Queenscliff 5

No rush to read this as there won't be new posts for several day as we are away again to guess where? The Bellarine Peninsula again, not to Queenscliff but Sister's and Bone Doctor's house ten minutes away from Queenscliff to look after dog Fuzzy Cocoa and cats Oreo and Athena, while the family  holiday where they have been going each summer, Bright in northern Victoria. It is a lovely place. They no longer camp, Sister is getting old, though ten years younger than I am, and is inclined to like her comforts more now. 

Sister and Bone Doctor had generously given us a $70 voucher at Christmas for what turned out to be a rather good local cafe, well perhaps informal restaurant would be a better description. It is called The Shelter Shed and is owned by the brother of former detective Ron Iddles. They both grew up in Rochester you may remember we saw the mural panel when visiting Step Mother. We sat in the covered courtyard and look at this fabulous hydrangea. The photo doesn't do it justice.

The Point Lonsdale Christmas tree. I has been illuminated for many years, now with LED. It is pointed out to cruise ship passengers passing by. 

Planted in what I think were former night soil lanes, this is a monster gum tree. It's branches waving around were fascinating to watch,

In the main Queenscliff street Goebbels Street Hesse Street. 

Clean and green public transport.

I think this is Sister's cat Athena. 

I asked Sister if it was mussel season and would they be selling them at the Port Arlington Pier. My cunning plan worked. Sister invited us to dinner if we went and bought the mussels. One kilo would be enough, she suggested. Then she thought to ask a friend and her husband for dinner too. She messaged to us while on our way to buy the mussels to get 1.5 kilo. It must be about seven years ago when we last bought mussels at Portarlington and they were $5 a kilo. They are now only $7, which is pretty good in my opinion. The last time it was a very generous guessed kilo. This time they were weighed. 

Sister had developed her own cunning plan. She mentioned the van at the pier that sells fantastic doughnuts and suggested we should try them. They are Jo's favourite. Well, you can't deny a child a doughnut can you. We bought doughnuts for them and us and dropped them in, with the mussels to Sister's for preparation on our way back to the cottage. The doughnuts were of a weird shape, but yes, very nice indeed.

It was lovely dinner. We've met Sister's friends a couple of times and we all had a jolly old time. The mussels were nice. 

This is cutesy woodpecker adornment to the top of the clothes line at our cottage.

I've mixed days up but no matter. One day I walked across the road to Queenscliff Station to see passengers load onto the train.

The train is ready to depart.

There she goes.

Queenscliff 4

Sister and Bone Doctor went off early by train to to the cricket at the MCG, armed with sandwiches, cake, water and a vacuum flask of coffee, along with a book each. I would need a very good book to attend a cricket match. Maybe more than one.

We picked up Jo at 11 to go to a farm to pick blueberries. Of course there was a cafe at Tuckerberry Hill Blueberry Farm for us to have brunch. We then collected our buckets for blueberry picking and down the hill we went. The berries could only be picked in certain rows, marked by flags. I didn't find it very exciting and I think when I suggested we should wrap up, R and Jo readily agreed. It was rather hot in the sun. 

I let R and Jo go in to pay for our pickings. R came out with a jar of locally made strawberry jam as well (delicious). I never did find out the price per kilo for the blueberries, but it was much cheaper than paying retail. I was never a fan of blueberries until I learnt that you scoop up a handful, shove them in your gob and munch away. The effect of the antioxidants within the berries was better than sex. (Really Andrew, don't be so silly)

Once back in Melbourne R was determined to make blueberry and apple pie, just like his mother did. He bought Granny Smith apples but kept forgetting to buy pastry sheets. About a week after picking, I just ate the blueberries. I don't know what will happen to the Granny Smith apples. Alas it is all my fault for not reminding him to buy pastry sheets. 

We drove on to St Leonards for a look see, and then back to the cottage after dropping Jo off at home.

We had a nice enough dinner at the very busy Queenscliff Brewhouse. Being unfamiliar with the pub, we got our seating a bit wrong but we will know next time. 

It is years since we have watched a dvd but once back at the cottage, with flat batteries in the remote control, I managed to make the player work with the few buttons on the machine itself. Open/close, play/stop. As you can see, it is a star cast and we both enjoyed the film. Interracial connections interest me and a posh London black daughter found her rather common white biological mother in the regions. 

As R took a nap, I went out to visit a beach area, the car park being an assembly point for when Sister and Bone Doctor married. I didn't walk down to the beach, below a cliff. This is the white lightbouse and a more modern construction that displays lamps. 

Memorials to many lost ships. 

Very nice views. 

Point Nepean. 

Point Lonsdale. 

I stopped off at the Queenscliff fort on the way home. A fort tour is 1.5 hours, too long for me.

There's the black lighthouse in the background. Ship navigators would line up the white and black lighthouses to enter Port Phillip.