Mornington Peninsula

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While visiting Melbourne we took a little trip down to the Mornington Peninsula. It's on the east side of Port Phillip Bay and only a couple of hours out of the city -- we rented a car and stayed over night in the town of Rye.

We've been before and will go again. It's an area of vineyards and wineries specializing in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Two of our favorite grapes. The area gets some cool breezes off the Southern Ocean. They think of it as a "cool climate" wine region but then they've not been to the Niagara Region here in Ontario where we really do have a cool climate.

It looks like the swimming around Rye might be nice. When we were there at the end of March it was at the end of summer so the water was cooler.

New Zealand

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Kate and I had been to New Zealand back in 2004 when we explored the North Island on our way through to Australia. We returned to explore the South Island when Kate was invited to present at a conference in Wellington. Wellington is the capital city on the extreme south/east corner of the North Island.

Our flight from Melbourne was uneventful ... until we got to Wellington. It was quite a windy landing with the plane rocking back and forth for a rough cross wind landing. Kids on the plane were laughing and shrieking joyfully through it all. Kate and I were gripping one another and praying that it wasn't our last flight ever. When we landed the pilot said, "Welcome to windy Wellington. The control tower didn't think we were going to make it."  They taxied to a second gate where the wind wasn't rocking the plane around.

The weather remained windy and cool throughout our visit. Late March in this part of the world is the beginning of the fall season. And this is an island nation where weather is largely influenced by the cool seas which surround it.

In Wellington we stayed at the Museum Hotel (right across the street from the new museum where it had originally stood). The hotel had been moved on rails to it's new location! I tramped around Wellington and the harbor area, visited the Te Papa Museum, took a funicular/cable car up the hillside to visit the Botanical Gardens and toured the parliament while Kate was busy with her conference and meeting with people. Interestingly the parliament was a bicameral house but the senate has been abolished -- it's a small country, they don't need a large parliament.

After the conference we took a ferry from Wellington to the South Island landing in Picton (that's the Marlborough wine region). From Picton we then took a small narrow gauge train to Christchurch. The train had an open air viewing carriage and there were lots of views of vineyards and the eastern coast as we traveled south to Christchurch.

We didn't explore Christchurch at all. We rented a car and headed out to first explore some nearby wineries and the Hanmer Hot Springs where we had a bit of a soak.

From there we drove west from Christchurch into the mountains and stayed at Lake Tekapo where the Mt John Observatory is found. We went to the observatory one night and got to see the rings of Saturn from a modest sized reflector telescope. The moon was bright that night and there was some cloud which made star gazing not as good as it might be.

The mountain country we explored is pretty barren. Although we did run into a herd of sheep -- not as many as on the north island but enough to block the road. We could have spent a lot more time exploring the island but this whole trip was a late addition to our planned stay in Australia.

We returned to Melbourne from Christchurch.

Melbourne

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We spent nearly two weeks in Melbourne in March. The photo at left is a street artist working on a piece on the South Bank near the Crown Casino. Kate had meetings and a conference much of the time but we got to see a lot together, being recently retired I got to see even more.

We stayed at Quest (Royal Gardens) serviced apartments near the Carlton Gardens (Melbourne Museum and Royal Exhibition Building) which are just a little to the NE east of the CBD and the circle tram route. The area is called Fitzroy -- sort of a Queen Street East, Toronto kind of area.

We took a bus tour out to explore wineries in the nearby Yarra Valley. We took a tram and visited the nearby St Kilda Beach (closest to the CBD and port of Melbourne) and were able to go swimming.

At the National Gallery of Victoria I attended an exhibit of huge life like statues by Ron Mueck. I can't describe how life like these were -- it's positively scarey. In the permanent collection, here and at the Ian Potter Center at Federation Square, there's a great collection of art well worth the visit.

The Melbourne trams are famous. You can get just about anywhere on them, or jump off and take the underground and rail system to go further afield. Within the CBD riding the trams is free as is the circle tram that goes around the CBD and out to the docklands. You can also take a restaurant/dinner tram from the South Bank near the Crown Casino (reservations are required). We did one day for lunch and it was great fun. The tram explored all over the city while we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch with lots to drink. Our server was funny, friendly and helped to make a great time even better. If you get a chance to try this, do go, it's worth it.

I went for a tour of the Melbourne Jail (Goal) which is just outside the CBD and circle tram route on the north end. There are some pretty horrible stories from years ago but you can buy a cute cuddly doll of Ned Kelly for your grandkids if you want to ignore it. Cells were awfully small, and records show children (ie. very young toddlers) being locked up on ships in the harbor for causing a disturbance.

I did a tour of the state legislature (Parliament House) on the east edge of the CBD and not too far from our aparment. We had our folding travel bikes so getting around within the CBD was easy enough. I was surprised to discover that although Queen Victoria (we're in the state of Victoria) is prominently represented the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is not. I guess Australia is veering towards a republic and shaking off the chains of the Commonwealth.

The Eurkea Tower on the south bank of the Yarra River is the highest place in town and has great views of the city and surrounding area. You can easily see out to Port Phillip Bay and St Kilda Beach. It's a great way to orientate yourself in a city where a meandering river can make directions confusing. Beware: you need to be prepared for lines to ride up to the viewing area.

Melbourne has it's famous arcades and alleys to explore. Arcades for shops, alleys like Hoosier and Rutledge Lanes for the street art/graffiti. There's the Flinders Street Station and nearby Federation Square often has something on -- like the ladies modelling swim suits on a run way the one day I was there (there were a lot there that day!). Exploring along the Yarra River by foot or bike is a good way to while away an afternoon -- there's the Web Bridge, the Polly Woodside ship, and recent developments in the docklands. Visiting the Fitzroy Gardens to seek out the Cook's Cottage (painfully moved here from England to escape demolition) and the Fairy Tree. And the Melbourne Museum was just a short walk from our apartment. There was so much to see and do.

Melbourne is one of our favorite places to visit in Australia -- we like it much better than Sydney. It's a vibrant city we thoroughly enjoyed. Visiting both Brisbane and Melbourne was a real treat for us.

Here's a photo album of our adventures.

Geelong & Beyond

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We visited Geelong where Kate has been working with a colleague at Deakin University. I spend a good deal of time tramping around the town and waterfront while Kate was working.

Geelong is on the west shore of Port Phillip Bay and is quite a good sized city -- not like Melbourne but a good size. Around the shore there's Cunningham Pier and a lot of parkland.  In the nearby Botanic Gardens there's some pictures I've taken of flying foxes. We first ran into these creatures in Brisbane where there's a large colony on an island in the river. Here I've taken some pictures of them roosting in the trees. You have to keep in mind they're called flying foxes because they're about the size of a fox!

Geelong was famous for fine merino wool, there's a wool museum I explored.

Afterwards, we drove south along the Great Ocean Road to visit The Apostles -- a famous formation of several large jagged rocks on the shore. On the way we spotted a Koala in the wild resting in a tree (we spotted him because a bus load had pulled over to take pictures).

We drove as far as Port Fairy and stayed over night. On the way back through the high country we explored the Grampians and tasted some wine -- Best's Great Western. A nice name choice.

Brisbane

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We were in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia for the month of February avoiding the snow and cold of Canada for the summer heat of the Antipodean. Kate was working on her book with Ross, I was retired and tasked to carry the luggage and document our adventures.

The picture at left is the Story Bridge over the Brisbane River with Kangaroo point to the left (and south side of the river). Eagle Street landing and the CBD in the distance.

We've been to Brisbane before and again found ourselves at the City Park Apartments on Gregory Terrace just south of the CBD on a rise over the city. It's the perfect place for a long stay with large wrap around balconies and good sea breezes. Brisbane can be awfully hot, but our apartment was always comfortable.

As we were there for a month you'll see that we spent quite a bit of time visiting the local markets: the Saturday market at Rocklea, Ann Power's Market at the Powerhouse district in New Farm, Ann Power's Market at the Treasury Casino, the Brunswick Street Market, and more. We're in a tropical environment and loved having the fresh mangoes every day.

Dan Murphy's is the place to buy your wines while in this part of the world -- we asked our colleagues and to a one they recommended Dan Murphy. There's lots of corner shops and speciality bottle shop but it's worth a drive out on Kingsford Smith Dr. (on the way back to the airport) to find the deals. In Australia you can find great deals on "clean skin wines". These are sort of no-name wines that are the result of over production in the industry. Wine makers will clear out wine that hasn't sold to retailers like Dan Murphy who slap on a generic lable and sell it as "Shiraz" from "South Australia" with no hint at all about who made it or where precisely it was grown. These sell for under $10 and are well worth exploring.

Our friend Murray (Darling) had us out to his home on the river in Chelmer. That's a little way up river from the CBD. We first met Murray back in 2004 through the local Beefsteak and Burgundy Wine club (we have a chapter here in St Marys) when we shared a lunch with the club and a drunken afternoon. This year we again attended a BS&B luncheon, this time they had wives as well (the last time they told us the rule was wives at dinner, mistresses and guests at lunch).

The interesting thing about Murray's home on the river was that they had a large home on a decent sized lot when we had last visited. Since they they had divided the house and property in half! They kept a very grand home on the river side and pocketed some cash for their retirement.

There were lots of adventures outside of Brisbane. To the north, at the far end of Bribie Island, we went to Caloundra a few times. There's nice tidal bathing where the water behind Bribie feeds back out to the ocean. The Wild Horse Mountain lookout is nearby. These mountains are the remains of volcanic cores and jut out from the surrounding forest. We toured some nearby wineries: Sir Romet (read T.E. Morris backwards) for my birthday. That's south of the city near Burleigh Head and the Gold Coast. Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious are just a short drive out of the city to higher land but well worth the trip. Sutton Beach in Redcliffe is just a short drive away in a northern suburb of the city. It's a pretty beach but not that great for swimming. We were out to Bribie Island for a swim.

Within town, I've already mentioned the markets. Mt Cootha is an interesting place to have dinner and enjoy views of the city a short drive from the CBD. I explored the river side, tramped around the Roma Street Parkland just down the street from our apartment, within the CBD there's the old city hall and one day there was a very interesting display and dance by Torres Strait Islanders (not all aborigines are the same) in the Queen Street Mall. China Town and Brunswick street were a short bike ride away for us. We caught an interesting comedy show at the Powerhouse (cf. the Powerhouse markets at New Farm) and at dinner there I learned to know the simple joys of "Panna Cotta" for dessert.

We left for Melbourne in early March for a KBS special topic conference after a fun visit to Brisbane. Kate and Ross did make some progress on their book and we all enjoyed our visit.

Here's an album of photos from our visit.