Senior Morton's World Tour

Kids are done, work is done, Grand Kids…Eh… they'll be here when we get back!

Echuca

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 11 11th, 2014

Friday 7th November 2014
We left Bendigo reasonably early and paid a visit to the Bendigo Pottery factory. We had a very interesting look around the place, but didn’t find anything to buy, so headed north stopping at Rochester for lunch. We finally arrived at the inland port of Echuca. We thought we would check out where our accommodation was and saw it was in a very nice development. It looked like a nice place to stay. We knocked on the door to announce our arrival, only to be told “we were expecting you yesterday!!!” OOPS!!! We messed up the booking!! They were fully booked for the night so were unable to offer us anything, so we were directed to the Tourist Information Centre, who were very helpful and found us something in Moama, which is the sister city across the river in New South Wales. As it turned out it was a very new place and although our initial reaction wasn’t good, our accommodation was excellent and very spacious. So we off loaded our luggage and went into Echuca to explore, especially the Paddle steamers for which Echuca is famous.

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Now, for Zac and Mich. – this is the sort of transport Grandpa used to get around on.

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The last photo shows the Moama beach and also the bridge joining the two cities. The one before that is the river next to our accommodation. It was quite a warm day, but we wandered down the street and through the old historic Harbour which is a lot different to what it was 30 years ago when I was last here. We then had a bottomless cup of coffee in the popular Beechworth bakery, with some coupons the lady at our original accommodation gave us.
Next morning we were a bit late and so missed out on a paddle steamer ride as we needed to leave for our next destination, however we did note that there were many houseboats for hire and maybe one day we can organize to get our family together for a sail down the Murray River.



Bendigo

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 11 11th, 2014

Thursday 6th November 2014
Before we left Maldon for Bendigo this morning we drove to the top of Mt. Tarrangarro to the lookout over the town and Laurie climbed the tower which allowed him to see up to 100kms away.

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We then headed north through Porcupine Flat to Bendigo getting there around lunch time. After parking the car we checked out where we’re staying for the night – the historical grand Shamrock Hotel right in the heart of the city, where famous people such as Dame Nellie Melba and Prince Charles and Princess Diana among many others have stayed.

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We saw a photo of the royal couple on the stairs above. We decided to take a trip on the tourist tram and stopped off to visit the largest tram workshop in the Southern Hemisphere where they repair and restore old trams. It was a very interesting tour and we saw some remarkable workmanship go into the restoration. We rejoined the tram and went to see the Chinese Joss House which was built by the Chinese during the initial Goldrush years and is still used by some Chinese families today. A Joss House is where the three major Asian religions come together for worshipping without any antagonism towards one another unlike some other religions.

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After the tram tour we just meandered around the beautiful parks and visited the catholic cathedral and War Memorial. We thought Bendigo was a very attractive city and possibly worth another trip sometime.



The goldfields tour

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 11 6th, 2014

Tuesday 4th November 2014
We decided to have a few days holiday away and to do a tour of the central goldfields area of Victoria. After a late start we headed off and made good progress, eventually coming to Macedon, where we decided to detour and go up to the top of the mountain. The drive up the mountain is very scenic, with magnificent old gardens filled with azaleas and Rhodadendrums, providing a blaze of colours. At the top we stopped and had an early lunch in the restaurant, then walked to the huge WW1 Memorial which has been significantly developed and landscaped since we last saw it 20 years ago.

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After taking in the views we drove to Woodend which we were quite taken with, especially as it was so green. Maybe we will have to revisit this town again one day. Kyneton was next on the route and Malmesbury, where we detoured and went across to Daylesford, well known for its natural mineral springs. However we didn’t partake and headed on to Hepburn Springs and then onto Shepherd’s Flat where we stopped off at the Lavender Farm. This was started by an Italian family some 120 years ago. We decided to sample the lavender scones, but were not overly impressed with the taste! They also put lavender in Jill’s English Breakfast tea and she thought it was yuk!! As it was getting a bit late and we still had a distance to cover, we headed for Newstead and then on to Maldon which was our destination for the night. There we were booked into a quaint 1950’s style motel which even had a Home Beautiful magazine dated March 1961 which cost 2 shillings and six pence in the room. The decor was as in the 50/60’s era.

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The real reason we were in Maldon however was because Laurie was given a 70th birthday present from the children of an overnight stay in Maldon and a ride on a real steam engine!
So next day we were up bright and early and off to the nearby Maldon Station where we booked our first class tickets to Castlemaine, with Laurie riding in the engine with the driver and firemen!! What an experience!! It was dirty, hot, noisy and absolutely beautiful!!

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On the return journey we travelled in the first class saloon, enjoying our complimentary cheese platter and a glass of champagne!

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In the afternoon we went back to Castlemaine again to have a good look around and then over to Maryborough exploring the countryside. Here the terrain was already very dry and Laurie really felt it was familiar country ( like on the farm).
Maldon is now a small town of 1800 people that originated in the 1860’s when gold was discovered and for a short period of time more gold was found here than anywhere else in Victoria and it would have developed into a major centre but for a lack of water. There were 30,000 diggers living there at one time when the average wage was 2 Pounds 10 Shillings per week which wasn’t much considering 2.1 million ounces of gold was retrieved from the Maldon area.



Goodbye South Africa ……

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 16th, 2013

Tuesday 14 May
Last evening we met up with two of Fiona’s golfing friends Leonie and Mollie and together with Hugh and Joan, we had a very enjoyable meal at Fiona and Stewart’s house.

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This morning after packing our cases, we went over to Joan’s flat for our final meal together. Joan put on a delicious quiche which we ate out on their verandah

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Joan and Hugh’s verandah

Then it was time to collect our bags and head out to the airport and say our goodbyes to Fiona and Stewart after an extremely enjoyable stay in Cape Town. Should Stewart ever consider returning to work he should become a tourist guide, as he knows Cape Town so well and is so interesting for a visitor to listen to.
We were able to book our flight all the way to Perth which saved us having to do so again in Johannesburg. Whilst awaiting our departure I was a little startled at how inexperienced some pilots are in South Africa when they have to identify planes such as this!!!

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I just hoped our pilot would be more experienced!!

Our trip to Johannesburg was uneventful and although we had three hours between flights, we used all of that up browsing the numerous souvenir and duty free shops and the time passed very quickly. We boarded our plane for a 10 pm departure and were surprised to find it was only half full. The trip across was extremely smooth and with a tail wind, we landed in Perth 45 minutes early, but after a sleepless night. Penelope was there to meet us and we were in bed by 7 pm Perth time, trying to adjust to the time difference!

After a very late start today we had a visit from my brother Don who stayed for lunch and we spent the afternoon catching up on his news in Capel. Tomorrow we are catching a midday plane to Melbourne where it is apparently very cold and this will mark the end of this blog. We have both thoroughly enjoyed this trip and wonder when we will see our South African family and friends again.

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An evening silhouette of a Cape Town icon



Cape wine lands

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 14th, 2013

Monday 12
Today we set off inland into the mountains that surround Capetown to visit some wineries. Some of these places were established in the mid 1600’s so are very old and have beautiful gardens. Along the way we stopped off at butterfly world at Klapmuts

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There were many different colours and sizes and other animals too

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But we went there to taste wine and we did!!

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the gardens and views had to be seen to believed

We first visited Uitkyk past Kanonkop then Muriatie, where the Melck family have been since the 1600s. Then we visited Delheim, up through Helshoogte Pass to Delaire. We then had a look at Zorgvliet (where Lauren Baiocchi got married ) and had lunch at Vrede En Lust. All of these farms with the exception of Vrede en Lust are on the Stellenbosch wine route with fantastic views and some very nice wines. Fiona and I tasted and purchased quite a few

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What a fantastic day!



Mother’s Day

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 14th, 2013

Sunday 12 May
As it was Mother’s Day we decided to go a little way up the coast and have a beachside breakfast to celebrate. We went to a place at Big Bay Blouberg beach where we had a delicious omelette.

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Waiting for breakfast to arrive, what a life!!

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As always, a great view of Table Mountain

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This is the Atlantic ocean which is freezing cold, but does not stop the local swimmers!

Afterwards we did some more retail therapy and this time I purchased some items. Jill didn’t manage to find her size in that store, but later on found a top she had been chasing, at another shopping centre just near where Fiona lives. Ahh……!! Success at last!



The Beginning ……

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 14th, 2013

Thursday 9 May
Wow!! We have been having so much fun and doing so much I forgot a whole day!!! On Thursday, the day after returning from Paternoster we caught up with Jill’s friend from university days Gale, without whom from my point of view there would be no Jill and of course no children. It was Gale who talked her flat mate into coming to a party as a blind date. The party was for my good friend Gilbert and the flat mate was a pretty young brunette named Jill. The rest of that story is of course now history!!!

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We met at Rhodes Memorial for morning tea

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where we had the biggest portions of lemon meringue pie and carrot cake you could wish for

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I had not seen Gale for 43 years !!

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as you would expect the views were amazing

In the afternoon the 3 girls had some retail therapy while Stewart and I had a hard day watching Telly!!!!



Around town 3

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 12th, 2013

Saturday 11th
After touring Century City we set out for Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens, a very old well established garden with a huge variety of South African plants and flowers

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there were some blooming pretty sights

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with a mountain backdrop. How could you go wrong

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Jill managed to make a new friend.

These gardens are huge and we only covered a small part of them. We then went and had a very nice lunch in the cafe before returning home to try and catch up with our blog.

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A beautiful day.



Around town 2

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 12th, 2013

Saturday 11th
Today we had a look around the area just near where we have been staying at Fiona and Stewart’s place, where there is a rather interesting development on what was formerly swamp land. We started with a canal ride.

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We travelled in a narrow canal boat past a mixture of dwellings and office buildings.

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They even had a train just like Jill took to school. That was in the olden days, around the same time as the dinosaurs!

In the centre of the canals is a bird sanctuary

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A red knobbed coot a common water bird



Around town

Posted by laurie and jill in Adventures on 05 12th, 2013

Friday 10th
Off to see a very old winery founded in 1685 called Groot Constantia, an old Cape Dutch building that belonged to Simon van der Stel who was an early Governor of Cape Town. The building was originally built by slave labour

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We did a tour through this original old homestead with its Cape Dutch furniture

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it is obvious why that old furniture is still around

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I wonder how Craig would go bush bashing in this

After a good look around and a small sampling of the wines we headed off over the mountains to a lovely fishing port called Hout Bay for some lunch. We sat right on the waters edge and watched the seals playing in the water whilst we ate.

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The food was good and the view was great.

After lunch we meandered our way home through some of the amazing bayside suburbs

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Cape town is made up of many such bays such as this.