Last knockings

Next day we visited the Ian Potter Gallery off Federation Square, did the guided tour with a very chic guide, admired the18/19th century art and wondered at the rather odd indigenous paintings.

Sheep did often feature.

Then we strolled along the river walk into the park and into the Arboretum, a very relaxed last full day.

For dinner we met Anna and Philip, her husband, Anna being one of Carolyn's old primary school chums who were, by coincidence, in Melbourne at the same time. A final meal of Aussie seafood...sigh..and a final walk through the bright lights of the city.

Robot staffed ice cream store!

Then we packed and  after a quick look at the Ashes in the National Gallery, picked up an Uber and caught our bargain Thai Airlines flights back home, again paying the supplement for the emergency row seats.

To Melbourne

Our flight from Hobart was delayed due to storms but we were back in Melbourne mid evening for our Air B&B on the 7th floor of the Quay West block overlooking the river and city.

We were both v. tired and just about managed scrambled eggs before crashing out.The biggest news of the day was that for the first time in almost 30 years, neither of us had a Valentines Card for the other!

View from our room
 

The weather the next day was horrible, humid and wet ; we shopped for presents for the kids.

 Carolyn's wrist was sore and we wondered if she had been stung by a  Portugese Man of war at Freycinet, we debated going to A&E but did not and it eased a little. We managed to speak to Tom to wish him Happy Birthday!

The next day the weather cheered up and so did we ; we caught the train to the South Melbourne Market. It's the kind of market you wish was your local, no tat, wonderful food and artisan products and set in a rather bohemian area of period  properties. 

Lunch was from a food market, sitting on a beanbag on the lawn outside the museum, listening to live music ; blissful ! Then we were back on the train to South Beach on the coast, to walk up along the beach promenade to St. Kilda's where we were to meet Russell and Annie who had moved from the UK to Melbourne and had promised us some good jazz. Which it was! The day was completed with a Chinese meal, again, their local. Fine food at a bargain price.

Freycinet 5

An early morning cup of tea, then down to the beach for another swim, well the surf was so wild that it was a very quick immerse and stagger out. We could not believe that Toby and Noona swam and bodysurfed in it.

We then went off for a inland walk, not terribly exciting in truth especially as a mist had crept in.

However, our walk allowed our hosts to prepare a splendid Indonesian street food  brunch for us, to fortify us for our final hike back along our beach, actually quite a long and tough walk in the soft sand. The mist was still there but suffused with the sun coming through, quite remarkable conditions.

No packs !

 A washed  up Portugese Man of War

Freycinet 4

A very early start for a long day and a choice of hill walking or the " Five Beaches ", well hills you can find everywhere, but five amazing beaches, no contest. It was back in the boat with Matt (another bonus ) through a flat calm, the pounding surf that has been such a feature of the holiday, temporarily absent.

An Aboriginal " midden "ie,the remnants of many, many meals from a long time ago.

Luke was a mine of information and useful too; I picked up an interesting shell on the foreshore, showed it to Luke who told me that id it had been alive we would have been on the way to A&E. What a country ! We swam again notwithstanding the presence of " Blue Bottles " actually Portuguese Man of War, there is a very different mind set there.

A cookaburrow, our first one. Actually it's a kingfisher so two boxes ticked.

Another beach, another brew up

The last of the five beaches was Wine Glass Bay, one of the most photographed in the world. We had walked 11 miles to get to it, with a 1,000 step climb at the end so we felt we had earned it.

In the evening, after dinner, games and the Tassie whiskey I had bought in Strahan, we walked down to the beach for a final "swim ",well, a deep paddle given it was dark, the surf was up, the Portuguese Man of War were around but actually it was not that dark because of the amazing phosphorescence in the sea. Sadly,there was no camera with us and  even there had been it may not have caught the rivulets of light that danced around us in the surf .One of the most memorable moments of the trip.

Freycinet 3

Off after brekkers in the minivan to Bluestone Bay to start our day's trek. It was overcast, occasional mist and drizzle, which our guides said was great for them as they are bored of blue skies...hmmm.
Easy walking in the bush, our guides pointing out orchids, shrubs, listening to the birdsong, chatting, felt good to be hiking again.There was no chance of meeting other hikers ; the only trails are the ones created by the lodge guides.A canteen was boiled for mid morning coffee with homemade "scoggin".

we were never far from the sea

Flying duck orchid !

Indigenous stone tool

A surprise lunch in the bush : thought Ella's pack was even bigger than usual !

The last section of the walk was along beach and all swam again ; nothing like peer pressure.

Tea on the beach

Back to the Lodge for G&T and pumpkin soup (!) a clean up, canapes the beef ,vegetables, all cooked to a superior restaurant standard. Ok, this was not a cheap few days but it was terrific value.

Freycinet 2

The Lodge was indeed in a remote area, low rise, hidden from the beach ( another huge expanse of deserted sand and crashing surf ) even and very eco. Our first experience of compost toilets ; better than its sounds. Our hosts were a young attractive Aussie couple, Toby and Noona (an indigenous name as was she ) impressive cooks and tremendous fun.

The dining table saw a lot of action ..followed by  ( very competitive ) games in the lounge.We introduced them to the " Name Game " which was a success. Our guides and hosts seemed to be enjoying it all as much as we were. They clearly knew each other well and the three lady trekkers were great fun.

well, Nic liked this..

We ended up having an entire cabin to ourselves, the other three sharing some facilities.  Another wood burning stove which did see some action and the bedroom facing the beach so we had the sound of the surf at night.

The Freycinet Trek

Pick up was from the hotel, where we met our fellow trekkers ; our guides, Luke and Ella ( a mate of Immo's ) and Mandy, Lisa and Sophie, then into the minibus for a two hour drive on a grey morning to pick up our boat ride to the lodge.

Oyster Bay and the hill we were to climb but we chose to fish instead 

mooring up for lunch

We had choice of a trek or fishing for flathead for our dinner ( obviously they had some frozen from a previous day back at the lodge ) and we were happy to fish, which we did, actually rather successfully : we fed the lodge ! Around 30 between us, though we kept only the largest.

A big one...

Back to the beach for a surprisingly icy swim then back on board for the boat back with some good dolphin spotting on the way.

Mona !

 We had had an awful lot of people rave on about the Mona, a modern art museum on an island a 40 minute boat ride down the river from the city. It was indeed unlike any museum we have been to before, we went out on one of the first boats and practically crawled back on one of the last.

Very cool Mona catamarans

The only visible architecture ( most of the site is underground ) is fairly surreal.

That's Nic's legs being reflected

same photo as above but now without the reflection looking into the restaurant .

You do believe it is a waxwork till you get very close to him indeed.

One of the many politically incorrect installations ; the accompanying soundtrack is quite something too

the water droplets form words mid air ; absolutely hypnotic.