Wilson's Promontory and a visit to Melbourne - from 14 Jan 2018

On Sunday 14 January 2018 I made the relatively short journey from Sale to Leongatha, another pleasant country town and an access point for Wilson's Promontory, a rugged peninsula that separates the Bass Coast from the Gippsland area and lakes.  The Promontory is a favourite holiday destination for Victorians, and during the Xmas, New Year and January period, the huge camping area at Tidal Bay in the National Park is fully booked out and allocated to family groups on a ballot basis, a bit like peak season at Rottnest off the WA coast.

On Monday I drove down to the area via Fish Creek and Yanakie.  It was a bit of a gloomy day,  but cool, so I was happy.

The promontory has many large granite hills and outcrops, with a rugged coastline.  Not unlike some of the country around Albany in WA.

There are many bays, beaches and a number of offshore islands.

Norman Beach is wide with good surf and right next to the camping areas at Tidal River.  The river crosses the beach to the right of photo.
 

There are a whole series of camping areas around the Tidal River settlement and literally hundreds of families packed in, with kids on bikes everywhere.  Great for families but for PJ, not so much.....

 The track down to Squeaky Beach is a very scenic walk.

Squeaky beach is quite white sand and you can guess where the name came from ........ nice spot.







I enjoyed the day trip, walking around the area and my stay at the well run small caravan park at Leongatha.  Was very glad that I was not camping with the hordes at Tidal River.

Tuesday 16 January 2018

I made a reasonably early start and drove back to the Melbourne area, opting to stay for a few nights at Lilydale again, so I could get the Landcruiser serviced at the Toyota Dealer and catch up with a couple of old friends.

Geoff Geary & his wife Carmel live in Blackburn, a suburb about half the way into Melbourne CBD and on the rail line from Lilydale.  On Tuesday afternoon I drove to their place.  About 40 minutes through pretty heavy traffic.  They live in a quiet leafy street just back from the commercial area and rail line.  A great location for commuting to the City, which Geoff still does sometimes.  Geoff is another of the group I first met and worked with based in Invercargill in the late 1970s.  We had a long gossip session, plus a walk to a local coffee shop and an even longer walk back through bushland along creek beds in amongst the houses.  Lovely area.  We then went for an early meal to an excellent Vietnamese Restaurant in Box Hill, another Suburb or two away.  Very large Chinese population which has driven up property prices steeply.  There were a couple of very new very tall apartment buildings in the area and a new 32 story one in the early stages of construction.

The meal was great and I enjoyed catching up with Geoff again and meeting Carmel for the first time.

There we all are after dinner and a great coffee that Geoff made at home.











A big day for me.  Fortunately the drive back to the caravan park was fairly quiet, but still a three lane highway (Maroondah Highway of previous blogs) and some traffic compared to my country driving.  Was very glad it was not day time traffic.

Wednesday 17 January 2018.

I dropped the Landcruiser off at Yarra Valley Toyota and was given a ride to Lilydale Station.  I caught the Metro train which was a limited express and took about an hour to transport me to Flinders Street Station via the City Loop.  I had a bit of a wander around Federation Square and the Visitor Centre, followed by a long cup of coffee watching people coming and going around the Station vicinity.  The area was packed full of people, with the Australian Open on, School Holidays still running and normally busy Melbourne.   It was a hot, blue sky day.  Beautiful along the river side.

 I met Klaus around 12:30pm and he was hungry.  We walked back across the River to Southbank and found a nice Italian Restaurant to have some lunch and a long catch up gossip.  I first met Klaus in 2001 I think, on a Leeuwin voyage from Esperance to Albany.  Last time we caught up was around nine years ago when Eve and he were back in WA for a visit, and stayed with us for a few days at Folly Farm as well as some time spent near the beach in Scarborough.

I have updated the blog with this better photo of both of us during lunch taken by a very Italian sounding waitress.

A few rowers training on the Yarra on a beautiful hot day in Melbourne.








After lunch we decided we would take a tram to St Kilda Beach for a bit of a walk around and hopefully some cooler breeze.  Unfortunately  their was a bit of a problem with the trams for a while so we walked in the sunshine a bit further than we had planned.  On the way we had a look at and into the Shine of Remembrance.  Interesting building with good views from the upper level.  There was a volunteer on duty who gave a good background on the building and some of the history involved.

Eventually we made it to the beach with a couple of trams and walked a little more along the waterfront where it was a little cooler.  We continued the catch up over an iced coffee and shared a beer, before returning to the City so Klaus could see if he could attend a final session at the Tennis before leaving the next day for the Gold Coast.  Klaus is now living near Lake Konstanz in Germany, so it must be our turn to visit him next.  I hear it is a beautiful part of the world, close to the border with Switzerland.

I caught a train back to Lilydale and bus to the caravan park as it was too late to retrieve my vehicle.  I was tired and a little sun over exposed, despite using quite a lot of sunscreen and even wearing a hat for much of the day.

On Thursday morning, I caught a bus back towards town and picked up the Toyota from the local dealer.  No problems with the (90k km) service and a nice clean Cruiser to drive for a little while at least.  Did some shopping and then retreated to the caravan with the aircon running for the rest of another very hot day.  Finally caught up with the blog again.

I had considered going to the Dandenongs tomorrow, but the forecast is for an extreme 42 deg C for Melbourne with strong Northerly winds again.  So I will move on back towards Sale and come back another time to visit the Dandenong Ranges which are just to the South of Lilydale.

Plan for the next few days is maybe a visit to Dargo (North East of Sale), which is in the foothills of the Dargo High Plains and an entry point to the Victorian Alpine National Park.  It has been recommended to me by both Leonie & Bryan, as well as Ken Wheeler back in Gidgegannup.  By Saturday it is supposed to be cooler again......we hope.