This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Author Archives: wendyviney


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1999 Travels September 16

THURSDAY 16 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

After a late start, went for a drive around some of the Mornington Peninsula coast.

It was a very windy day.

We followed the main road around the coast to Sorrento, where we watched the Queenscliff ferry come in.

Went for a walk on Portsea jetty.

Drove across to the “back” side and explored the Portsea Back Beach. Drove to the London Bridge lookout area.

09-16-1999 London Bridge Portsea back beach.jpg

London Bridge

It was, of course, from the Portsea Back Beach area that the then Prime Minister, Harold Holt, disappeared whilst swimming, in December 1967. No trace of him has ever been found. It is a treacherous beach but there were those who could not be satisfied with the obvious explanations of drowning, or shark attack. Amongst the more bizarre theories circulated were ones like the American CIA kidnapped him, via submarine!

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Portsea Back Beach, near where the Prime Minister disappeared, in 1967

A political crisis eventuated. There was rather a dearth of leadership material in the Liberal Party of the time, as the long serving Prime Minister Menzies had groomed Holt as his replacement, and had tended to shunt off other likely talent, sideways, to diplomatic postings and the like. Holt had not been in place long enough to consider his succession plan. Tensions with the Country Party and Liberals meant that Holt’s deputy was not an option for Prime Minister. The unprecedented solution saw a Senator – Gorton – become the Liberal Party leader and thus PM. He had to move to the House of Representatives, via a by-election. This sudden prominence of a Senator caused some to revise their opinion that the Senate was a burying ground for political hacks of little talent! Including some Senators themselves!

It was an interesting episode in what had, until then, been a very boring Australian political scene.

It was really too windy and chilly to be tempted to do any beach walking of substance. On a better day, we might have been tempted to do the very pleasant walk to Bushranger Bay.

But going for the drive gave an illusion that we were doing something other than just sitting around the van. We managed to drive 115kms.

Tea was sausages, fries, vegies.


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1999 Travels September 15

WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

The funeral of John’s sister was held today. It was rather harrowing, especially afterwards, when a family “wake” was held at the home of another sister. There was much reminiscing and recollection, as one would expect. Being a relative newcomer to the family, a lot of it did not mean much to me. But, even on such a day, the family alliances and antagonisms still surfaced. I think these are so much greater in large families.

N’s will was read. She had obviously put a lot of thought into this and people felt they were dealt with fairly. She had prepared a parcel of mementoes and wines from her cellar for each sister and brother. John received the opal pendant that had been the family’s 21st present to N. He thinks he will give it on to R.

I was able to take a rare photo – all the ten surviving siblings together, because brother C and sister M had come from their respective interstate homes.

Back at the van, our tea was leftover party pies, from the wake, and pizza from Monday night.

I think, on balance, that it is good that John has been here to be part of the family at this time.


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1999 Travels September 14

TUESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

We pottered about in the morning.

Drove to Moorabbin to Harvey Normans, for John to look at computer games. He bought one called Worms Armageddon. This will be his birthday present.

We refuelled Truck at a cheap outlet in Frankston – 70cpl.

The Landrover dealer phoned and rescheduled the Truck service.

We went to E – John’s sister’s, at Mornington, for tea, which was pleasant.


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1999 Travels September 13

MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

We left Mornington at 10am, to spend the day in our home area.

Went first to Chirnside Park to organize new glasses frames for John, as his have been broken for a while, and held together by tape. They cost $150.

We went to have a look at home. John was not happy with the state of the garden, where pruning and cutting back of plants has not been done. The pets were excited to see us, yet again.

We collected clothes suitable for the funeral, from home.

We both visited our dentist. As I suspected, my root canal filling, done in Cairns last year, is loose. He will replace it and hope that works – this is a cheaper option than treatment from an orthodontic dentist, even assuming I could get into see one. John has two big fillings to be done, one a correction of an old and worn  root canal. Our tooth works are going to cost over $2000! This puts us both into shock. John talks about just getting his teeth out and getting dentures – but that would cost nearly as much.

So we had a rather morose journey back to Mornington. We drove 106kms today.

Bought pizza for tea.

This time last week, we were at Mt Ive – and it was a much more pleasant day!

Then John’s niece, C, phoned. She and her husband are in charge of a polling booth in next Saturday’s State election, and she asked if we would work there. You bet we will! The several hundred dollars we will earn will go towards dental costs.


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1999 Travels September 12

SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

It was a very pleasant, typically spring day in Melbourne.

We had to be at Beaumaris by midday, because John and his brother in law were bowling.

H took me to Southland and we went browsing in Myers. In their craft section, I bought some cheap knitting wool. I bought two new towels for John – blue ones, because he has been complaining that the current ones are not fluffy enough. These are good Sheridan ones, at $20 each. I also bought some white knit shorts – for casual bowls and best wear.

We had tea at H’s again. I bought some pre-dinner nibbly things, and wine. H bought Chicken Italian – there was cheese and ham inside the chicken and Italian sauce and mozarella over it, sprinkled with herbs. I hadn’t had anything like it before, but it was very nice.

H and John were able to talk at some length about family matters and relationships. She told him that he would get a bequest in N’s will. On the drive back to the van, we discussed that he could maybe buy a new lathe with the money, once we settle down again.

We did not stay late at H’s, and were back at the van in time for a reasonably early night.


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1999 Travels September 11

SATURDAY 11 SEPTEMBER      MORNINGTON

Today was a quiet, recovery sort of day.

We went to the shops for papers and to pick up the photos I’d put in yesterday. They were alright.

Phoned our accountant and made an appointment to do our tax.

I did much washing. Later, I had to iron quite a lot of it, to ensure its final dryness. There was a lot of cloud about by the afternoon, and it was not very warm.

John fiddled about with bits and pieces, like adjusting the level of the Truck lights, and cleaning algae out of the little filter in the mains water hose (again). We have learned that this seems to grow and block the water inlet fairly regularly.

Listened to the football on the radio. Carlton won, which pleased John.

As John had earlier expressed a wish for vegetable and barley soup, I cooked up lamb shanks for our tea, and set the stock aside to cool, so I could later remove the fat from it, and make the soup tomorrow. John, when doing the washing up, somehow managed to tip out my cooling stock. He was cross and said it was my fault, for worrying about the fat!

We watched a video – The Perfect Murder – which was excellent.

There is about six weeks before we go to Tasmania, and we are starting to feel a bit in limbo and not sure what to do, once the funeral is over. It is not a great time of year to do a short trip somewhere in Victoria. But we really don’t want to be hanging around Melbourne for weeks, being bored, either. Have done that a couple of times already!


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1999 Travels September 10

FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER     MORNINGTON

Despite the background of urban and traffic noise again, we slept in somewhat.

After breakfast, John went back to the hospital. N died an hour or so later.

There had been drama during the night. H got a shock from a light switch in the hospital and was taken by ambulance to the larger Frankston Hospital! She is alright, though, and home now.

John had a big whisky after he got back to the van – in a salute to N, who liked her whisky too.

We went to the shops for some much needed supplies. I put films into a shop there for processing. I phoned our dentist and made an appointment. John phoned and booked Truck in for a service at Frankston – next Friday. It would be more convenient from here, if we decided to stay longer than the week we’d booked.

After lunch, drove to H’s place at Beaumaris. Her daughter was there too. We sat round and talked – mostly about her shock, our travels, gemstones. We had tea there – take away chicken and fried rice, and a superb bottle of champagne.

The drive back from Beaumaris to Mornington at night, was not too bad.


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1999 Travels September 9

THURSDAY 9 SEPTEMBER   BALLARAT TO MORNINGTON   180kms

We had established, via some phone calls  yesterday, that we would be able to take the Truck and van across Port Phillip Bay on the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, and that the first one left at 7am. This seemed a much better option than negotiating the morning traffic through Melbourne.

We left the caravan park at 4.30am and travelled down the Midland Highway, through Geelong, to Queenscliff, getting there about 6.30 am.

Because it was the early run, the caravan was free on the ferry, which was a lovely bonus! It cost $58 for Truck and us, though.

Somewhere on the drive, we realized that today was the 9-9-99!

The 45 minute trip across the narrow part of the Bay, just inside the Heads, was interesting – we hadn’t done that before. It certainly was a much more pleasant alternative to the city in peak hours.

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Driver’s eye view of the Queenscliff ferry, before loading ramp was put down

We were off the ferry and had driven the 20 kms to Mornington, by 8.30.

Drove straight to the hospital and were able to find a place quite close to park the rig. I waited in Truck, while John visited his sister, for about three hours. I read, and got out and walked around, every so often.

While I was waiting, a man stopped and came over to talk. He was a local Trakmaster owner and he was interested to look at our bike rack arrangement. He was planning a trip like ours, so was interested to hear what we had done, to date.

While I was talking to him, John came out of the hospital, with another sister, E.

We booked into the Mornington Caravan Park, which looked alright from the outside, for $12 a night. Booked in for a week, given some uncertainty about how long we might need here. Our allocated site was very nice, surrounded by hedges, which made it quite private. The amenities were clean and quite adequate. We’d had to pay a $30 key deposit for these, too.

After we got set up for a stay of at least a week, John went back to the hospital.

I did some cleaning and ordering of the van – needed after our dash from just about half way across the continent!

John came back at tea time and we had soup, fettucine with sauce from a jar.

It was a very early night for both of us. We were exhausted, rather like jet lag. I feel almost disoriented – had expected to be relaxing by a very different coast, at this point in time.

John said that N was so pleased to see him, so it was worth the effort of the past couple of days.

09-09-1999 to mornington

Our last two days…….


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1999 Travels September 8

WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER   PORT AUGUSTA TO BALLARAT   970kms

It was still dark when we left the caravan park, at 5.20am.

Given where it is located, at the crossroads of both the north-south and the east-west routes, there was no problem finding an open fuel outlet, at that time, and we filled the tank – at 75cpl.

We had an uneventful run south, opting to go through Adelaide, as the route that would allow us the fastest driving. By the time we reached there, the morning rush hour was over, and traffic more normal. However, given the months we’d been in the outback, even that seemed rather busy!

Truck pulled the van up the Adelaide Hills steadily. The section from Adelaide to Murray Bridge has been vastly improved from how I remember it, in the 60’s and 70’s, and was much easier driving than I expected.

We alternated the driving, changing each hour. Had a brief fuel and lunch stop at Tailem Bend – fuel was 74cpl.

Crossing the border into Victoria meant, of course, that we “lost” half an hour of time.

It was dark by the time we reached Ararat, so the last hour and a half of driving was again in the dark. Like yesterday, the number of trucks seemed to suddenly proliferate.

There was another fuel stop at Beaufort – 75cpl. Towing on the highways, at a fairly steady speed, I was able to calculate that we were doing about 7.4kms per litre of fuel.

We reached Ballarat at 8pm, and very tired we were, too. Booked into our old friend, the Lake Wendouree Caravan Park – $15.75, after discount. That was actually cheaper than we paid in January last year – must be because it is outside the holiday period.

Tea was leftover chicken, from last night’s meal, with some salad that I threw together quickly. Then we fell into bed, after making phone calls. Sister N was still hanging on.

Today’s drive has set a record for the distance we have towed in one day. I fervently hope it is a record that we never break!


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1999 Travels September 7

TUESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER   MT IVE TO PORT AUGUSTA   477kms

Today’s plan was to drive south west, to Streaky Bay, on the coast of the Eyre Peninsula. We were definitely ready for some sea again! We still had, roughly, six weeks before needing to be in Melbourne to catch the ferry to Tasmania. Time enough to explore sections of the coast as we headed back that way.

Before leaving Mt Ive, spent some time adjusting the van brakes because the left wheel was locking when the brakes were applied. We seemed to fix it, by trial and error, and driving up and down a station track, testing the adjustments.

The drive south, through the Gawler Ranges, past Yardea and Paney Stations, was very pleasant and varied. The roads were unsealed, of course, to Minnipa. In places, the surface was gravel, but there were occasional slightly sandy sections too.

09-07-1999 01 Gawler ranges from Yardea road.jpg

Gawler Ranges from Yardea road

John had done the usual entering of navigation points on the GPS, last night – useful, because the wasn’t a lot of signage.

We stopped to look at an unusual, large, round stone tank or well. The pastoral relics in these parts are most interesting, with a history of sheep grazing going well back into the 1800’s.

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Old stone water tank on Yardea Station

We detoured slightly, to Pildappa Rock, not far from Minnipa. This is a “wave” rock formation, quite high, with good views from the top. Technically, it is a pink granite inselberg.

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On top of Pildappa Rock

There were stone gutters built at the base of the rock, to collect and channel water – every little helps, in that dry country.

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Water collecting gutter built at base of Pildappa Rock

We had our lunch at Pildappa Rock, then climbed to the top – which was quite easy as one side is almost stepped, with gradual rises up. The walk up, and exploring on the top, was interesting. There were natural rock waterholes, of varying sizes, in the rock surface, some with plants growing due to the moisture. The top was quite extensive and we  wandered all over it.

09-07-1999 06 Gawler Ra from Pildappa Rock.jpg

Gawler Ranges seen from top of Pildappa Rock, and a gnamma rock waterhole

We reached the Eyre Highway at Minnipa, about 3pm, and turned west. Turned on the mobile phone and found there was a signal and a message downloaded from John’s sister H, asking him to phone her. We stopped and John did this. One of the other sisters, N, was in hospital in Mornington, in her last days, and was hoping to see John.

We continued driving on, debating about what we should do. Our initial reaction was that we were too far away, and that it would take us days to reach Melbourne. But, near Poochera, we decided to turn around and try to make it back before she died. John needed to at least think that he had made the effort. If he was too late, he would at least be there with the family for the funeral.

From then, we alternated the driving, having about 320kms to go to reach Port Augusta, which seemed like a feasible place to stop for the night. The last hour was spent driving in the dark. The number of semi-trailers on the road seemed to suddenly increase as it got dark! That last hour was not enjoyable at all – and it was me driving!

We made no stops, except to change drivers, and to get fuel at Kimba – adding just a top up of 20 litres, at 84 cpl.

Noted that the bulk of Iron Knob, as we passed it, looked huge and impressive.

In Port Augusta, bought take away chicken and chips, and went to the Port Augusta Holiday Village. After the Big 4 discount, this cost $15.30. We were able to stay hitched up, and did a very minimal set up.

John phoned H for an update and to let her know what we were doing.

We went virtually straight to bed after that, gearing up for a very early start tomorrow.

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Our roundabout route to Port Augusta