mike & rhonda's latest adventure: An Angry Summer

The talk over here, down under, is that this has been an 'angry summer'. The temperatures throughout the country have been several degrees celcius above the normal summer averages creating drought conditions in many areas, and in the NW (Brisbane to Cairns) they have also had above average rainfall with several cyclones, creating flooding conditions. We just recently completed a short tour of Melbourne, which we loved, and they were forecasting several more days of 30+C highs which would break the record for consecutive days (9) above that. The global warming discussion continues.

Our trip down the east coast and around to the Victoria south coast has been wonderful. In Eden we visited the Whalers Museum where we learned about how Old Tom (an orca whale) worked with the fishermen to herd balleen whales into the cove for them to harpoon and was then rewarded with the leftovers (tongue and lips). At Cape Conran we had our first campfire (banned in most places because of the dry heat) and enjoyed a 2 hour hike along the Cape boardwalk the next morning. We spent a night at Lakes Entrance where we had a campground bbq of freshly caught shark and prawns, with a morning visit to the Sunday market and a sandspit walk where fifty-plus youngsters were participating in Surf Life Saving exercises, a common practice in most seaside communities.

Approaching Melbourne, we made detours to Phillip Island (bridge connection) and the Mornington Peninsula. Both areas are within 2 hours of Melbourne and popular spots for the city folk to relax in their summer homes or on the beach. On Phillip Island we enjoyed the Penguin Parade at sunset where we saw over a thousand Fairy Penguins (now called Little Penguins to be politically correct) march from the sea to their shore nests after gorging on seafood to feed their chicks who were screaming to be fed ......they were prepared to accept food from anyone but apparently the mothers know who their chicks are and will only feed them. Although it was more touristy than we would like.....500 people in a grandstand, and even a skybox for those that wanted to pay more for premium seating, the penguins didn't seem to mind and it was quite an experience. The next morning we did a hike out to Cape Woolamai where we saw some significant surf that seemed to have an edge over the surfers who ventured out. The beaches on the west side of the Mornington Peninsula were fabulous....sandy and calm. We walked out to the end at Nepean Point and nearby Cheviot Beach but saw no sign of Harold Holt, the Prime Minister who went for a swim in 1967 and never returned to shore. There was a small memorial at the beach. The only other apparent accolade for him is a swimming pool in a suburb of Melbourne (named after him) where they teach little kids how to swim in case they want to become PM some day.

The next day we had a great time walking around Melbourne. With 4M+ people and water, it took a long time to get in and out of, but the downtown area was splendid. It was mix of old (Victorian architecture) and new (colourful contemporary), and easy to walk around. The river walk, old buildings, electric trams and multiple parks made it very pleasing to the eye. We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant on Lygon Street which was filled with sidewalk patios......it was a good finish to our time with Bill & Bobbie, who acted as tour guides for the past 10 days, and who were returning to their Yamba home (south of Brisbane) from Melbourne. We will visit with them again later in our trip.

We are now touring the Great Ocean Road in our Spaceship. It is carved out of the Otway Ranges, similar to the Sea to Sky Highway (Vancouver to Whistler) but with beautiful beaches (long and sandy). Yesterday we checked out the Ozzy surf capital (Bells Beach in Torquay) where we arrived 3 weeks too early for an international competition of the best surfers in the world. There were many skilled surfers working on their moves when we were there.

We just recently learned that Labour Day week-end occurs this week! All the Caravan Parks are booked as the Melbourne and Adelaide city dwellers try to escape the heat for a long week-end along the south coast. Most of the other foreign travellers that we have talked to are scrambling to find a place to stay with everything on-line booked already. Fortunately for us, our previous stays at hostels made us aware that many of them with a bit of extra grass, will allow small campervans to park there and use the hostel facilities (showers, common rooms) so we have secured a spot to use as a base for the w/e.