Day 11 and 12

Hello all

Yesterday was a day to catch up with washing, ironing, "housework" and shopping. I made some cards while Peter had a rest in the afternoon. Peter went to Men's Shed last night at Croyden. He managed to find his own way there and back without a problem. Peter goes to Men's Shed at home, so thought he would go to the one down here. He came down here in February when this shed opened.

This morning it was a very chilly 2 degrees, but it became a lovely sunny day. Most days start off sunny but end up cloudy and dull by the afternoon. When we left here at 9.30am it was 5 degrees but did get up to 12 degrees today. We went to Lilydale to visit a couple that we met in South Australia last year. We had a tasty lunch - soup, casserole and dessert, and it was about 4 pm by the time we headed back to the caravan - about an hours drive.
This is us with Margrit and Hans at their home.






This was today's sunset.




Below is the entrance to the tunnel on the way back to Melbourne. The large artwork is quite spectacular at night when lit up with multi coloured LED lights.




Tomorrow I am looking after Sophie all day, so will probably have more Sophie photos for the next blog.

Till then, Cheerio and love
From Lesley and Peter.



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Day 10- Sophie's party

Hi everyone,

We started off this morning by going to prison. No, we weren't in trouble - the old Pentridge Gaol now have markets, so we went to check them out. Some of the market stalls were inside the prison along the long narrow corridors leading to the cells. Some of the cells were open to show what they were like - very dark and cold. The markets only started last week and they aren't very far from where we are staying. There are also units built on prison grounds and people live there (by choice).








There were 3 levels and the markets were on the bottom level.



After buying some fresh fruit and vegies and bits and pieces we went to Scott and Courtney's. We helped with some of the last minute things for Sophie's party before everyone arrived. Here's the birthday girl with Mum and Dad, then with the grandparents.










Sophie had a lovely day with her friends and family.












Hopefully she sleeps well tonight after her big day. She didn't sleep much last night - must have been excited about her party.

The weather this morning was beautiful and sunny, then started to cloud over by lunch time. It's now started raining. (Typical Melbourne weather.)Hopefully will clear again by the morning.

Till next time,

Love from Lesley and Peter.

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Day 9

Hello again,

We spent all day today at Scott and Courtney's, helping with party preparations for tomorrow. Scott and Peter cleaned and decorated the garage, while Courtney and I did some cooking. Sophie is happy for us to do things for her. This morning when it was time for her bottle and sleep, Scott went to take her but she just cuddled into me and refused to go to Scott, and wanted me to give her bottle to her and put her to bed. Very cute!!! This was later cuddling up to Daddy.






The last couple of days Sophie is walking a lot more, and thinks she is very clever. We think she is too.!!!

The weather hasn't been too cold today. The wind has eased a bit more. There was some sunshine today, but we did have a small amount of rain this afternoon. It's not as cold in the caravan as I was expecting, it doesn't take much to warm up with the heater - it's very efficient.

That's all to report today

Bye for now,
Love from Lesley and Peter.


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Days 7 and 8

Hi
Yesterday (Thursday) was a bit of a miserable day here. The wind got worse as the day went on, so it was very cold outside. Peter didn't want to go out so we stayed inside and I made some cards and went for a walk, while he caught up with some reading.
It started raining last night but we woke to a beautiful sunny day today and the wind had died down considerably.
Here are some photos at the caravan park.







We went back to Scott and Courtney's before lunch. Peter mowed the lawn - (doesn't take long as there's not much to do) and I made a slice for Sophie's party. Courtney had to do a bit of shopping so I babysat. We all went out for dinner last night and had a very tasty meal at the Union Dining restaurant on Swan St, Richmond. We had come back to the caravan park before going to dinner. The traffic was very heavy and the ipad directions took us near the MCG and as there was a big footy game there last night there were road closures, and not knowing our way around, we weren't sure which way to go. We finally sorted it out and finally got to our destination.
It's now Saturday morning. The clouds are back and looks like it will rain today. We are off to Scott's again this morning to help with party preparations for tomorrow.

Till next time.
Love from Lesley and Peter.

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Day 6

Hello
I didn't get my blog done yesterday, so here it is now. We had a leisurely morning catching up with the washing and a bit of shopping. We went to Scott and Courtney's by mid afternoon. Geraldine looks after Sophie each Wednesday, so she was able to go back to Ballarat earlier and we took over the babysitting till Scott and Courtney arrived home from work. Sophie was very happy and we had a lovely time with her. We took her outside to get some photos - this isn't her normal hair style - a gust of wind did this.








Poppy playing with Sophie -










After a tasty dinner, we headed back to the van. The wind got stronger over night. This morning we rolled up the awning as it was rocking the van too much. It's very windy and cold here today, with expected rain this afternoon and the next few days.
That's all for now
So till next time,
Cheerios and love from Lesley and Peter



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Day 5 - Coburg

Hello again

The fog was still around when we woke up this morning, and we were on the road by 8am. We aren't usually on the road that early but I think Peter was keen to get to Melbourne. We drove just over 400 kms today and we arrived before 3pm.

Holbrook, where we stayed last night is the home of the big submarine - HMAS Otway.












We continued on the Hume Highway all the way to Melbourne. This highway is in great condition, with 2 lanes each way. The north and south bound roads divided all the way. There are regular large truck and car rest areas which we dropped into every 2 hours for a break. All the towns are bypassed so the travelling is easy.

After setting up the van and a short rest, we went to Scott and Courtney's to see the birthday girl. Yes Sophie was 1 today. Geraldine ( Sophie's other nana) was there as well as Charlie, one of Sophie's cousins. We had a lovely dinner and Sophie had fun opening some of her presents. I'm sure she'll have more presents to open on Sunday at her party. Here she is ready for bed. She was very tired as she had been out all day for her birthday. They went to a winery on the Mornington Peninsula for lunch.





Sophie has grown a lot since we last saw her at Christmas time. She is walking a bit, so won't be long before she running around everywhere.

That's all for today.
I'll be back tomorrow,

Love from Lesley and Peter.


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Day 4 - Holbrook

Hello
This morning we woke to a beautiful fine sunny day. This is the same view as yesterday afternoon but with better light.








We left a bit later this morning - was getting onto 10am before leaving Shell Harbour. As I said yesterday we decided to change our trip and head inland rather than down the east coast. I checked out the maps and off we headed to the Illawarra Highway. It soon became a bit of a country road, and without warning we were on a very narrow windy road through the Macquarie Pass National Park. We climbed to 700 meters and the road was a bit scary at times. I didn't want to look out my window as it was a long way to the bottom and no rails on the edge of the road. I am glad a big truck didn't come the opposite way. There were warning signs to watch for trucks on the sharp corners. The worst one was a sign saying " caution - trucks backing up". I was trying to work out what the sign really meant, and the truck that was just ahead of us was backing back. It was such a tight corner, the trucks can't get around in one turn. And this is a highway!!!!
I was pleased when we got to the top and back to "civilization".

This was our lunch stop.




And me serving up some lovely soup to warm us up - 8 degrees outside but 17 inside the van.



We finally reached the Hume Highway and had a great drive for the rest of the day. We went through Moss Vale, by passed Goulburn and Yass, and onto Gundagai which is of course famous for the Dog on the Tuckerbox.



From here we headed to Holbrook, a small town where we are staying the night.

Although it has been sunny all day, the temperature most of the day has varied between 8 and 12 degrees. Some of the areas have been very dry, and others appear to have had some rain more recently as there is some green grass appearing. Most of the property's have sheep with the occasional cows.

We saw some large wind turbines. Not sure if it was the turbines causing cloud, but the cloud was quite low right along where the turbines were. The first photo isn't very clear but you can see what I mean. These were taken as we were driving.







As we arrived at the caravan park at 4.45pm you could see the fog starting to roll in. I think it will be a cold night here.

That's all for today,

Love from Lesley and Peter.









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