Lake Bullen-Merri , thank you

Well what a perfect way to end my Aussie Adventure Part 1. Today we once again took ourselves off to Lake Bullen-Merri for a bit of angling. Now I am pretty new to this fishing caper, I have just started learning how to tie my own rig up. I can usually put my own bait on too, all depends what it is I'm putting on the hook. The last couple of days has been my first time lake fishing and guess what today I caught my first trout. Now this wasn't any ordinary old trout it was a 5 pound (almost 3kg actually) rainbow trout. I was so excited when I caught this huge fish - I almost jumped out of my skin.

Sunset over Lake Bullen-Merri

Absolutely beautiful scenery

Sorry about the blood - but here I am with my amazing Rainbow Trout

Camperdown, Victoria

With our Aussie Adventure Part 1 almost at an end, with only 3 more nights before we are back in Melbourne. Although it could be about another month before I return back to my house. My daughter Rachel and her little family have been living in my house while their new house gets built and the completion date is about a month off yet. But that's OK we will continue being "Trailer Trash" for a while longer. Our last three nights are being spent in the charming regional town, Camperdown. This part of Victoria is known as the "Western District" and is an extremely pretty part of Victoria. Camperdown lies within the "Lakes and Craters" regions, sitting at the foot of Mount Leura which together with nearby Mount Sugarloaf are part of a large extinct volcano complex known as the Leura Maar. (A maar is a broad, low-relief volcano crater that is caused by a phreatomagnetic eruption, which is an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magna. To the immediate west are the deep volcanic crater lakes Bullen-Merri and Gnotuk while to the east is the crater Lake Purrumbete popular for it's trout and chinook-salmon. Which is exacting why we went fishing on Lake Bullen-Merri today. But alas even though it was nice and relaxing having a fish, we had no luck. Oh well we will see how we go tomorrow.

It was pretty chilly but oh so relaxing

It was pretty awesome sitting on the rim of an extinct volcano fishing. You could see all the small rocks that had been spewed out and fused together. There was also an amazing rock formation that almost looked like coral.

These small stones, now all fused together, were spewed out of a volcano millions of years ago

Very interesting shoreline

This formation was amazing.....

....and looked just like coral

Warrnambool, Victoria

WooHoo after 12 months I am back in my home state and I must say it certainly is a bit chilly. Even though our short stay in Warrnambool was cold and wet it was still nice to be back in this seaside city again. With a population of around 34,000 Warrnambool is quite a large regional city. I have been here quite a few times and it never fails to impress me. If I was to ever move from Eltham to a regional area this is one city I could live in.

A bit chilly, but I do love the ocean on a wintery day

In days gone by the Fletcher Jones and Staff company was the place for men to buy clothes. I remember my Dad always bought his trousers from Fletcher Jones. Sir (David) Fletcher Jones OBE (14/8/1895 - 22/2/1977) was an Australian clothing manufacturer, and pioneer in workforce participation. It is claimed that "Arguably, no single person or firm had done more to transform and, for a time, homogenize Australian dress standards among men, than Fletcher Jones and his staff". He structured his business so that all the employees owned shares in the company. Initially the Jones family had two-thirds and the staff one-third, but the balance gradually swung and by the 1970's the staff held over 50 percent of the shares. As well as the factory outlet Fletcher Jones' beautiful gardens were a drawcard for many tourists visiting the area. But by 2012 all the Fletcher Jones stores and the Warrnambool factory had closed. The factory is still standing but most of it has fallen into disrepair, but luckily the gardens are still there and as beautiful as ever.

Beautiful .....

Fletcher Jones Gardens

Still very impressive after so many years

There was even some very impressive vegetables

I don't like the taste of Artichokes but I really like the plant

ANZAC Day 2014

Here I am 61 and today was the first ANZAC Day Parade and Ceremony I have ever been to. ANZAC Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand. It is a very special day where both countries remember the servicemen and women who have previously and are currently fighting for our countries. The origin of  the ANZAC's (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) originated at dawn on April 25th, 1915 when the Australian and New Zealand forces landed on the beach at Gallipoli in Turkey. The task for these brave men and boys was to take the peninsula. Their mission failed and thousands of lives were lost. The allied causalities included 21,255 from the United Kingdom, an estimated 10,000 dead soldiers from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand and 1,358 from British India. In honour of these brave men and women ANZAC Day has been held in our countries since then. The Gallipoli saga was during World War 1 which  started in 1914 with ceasefire was on November 11th, 1918 three days after my Dad was born. When World War 2 started in 1939 my Dad was 21 but luckily he never had to head out of Australia to fight. He was classed as fighting for his nation on home soil as he had a job that was important to the war effort. Even when this war was on my Mum worked in an ammunition factory.

The bagpipe band led the procession

Vietnam Veterans

I have my thoughts, but why do you think this "orb" appeared in this shot.
It was the only shot it appeared in.

According to the organisers Warrnambool never normally gets
 a crowd this big on Anzac Day

This dear old veteran places a wreath

The colours of the flowers were beautiful

Such a beautiful setting

As it turned out today's ceremony was very poignant for me. I have never really been into ANZAC Day, maybe because I didn't have a father or grandfather who fought. I think I thought if I participated in ANZAC ceremonies I was making war worth commemorating. But today during the various speeches a young senior school boy talked about his great grandfather who had fought in WW1. His words really hit home to me especially when he said "ANZAC Day isn't about remembering the war, it's about remembering the men and women involved". I realized that even though Mum and Dad didn't fight they still made a huge contribution by the jobs they were doing. So here I am at 61 and have realized the true meaning of ANZAC Day.

Umpherston Sinkhole, Mt Gambier

Thousands of years ago, Umpherston Sinkhole, also known as The Sunken Garden was a cave. Water eventually dissolved enough of the limestone to cause the ceiling of the cave chamber to collapse creating a large open pit know as a sinkhole. James Umpherston purchased a farm property which just so happened included this amazing sinkhole. He then went on to established this amazing garden on the floor of the open cave. Being retired and having the time James Umpherston wanted to create  a pleasant garden for the people of Mt Gambier. After clearing the existing vegetation from within the sinkhole, he carved a path into the side of the rock, erected wooden steps so visitors could enter his garden. The garden was and still is filled with all kinds of ferns, shrubs and flowers. Even with quite a few other visitors in the sinkhole, sitting down in the bottom of this amazing creation is extremely peaceful.

Amazing view of Umpherston Sinkhole - TotalTravel

 



Da Vinci Machines Exhibition

Today I took myself off to the "Da Vinci Machines Exhibition" that has just started here in Mt Gambier. When it was on in Melbourne a while back I really wanted to go and see it but in my normal (past) style I put it off, and put it off and before I knew it had finished. I have always been quite a proscratinator but this past 12 months on our Aussie Adventure I have really tried to dissolve that trait from my life.

The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition was really interesting. It's amazing how he was not only a great artist but also just how many of our current day machinery and techniques were either drawn or designed by Da Vinci.

I love this famous drawing

This model was made from one of DaVinci's drawings

Carro Armato (Tank)
Leonardo Da Vinci designed this huge offensive weapon: An armored vehicle capable of moving in any direction and bristling with cannons on all sides. One soldier sat in the turret to give directions. To move it, eight men inside the tank turned cranks attached to trundle wheels which were in turn attached to the four large wheels.

Anyone for a cycle?