Wednesday 11 February 2004

Last night was wet, it rained all night non stop and was still raining at 2.pm, but eased and eventually stopped at about 2.30pm.

As we were leaving the caravan we spied several koalas in the gum trees around the park, but they looked a bit miserable sitting in the trees in the rain.

We decided we would have a look at the Morning Peninsula today, but first up we would get my Nokia mobile telephone checked as it did not seem to be working very well at all now. This meant our sight seeing had to take us up the peninsula as far as Mentone where the Telstra Repair Shop (Nokia repair agent) was located. So it was back up the Moorooduc Highway as far as Frankston then onto the Nepean Highway to Mentone.

Locating the Telstra Service Centre was easy and the service technician was very helpful, but needed a couple of hours to check the phone out, so we had some time to kill. We headed further up the Nepean Highway until we started to go past the biggest shopping centre 'one of us' has ever seen... Yes, bigger than Knox City. This meant that 'One of us' had to go shopping, so the 'other one' had to go around the block and find the parking area, which was all covered, on four levels and right outside the shopping centre doors.

The centre was not only on both sides of the Nepean Highway, it was over the highway as well and also four levels high. After having lunch in one of the many food halls, 'one of us' hit the retail stores... and the other one tagged along. One of us found a great store called 'Howards Storage Works' where the other one spent some money on some things for the caravan.

We then left the shop some two hours later and went back to the Telstra Service Centre where the service technician was very pleasant when he told us that although the telephone was extremely clean, he didn't recommend giving it a full cycle wash in the washing machine and that it had just about reached the end of it's life. Unfortunately they didn't have any replacements and they stated they were now superseded models so may not be available, which would mean replacement of the phone and hands free kit etc. It was looking expensive when I walked out the door past a Dick Smith store, fortunately they had one that had been discounted heavily and it eventually cost me $470.00 to replace it. Although expensive, it was a lot cheaper than the whole new outfit.

After buying the new mobile phone, we headed off down the Nepean Highway as far as Mornington where we saw a caravan park that we liked the look of so have booked into it for Thursday and Friday nights.

It was then time to return to the caravan as another day draws to an end.

Thursday 12th February 2004 Happy Birthday Lee Pajich (Son-in-Law)

The day started out a little overcast and then became better as it wore on. We packed up at the Balnarring Reserve with a furry farewell committee in the trees around us. The site was a great place for a family holiday and had a good view of Phillip Island, but could have had a few more facilities for the caravaner and a bit more grass would have been helpful, however the wildlife, particularly the koalas, made it pretty unique.

Leaving Balnarring at about 10:30am, it was only a relatively short drive back up the peninsula to Mornington City and the Mornington Gardens Caravan and Holiday Resort. We settled in at the park by about noon and 'one of us' discovered there were shops in Mornington, so off to Mornington Central and Coles it was, with some urgency. After completing our food shopping, a hairdressing Salon was noticed in the centre, so it was time for a hair cut and colour - (No need to mention which one of us required that, it would have been a search fee for the 'other one'!). So 'One of us' had their hair done whilst the 'other one' returned to the caravan with all our goodies, then went to Bunnings Warehouse to spend a little more money on another chair (two in fact - blue ones) as well as some storage containers. Over two hours later the hair was done (The other one might get some peace now!),

We then visited a Sanity (I think we are insane) record shop and bought the new CD of Australian Idol runner up, Shannon Noel and also John Farnham's 'The Last Time' music DVD.

The shopping completed, we were ready to start looking around.

We went down to the Mornington Marina which has a good number of boats moored there, including one yacht that we can't recall the name right now, but believe it was a Sydney to Hobart race contender. We had a brief walk down to the beach and took a photograph or two, then discovered it was it was now four o'clock, a bit late to start anything new, so back to the caravan to prepare for a bigger day tomorrow.

Friday 13th February 2004

Today started out with another quick trip to the shops where 'One of us' bought a new pink jumper and the 'Other one' bought a toaster.

After the shopping 'fix' we set off down the peninsula along the coast line past Mount Martha and visited Safety Beach where it looks like they may be starting a new set of canals and a Marina, however it is very early days yet.

From there we continued on down through Dromana, McCrea, Rosebud (didn't see very many roses) Tootgarook, Rye, Blairgownie to Sorrento. We called in and saw the Sorrento to Queenscliffe ferry in port and also the 'Hotel Sorrento' that featured in a movie of the same name.

From Sorrento we continued down to Portsea where we had a bit of a cruise around the local area and visited the London Bridge lookout, however I'm not sure what they did with London Bridge because we think we must have missed it.

We then made our way back up the coast road to Rosebud and as 'One of us' was starving, we had to stop and devour some Red Rooster chicken and Chips whilst sitting looking out over Port Phillip Bay.

On the move again we went up to Dromana then to the base of Arthurs Seat (mountain) where we caught the chair lift up to the top of the mountain, took a few photographs and then caught it back down again. At twenty minutes each way and a cost of $11.00 return, the chair lift was a different way to see the sights and particularly coming down the hill the views were quite spectacular overlooking Dromana and Port Phillip Bay.

After getting off the chair lift at the bottom of the hill again, 'One of us' had to have an ice cream, then we drove back up to the top and on through the hills to Red Hill. We were looking for an old shop on a corner that cousin Dawn Chapman (Nee Craig) remembers from when she was about three years old. We did not find any old store on a street corner as we were looking for, but did find the old Red Hill Central Store that is on a bend in the road.... Who knows, we took a photograph of it anyway as it might be the one, but could not find any other old shops in Red Hill that were on street corners. I'm sure Dawn will let us know.

From Red Hill we continued through the hills until we had almost completed a circle and came out on the Nepean Highway, from there it was back to the caravan for our last night on mainland Australia before arriving in Tasmania.

Saturday 14th February 2004 Valentines Day - Happy Birthday Debra!

Today we play a waiting game, as we can not enter the pier to board the Spirit of Tasmania until 6:30 pm. We were able to move our caravan to a different location within the Mornington Gardens Caravan Park and at least have power connected and the air conditioner running while we amuse ourselves waiting for the right time to depart Morington and head off toward Port Melbourne.

It has been a warm day today with the thermometer showing over 38 degrees in the shade, with a slight breeze blowing. It is also very humid as there are some clouds in the sky just to add a little more moisture to the air.

As we can not take any fuel containers on board with fuel (or traces of fuel in them) I have had to give away ten litres of unleaded petrol that I have been carrying for the small generating plant. I never thought it would be so hard to give it away, everyone has just fueled up, run diesel vehicles or have been out for the day,,,,

As the journal entry must be uploaded prior to our usual time slot of 7:pm local time and is outside our free mobile connection time, it is short and brief, however tomorrow night should have a much more interesting subject and images to display.

No images today

due to upload time constraints