Another 4000 Words
Aug. 22nd, 2008 12:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanThe first, not-so-PhotoShopped results from the latest-lamented Southern Odyssey.
In the William Ricketts sanctuary ~ he was either a card-carrying looney, or a religious visionary. Either way, a gifted artist...
Floating 'round the dock of the Narooma Bay
Milk... cheese... butter... Ruminating... processing.
The view from St Kilda Pier, looking north-east.
Six days. Three hundred & sixty photos... & I hope to get a bit more creative & artistic with this lot, so give me licence & time.
It was a lot of fun, apart from rising early to get out of Sydney before traffic fouled the escape & my mood. By sunrise we were traversing the miniature Great Ocean Rd near Stanwell Park NSW & threading our way through the pre-Wollongong (Dapto!!) hamlets before breakfast in Kiama. Photographing our way down the coast, the first overnight stay was in Eden, where the pubs are ill-stocked in winter & the locals are monosyllabically scary all year-round. Quote of the night belonged to a local yokel ~ "I forgot my name!" 'Nuffgrunted said.
The Lakes District at the bottom of Victoria was windy, cold & spectacular. Shame we missed Wilson's Promontory & Philip Island this time, but you can't have everything (where would you put it?!). Overnight in Traralgon. Three words of advice for unsuspecting travellers: Don't. Stop. There. Nice enough motel, just not much of a town.
Saturday started with driving into Melbourne, then catching up with the QVMarkets, various friends, children, vegetarian restaurants & funky bars on rooftops & in alleyways. Worst accommodation of the trip ~ Quest On Redan. Do not... repeat DO NOT go there!!! My bad ~ I'd stayed there a couple of years ago with my sister & it had been basic, but functional. The room we had this time 'round had half the deadlock missing, most of the smoke alarm missing & ill-fitting blinds on the window, ensuring an early awakening with the dawn... not what you need after a night on the town. Things have obviously gone downhill.
Sunday was spent at Brighton Beach marvelling at & photographing the beach-huts, then finding better lodgings (the Richmond Hill Hotel is highly recommended), a bit more catching up & a Spanish dinner at Docklands, then drinks everywhere from the Corner Hotel to the Crown Casino ~ you HAVE to try the Super-Size cocktails in... whichever bar it was... I don't remember now... but my Long Island Iced Tea was both HUGE & nicely apportioned.
Melbourne's real docklands were photographed on Monday morning, then out through Ferntree Gully & the Dandenongs. It's rainforest country, so that's what it did ~ rained on the forest. Bad light made for nice nature shots, but difficult ones at the William Ricketts Sanctuary... a place I'd been meaning to get to for years. The man was either a card-carrying looney, or... okay, let's just say he was a very talented artist & leave it at that. Go there ~ preferably when it's sunny & you can take better photos...
Some twilight & night driving adventures & aborted attempts at lodging eventually found us in Benalla, a peaceful town not far from both the freeway & the VIC/NSW border. Friendly locals pointed us in the direction of historic towns, picturesque drives &, more importantly, Brown Bros Winery. As a matter of curiosity ~ why do all country folk say places are "Just down the road. Not far... you can't miss it!", when they're patently NOT & you CAN!!!!!!! It took a lot of kilometres & a great deal of map-reading to get breakfast on Tuesday morning, that's all I'm saying. Nice photo opportunities though... & cheeses... mustards... chocolates... oh & wines!
Afterwards, more twisting, winding & orienteering got us to the border & to the Ettamogah Pub outside Albury for a late lunch, before flogging OBluV8 up the expressway to Sydney, fielding nasty work-related phonecalls en route ~ but more about that later...
And now home again... too soon, for too long.
In the William Ricketts sanctuary ~ he was either a card-carrying looney, or a religious visionary. Either way, a gifted artist...
Floating 'round the dock of the Narooma Bay
Milk... cheese... butter... Ruminating... processing.
The view from St Kilda Pier, looking north-east.
Six days. Three hundred & sixty photos... & I hope to get a bit more creative & artistic with this lot, so give me licence & time.
It was a lot of fun, apart from rising early to get out of Sydney before traffic fouled the escape & my mood. By sunrise we were traversing the miniature Great Ocean Rd near Stanwell Park NSW & threading our way through the pre-Wollongong (Dapto!!) hamlets before breakfast in Kiama. Photographing our way down the coast, the first overnight stay was in Eden, where the pubs are ill-stocked in winter & the locals are monosyllabically scary all year-round. Quote of the night belonged to a local yokel ~ "I forgot my name!" 'Nuff
The Lakes District at the bottom of Victoria was windy, cold & spectacular. Shame we missed Wilson's Promontory & Philip Island this time, but you can't have everything (where would you put it?!). Overnight in Traralgon. Three words of advice for unsuspecting travellers: Don't. Stop. There. Nice enough motel, just not much of a town.
Saturday started with driving into Melbourne, then catching up with the QVMarkets, various friends, children, vegetarian restaurants & funky bars on rooftops & in alleyways. Worst accommodation of the trip ~ Quest On Redan. Do not... repeat DO NOT go there!!! My bad ~ I'd stayed there a couple of years ago with my sister & it had been basic, but functional. The room we had this time 'round had half the deadlock missing, most of the smoke alarm missing & ill-fitting blinds on the window, ensuring an early awakening with the dawn... not what you need after a night on the town. Things have obviously gone downhill.
Sunday was spent at Brighton Beach marvelling at & photographing the beach-huts, then finding better lodgings (the Richmond Hill Hotel is highly recommended), a bit more catching up & a Spanish dinner at Docklands, then drinks everywhere from the Corner Hotel to the Crown Casino ~ you HAVE to try the Super-Size cocktails in... whichever bar it was... I don't remember now... but my Long Island Iced Tea was both HUGE & nicely apportioned.
Melbourne's real docklands were photographed on Monday morning, then out through Ferntree Gully & the Dandenongs. It's rainforest country, so that's what it did ~ rained on the forest. Bad light made for nice nature shots, but difficult ones at the William Ricketts Sanctuary... a place I'd been meaning to get to for years. The man was either a card-carrying looney, or... okay, let's just say he was a very talented artist & leave it at that. Go there ~ preferably when it's sunny & you can take better photos...
Some twilight & night driving adventures & aborted attempts at lodging eventually found us in Benalla, a peaceful town not far from both the freeway & the VIC/NSW border. Friendly locals pointed us in the direction of historic towns, picturesque drives &, more importantly, Brown Bros Winery. As a matter of curiosity ~ why do all country folk say places are "Just down the road. Not far... you can't miss it!", when they're patently NOT & you CAN!!!!!!! It took a lot of kilometres & a great deal of map-reading to get breakfast on Tuesday morning, that's all I'm saying. Nice photo opportunities though... & cheeses... mustards... chocolates... oh & wines!
Afterwards, more twisting, winding & orienteering got us to the border & to the Ettamogah Pub outside Albury for a late lunch, before flogging OBluV8 up the expressway to Sydney, fielding nasty work-related phonecalls en route ~ but more about that later...
And now home again... too soon, for too long.
