ADELAIDE TRIP - Part Two.

 Apologies to all.  I am trying to leave comments on the blogs I follow, but some won't take and then replies to me come back through my email as subsystem errors, so I am completely frustrated & getting somewhat disheartened, but will try and keep up.

Back again after such a long spell away from blogging.  It's been hectic since we got back with all sorts, me not sleeping well, cataracts forming on both eyes, which isn't helping with sewing etc., medical appointments, keeping up to date with little brothers NDIS stuff and another quick trip away.  That little one should also be blogged about too, soon.

Let's see what else we saw on our trip in September.  After a great night at the Quilt Trunk Show, we opted to head out to Victor Harbour on the Saturday and to our surprise...................it was their Rock'n'Roll weekend.  Arriving, and not knowing what was happening to start with, meant finding a parking spot was hard and then, we noticed what was happening.  To cut a long story short, there was also a vintage/veteran car display too.  A few photos follow of this lovely little town and yes we have been there with the kids a long time ago.

All sorts of cars and this was only a small sample of what was there.

A couple from my childhood and teenage years.

OH!!!!!!!  I remember these well as it was my first car when I was about 17 1/2.
Nearly the same colour too. 😂

Some other attractions in Victor Harbour.

The gorgeous horse float that brings a gorgeous horse to town.

The horse drawn tram which travels all the way on the causeway to Granite Island.
We went on the older one many years ago.

There were also camel rides along the beach.

Stumps from the old causeway.

We also spotted a National Trust building and as we are members, explored and I can't remember exactly what it was originally and didn't take any photos telling me, did manage a few snaps.

Trim, Matthew Flinders cat, which I think most of us oldies have heard about. (giggle).

Part of the very pretty walkway.

Ooh.............and a quilt hanging on the wall.

And,  what!  a redback spider on the toilet seat.
Most Aussies will remember the song.

Sunday saw us head over to Lara's for morning tea, up in the beautiful hills of Adelaide.

Lara is one of the co-founders of the on-line digital magazine Make Modern & we have met before, but was great meeting her hubby and children too.

Next day saw us making our way to Mount Gambier for the night and here is what we saw at Kingston South East  on the way,  which will round up today's post.

The Big Lobster.

A carved fur seal.

The most unusual (if not gross) algae floating on the water in a small creek.

Beautiful reflection in the pond.

OK, still having trouble with blogger, not playing like it used to.

I'll leave it at that for today, publish this hoping there are no silly errors and see if anyone is still following me.  

Take care all and hugs from Susan.

PART 2 OF WAFFLING.

 Another 2 days from October with my camera in tow.

1.  A Side Trip to Phillip Island.

Setting out one Tuesday to pick up some timber from Grantville on the  western side of Westernport Bay, somewhere we were allowed to go, we took our picnic stuff along and then made for San Remo for lunch.  Had a short walk down along the jetties looking for rays, but saw none that day.  Watching the cars heading over the bridge to Phillip Island, a decision was made to pop over and do some walking along one of it's many tracks.  What the heck if we were late home for tea.

                                          We chose this walk to Conservation Hill & Rhyll Inlet.

                                              Part of the walk took us along the boardwalk.

                                                  Aha,  we spy the inlet in the distance.

A fork in the path could take us further towards one of the towns on the island or a circular route back to the car in a the car park.  We chose to go back to the car and as we wandered along, I spotted a wallaby, but all I snapped was an empty clearing.  He was just too quick.

Nearer the car park I spotted these two Cape Barren geese & as we got closer, what did we see..........

A tiny gosling as well.  I didn't get too close & have cropped the photo so you can see it.

                                                     Right click to see it better.

A grouping of  trees with die-back, but after I took the photo I also noticed I'd captured some lovely wispy clouds behind them.  I do like getting a little surprise when you download photos.

As we drove back towards the bridge I noticed this tree carving sailing captain.  I should have got out to look at the plaque.  Very remiss of me..

The 2 boats were covered in birds which I thought amusing.

2.  Another drive just to get some photos I couldn't take when we had our little break in the caravan.

On the way  to Yarram we'd seen a couple things and nowhere to pull over with the van in tow, we knew it could be a drive sometime later.

Heading east on the Princes' Freeway you enter the LaTrobe Valley which is an area of coal mines and power stations.

A mining dredge & it's information board.  There is also a Power Museum, but closed at the moment due to Covid.  Although we've lived here in Victoria for 16 years now & pass this monstrosity on our travels, it's somewhere we've not been.

There was also this information board below & one day we may take one of these drives too.

                         We've explored a few of these areas at different times in the past, I think.

Off we went once again to find our next photo shoot, which I've been looking forward to putting on the blog.

An old timber shed painted with bookcases and their contents which I loved.  Sorry about the bins, as it must have been garbage day.😊

Across the road we have a set of manequins which I was surprised and bewildered to see out in farming country.  Evidently there are more than this, but they change them on a regular basis I've been told.  It certainly puts a smile on your face.

Heading back towards the highway, we took an alternative route and ended up trying to find Toms Cap Lookout & although we didn't quite get there, we ate lunch in the middle of nowhere.

WE pulled in here, looked at the road to the site and decided not to take the car up due to the condition of it.  We started to walk up instead but our feet were nearly vertical on the hill & it was killing our legs, so turned around, ate our lunch & took some happy snaps instead.

The hill, which I haven't done justice, as it was way steeper than it looks in the photo.

Our native Banksias in all their different stages of flowering on one tree.

                     Looking through the trees with bracken fern in abundance on the forest floor.

                                                              The ti-tree flower in closeup.

What an amazing sight..............I've know idea why this tree has grown like this & wasn't even sure what it was, though maybe one of our gums by the look of the leaves.

One last photo & it is one of my silly ideas.  I quite often throw a few quilts in the car to get "hero shots in the wild".  Most of the time I forget to take photos or it is too windy, wet or just nowhere to place them.  That day I took at least one..............

Jacob's Medallion over a Banksia branch.

Well, just for once I've kept my word by posting when I said and being able to catch up on our day trips in the middle of all this mayhem.

My camera has certainly been a constant companion through this and hopefully we are coming out the other side now, with certain restrictions lifted here in Victoria and being able to travel freely now throughout the state including Melbourne as they have lifted the "ring of steel", as they called it.

I'm so hoping that we can all keep doing the right thing & be able to live a somewhat normal life in the future.  At least we'll be able to see DD and family soon & hopefully our boys & families next year.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from down under.

Susan.

  

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA.

Tuesday started cold, frosty & foggy.

The grass covered in frost taken from the back verandah.

Along the top of the sleepers.

Ice on the pond.

After much debating & deliberation with our morning coffee, we came to the decision to head out to get some parts for our trailer, which needs a bit of TLC.  Made some lunch & thermos to take with us & headed off.  As we were going to be close to Braeside Park, we made that our destination for lunch & a walk.  Somewhere we've been before, but not for a proper walk.  Um... a lot of photos were taken, so join me as we potter along.
Starting with the tree sculptures, which I have posted before with one of my quilts, but there are several more than what I showed.

The view while eating lunch.

The pelicans.

Sugar Glider.

More of the Sugar Gliders.

                                                   The tree below has many animals.

A wombat peeking out.

A large lizard or maybe goanna.

A koala and kangaroo.

Pharlap and either trainer or jockey.
This was one of our famous race horses who was trained in this area.

Carrying on with the rest of the walk, we saw many interesting bits and pieces, so here are some I snapped.

One of several ponds & dams throughout the park.

A post for your camera, but it was at such an angle, all I could capture was sky or grass.
Due to being quite old, the climatic conditions etc., it had moved over the years.
Could be remedied if someone would do it.

Snake signs appear quite regularly on my blog...................😏

Teepees again, but this time not at the beach.

Bracken fern, all green & lush, but such a nuisance in a lot of places after being introduced in colonial days.

Now this was a lovely little surprise.  A painted stone, very like what I've seen on my friend Kate's blog in the UK.
I didn't see any more, but hopefully this pretty one will make many more people smile.

Reflections in more water we saw.

And for a few trees, very much favourites of mine, but I try not to overwhelm you with too many.

So sculptural.

Notice the beautiful markings on this log.

And eucalyptus leaves, so pretty in colour & shape.

After picking up some trailer parts, we headed for home.  Stopped in Tooradin to have a cup of take away tea and snapped these few pictures along the banks of Sawtell's Inlet.

A rather grotesque carved gargoyle.
I've never seen him before, but we usually go to the cafe on the other side of the highway.

The tide coming in from Westernport Bay & flowing down what I always think of as a river, though it's only a tidal inlet.

Looking further down the inlet.

That was our Tuesday and although freezing to start with, the rest of the day was lovely and sunny and made a difference as we actually had an "outing" with social distancing firmly in mind.  I'm still not game enough to venture anywhere there might be lots of people close to each other.  Luckily most of our outings are just us two & we don't need to gather as some people do.  We'll wait and see what the future holds for being out & about.
OH.......one last bit of trivia from the weekend.  We did make a very short trip up the highway to see this parked at the weigh-in station before it made it's way to one of the big power stations in the LaTrobe Valley.

This load was being pulled by 3 prime movers and being pushed by two more.  It was huge and could only travel during the night as the road needed to be closed, so it could use either side of the highway.
There were also many support vehicles and these loads always cause quite a stir & lots of people taking photos.  Whoops, just like me, who finds them fascinating.

OK, my lot for now.
Take care all, stay safe & huggles from down under.
Susan.