I'll Take the High Road

25 June 2023 The crossing seemed reasonably smooth although I was aware when I got up during the nights of a little bit of motion but I certainly didn't feel it while I  attempted to sleep. After some diversions, I found the lost property office and woohoo! they actually had my lost tile in a little plastic bag ready and waiting for me. We confirmed that it was mined by getting my phone to talk to it and providing some identification on my part and it was back in my possession. I had only realised that this little locator device was missing from my handbag a few days into my trip, and I recalled hearing something fall as I extracted keys from my handbag when getting into my car on the ferry in Geelong.  I had looked around, seen nothing and thought no more of it.   The app on my phone said that it was in Corio - so I contact TT line to say I hoped it was in lost property and not a rubbish skip.  The fact that it was in Corio for a couple of weeks at least meant it wasn't on th

Dragon Tree Monday 24th June After organising myself, and my bag for overnight on the boat, I had a final cup of tea with Christine and Brian and then headed towards the ferry.  Bottle trees guard the garden entrance I traversed Westgate bridge with a minimum of stress for a change.  On the way I filled up with petrol at under 180c/l, no doubt for the last time in a very long time. No idea, but it was pretty I decided to spend a spare hour or two at the Geelong botanical gardens. The entrance to the botanical gardens is guarded by a magnificent display of bottle trees.  There were a few pretty things there, along with some rather interesting trees. A slightly unusual colour for Clivia - I thought I enjoyed an hour or so wondering around the gardens admiring the plants including the dragon tree; I'm not sure that I've seen one of those before.  A very old-fashioned wintersweet I still had a little bit of time to fill in so went for a drive around the East Beach foreshore. I stop

The Vitruvian Man - based on work done by a Greek Philosopher it defines the proportions of 'the perfect body'  Sunday 23rd  June  Christine and I had tickets booked for DaVinci at the Lume for 11 o'clock. Christine had elected to drive us in and wanted to leave in very good time just in case of any traffic problems, so we actually arrived at the Lume at about 10:20. Overwhelming at the entrance! As we entered the foyer, a lovely Italian gentleman of a certain age approached us to ask if he could help. I told him that we had tickets for 11 and he indicated that that was absolutely fine, he could get us through straight away. A reproduction of one of his classic Christine, of course, got chatting with him and made connections going back to her days when her father was a florist in Lygon Street, so they had a lovely time for a little while before we went in to the exhibition. The Mona Lisa as colurs intended by Da Vinci (digital interpretation) The entrance itself was absolut

 Saturday 22nd June Taji had agreed to drive Nina and me to the National Gallery of Victoria for the Pharaoh exhibition. We looked first at the option of booking in advance and decided to just rock up. It was a good choice, by which we did manage to get concession entry. It really was quite a fantastic exhibition; so much to look at, but unbelievably crowded and for some of the exhibits, particularly the smaller artifacts, there was quite a queue to be able to get to see them. Consequently, for some of them we did not read the information signs. My one criticism (other than the crowding) would be that some of their information signs were a little low and poorly lit so it wasn't the easiest to read them, at least not for those of us with a fixed focal distance! However, we had a lovely time and we were in the exhibition for two and a half hours. By the end of our time there, we were keen to look for food and coffee, both of which were to be found reasonably close, even if they weren

The Mourning Coach followed the hearse conveyeing the bereaved family There was room under the box seat for a child's coffin to save the expense of a hearse  Friday 21 June It was raining again; I was so glad I had used the whole of the previous day for outdoor activities. After checking out, I detoured to the fish shop tto purchase some delicious looking, outrageously fresh, orange roughy - came in last night, filleted this morning.  A plash of colour in the park Then I hit the road, travelling West. The Princess Highway between Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale is a section I'd not driven before. I stopped for petrol (under 180c/l - which was my current rule for myself. Some double standards in the rules for teachers The man filling up his car at the pump next to me was wearing shorts and thongs and I commented that his attire was a bit tropical given that the temperature still hadn't reached double digits and we responded that he used to work in the Pilbara in 48 degrees whi