On the way to Tassie!

G’day – It’s time to crank up the kilometres or miles covered along this blog journey! So much to see and do and so little time to write about it!

As we travel along in Aussie – some of our time is being entertained by good ‘ole Aussie music and we very much like the words and music created by John Williamson. He was not familiar to us until we bought the Steve Irwin Tribute DVD and John was performing for that occasion. Now we can all be heard singing about (among others things)- True Blue, a  home among the gum trees and a rocking chair on the veranda to watching the possums play– all great stuff-which we are experiencing for real!

After leaving Eden we crossed the border into Victoria and stopped at Marlo. Ben was chuffed at beating his Dad and becoming the first of the family to catch a fish (bream) in the Southern Hemisphere! Later on, as the skies were so clear, we sat and watched the most amazing star show – with as many as ten shooting stars, a wish on each and a very clear Milky Way.

We continue to be perplexed by the stars around here, which in some spots look like they should belong to our set of stars. There is a saucepan and some seven sisters- just like the ones we see in the Northern Hemisphere – but not quite. We shall be phoning home to our astronomer friend, Alan, very soon for some advice on what to be looking out for. The beautiful shooting stars will do us just fine for the time being!

Lakes Entrance provided more excellent fishing spots and entertainment later as the Dad’s tried to combine prawning with a happy hour, in the middle of a cyclone! They must have been very wobbly rocks that night, and who needs waders anyway?!

We were surprised to find a rather large spider (about 12cms across) on the inside of our awning roof, but were told by Steve and Jen that it was only a BABY Huntsman – no worries!

After spending time at Sale Motor Village and Rosedale (and spending time with Kevin and Sandy!), it was safe for us to pass through the fire danger zones and we made our own tracks. We have enjoyed our time travelling with Steve and Jen and family and thank them for the various advice along our way. Maybe we shall meet again later in our travels!

We stayed at the Discovery Holiday Park in Carrum Downs and the swimming pool was a hit once more. Ben’s reply took a lady by surprise as she warned him to be careful as the water may be cold – “Oh this is fine- we have swam in the Baltic sea!”

Trekking through Rosebud, we arrived at our friend Bev’s house in Rye. Both Bev and her friend Phyllis have houses in Rye and we met them in Vienna, Austria, a couple of summers ago whilst they were travelling around Europe together. Back then MACSWAYROUND was a very newly hatched idea, only about two weeks old at the time! We enjoyed a happy hour with them although did not realise that was what we were doing at the time (we now understand more about the happy hour!) and told them of our intension to make it to ‘their land down under’. It was such a great feeling to have actually arrived and be living our dream. Bev cooked the most amazing roast which was a delicious treat for us all. We were introduced to tasty roast pumpkin (not so commonly eaten in England). The succulent lamb was also cooked in a fry-pan – another idea we shall be taking home with us.

We enjoyed the sights and scenery around the area at Rye, Rye Back Beach, Rosebud, Sorrento, Mount Martha and Arthur’s Seat. At Sorrento we visited the first official British Settlement –established in 1803-04, in the area that is now Victoria. This was called the Collins Settlement and the traditional owners of this land were the Boonwurrung people, for some 40,000 years.

At Sullivan’s bay we found out about William Buckley - the only person who successfully escaped, out of 27 convicts. He lived with the Wathaurung people for 32 years and as he had a very unlikely survival there is now an Australian phrase “Buckley’s Chance” – meaning “NO CHANCE!”

 We would like to thank Phyllis for the loan of her car. A few hours and a good supply of energy were spent by us all, at the Enchanted Gardens and Mazes!

As we bid farewell to Bev and Phyllis we took the opportunity to sail on the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ from Port Melbourne and add a taste of Tassie to our experiences. This was highly recommended by all we have spoken to and we just had to go and find out why! (thanks to Lynette and Sandra for the overnight stop, before we caught the very early ferry!)

FACTOIDS-

·         “Sale” is a supply and residential centre for the Bass Strait Oil Fields.

·         The town of ‘Sale’ was settled on the banks of the Thompson River in 1844 and was originally called ‘Flooding Creek’.

·         The Forester Kangaroo can travel up to 50 kilometres per hour and can leap up to 10 metres!

·         In ‘Sale’ there is an historic swing-bridge which was built in 1883 as one of the first of its type. The bridge pivots from the centre through a series of cogs and gears.

·         The Mornington Peninsula comprises of 190 kilometres of coast, which provides a variety of beaches and coastline.

·         The Mornington Peninsula is home to more than 50,000 Olive trees and around 15 commercial Olive farms.

·         Popes Eye is situated in Port Philip Bay (near the Heads). This is the abandoned foundation of an island fort that began construction in the 1880’s. At that time there was a fear of invasion from Russia and Melbourne’s current cannons could not properly defend the bay.

·         Arthur’s Seat summit is the Mornington Peninsula’s most prominent landmark and at 305 metres high, offers magnificent views of Port Philip Bay and the wider Peninsula Region.

·         Sorrento Bay is known as the Water Amphitheatre due to the stunning views right around the bay.

·         In 1967, Harold Holt, the Australian Prime Minister went for a swim near Cheviot Point and never returned.

·         Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne is the largest and oldest market in the Southern Hemisphere and opened in 1878.

·         The Eureka Sky-deck in Melbourne is the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere and includes the world’s first edge experience on a glass tube that projects 3 metres out from the building and is suspended almost 300 metres above the ground!

·         Melbourne is recognised as Australia’s shopping and fashion Capital.

·         In the 1850’s, John West started the Federation Movement in Australia and created the Australian Flag.

 

WILD -LIFE HITS –

·         Huntsman Spider (12 cm baby!)

·         Eastern Masked Lapwing

·         Black Swan

·         Pied Cormorant

·         Scalley Breasted Lorikeet

·         Pacific Gull

·         Pied Oyster Catcher

·         Swamp Hen

·         Gallinules

·         Little Eagle

 

 

 

Saturday, 04 April 2009 14:19:30 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia | Tasmania