After returning to Darwin late Monday night I was a back at work for what was a typical Footscray North Primary school week. Wednesday after school I was hoping to get back to the store that sold me my camera but I forgot the bill at home so it had to wait until Thursday (after my team meeting). Thankfully the store was very good to me (since I had purchased the camera less than 30 days earlier) and I had an immediate replacement. The photos taken in this blog are from my latest camera.
Anyhow this weekend I was invited by my work friend Julie down to her place in Ocean Grove. Since Julie doesn't work on Friday's I went down with Ruth my assistant principal from school (although she's on leave at the moment). Ocean Grove is on the Bellarine Peninsula and if you've ever been to the Great Ocean Road you would turn left when you got to Geelong instead of right. It was a beautiful place to spend a weekend, and even a winter weekend.
Saturday we were up early enough. Julie and Ruth headed to the gym and after a nice slow cup of coffee I went out for a run. I ran along the beach at Ocean Grove and took a few pictures along the way. You'll see from the photos below that it was a pretty tough place to run.
Ocean Grove Beach
(this is about 100 m from Julie's flat)
My running shoe prints in the sand. Yes, I had to run along the beach.
I know poor, poor, me.
The view looking back from where I had come from.
The views from the path along the river.
The amazing view and light I saw while running over the bridge and into Barwon Heads.
About 45 min into my run my mobile rang with Julie asking me where I was. Needless to say everyone was hungry so instead of running back to Julie's place I ran into Barwon Heads and met them for breakfast. We snooped around there for a bit and had a great breakfast before heading back to Julie's. Once all cleaned Julie's family (along with Ruth and her daughter Sharon) and I headed out for a sight seeing journey around the Bellarine Peninsula.
Our first stop was at Point Lonsdale. It's the opening for the ships that are heading into Melbourne port. The opening isn't particularly large but all ships must come in and out of the opening to get into Phillip Bay. From across the bay you can see the tip end of the Mornington Peninsula, the other side of the opening.
Point Lonsdale's White Light House
Our next stop was Queenscliff. Queenscliff is a beautiful town with a ton of historic buildings. For what ever reason I actually forgot to take pictures of the buildings but I did see the Royal Hotel, Post Office, Queenscliff Hotel, and Vue Grand Hotel. I also went to the pier and took a photo of the black light house (apparently it's one of the last remaining in the world). The black light house and the white light house at Point Lonsdale work together to help the ships get into the bay. We spent a fair bit of time in the town which I enjoyed a lot.
Queenscliff's black light house in the foreground and
Point Lonsdale's white light house in the background.
The little red bird that peaked his head out at us from the
top of the tree in Queenscliff.
A view from the park in Queenscliff.
Queenscliff's Main Street
After an hour (or more) in Queenscliff we headed back to Ocean Grove. Julie and I went for another walk along the beach. After the walk Julie and I went for a drive to 13 beach and I DROVE! Although their vehicle is quite big it didn't feel that big and I really enjoyed driving. I figure I better start to practice a little bit since Tammy and Nancy are coming in less than five weeks and we have hired a car!! Only once did I turn into the wrong lane and that was on a side dirt road with out another car in sight. I think I'll actually be okay driving although it will require extra concentration (that and Tammy's GPS so we don't get too lost).
Walking on the Ocean Grove beach Saturday afternoon.
Sunday morning I slept in a bit later (okay like until 8 am), and Julie, Ruth and I went for a walk along the beach. The clouds were pretty scary looking so instead of walking back we called the troops to meet us in Barwon Heads for breakfast. Below is a view from the sky taken outside the restaurant.
Ocean Grove Spit
(notice the crazy sky)
After breakfast Julie and her daughter and friend and I headed to see more of the peninsula. By this time the clouds had let us have it and it was pouring rain. Our first stop was in Portarlington. It was another cute town with an incredible bakery. Julie bought a couple of loafs of bread and now that I'm hope I wish I had too. We headed down to the pier so that I could take a picture. It's really too bad it was raining so much because the photo doesn't do the area justice.
Portarlington Pier (in the rain)
From Portarlington we headed to St. Leonards another small town. This isn't too much to this town except the pier and the house with the ducks on the front lawn. I'm not sure if they are always there but they were certainly there today, in the rain. After visiting St. Leonards we headed back to Ocean Grove.
St Leonard's Pier (in the rain)
The two ducks I saw cross the road in St. Leonards.
The house next door had several ducks in its front yard.
We spent the afternoon doing little errands and then we headed back to Melbourne. Steve, Julie's husband, was kind enough to take me right back to my place even though I live 30-45 min away from them.
Overall it was a very good weekend and I'm glad I was able to get to Ocean Grove. If I'm lucky and it works out I'm going to try to get there when the weather warms up and before I head back to Canada.
That's the update for this week. Next weekend I have an ITF weekend in Bendigo which includes a Bush Dance. It could be very interesting.
Keep in touch. With the time difference and me being away on weekends it's really tough to be in voice contact with people back in the home country. Remember I do LOVE reading personal e-mails.
Oh and to my IMC friends... two weeks and counting!! WOW how quickly it has arrived. Now let's just see if there will be on line entry for IMC 2010. I need some crazy weight loss program to get back to "fit" Karen.
No comments:
Post a Comment