Tuesday, December 27th, 2005

Pretty low-key day and quite hot! Spent much of it watching the cricket (after the Ireland vs. All Blacks rebroadcast, of course) but it was pretty boring. I kept wanting to sleep. Later we watched movies including The Cooler which I found quite disappointing.

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

Today we went down to Rye to take Joan to stay with her friends for a few days. We left around 9:30 am and got there in record time right around noon. We took a different way - through Tyabb and it was quite nice. I saw a pair of cockatoos fly over the road at one point.

We had a nice visit with Joan's friends and chatted over coffee, Christmas cake and Anzac biscuits (oatmeal & coconut). They recommended a few things for us to do and we decided to go check out the government land at the end of the peninsula, near Mornington Peninsula National Park.

We went through Sorrento again this time. It was just as packed as the last time and decided to stop in Portsea again, to try and have a beer at the (rather pricey) hotel restaurant.

Pictures from Portsea. (The kids behind us were playing cricket.)

We took some photos then got some fish & chips down the street and ate them in a park near the beach. Afterwards we walk down the wharf and I got some video of a guy catching a squid. (Ironically after I said out loud, "I don't imagine you'd catch too many fish along here...")

We went down to the point and discovered you couldn't drive in nor take the "people mover" for free, so we headed back. Still, it was a good thing we took that little detour, because we found a couple of things Joan had forgotten in the trunk. We stopped in on the back through and dropped them off.

Again we went back along the southern part of the peninsula, through Red Hill, stopping once again at the IGA in Balnarring. If I happen to find myself in the area again, I should check out the koala info booth. I scanned the treetops for the ever-elusive koalas and ended up passing out at the same point as the last time we were passing through - near the highway. And when we got home, I ended up napping again for a while. I figured it must have been the sea air...

That night we had dinner of bbq chicken drummets and sausages and talked until fairly late.

*Note: I am now back home and continuing to update this travelogue. Please keep checking back as I'll be adding new pages as soon as possible. Thanks, ~ Jess

To be continued...