The Great Alpine Road

 A can of chains.

 A road to rival the Beartooth Pass of Wyoming.

 Skiing on Mt. Hotham, elevation 1861 metres.

  The village of Hotham Ski Resort.

Sunday, August 28^th

Today I decided I didn't want to retrace my route back to Melbourne, but instead continue south through the mountains and eventually drive a large complete circular route back via the Great Alpine Road and Bairnsdale. But first I took a pretty side trip up to Mt Beauty. I stopped at Tawonga for gas and asked for directions on which road to take to Bairnsdale and was asked if I had chains in my car. When I said no, I was told I couldn't drive over the mountain pass because there was a $500 fine if you were caught without them and even more if you got stuck in the snow or a storm and they had to rescue you. So I doubled back to Bright and the Great Alpine Road. From there I drove south to Harrietville where I saw a sign that said “Beware Ice and Snow – Chains Must Be Carried”. I went into the local hotel bar there called the Snowline Hotel and asked if I needed them now as it seemed too warm to worry about snow. The bartender told me again about the fines and also where I could rent a set for $35 and where to return them on the other side of the mountain. So I went and got a set so that I could continue over the mountain. I was so amused by the whole process that I had the salesman take a picture of me with them.

From Harrietville the road began to ascend quite quickly. From this point on the road rivals Beartooth Pass in Wyoming for both beauty, number of switchbacks and the lack of guardrails. Even up on the top of the mountains there was evidence of bushfires and the trees that survived wore their charcoal and black scars as badges of honour. As I climbed there was more and more snow and at some spots you could see where the plow had dug out the highway and the snowbanks were at least six feet tall.

The road finally crested on the top of Mt Hotham and I stumbled across the skilifts and runs. I parked here and walked out to the lift and watched as people skiied or snowboarded down the mountain. It suddenly struck me about what is really different about skiing here in Australia. In Canada we take a chairlift to the top of the mountain (or hill) and ski down to the ski lodge. Here in Australia it is the opposite, the lodge and even the ski towns are on the top of the mountains and you ski down into the empty valley.

About a kilometre past the skiing area was the ski village of Mt Hotham. There were dozens of ski resorts here, hotels, restautants and rental units and lots of people. I wondered how many times that the village got snowed in during a season.

From there I continued on the Great Alpine Road as it slowly descended from the summit back to the valley. It took about two hours to get to the bottom and the town of Omeo where I returned the unused and uninspected chains. Then another two hours to get to Bairsdale along a winding road through the bush and following a river valley. Part way down there was a lookout where in the distance you could see Mt Kosciuszko made famous in a Midnight Oil song. Then I turned west and drove for another four hours back to Melbourne. I arrived home about 10:30. All totaled for the weekend I drove just shy of 1000 kms. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and would like to do it again when the snow melts, to see the pass in the summer.

Bright and Mt. Buffalo

 The town of Bright.

Crystal Brook Falls.

 The walls of the Gorge.

 A part of the Cathedral Saddle at the summit.

An Australian snowman - who knew?

Saturday, August 27^th

I got up early and decided to drive north to the town of Bright. I had heard lots of good things about Bright and the surrounding area. It is up near Beechworth and when I went there with Graham and Tess I thought we were going to visit Bright but we didn't. Anyway, it is on the Great Alpine Road and one of the touristy towns in the Victoria ski areas.

The main part of the drive was north-east on the Hume Freeway until just before Beechworth. Then a right turn onto the Great Alpine Road. I had pre-booked a motel just outside of Mt. Buffalo National Park. I arrived about one, checked into the motel and then drove to the town of Bright where I had lunch and looked around this very touristy town for a bit. It's touristy in the winter, because it is one of the few areas in Australia where Australians can see snow and go skiing.

Then I drove back to the motel, (which is actually in a small hamlet called Porepunkah) and the entrance to Mt. Buffalo National Park. There is a road that goes 35km up the mountain and deep into the park. There were several great views of the mountain and a couple of waterfalls. One, Crystal Brook Falls, appears to be falling right off the top of the mountain and falls 300m to the valley below. The end of the road is at the Gorge where there are rocks walls rising 300-400 metres from the valley below and the views are stunning. There is a heritage walk here where you can see the original 100 year old chalet which was meant to rival the railway hotels of the American and Canadian west but was built out of wood instead of stone as originally planned and to learn about the original family that settled up here and led guided trips up the mountain for years. There is also a trail that leads to an overlook of the Crystal Brook Falls from the point where it falls over the edge. Really amazing drop. They abseil from here and as I followed the hiking trails around the area I came across a small wooden platform where hang gliders launch themselves off the mountain. However, seeing this is winter there was no one doing either sport. 

There were a few small patches of snow here and there. I continued to drive up the mountain to as near the summit as possible. It ended in an area where there was a small gondola for taking people up a tobogganing hill. There was more snow here, but it was patchy and the run was closed. The temperature was only about 5 so I didn't hang around here too long.

I spent the whole afternoon walking around the trails before driving back to Bright at dusk. I found a nice little restaurant for dinner and then found the Bright Craft Brewery. The place was packed so I went in and sampled a couple of pints. After which a returned to the Buffalo Motel for the night.

Week Seven Term Three

 Some of the staff dressed as book characters.

 Joel, the music teacher, with a raccoon on his head and a mouse on his lip.

 Track and field awards ceremony.

 Carol with the ribbons winners from her class.

A cool down stretch with a hundred runners.

Monday August 22 to August 26^th

On Wednesday morning I woke up to frost on the windshield. I had no scraper so I just turned the car on and the wipers and waited for the heat to thaw the ice. When I told Joel at work about this he told me he just pours a bucket of water on the windshield. I told him that if you did that in Canada you'd just get more ice.

On Thursday our new 33 year old male vice principal, Mr. Cooper, was welcomed aboard.

This was book week and on Friday the students and staff were encouraged to wear a costume and dress like their favourite character in an Australian book. That caused a lot of excitement with the kids. For sport that day we gathered all the junior division students in the multi purpose room and awarded all the ribbons to the students to earned them at last week's track and field meet. After that Leora led them all outside to run laps around the oval with a cool down afterwards.

Wonthaggi Rail Trail

 The Victoria Desalination Plant with the environmental roof.

 The Wonthaggi Rail Trail.

The railway tressle bridge.

Sunday August 21^th

When I got organized I went looking for a restaurant for breakfast and had bacon and eggs. Then I drove out to have a look at the huge desalination plant but there was not too much to see. It is huge and apparently was built during a severe drought but by the time it was completed the drought was over and it's never been used. But it is ready to go next time.

Then I walked around town for a little bit waiting for the sun and it to warm up a bit before deciding to go bike riding. I rode the rail trail for 12 km to the beach where the surf was really big! I rode across a couple of wooden bridges and then turned around and returned to town.

I went and bought groceries for the week and then drove back to Melbourne. I was tired and had some dinner and watched some Olympics before an early bed.

The Diary of Anne Frank

 The award winning pie shop in Olinda with a typical pie shop menu.

 The Wonthaggi Community Centre where I saw Evita earlier and Anne this weekend.

Saturday August 20^th

I wanted to go to Wonthaggi but because they were calling for rain all day and cool weather I decided to go later. So I went to the Aquanation Pool and had a swim. From there I went to the little town of Olinda. This is a small touristy town in the Dandenong Range. I went to the Pie In The Sky restaurant for lunch. Australians and Kiwis are passionate about pies. This one was recommended to me by Nigel at work. Near there was the Dandenong National Park and the 1000 steps which I had hiked once before. I decided to climb them again because the rainforest is beautiful there. It took about an hour to walk up and back down.

Then I got on the Monash Freeway and drove straight to Wonthaggi, checked into a motel and walked to the theatre to see The Diary of Anne Frank. I enjoyed the play and it seemed quite different from the version I saw in Toronto a few years back. For one thing there was an impassioned speach by Otto Frank (Anne's dad) who performs a monologue at the end outlining the fate of the all the people who were hiding, discovered and transported to the camps.

After the show I walked across the street to the Workingmen's club to have a drink and watch a live band called the Chantoosies. They played the usual mix of classic rock. Then I walked back to the motel.

Week Six Term Three

Interviewing a professional soccer player.

Presenting reports on Olympic athletes.

The Olympics for little kids and teachers in tutus.

A writer's workshop.

Monday August 15 to Friday August 19th

This was a very busy week at school. The whole school has an Olympic focus. We invited a French professional soccer player named Ben Khalfallah, who played for Bordeaux and is now living in Australia and plays for the Melbourne Victory to speak to the students. His children go to our school. We had the kids prepare questions for him and we ran a press interview session.

The prep to grade 2 students had their Olympic sporting day where the teachers and Leora prepared a number of events for them to do outside.

Claire's and my class had a PowerPoint project to do about the history of one of the Olympic sports and a presentation about an Olympic athlete of their choice. So this week we are listening and watching the presentations.

If that was not enough we also had an author come to the school and present a writer's workshop to all the grade 3-6 students. His name was George Ivanoff and he has written a wide variety of books, but the ones the kids like the best are the 'you choose' series, where the reader gets to chose his or her path through the book as the plot unfolds. After every couple of pages the author gives the reader a couple of path choices and the coressponding page to go to. It's like a maze and there are many dead ends. It was really interesting to hear him talk about how he had to plan those books very carefully. I think the kids got that message.

Other than that, I came down with a little head cold.

Maroubra to Bondi

Maroubra Beach

A man made swimming pool.

Views of the coastline.

Bondi Beach and the thousands of runners and all the tents and kiosks for the City to Surf 15km Run

Finally back to the harbour in time to see a huge cruise ship sail past the Opera House.

Sunday, August 14^th

I received an e-mail this morning from John's wife Betty with the really sad news that his cancer operation was only partly successful, there is still cancer in his lungs and now they have found it in his lymph nodes. The outlook, to use her word is 'grim'.

I talked to the lady on the desk at the hostel about where I might find a good walk. She suggested going to Maraubra Beach and walking north along the coast to Bondi Beach. I have heard of Bondi through Midnight Oil. She also told me that there was a 15km run called the City to Surf Run which was finishing at Bondi. So I decided to go for that walk.

The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. I walked the short distance to Maraubra Beach and watched a few surfers, a couple of swimmers and people out for a walk. I walked along the boardwalk to the end of the beach and then climbed up and over the rocks. The coast line alternates between rough rocky headlands and cove beaches. At a couple of places you had to go inland a bit to get around houses that were right on the shore but most of the walk was right along the coast.

I continued along the shore from beach to beach, past Coogee Beach, Gordan Bay Beach, Clovelly Beach, Waverley Cemetary, Bronte Beach, Tamarama Beach and finally to Bondi, which was the largest of them all.

By the time I arrived the fastest runners had arrived. I walked around the site and looked at all the people, tents of food, running kiosks and I watched the finish line for a bit too. Then I walked along the beach and enjoyed the vibe of the runner's party and the seaside environment. I had a bacon and egg sandwich supplied by the Surfers Life Guard Service and then decided to head back.

I basically retraced the run route in reverse and walked the 15 kms back to the CBD. It took a long time but was a pleasant walk. I had to walk around a huge golf course and through a couple of upscale neighbourhoods where I got lost in the maze-like streets. I had to ask a woman how to get out of one of them and she showed me a 'secret' staircase that went up and over the hill and got me back to the main road which eventually led me back to the Botanical Gardens and then the Opera House. By this time I was exhausted.

At the harbour, the buses, ferries, and the train all meet. I bought a $17 ticket for the train (this is not the usual train fare but there is a surcharge for the airport stations), to take me to the airport. It was a beautiful train: double decker, new, fast, and quiet. I arrived in plenty of time and had much less hassle with the airport than on Friday. The flight was with Qantas and although it was only 75 minutes they still fed me a meal! In Melbourne I caught the bus to the parking lot and found my car quite easily and drove home. A whirlwind trip to Sydney but lots of fun. It is a beautiful city and I hope to return before the end of my year.

Sydney

Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Manly Beach Ferry.

The Opera House from the Manly Ferry.

The Rocks district.

Taken from the tower of the Harbour Bridge.

Back through the historic Rocks district.

You can see the people who paid a small fortune to walk up and over the bridge.

Saturday, August 13^th

I found the public bus to take me to Sydney Harbour. It took me to Ciruclar Quay where the train, buses and ferries all meet. I decided to take a ferry to Manly Beach in order to have a tour of the harbour. From the ferry I got my first view of Harbour Bridge (the longest single span bridge in the world), the Opera House and the city skyline. All very impressive and combined made a beautiful harbour. The ferry sailed from the CBD out to the outlying areas and past the actual exit of the bay to the open ocean. When I got there I saw that the beach was nothing special so I stayed on the ferry and took the return trip and again got a great view sailing back into the city.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the harbour area. I walked in and around the Opera House, into the Botanical Gardens, and then back towards the Harbour Bridge via the Rocks, which is an historical district full of colonial buildings and now housing tourist shops, boutiques and restaurants to service the cruise boats that dock nearby. When I got to the bridge I checked out the tours that they run where you can actually walk over the arched span of the bridge, but they wanted close to $300 to do it. My FOMO cheaped out, so I decided to walk across the road deck of the bridge to get a good view of the Opera House. When I go to the brick support tower I found that for $13 you could climb 200 stairs to get a even better view and read about the history of the construction. The view was indeed stunning. Then I continued over the bridge to the north bank before walking back. I returned to the Botanical Gardens and spent the last part of the afternoon wandering around looking at the wide variety of plants and stalking some rainbow lorakeets.

In the evening I went for a walk and found a local bar where I had dinner and a drink before going to bed to rest my weary legs. Altogether this weekend I walked about fifty kilometres, no wonder I'm tired.