Point Lonsdale 1

The first of two posts, I think, about my time away on The Bellarine.

I know they are not called catteries anymore, but I can't remember the correct name. I picked up the cats along the way to Sister's. The boarding place was very nice and post surgery where I can't lift weights for a time, they put the cages in my car. I still had to take them out, but that was ok. They were happy to be home but demanded food, which I denied to them until their usual dinner time.  

The first thing on the morning after I arrived, after showering I discovered I didn't have any clean socks and jocks. I had brought absolutely everything with me, except for those. I took a trip to the Geelong suburb of Leopold, Geelong being the second largest city in Victoria, as Leopold had a K Mart, or was it Big W. No matter. I just wanted a few pair of both. Once there while brunching, I noticed a Bonds store, so in I went and bought a packet of underwear, five pair, and three pair of socks, but I it was suggested if a bought a second lot of socks, both pair would be discounted by 45%, so I did. I wear size 9 shoes, so 6-10 socks should fit but they were too tight around my ankles, leaving a serious depression in my skin. Later I gave the six pair to Kosov. I will guess that once again the Bond's staff did not point out to me that they are women's socks. 

Is there any place of interest around Leopold? Not really, but I headed for a place where I had seen signposts to for years and never visited, it being Point Henry. I'm afraid it wasn't terribly interesting. 

Looking towards Geelong, worth embiggening. 

Brisbane Ranges in the distance. 

I love this port control tower. It needs to be saved.

It is quite a long pier but locked off after the aluminium smelter Alcoa closed down operations in its nearby factory.

The pier is longer than this photo captures.

I can't say it is a pretty place.

But there were heaps of birdlife and croaking frogs. I posted some photos on FB and Bone Doctor commented that Jo's driving instructor had told her the area is a gay beat. Hmm, that explains the solitary men in cars, who I had noticed. Nowadays, car window tinting prevents you from seeing the child seats in the cars. 

Sister and Bone Doctor have replaced their very old solar panels with new ones, better located to catch the rays, and with a battery. 

I found this fascinating. On the top left are the solar panels, top right the public power grid, where power travels back and forth, bottom left the battery level, and bottom right, the home and what it is consuming. It was cold, so I had the heat pump running, which meant the consumption level in the home was higher than it otherwise would be. I kept checking the panel, and getting excited when the battery level rose. 

The battery level at a glance. 

I bought take away coffee at Point Lonsdale Village and watched the waters while well wrapped up.

The boy cat, who is the most friendly, and always ready for affection.

But at times he does bully his sister, who I will show properly in another post. This ended up being quite a decent spat. 

As I said, it was cold. I used the heat pump all day, and for a quick warm up in the morning, a small inbuilt gas heater. Just one button to press to turn it on. I switched off the Economy mode. I have no guilt about using more heating than they would if they were home. I saved them a lot on cat boarding fees.

But as I later heard, I did not water the plants sitting on top of the heater. I assumed they were fake and there wasn't an instruction to water them. What happened is that at least one, maybe more, became cooked by the heater. Who the **** has live plants on top of a heater in the middle of winter when a guest is staying?