It was time to pack and leave Dromana, and head back once again to Melbourne, and back to Crystal Brook Caravan Park in East Doncaster. We travelled again along the East Link which certainly does shorten the journey both time wise and distance wise from 'the olden days'. After a few errms, 'challenges' in moving our van into a tight site that we were given, we headed into The Pines Shopping Centre at East Doncaster, then took a drive to the pretty village of Warrandyte and went for a short walk along the banks of the Yarra River. After an early tea we enjoyed the company of visitors Roo's Cousin - C & J. A great way to end a somewhat challenging day! |
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After our Mount Eliza catch up we then met up with Mr Roo's cousins W & G once again and this time for dinner! Many thanks to the hospitality of all those we visited today!
Sorrento Back Beach, Cape Schanck, Seals who were really Men & Bridal Parties on Sunset...27/2/2018
One of the great features of the Sorrento Back Beach is that at low tide a huge expanse of rock pools are exposed, making it great for exploring. Although we had been to Sorrento Back Beach a few times previously, we have never struck it on low tide before and today we were lucky!
So we spent the morning exploring and enjoying having much of the area to ourselves as the main tourist season is over as schools have now resumed. We stopped by in the Sorrento township for lunch before heading back to Dromana for a rest for the afternoon. After our evening meal we decided to take an impromptu drive to Cape Schanck just before sunset. We were not disappointed! It was a most beautiful evening and the scenery was spectacular! We had fun exploring the board walks and making our way down the many stairs to the rocky beach below and had the entire area to ourselves, or so we thought. Whilst watching out into the ocean, we all noticed what appeared to be seals frolicking and bobbing off shore, displaying a fin now and then. It was only as I watched and thought, they seemed to be behaving a little differently and although it was starting to get dark, I zoomed in with my camera and realised they were not seals after all, but men snorkelling. It was most peculiar considering the lateness of the day! We figured that they may have been hunting for abalone. On the way back up the stairs, just as it was getting dark, we were surprised by a Wedding party coming down the stairs to the rocky beach below with their photographer! This was totally unexpected too, but very understandable as the scenery was pretty amazing and with an almost full moonlit night! Hopefully they got some great photos too!
Kangerong Holiday Park is an easy stroll to the main shopping precinct as well as the beach itself which is just across the road. We walked into the hub of Dromana and then across onto the beach where we spotted their resident Australian Fur Seal, named Arcto who has frequented the same spot on the Dromana foreshore for the past 5 years. So much so, an area has been cordoned off on the beach and pedestrians are required to walk around and keep the area clear for Arcto. We spotted him a few metres from the shore in front of his cordoned area, rolling around in the calm and sunny waters of the bay. He has become quite well known and gosh, even has his own Facebook page!
Upon return of the walk, Mr Roo and I put our togs on and headed back across the road to the beach for a swim! It was so nice to have the beach to ourselves, being out of tourist season! The bay was calm and the water refreshing and such a glorious day to enjoy! To finish off the evening we had a visit from Mr Roo's cousins, W & G who live in Dromana, who joined us after dinner for a relaxing chat, enjoying the balmy evening outside our van.
We raced back to Richmond to the Confurgence for we were hoping to be in time for the parade which we were! There was a huge number of Furries in attendance this year, with official photography and a parade through the Hotel and also the 'Riverwalk' down to a local park.
They were very lucky to have struck a cool, overcast day for this activity, as most were wearing their furry costumes, with many in full body costumes which do heat up very quickly despite most of them having inbuilt fans in their head parts. It was pretty interesting seeing the increase in OHS (Occupational, Health and Safety) this year compared to 2 years ago. There were many officials making the rounds continually offering water, even as they were walking, and also monitoring participants temperature with these fancy digital thermometers and advising those who had high temperatures to remove their head pieces / costumes, drink water and rest. We saw no evidence of that last time apart from water being available at the end of the walk and I remember really feeling for the Furries as the temperature would have been at least 8C higher and it was sunny. Overall Jess had a blast! We also enjoyed seeing the parade and gleaning a little more of the world of a Furry fan. We then went back to visit Grandpa Roo at the Aged Care and Jess was a hit wearing and showing both of her costumes to him and other residents as well as the staff who really enjoyed it too! A great day!
So we dropped Jess off and we decided to leave our car parked next to Confurgence as it was free all day car parking area, and take the tram into the City. Our previous and successful use of public transport gave us confidence it seeing this as a good option, without the challenges of parking a car in the CBD.
We decided to head for the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre previously known as Diamaru, which houses Coop's Shot Tower which was built on the site in 1888. It is 50 metres high and was saved from demolition and included inside the build of a large shopping complex under an 84 metre high conical glass roof. Inside it is the famous RM Williams shop and also a small but informative museum of information about the history of the building which produced shot up until 1961 where the demand for shot dwindled due to a change in firearms regulations of the time. The building is also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. We also took a tour of St Paul's Cathedral, in the centre of the CBD which Ryan and Mr Roo had never been to before. Jess and I had toured previously. It is an amazing piece of architecture and is open to the public for viewing or for quiet reflection. We decided to head back to Richmond and as Jess was still busy at the Confurgence, Mr Roo, Ryan and I took the drive out to visit my Dad and another gentleman, who also enjoys our visits before returning to pick up Jess who had had the best day!
It had everything, from public transport, supermarkets, cafes, hair dressers, medical facilities, and the like, all within easy walking distance to the campus.
The University offers onsite residences as well which would be something that we may consider next year too. Ryan really enjoyed the tour and the chance to meet the staff and get a good feel of University life. So plenty for him to think about for next year! We headed back to the Caravan Park and Mr Roo and Jess decided to rest whilst Ryan and I took the opportunity to head to the Keilor area just near the Melbourne Airport Golf Club to do some plane spotting for a couple of hours. Ryan was pretty chuffed to see an LAN, a Qatar and a new military aircraft coming in. We had another plane spotter come over and chat for a bit which was pretty cool. Ryan thought he looked familiar and looked him up when we got back to the Park and found that he was right and it was another plane spotter, well known for his photos online, who, like Ryan was very interested in seeing the LAN plane come in.
We had called in to one of the train stations yesterday in preparatioin for today to update the kids' Myki transport cards, as the last time we had used them was when they were children. It certainly proved to be a simple way of getting into the city without the worry of finding a place to park.
We were told that the Camping Show in Melbourne was huge, and I have to say that they do not call it a supershow for no reason - it was HUGE with everything a caravan or camping enthusiast would want! Mr Roo picked up a few things, including pegs for sandy conditions and Jess picked up a Snake Bite First Aid Kit. We then made our way back to the city by tram and was waiting for the bus at the city bus stop when Mr Roo realised that his phone / wallet combo was missing. In a mad panic we all searched, double searched and triple searched all our bags and belongings to no avail! So we figured it must have been dropped just prior to boarding, or on the tram that we had just stepped off about 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes at the most earlier! Jess said, "I'll try Dad's number", which was a bit of a long shot but thankfully it not only rang but the gentleman who answered replied that this was the Victoria Police and that the phone you are ringing is at the Flinders Street Police Station!! We had no idea if it was just the phone that was handed in or if the wallet holder that it was housed in still had all his ID and banking cards in it. Our minds were racing as to the possible impact on our trip and just in general if all those cards were lost or stolen! So we raced to the Police Station at Flinders Street by foot and Mr Roo went through a grilling to identify who he was with some unusual, almost unrelated questions, particularly regarding his firearms licence before the phone would be released and thankfully, oh, so thankfully, with all his cards and even his cash all intact!!! Gosh, how lucky was he!!! After all the action of being at the Show and the bolt to the Police Station, our legs ached and longed for the bus ride home. We all travelled home in quiet reflection of how easily some things can change in an instant and how reliant we have come to be on having ID and bank cards etc. We were just so thankful too that there is still honesty out there and people willing to do the right thing and hand the phone in with all of it intact. Many thanks to whoever you were! Folk like you do help make the world a better place!
and are moving in!' They could see 'with widened eyes' that our caravan was indeed parked just outside their front door! After explaining about our upcoming adventures, we spent a fun but short time with them before dropping in to visit my father who is in an Aged Care facility located very close to S & J.
Dad was pretty surprised and pleased to see all of us so it was really good to catch up briefly before making our way to our campsite for the next few days, at Crystal Brook Tourist Park, in Doncaster East.
The authenticity of the historical village is impressive and includes buildings and operating steam driven machinery that was used during Ballarat's early gold fever years. Sovereign Hill also provides great educational and interactive experiences for school children, including costume role play experiences where the children are immersed into role playing of what it was like to live as a child in the Gold Rush days.
We decided to do a couple of the experiences - Labyrinth of Gold Tour which took us into an original mine and shared about the dangers and continual high risk of gold mining during that era. We also viewed the Gold Pour demonstration and watched the pour of a bar reportedly worth about $170 000. Jess was keen to try her hand at panning for gold so we all had a bit of a go and were not disappointed! Between us all we found several shards of gold to keep. It is certainly a great day to experience what life would be like in the gold rush times, and you certainly do need a full day to experience it all. As part of the entry to Sovereign Hill, we also visited the Gold museum - This museum houses a valuable collection of gold nuggets, alluvial deposits, priceless gold artefacts and gold coins. The Gold Rush attracted many from overseas and particularly China and consequently had a huge and important cultural contribution to the Ballarat community. The Gold Museum included a 'Re Awakening the Dragon exhibition that featured two processional dragon / lion heads, one of which is the oldest known artefact in Australia. Ballarat is now one of only four known sites where a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) dragon survives in whole or part, We took a drive after visiting The Gold Museum around Lake Wendouree which was the site use for water sports in the 1956 Olympics held in Melbourne Blood on the Cross Show - deaf perspective. Eureka explanation Authenticity of the historical village was impressive and the steam driven machinery operating. Told the story of the Eureka Uprising, how the corruption by govt official and town leaders the high costs of miners rights forced the rebellion of the miners. |
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July 2023
About UsIn June /July and August of 2013 Roo and family embarked on a travel experience of a lifetime in the Australian Outback and initially created this website for those family and friends to follow us on our Journey. |