February 24
Geelong
Plenty of sleep but, after the night before, that was essential. I breakfasted in leisurely fashion from the food that I had bought yesterday and read the papers on the WWW.
At about 09.00 I wandered off into town, passing the cleaning lady who I had met when I arrived. I said, quite truthfully, that it was one of the cleanest motels that I had ever stayed in and she seemed happy with the compliment.
The main road into town is long and straight and took me straight past the hospital. If I’d known, I could have booked a room for later in the week.
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It was fairly quiet on a Sunday morning, but there were a few people at the cafes. Photography was difficult because of the intense sun. Everything was either burnt out or in heavy shadow.
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There were interesting buildings all over the place. In New Zealand, the earthquakes would have put paid to them but that isn't a problem over here. There was also an old park with a band stand and another royal statue. I now know why Prince Charles came to school here! |
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The Station, which I didn't have the chance to photograph yesterday, has some fine brickwork but is looking bit down at heel. The tracks leading out could be at any station in the UK.
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I walked back to Johnstone Park, had a coffee at the very ornate public library - not the strongest but OK - and visited the adjoining the Art Gallery.
The best part of the Library was the stainless steel semi-spherical signboard, an ideal item to entertain a geriatric photographer.Inside was a huge collection of Sydney Nolan's. He was a mad(ish) Australian who died in London and was fixated on Ned Kelly. I saw some of his work in an exhibition in New Zealand some years ago.Right: An excellent signboard |
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There were lots of "interesting" modern paintings and some very fine Victorian landscapes, even a few of the UK and New Zealand by touring Australian artists.
The building, itself, was excellent. Beautiful exhibition spaces, a mix of old rooms and modern designs.
Perhaps the most moving painting was of a rural burial and I found a huge reproduction of this on an outside wall.
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The National Wool Museum was great. Pride of place went to an Axminster loom, which is still used to make special carpets on commission. It was brought out to Australia by Brintons of Kidderminster in 1960. The operator's father came out from Bradford at the same time. His son followed him into the business and joined the museum when Brintons went broke some years ago.
He was brilliant both at the technical side and explaining the whole process to the audience. We were told that they used New Zealand wool, which is coarser and better suited to the manufacture of carpets.
The sections dealing with wool production were similar to what can be found in many New Zealand museums and there was a model mill worker's cottage from the 1950s.
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A fascinating side display was "another year of knots" 365 of them tied by a member of the "International Guild of Knot Tyers". He learned the skill in the shipping industry and has obviously become a knotting anorak.
There was a nice chap in the Information Office attached to the museum. He was interested in my views on the art gallery, of which he was a member, as they seemed to tally with his own - ie some very good stuff but also a load of £$%^&*. I collected another brochure on a walking trail but doubt that it will be of much use.
The King George Fish and Grill is on the front and supplied grilled squid, Greek salad and a dry Barossa Riesling. Very good. I did see huge plates of fish go past. Perhaps I should eat there this evening rather than at the posher place that I had planned.
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Being a clever sort of chap, I had left my sun tan lotion in New Zealand and, with the temperature tipped to top 30 degrees, I thought that a trip to the mall to buy some more would be justified.
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Mission accomplished, I returned to the water front, looked at some restaurants which didn't display menus, and crossed them off my dinner list.
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The Botanic Gardens are about one kilometre along the waterfront and up the cliff. I climbed some steps, which offered great views across the people and the beach, crossed some scrubby grass and entered the gardens. These were similar to most of their kind. Calm, shaded and relaxing. There were lots of people around, many enjoying family picnics. I looked at the trees, flowers, cacti and more bollards, enjoyed the shade and chilled out. |
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I thought of a tea in the tea shop but they were experiencing a power cut so couldn't boil water. I had a sit down on a bench, instead.
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I walked home across several rather dry parks and a few streets of pleasant enough houses. After almost seven hours out in the sun, I was tired so had a lie down, followed by a shower, followed buy some research for tomorrow's journey. At 18.00 I set off into the city, following a new route, which took me past a fine looking old pub and a modern bar from which very good but very loud rock was blasting. |
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My target was the same, posh, fish & chip restaurant at which I had lunched. It turned out to be not far short of 2 kilometres from the motel but the exercise will be good for me.
The pinot noir was slightly acid but very drinkable. The magnificent flowers next to my table looked brilliant but felt artificial. What a shame! While I was awaiting my oysters, I watched some fish platters - only for two or more - going past. If only I could clone myself. Even the ordinary fish and chips looked excellent.
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When mine arrived, I couldn't record the food as both of my camera batteries were flat. I will have a busy evening charging them. The food was good. You can't do much wrong with oysters and the linguine was full of fish. The salad, being Australian, was excellent. Luckily, I had already photographed the magnificent displays of flowers. Just a shame they were artificial!