Deserts and Mountains

Pinnaroo main drag with veterans clock.

One of many different signs warning about speeding.

Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata, can't find a common name.

The Kangaringa shearing station.

The plains of Victoria.

The wildflowers of the Little Desert National Park.

Another unhappy blue tongued lizard.

An old homestay in the town of Harrow.

The Grampian Mountains.

Sunday, October 30^th

I woke up at 7:00 and got organized. I explored the town a bit before going to Foodland for some fruit, yogurt and a chocolate milk. The weather has turned again and it was cooler with more clouds and a few showers.

I drove out of town and south along the west side of the Big Desert Wilderness. I could see the sands dunes under the layer of vegetation. I drove past a few sheep shearing sheds, beef cattle stations and lots of grain farms.

Then I turned east and drove across the northern border of the Little Desert back into Victoria, before turning south and driving through the desert. I came across a nature trail that offered an hour walk and showcased the vegetation of the desert. It was great because the desert was in bloom and there were several different colours of flowers to light up the drab, dry colours of the trees. As it turned out it was neither sunny or hot in this desert and I got sprinkled on.

I came across a couple more blue tongued lizards on the road today and managed to get a couple of good shots of their tongue when they felt threatened by me. I also came across a turtle crossing the road and again I stopped to make sure he didn't get flattened. When I tried to move him he went into his shell of course, and I had to pick him up and move him off the road. I sat and watched but a while but he would not come back out of the shell and when it started to rain again, I left.

After the desert the land became hillier again and I found the hamlet of Harrow which looks like a pioneer village, complete with old homes, a wooden gaol and some old looking shops. Just after leaving town, I saw a tree get blown down in front of me that luckily didn't land on the road! I also came across a small mob of kangaroos who hopped up a rise and then looked down at me.

Eventually I reached the Grampian Mountains. The weather cleared for a bit and I drove from Dunkveld through the valley to Halls Gap. The valley is beautiful and I want to come back in a couple of weeks to cycle the area and to do some hiking.The weather here was really cool and I saw some unhappy looking campers. From there I drove back to Melbourne via Ballarat. I arrived back home about ten, after driving over 1600 kilometres over the two days.

Mildura and Pinnaroo

I thought about buying some souvenirs but....

A paddle wheeler on the Murray.

A blue tongued lizard.

I stayed in the room just to the above and to the right of the front door.

The bar of the Pinnaroo.

The bar in the Golden Grain Hotel.

Saturday,  October 29^th

Today I decided to drive to Mildura in the north eastern corner of Victoria. I had heard it was a nice area to visit. I knew it was a long way and headed out anyway. It turned out to be a 750 kilometre drive through the country and a variety of regions. I stopped a couple of times along the way for a rest, including at Wycheproof where I saw a sign for the world's smallest mountain and decided to hike it. Turned out to be a nice short walk for a nice view of the surrounds. They also had a tourist shop that sold all kinds of large pieces made of metal and railroad spikes.

I enjoyed the drive. The last hundred kilometres before Mildura was all farm land and vineyards. When I got to the town, which is right on the Murray River, I found paddle wheel steamer similar to Echuca but not much else. There was a touristy area by the river with things to do for families with kids, but nothing that really interested me. I was planning on staying in town, but it was the middle of the afternoon and I couldn't find enough to keep me interested so I decided to drive south again and go to two desert regions that I had seen on the map, Big Desert Wilderness and Little Desert National Park. So I drove a hundred km south and then turned west across the top of the Big Desert and into the next state, South Australia and the rural town of Pinaroo. This is a really remote, isolated area of the country.

I came across a lizard on the road and stopped to get him off so he didn't get run over. He didn't seem to appreciate my effort and lunged at me with his mouth wide open and his blue tongue hanging out. I tried several times to get a photo of that, but he was too fast for me. Anyway, I got him off the road.

After all the driving I was looking for a 'typical' rural hotel/bar to stay at and have a couple of drinks. When I arrived at Pinnaroo I found a small town with a dilapidated main street, with two old style hotels, beside a rail line that is obviously not used any more. I checked out both bars and hotels and decided on the Pinnaroo Hotel. The hotel looked shabby and tired but the rooms had been very recently renovated, and the bathroom was new. After I checked in I went down to the bar to order 'Slowly cooked lamb shank over mashed with veg”, which was very good. I had a beer as well and talked to the bartender as there was no one else there. After a while more people showed up and I fell into conversation with a farmer of 200 000 acres of wheat and barley. He told me that the harvest was three weeks behind because of the cool, damp spring this year. He hoped that it would be a good crop but said that they never know until they get it in.

Later, I walked down to the other hotel to see what was happening there and when I sat down at the bar I found myself in the middle of a loud discussion between people on either side of the bar who were talking about the men snoring and having to wear sleeping apparatus to control it. Looking around I saw a sign that said: “Sorry no free wifi talk to each other and pretend it's 1994”.

Again I was engaged by these people who turned out to be farmers again, as they were interested in who I was and why I was there. I wish I had asked to take a photo of them, but one was a large guy with a full grey beard and a pony tail, another was a 'straighter' looking guy and the woman showed how few teeth she had when she smiled. Interesting group and we talked about farming and the state of the world, particularly the US. After a couple of beer I wandered back to my hotel for a well deserved sleep.

Week Four Term Four

Making shapes from four triangles.

Sorting the shapes...

Discussing how to sort them differently.

Cricket: batting...

throwing and catching...

fielding and running.

Steven Wilson and his band.

Paul, on the right, sold me the ticket his son didn't want.

October 24-28

I started working on geometry in math this week. I used the old method of folding a square into four equal triangles and then using those triangles to create other shapes. Then I had the students sort and categorize them. This lead to discussions on how to recognize, identify and name three, four, five and six sided shapes.

This week we re-organized the two hour Friday sport class with all the grade 3's and 4's. We divided them by house teams into four sports: rounders, volleyball, basketball and cricket. Don and I were in charge of cricket. Imagine me teaching cricket! We had them practising batting, bowling, throwing and running. Then they played a game called Rapid Fire where a batter had to hit three teed up balls in quick succession and the other team had to field them, relay them back and put them back on the tees to stop the batter who was running between the wickets adding up runs. There I learned a little bit.

I found out at the beginning of the week that Steven Wilson was playing here in Melbourne on Friday night. I decided to try to scalp a ticket. The concert was close to Flinders Station, so I took the train into the city. When I got there I found a long line of people waiting to get in, but did not hear or see any scalpers. Then I noticed a guy in line talking to his friends and in his hand he was holding a sheet of paper that said “Available, 1 Steven Wilson ticket $80” (this is $10 less than general admission). So I bought the ticket and got talking to them while we waited to go in. They invited me to stand with them right behind the mixing board where we had a great unblocked view. They were five really nice guys about my age and we swapped some war stories. The concert was amazing and lasted almost three hours. I bought Wilson's latest two albums, my first music purchases of the year. 

Australian Grand Prix

The view of Phillip Island from my farm bed and breakfast.

The air show prior to the race.

Woolamai Beach where they hold surfing competitions.

The gate to the motorcycle grand prix.

This is the view of the Bass Strait from the southern end of the race track.

Sunday, October 23^rd.

It rained a bit in the morning while I was having bacon and eggs with Graheme and the other two guys. Then the weather cleared and I decided to go to the races. But first I went for a drive around the island. I went to another nature area and Woolamai Beach. This is a beautiful rugged beach where they having surfing competitions during the summer. It was windy and blustery and no one was about.

As I drove towards the race track I found myself stuck in traffic. I remembered I had my bike in the back, so I drove around the island to the back side of the track, parked where it was free and rode my bike to the entrance, saving both money and time. I bought a day ground pass and entered. I spent the afternoon walking around the entire track, watching the people, listening to the roar of the bikes and finding a variety of locations to see the races. It is amazing how fast they go and how far over they lean to make the turns at speed. Really exciting to watch. During the first race that I saw three riders wiped out going around the first big turn, and of the thirty bikes in the races only about twenty finished. The track is beautiful with great turns and changes in elevation, so that on one turn the riders have to lean into a turn that they can't see because the road goes down. I heard a rider say it was like riding off the end of the world. The track is right on the coast which you can see. At the southern end of the track there are great views of the cliffs and the Bass Strait.

After having some lunch/dinner there I decided to leave in the middle of the last race because I knew the island was going to be jammed with traffic and all the roads lead to one bridge to get off the island. So I rode back to the car and drove back to Melbourne with little trouble. I arrived about seven and just relaxed for the evening.

Phillip Island

The Nobbies.

and the coastline.

Churchill Island.

Bikes in Cowes for the Grand Prix.

The set up in town.

The storm troopers arrive....

Saturday, October 22^nd

Today I decided to revisit Phillip Island because I was talking to our caretaker at school, Jim, who is a motorcycle enthusiast and he told me that the Australian Grand Prix was there this weekend. I had been to Phillip Island back in April and found it to be a really pretty place. The weather today was predicted to be terrible, windy, rainy and very cool, but I decided to go anyway. So I put my bicycle in the car and set off. Along the highway I saw lots of motorcyclists riding through the rain showers and battling the wind. I talked to a couple of them at a gas station and they were pretty cold and miserable.

When I arrived the weather cleared for a bit and I drove first to Ryll, a small town on the north east corner of the island. Then I drove across the top to the Phillip Island Nature Park where the fairy penguins come out every night and to the Nobies, which are a landform off the coast. It was really windy here with showers and short sunny breaks. I hid from the weather inside the park building here, and discovered that they had completed an exhibit called 'Antarctica'. I thought about it but since they were asking $20 and I had already attended the Antarctica exhibit in New Zealand I decided not to go. Instead I had hot chocolate and waited for better weather. When it cleared briefly I walked around the boardwalk trying not to be blown off.

When I left I took the more scenic dirt road back and passed the concrete stands where I had sat in April to see the fairy penguins as they emerged from the sea to spend the night in their burrows.

This is the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix motorcycle races on Phillip Island. There were a lot more people here than the last time I visited and it occurred to me as I drove around and saw a really nice bed and breakfast with a No Vacancy sign that I was going to have difficulty finding accommodation. So, when I saw another b&b without that sign, but a sign that said 'First Class', I drove up the long dirt driveway to the top of a rise with a great overview of the island. I was met by Graheme who showed me around. The place was a long bungalow with a large livingroom with an old pool table, kitchen and two pianos. It was obvious that the place had seen better days. The carpet needed cleaning and things looked like that hadn't been tidied or updated in years. However, I decided to take the room as I figured I didn't have a lot of options. It was raining outside so I sat and talked to Graheme for a bit. He is in his late sixties or maybe seventies and his life is etched in his face and teeth. Turns out, his wife left him ten years ago (which explains all of the above), he is living here and raising a herd of beef cattle, and he has a son who is taking care of his piano business in Melbourne. He is a lonely guy who has been searching the internet for another woman. I really felt for him. When I asked if taking care of the farm was hard, he said it's much easier to take care of beef cattle now as all they do is spray them with poison every year to kill all the worms and ticks before they go for slaughter.

I talked to Graheme until the rain let up and then I went for a drive. He had given me a map of the island with the things he thought were worth seeing, so first I drove to Churchill Island. This was just a nice little drive across a bridge to the heritage farm on the island where they had highland cattle amongst other animals.

Later I drove to Cowes, the main town on the island. I walked around looking at the bikes and the bikes related kiosks that had set up. It reminded me of Port Dover but on a much smaller scale. I found a little restaurant and had dinner watching the bikers and the large picture screen that was set up in the street and was showing highlights of today's races. I walked around town for a bit and saw a group of bikers all dressed as Storm Troopers from Star Wars.

Then I phoned Jim, our caretaker, and got the address where he was staying. I drove there and had a beer with him and four of his buddies. Jim and one of the guys both ride vintage Honda 750's from the early 70's. They told me lots about the racing and the ones to watch. This is an international race and most of the riders are from Europe or South America.

I headed back to the B&B for the night. When I got there there were two guys here to watch the racing. They were friends but one lived in Auckland and the other in Brisbane. We all sat and talked for a while before getting to bed.

Week Three Term Four

Sovereign Hill, a recreation of a 1850's gold mining town.

Peter, a teacher employed by Sovereign Hill explains to the class about Social Justice...

How the aboriginals took bark from a tree without killing the tree...

and how a family lived in the shacks.

Soldiers marching from the rifle firing demo.

Panning for gold.

October 17-21^st.

Another week passes in a blur. Time is starting to fly by.

The school nurse came around and tested everyone on the epipen workshops from last week. She took Don and I into a room and gave us each a sheet with an anaphylaxic scenario on it and we had to explain and act out what we would do to ensure the safety of the child. When we passed the test we got another certificate.

On Wednesday the grade 3 and 4 team took all 150 students on three coaches to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill. This is the pioneer village that recreates the gold mining town of the 1850's. It was an hour and a half bus ride each way and about a three hour visit there. The first thing my class did was take a tour of the mine. All twenty two kids climbed down into the 'mine' and listened to a narration from speakers in the wall that told us the history of the area. At the last stop there was a hologram of a miner digging in the tunnel on June 9, 1958 and discovering the largest gold nugget ever discovered to that point. It weighed a whopping 69 kilograms and is still today the second largest ever found (the largest was also found in Victoria).

After the tour we went to a class room on site where we met 'Sir' Peter who talked to us about our topic of social justice. He dressed the kids in period costumes and told us the history of the area and about the social injustices of the day: whites and aboriginals (the whites pushed them off the land), the government and miners (taxes and licenses to mine), the police and miners (corrupt police ripped up miner licenses and forced them to buy new ones), the Chinese miners (who were treated badly by everyone) and the other miners, and the inequitable roles of men and women (the men controlled all the money and the women were subservient and did all the hard house work and cooking).

After lunch we took our own walking tour around the village, before going back to school. The kids especially liked the musket firing demo and opportunity to try their hand at panning for gold. The bus ride was good as the kids watched a movie.

As a side note Peter told me he had been working there as a teacher for 27 years! Plus he did a teacher exchange to England a few years back and his exchange partner worked at Sovereign Hill. Now that would be a different experience! Everyday you would get a different group of kids which might be challenging but there would be no report cards!

On Thursday we were supposed to have a surprise get together for Libby, but she begged off with a headache. So, I asked Joel if he wanted to go for a drink anyway, and we went to the Treehouse where we met up with Anne and Leora. We had a good talk about school politics and traveling. Leora and I were the last to leave and after she left I went for a walk around the St Kilda area and had some sushi before heading home.