Oct 13-19 A week in Portarlington, visiting friends

Sun 13th

What a grey day!  After yesterday's glorious sunshine, it was a shock to awaken to cloud, mist & rain.  But, we're tough; we're British & so, unlike many who deserted the caravan park, we soldiered on.

Bob went to a service at his favourite church in Drysdale while I washed my hair & generally pottered - it was good to have the van to myself for once.

After lunch, we visited Lyn & Don for a couple of hours.  Later, they were going to a neighbour's cocktail party, no less!


Mon 14th

We didn't get up until 10.30am - very decadent!  Maybe the wintry weather was encouraging us to stay in bed.  Eventually, we drove to Drysdale, where we met our friend Judy & arranged to get together with her & Charlie before our departure.

We stocked up with food, then had a lovely walk along the beach & the pier, where we met a pleasant Maltese couple who were trying to catch fish.  We just made it back to the van before a heavy shower of rain occurred.


Tues 15th

A much better day - sun shining; sea sparkling!  We drove to Clifton Springs, where Tyler cut my hair while Bob visited Phil.  We then continued on to Queenscliff & booked ourselves on to next Sunday's ferry to Sorrento.

After lunch, we drove into Geelong, did a little shopping, then went to the cinema at Waurn Ponds.  We saw the film, "Blue Jasmine", starring Cate Blanchet.  The characters were good but the plot was awful & ended so abruptly that several people looked at one another as if to say, "Has it finished?"  Most unsatisfactory.


Wed 16th

Didn't get up until 9am.!  It was very windy outside & HUGE waves were rolling in as I looked out of the caravan window.  We decided to concentrate upon indoor activities & so, very nervously, I began to iron the pellon on to the back of my painted fabric, ready for embroidering (not exactly easy or stress-free on a tiny caravan table!)  However, I managed  & it seems to have worked.

In the evening, we drove to St Leonard's, where we had a lovely meal & a very enjoyable few hours with Lyn & Kevin Hughes.


Thurs 17th

It was a WILD day, with a strong wind blowing until quite late in the evening, when it finally abated. A nearby tree had obviously been damaged & a noisy machine "grated" for most of the day whilst the tree was made safe.

At 5.15pm., we drove to Kadumba Ave., where Wes was busy cutting the lawns ready for Grace's birthday party on Saturday.  Jodie was working in the kitchen & Phil arrived in time for dinner.  The eight of us enjoyed lasagne, salad & a couple of fruit pies & custard together, which was lovely.  The girls are gorgeous - we shall miss them.  Jenna asked when she could visit our house again & Jodie had to explain that it wasn't our house any more.

We saw pictures of Shane's wedding, which had been held on a houseboat, in Echuca.

We were very sad to leave our lovely family, who have been such wonderful friends & neighbours.  We will definitely keep in touch with them.


Fri 18th

A much more pleasant day, weather-wise.  There was still a fair breeze but we had sunshine & ablue sky.

We went to Madge & Ian's at 12 midday & joined the gang.  There were 14 of us altogether - Madge, Ian, Lyn, Kevin, Lyn, Don, Kath, Terry, Yvonne, Reg, Joan, Ray & our two selves.  Quite a gathering.  Joan was very brave to join us so soon after her recent surgery.  Neither Yvonne nor Reg had changed at all & both looked really well.  It was a lovely afternoon, as we ate, drank & all caught up with one another.

After a rest at the caravan, we drove to Drysdale to visit Judy & Charlie.  We had drinks, cake & a good catch-up with them, so we had managed to see all of our lovely Victorian friends before we start our journey back to Queensland on Sunday.

By the time we arrived back at the caravan park, the wind had dropped & all was calm.


Sat 19th

A WARM day  - in the high 20's & forecast to reach 30C tomorrow!  I did our washing, as it was such good weather for drying.

After lunch, we went to see Joan & Ray, as we didn't feel that we'd been able to have much of a chat with them on Friday, in a large crowd.  They were pleased to see us & we felt that Joan looked much better & more rested.  We spent a pleasant couple of hours with them & felt glad that we'd caught up properly.

We did some shopping, then returned to Portarlington to have dinner & get the caravan ready for an early start the next morning.  We packed everything away securely & Bob hooked the caravan & car together before going to bed.