Anigozanthos

The alarm had been set for 9:00, but I woke up at 8:00. The weather today was typical Melbourne, cold and rainy. Quite different to the usual fine weather I've had most of the time here! After waiting a bit I got up anyway to get ready. After a shave, breakfast, and some cleaning up of the kitchen and bedroom I'd borrowed, I was ready. Kate had got up a 9:00, but either she's fast or I'm slow, but she was ready by the same time.

We caught the tram to the local train station, Windsor, got rained on between the tram stop and the train station (the second time I've been rained on this holiday), then took the train to Flinders St station. We changed for a train to Southern Cross (Spencer St) station. From there you catch the Skybus to the airport. We bought tickets then as we were about 5m from the bus, it left! Grrrr. Good thing they run every 15 minutes (or thereabouts).

The Skybus takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport. We arrived with about 20 minutes to check in before they were scheduled to start boarding.

Checking in was no problem, but something in my carry-on backpack was triggering the X-ray machine. It looked like the water bottle I'd put in, but on unpacking later I found a wrapped up foil packet of Pizza Shapes that probably contributed as well. They ended up running the backpack through three times, but eventually let me go without even needing to unpack it!

When I left Perth I wanted to photograph my plane, but it had been hidden behind the air bridge. This time the plane was clearly visible. It was a Virgin Blue Boeing 737-800 named "Brandi Blue". Across the gate was another Virgin Blue 737-800 named "Skye Blue".

The flight left on time and immediately flew into the overcast and rainy skies of Melbourne. The cloud cover didn't let up until we were virtually within sight of land over Western Australia. I was in seat 20F this time, with a view to the north of the plane. The first landmark I could identify was Hopetoun. The only other landmark I could pick out was Chinocup Lake, but that was all until we arrived over Perth. It's all very flat and brown out there!

The last hour of the flight was over land and it seemed to zip by. We landed in Perth almost right on scheduled time. Kate and I were picked up by our Dad.

Well, that's it! The end of a great holiday. I'll have to go back though, there were several things I'd intended to do, but didn't get around to doing: Melbourne Gaol, panoramic view from the top of an office tower (at least two in Melbourne have observation desks), the Mornington Penninsula, and Philip Island. There are already some tentative plans for me to go back for a trip to the east of Melbourne to the Lakes and the high country (where hopefully it might be snowing). I'll no doubt blog that too.

Now that I'm home, this will be the last holiday blog. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to have a look at my photo albums.

It had been planned that Kate and I would be spending the day at Hanging Rock. However, Kate had forgotten she was rostered on to work today, so basically the day was whatever I made of it.

I decided to go to the Melbourne Zoo, after processing and uploading all of my Airshow photos to my blog photo album. That, plus copying a CD for Kate, resetting the time on her DVD recorder, checking if Lost was on and programming the timer for it (but it wasn't on), and tweaking a setting on Kate's old laptop, now Roddy's, to streamline the Intenet dialout, took up the entire morning until just after 1:00.

Lunch-time! I decided to walk up to Spoonful where Kate works for lunch, before catching the tram to the zoo. I was recommended the lamb cutlets, which I had, plus a coffee. It was great!

The tram ride wasn't too bad. I had to change once, and going through the city it was delayed a bit due to a tram derailment. When I got to the zoo I got off one stop too soon, but it was only a couple of hundred metres.

The zoo is quite interesting, but I found it a little difficult to get around. It seems to be divided into several sections, with generally one way through each section. I seemed to have gone about things backwards so that getting from one section to the next required some extra walking. Note to self: do the Melbourne Zoo CLOCKWISE next time, and allow for more than two hours to do it! I'd say at least three or four hours to briefly visit each exhibit, or more time for a more thorough look.

The meerkats were very cute. One was lookout (today's photo), while two other scratched about in the dirt below. I also found the lions good to see. I'd particularly wanted to visit the bird section, but for some reason the birds weren't particularly impressive.

The orang-utans were good to watch. There were some black apes in the adjacent enclosure, but I forget what they were. One of them was carrying a juvenile (too big to be called a baby) and was happy to swing from bamboo stick to stick, and walk on a rope bridge (just a length of rope) without losing balance.

I'd wanted to see the tigers and red pandas, but must have made a wrong turn somewhere. I'll be back in Melbourne some time. Maybe then.

Going home I decided a different mode of transport was called for: trains instead of trams. The train went as far as Flinders Street station, before it changed direction to go back the way it came! I had to change trains to get home. The next rain got me to Windsor station, where it was raining. Normally I'd walk, but with the rain I decided to catch a tram.

Dinner was at home. Kate cooked up some steaks with a side of salad made from Spoonful leftovers. Very nice. For dessert I cooked up a couple of mexican hot chocolates Kate had bought for me.

Lastly we went through the fridge, organising food for the trip to Hanging Rock tomorrow.

Last sightseeing day tomorrow!

UPDATE: Melbourne Airshow 2007 Photo Album

Today was the big event - the Australian International Airshow at Avalon airport, south of Melbourne and just north of Geelong.

The weather was perfect for an airshow - cool, light winds, and fluffy clouds evenly spread about. Of the three days open to the public, this day was by far the best, as Saturday must have been colder, more windy and rainy, while Friday had those horrible gusty strong winds and dust storms.

We planned to get there before the air displays started at 10:00, but didn't quite make it. The Roulettes (the Royal Australian Air Force display team) did their performance while we were between the car park and the grandstand (I'd splurged and purchased gold pass tickets for my sister and myself, as well as the grandstand seating, we got free parking, a free official event programme guide and a free cap).

Some of the things that delayed us getting to our seats were static displays of aircraft, including full-size models of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and its engine, which has an exhaust nozzle that can turn to face down. The F-35 is to replace both the current F-111 and F-18 fleets. Its purchase by the Australian government is currently creating some controversy over the expense and questions over if it's the right aircraft (some think the F-22 is better).

Once we got to our seats, the view was fabulous. We saw all sorts of aircraft, from older Catalina, Dakota, Super Constellation, Mustangs , Kittyhawks and a Yak-9 to newer fighter aircraft such as F-18s, an F-16 , an F-15, and an F-111 (shown in todays photo performing its trademark fuel dump and burn - if it kept it up for two minutes it would burn all its fuel!). Other aircraft were a BAe-127, C-130H Hercules transport , Caribou transport, Alenia C-27J Spartan transport, A-37B attack aircraft , AP-3C Orion (which we missed because we were standing in a queue for lunch) reconnaissance, and a C-17A transport. One of the more unusual planes was a jet powered sailplane (glider) - the only one of its type in the world. Each of its two engines produced a mere 48 pounds thrust, but that's enough for the sailplane to get itself off the ground and doing some aerobatics.

The Alenia C-27J Spartan is being considered by the RAAF as a replacement for its existing Caribou fleet. The C-27 performed some very impressive manoeuvres on its two turboprop engines - barrell rolls, steep climbs and descents - very reminiscient of the previous F-16 display - and it's a transport! Apparently it's the fully digital computer control of the engines and flight controls that makes that possible.

The Caribou that it's replacing made some impressive moves of its own - the short take offs and landing were hard to believe. It can even reverse on the runway so it doesn't need to turn around to take off.

We also saw many aerobatic displays. Some were breathtaking, especially when two aircraft were flying toward each other and just missing, or flying in formation so closely they seemed to be touching!

Helicopters featured too, a couple of navy Squirrels performing a synchronized display , army Kiowa and Blackhawk helicopters , and the new army Tiger attack helicopter . They all looked great.

Interspersed in the program were regular public transport aircraft movements - the airport didn't shut down for the show. We saw several Jetstar A-320s , a Qantas Boeing 747 , and a Qantas Boeing 737-800 painted in aboriginal dot style ("Yananyi Dreaming").

One slight disappointment was the B-52. It was scheduled to make only two flybys (after flying all the way from Darwin!) and just as it was starting the second pass my camera batteries died and I missed it while changing to a new set It was also flying a line that was quite distant from the viewing area. There was no way to really appreciate just how big it is. Barely worth their while.

Near the end four RAAF F-18s performed a simulated attack on the airfield. The noise of two F-18s taking off together - wow!

The show finished with two aerobatic planes simulating a dogfight, with synchonized explosions on the ground being detonated. What a fabulous day!

Today we visited The Grampians. After having breakfast at a café in Warrnambool, we drove north through Koroit and Hawkesdale to Penshurst.

Just short of Penshurst is an old volcano called Mt Rouse. The crater is still clearly visible. At the top is a communications tower (mobile phones) and probably a fire watch tower too. The view is amazing. The mountain is quite alone on a flat plain. The Grampians are clearly visible to the north. While there we saw a wedge-tailed eagle swooping the local magpies and kangaroos! We also checked out what appeared to be an old quarry.

North from Mt Rouse is the town of Dunkeld. We passed through that, then instead of taking the typical touring route (Grampians Road C216) we took the Victoria Valley Road (C217) up the Victoria Valley between the Victoria and Serra Ranges. There's lots of farming in the valley, mostly sheep and cattle.

The Victoria Valley Road eventually turned east, taking us through Mirranatwa Gap. At the top of the Gap is a lookout, but there was a faint trail through burnt-out bush up to a rocky outcrop. I enthusiastically attacked the slope, Kate less so. I tired out before reaching the very top, but found a good vantage spot most of the way up for some photos.

Not far down the east side of the Gap, we rejoined the main Grampians Road and headed for the town of Halls Gap.

Before getting there, we turned in to see Silverband Falls and decided to have lunch there. It's a 1km walk from the car park to the falls. The falls themselves weren't flowing in great volume, more a trickle, but the distinctive thing about them is that even at the best of times there is never a pool of water that they fall into. Instead the water apparently disappears into rocks at the bottom , but reappears some distance downstream. However, it's been such a long time since the last decent flow that the water doesn't appear to flow on the surface anywhere below the falls anymore. All we could find were a few puddles of still water.

Moving on, we reached Halls Gap at about 3:00 and went to the information center to inquire about places to stay and places to see. We quickly arranged for a room at the YHA and made a short list of places to visit to fill the afternoon. After dropping our bags off at the YHA and getting our key, we headed off.

First stop was Boroka Lookout, about 15km out of town. The road to it leaves from the center of town and immediately climbs up into the adjacent Wonderland Range. The view from the lookout is impressive. It looks to the north over flat plains, east over more plains to the end of the Great Dividing Range, and south down the valley overlooking Halls Gap , which now looked very small.

Then we drove to Reed Lookout and The Balconies. This time the view is to the west, looking across a valley to the Glenelg Range. The Balconies are a rock formation about a 1km walk from the car park where two rock platforms poke out over the valley. The view is otherwise similar to that at the car park.

Our last stop for the day was McKenzie Falls. These are a large set of waterfalls. There is a climb down to the bottom, but there is also a walk around to the top of a nearby cliff that offers a good view of them. We did the cliff top walk before tackling the stairs down to the bottom. It was hard work, but once there, the falls made a cool breeze of their own that was very refreshing.

From the bottom there is a very narrow and rugged riverside walk to the nearby Zumstein picnic ground, but it is closed due to bush fire damage.

About the bush fire: in January 2006 there was a huge bush fire that burnt for two weeks and affected about 47% of the Grampians National Park. It's effects were evident everywhere we went, more than a year later.

Before we left McKenzie Falls, we had a look at Broken Falls Lookout. These falls are just upstream of McKenzie Falls. They're a bit smaller and you can't walk down to them.

As we passed the (closed) kiosk on the way to the car, we noticed three kangaroos in the fenced off backyard behind the kiosk. We think they are rescued animals being looked after before being returned to the bush.

Our sightseeing done for the day, we returned to Halls Gap for dinner. We first stopped off at the supermarket for some breakfast things, then to the nearby café which had just shut its kitchen (it was about 7:15 and the sun hadn't even set!), but was able to arrange a very yummy pizza for us. A kookaburra kept a close eye on us and we were told that it had been known for them to swoop on food on the fork between plate and mouth! One woman had received a cut lip one time! This time, the kookaburra just watched before swooping on a passing-by flying bug and moving to a distant tree.

After dinner we had a quick walk up and down the main street, but it was dead, nobody walking about and very quiet. We drove to the YHA and made ourselves a cup of tea in the kitchen.

The YHA seems to be very new. There's 20 rooms, two shared kitchens, four bathrooms (two mens, two womens), two lounge rooms, a TV room with a movie tape library, and some Internet access. Each kitchen has two fridges, two stove tops, and two sinks. The dishes, mugs and cutlery, while cheap, seem new. It's very nice.

Tomorrow we plan to check the shops, do a walk to some nearby pools, then head for Ballarat and Melbourne for dinner.

Today we left Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road. We battled our way through heavy traffic until we crossed the West Gate Bridge. From there we zipped along to Geelong .

We paused there visiting Cunningham Pier (where one of the local pier fishermen tried closing the main gate!!!), before driving along one of the main streets and finding our way back to the highway. Just outside Geelong is the start of the Great Ocean Road.

Our first stop was Bells Beach. This is a world renowned surfing beach, and in a few days time the Bells Beach Surfing Classic competition will be held. They've already set up grandstand seating!

Further on, we drove through Anglesea and on to Airey's Inlet where the Split Point lighthouse is located . We had a look at the lighthouse, Eagle Rock , and envied the people living on the point.

Then it was back in the car keeping moving since we wanted to have lunch at Wye River. Every now and again we stopped to admire the scenery and take photos.

We got to Wye River just after 2pm - and the kitchen at the pub had just closed! They were able to put on a pizza for us, though, so we had that plus a wine/beer. While eating that a magpie flew in and started singing.

We arrived in Apollo Bay mid-afternoon and popped into the tourist information center for some brochures and accommodation information. I also bought a souvenir book on the Great Ocean Road.

We decided to stay at the Seaside Backpackers , so we booked in. After a quick consultation with the brochures, we decided the best use of the remaining afternoon was to visit Marriners Falls.

As we drove off, rolling hills with cattle soon turned into a narrow valley of tall trees and green growth. The road twisted up the valley, with beautifully located houses (private residences, some B&Bs) either side. At the very end of the road is a car park for the falls, right next to a house on a large block, with a couple of dogs, horses and sheep.

As we got out of the car, the two dogs (a labrador and a border collie) ambled over, barking to start, but soon turning friendly - they became our tour guides! They went with us all the way to the Falls and back again!

The total walk is 3.4km and involves four or five creek crossings where stepping stones have been set up to keep your feet dry. On many occasions trees have fallen across the path, requiring ducking under or climbing over. The scenery all along was fantastic! Lots of tall trees, ferns, and a bubbling creek. We even saw some fish in the creek.

The dogs beat us to the Falls (they've probably done that a few times!) and when we got there the labrador was standing in the pool of water just staring at the falls! It seemed fascinated by them - so were we!

We took lots of photos before turning back . The labrador had left us almost as soon as we arrived, but the border collie stayed with until nearly the end, before it disappeared home well ahead of us. We saw the border collie licking its paws as we left.

By this time it was a bit after 6:30, so we walked along Apollo Bay beach . The water was very flat (has been all day) and there was almost no swell. The sun was setting into a cloud of smoke, turning it very red-orange.

For dinner we stopped at the Apollo Bay Hotel. Kate had a seafood risotto, I had grilled Atlantic salmon, followed by a dessert wine.

We walked back to the backpackers to wash and plan what to see tomorrow.