Bucket List Finale

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21/2/18

Today we got a move on and walked to St. Kilda pier to catch the 10:00 ferry to Williamstown. We have been promising ourselves that we will make this trip for about 3 weeks. We got on the ferry, which was a very small ferry and were greeted by Robb and Doug, the crew. We were heartened to see that they were sporting epaulets on their shirts that made their shorts look more official. After waiting about to see if any more people turned up, we set sail, across Hobsons Bay, with just four passengers and tied up in Williamstown after about 25 minutes. On my own initiative, I went along the pier about 100 yards, and had a quick look at HMAS Castlemaine which was a minesweeper built in Williamstown in 1945. I guess, at that time, they had an active ship building industry. After this we made straight for the font of all tourist knowledge, the Tourist Information office on the end of the pier we landed on. We were deluged with brochures and left a bit shell shocked. However, we pulled ourselves together and formented a plan. The plan was to walk along the waterfront trail to the beach and then see which of the tourist walks we wanted to follow after that. We set out and passed a tower called the "Timeball Tower" which was an old navigation aid. The tower was built of large stones and had a wooden structure on top which hoisted a large ball to the top. At precisely 1 p.m. the tower keeper released the ball and all the ships captains would see this and adjust their chronometers to this exact time. It fell into disuse and the captains probably now use their phones but it has been restored by a local historical society who still release the ball at 1 p.m., presumably to check their phones.

We passed the tower and continued down the track. We soon realised that the maps we had were not to scale. Our tourism activities have been pretty full on of late and we were a little tired and not in top condition. The C. O. called a halt and we could see a beach in the far distance but did not look astonishing. A decision was taken to cut into a side street and follow another walk. We passed a number of very pleasant Victorian houses that were well maintained in wide leafy streets. We soon tired of tramping the streets and went searching for a place for lunch. This was harder than we thought there was just too much choice. The C. O. eventually took over and made a choice which proved to be a very good one (well it would be wouldn't it). In the afternoon we satisfied ourselves with sitting on an old person's seat and watching the activities in Hobsons Bay. A seaplane took off and landed, a large tanker was turned right around on its axis by two tugs and a lot of yatchs were sailing in the fresh breeze. Williamstown is a yatchy place with a very large marina and lots of boat sheds.

On our return trip. We waited for two people to turn up but set off without then. Suddenly two young boys were seen running along the pier and they were recognised as the two missing passengers by one of them wearing a red hat. The skipper turned round and picked them up at the pier. I despair. The young men of today.

We got the impression that Williamstown was a pleasant town with good attractive houses and many good cafes and places to eat and probably a very nice place to live. It was also the last item on our bucket list. So now we can relax a bit.

When he returned from work, Ollie admitted that he had bought an indulgence for himself. He produced a small jar which contained a baby octopus which he offered to share with everyone else. It was not surprising, to me, that he had to eat it all himself.

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Photos

Williamstown
The ferry from St. Kilda.

Williamstown
HMAS Castlemaine. WWII corvette.

Williamstown
The ball tower

Williamstown
A typical style of house. Wouldn’t you just love to paint the ironwork.

Williamstown
A very yatchty town