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Published: February 14th 2011
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Poly Woodside
Bit of culture 1 February and onwards
The last few days have been very very hot topping 40 degrees to-day in Melbourne. We thought it was hot on Sunday when we went to St. Kilda for a beach day but it only got to 38 degrees then! – we lasted about an hour on the beach before we sought out refreshment. The reason why it is so hot is because of the strong Northerly winds blowing from the North – it’s like walking into a very strong fan heater on maximum high
Despite the temperature we ventured out into Melbourne and had a day of culture (I know it’s hard to believe). Firstly we went to the Immigration museum which was very interesting especially the sections on the £10 Pommes. We then went to the Polly Woodside Maritime Museum. The Polly Woodside is in fact a restored iron-hulled merchant ship which was built at Belfast in 1885 – all a bit reminiscent of the SS Great Britain display, however the big bonus was that it is a National Trust site
and we got in free, thanks to Jude having been given a lifetime membership when she retired. We only recently learnt
Flooding
We are followinf this car on the Monash Highway that ‘National Trusts’ in a number of countries are affiliated – must find some more! The other bonus was that they let us in the Immigration Museum for free as well because we were over 60.
As I write this Mike has just walked in having cycled back from the City – 20 Km and up hill all the way (mad fool) he is dripping with sweat so he is quickly ushered to the shower.
Shame about last weekend’s sporting events with that Scottish fellow failing to ‘show up’ and our cricketers capitulating – this has brought on a few Aussie smiles until of course the Ashes are mentioned!!
Following withdrawal symptoms I have finally succumbed to purchasing a cheap but highly functional guitar which I will keep here for future visits – despite my best efforts it only seems to play Rolf Harris and AC/DC tunes – better keep persevering!!
The news here has been dominated by Cyclone Yasi which has devastated parts of North Queensland. With the worst floods in living memory followed by the worst cyclone in living memory to hit over the last couple of months you wonder what the Queenslanders must
have done to upset the Gods. Thankfully we are nowhere near this area.
Good to see a victory in our 1st 6 Nations game against Wales – unable to watch it here unfortunately - we could only watch the last 2 one day cricket internationals – the less said the better!! To continue on a sporting theme, Tim, I wonder how the skittles team is doing without me?
5 February
It seems that I spoke too soon about the weather as last night the tail end of Cyclone Yasi unexpectedly drifted south and hit Melbourne and parts of Victoria with a vengeance – not so much the wind but torrential rain. It started in the evening and continued all night causing flash floods in Melbourne and it’s suburbs. Mike, Jude and I were due to visit Phillip Island to-day for an overnight stay but unfortunately we couldn’t get there. The Island is about 100 miles from Mike and Sara’s house and we set off in the car about 10.00 but after travelling through numerous flooded areas including a flooded freeway and having to find alternative routes as a result of closed roads we had no alternative other
than to find a route home before further roads were closed. We eventually got home 4 hours later after a very scary journey. Luckily we have managed to re-schedule the booking for next Saturday and shall try again then!!
9 February
We all pay a visit to Queen Victoria night market in Melbourne. This is a huge market and every Wednesday evening during the Summer it turns into an ‘eating and music festival’ with dozens of stalls selling every type of food imaginable – we feasted ourselves on Spanish, French, Sicilian and other international fairs washed down with some good Aussie beer and wine. This was Tamsin’s 1st visit to the city and we arrived fairly early which was just as well as by the time we left the place was unbelievably crowded with no where to sit. A good time was had by all.
12 February
After our original aborted journey we finally get to Phillip Island. The week delay actually worked in our favour as the weather was much better and also Sara and Tamsin joined us. Phillip Island is a wildlife paradise – birds, seals, Penguins, Koalas and more and it also has
The Nobbies
What a view - but did not see any seals! some spectacular scenery. It took about 2 hours to get to the Island and our first excursion was in fact to Churchill Island which is a very small island off Phillip and home to a heritage farm. We then went on a long beach and coastal walk on Cape Woolamai taking in some spectacular views including ‘The Pinnacles’. The Island appears to be twinned with the Isle of White although a lot smaller – there are towns called Ventnor, Cowes, Rhyll and even a hotel called the ‘Isle of White’
In the evening we went to the ‘Penguins Parade’ which is what the Island is most famous for. The island is home to the smallest breed of penguins in the world called ‘little penguins’ – they measure only about 12 inches high and are the only breed of penguins to be found in Australia. As night falls they come out of the sea and waddle up the beach to find their nesting burrows – all very interesting and very very cute ahhhh!! Mum, you would have loved them. There is very large conservation centre there and the inevitable gift shop and cafe selling hundreds of penguin related gifts and
Koala
One of the local inhabitants, sorry not allowed to take pictures of the penguins! penguin burgers – well if Dave can eat dolphin for breakfast in the Philippines what’s wrong with that!!
We stayed overnight in Cowes and the following day we did more coastal walks including ‘The Nobbies’ and Seal Rocks (didn’t see any seals) – more spectacular views. We also visited a Koala conservation centre which was very interesting – apparently there are only about 50 Koalas in the wild on the Island with numbers declining – Wallabies were also plentiful here. We also visited a winery believe it or not – did some tasting – had lunch did more tasting and left after about 2 hours. As we were sampling we were entertained by a singer/guitarist – I was envious – as jobs go that can’t be bad.We arrived home at about 7.00pm on Sunday after a most enjoyable weekend. Off to Adelaide tomorrow. (I may have been joking about the penguin burgers!!!)
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