boardwalks - Doug was hoping to see one; I was hoping that we wouldn't. (I prefer my snakes behind glass!)





We loved the koalas, sitting in the gum trees in the carpark.





The fantail looks the same as ours. This blue wren was so pretty - difficult to get him to stay still.