Relaxing in Anglesea

Sat 1st May
Today we drove up and through Melbourne, straight through to the other side, along a Freeway that ducks into a tunnel to bypass the CBD. All very efficient and sooooo empty. We made our way out to Geelong and found a motel, did our washing, visited a shopping centre and basically did nothing much.

Sun - Wed
We dawdled along the coast taking stops here and there to watch the birds, surfers or just the waves. We took a wander up the river at Anglesea and then at 2pm made our way to the Howden (my cousin) holiday home where Kate (my cousin's half sister) had been staying for the weekend. And here we have been staying in this gorgeous house which looks out into a natural bush garden. We put out some seed and have sat watching birds (Corellas, cockatoos, rosellas, tits, Cookaburras and finches) and nightly possum visitors. Celso has been fishing; Tristan and I have been getting quite good at ping pong, monopoly and Yahtzee; and each evening, after a home cooked supper, we watch a 'classic' dvd! It has been great to be in the same place for a little while. The only day we really did much was on Tuesday when we drove West along the Great Ocean Road to Port Cambell to see the 12 Apostles (some famous rock stacks in the sea), Loch Ard Gorge (the beach where the only two survivors of the Loch Ard shipwreck washed up), and a Blow Hole that wasn't blowing (where the bodies of the other shipwrecked souls ended up). It rained on and off for most of that day and we were glad to stop off at Kangaroobie (the farm of a sort of cousin of the Burman's, Matt was a teenager when I was here 20 years ago but now he is the farmer and has 3 boys of his own!) where we ate a bowl of hot soup with the 60 or so kids that are staying there on 'camp' (they run a sort of farm/country activity centre for town kids). Of course the sun came out as soon as we started to head back East along the coast back to Anglesea.
We have been having great fun listening to 70's, 80's and 90's hits from the extensive LP collection in the house, as well as a great classical selection. We got up this morning to Vivaldi's 4 seasons with the great crackle of the old LP and record player! Young kids don't know what they missed.