A Sea Odyssey

We had a wonderful weekend less than a week after coming back from Australia, and after the two days in Wales. Jon and I took the grandchildren to stay in the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool to see the Giant Spectacular, or Sea Odyssey.
The last of the funds received as European City of Culture in, I think, 2008 bought the staging of this event by The French company, Royal de Luxe to coincide with the Titanic anniversary.
There was a "little" girl (a mere 30 ft tall),









her dog Xolo at 9 ft tall,




and her uncle, in diving gear standing 50 ft tall.











The children loved the whole oversized spectacle, as did we.


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Location:Liverpool, England

Castlemaine

We've been exploring the locality round where we're staying, which is Campbell's Creek near Castlemaine about an hour north of Melbourne. One really good way has been through the local tourist bureau which rents out audio guides. They lend you an mp3 player loaded with tour guides, and a paper map of the route and set you off. We've done the town tour and one of a historic gold mine site. This was the site of a major gold rush in the 1850s. There's not a lot left to see on the ground but with the explanations in your headphones it makes a lot more sense. And it's really evocative of those times to hear the noise of the batteries which crushed the quartz, and old diggers' songs and music as you follow the trail through the site.

Jon is steeped in old cars as our host is an expert car restorer so they are all around us, and we even borrow one to go sight-seeing.

I'm posting this now, brief and without photos as I may soon be off-line, at least for a few days as I think my iPad Sim card is about to expire. Hopefully I'll finish it off better later...




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Location:Main Rd,Campbells Creek,Australia

Melbourne and more penguins

Sad farewells to Chris last Wednesday. Hobart suits him so well we don't know when we can expect to see him again.

So we're back in the city again and quite impressed with Melbourne, loving the Victorian cast iron balconies and porches and the vibrant city centre.






We took a half-day tour which included Phillip Island to see the little penguins. Because they are moulting at the moment, there are fewer than usual, but we still saw over a hundred (that was just the start- they go on coming in over several hours - over 1400 were counted the previous night) and were thrilled to see them really close up. They emerge from the waves in a small group, to size up the safety situation. They dither around for several minutes, often taking fright and dashing back into the sea, before finally gathering in larger numbers and marching up the beach to the dunes. Walking is quite hard work for them and they pause frequently, seemingly unaware of the admiring throngs watching them, so you can get a really good close look at them. Cute is the only word, I'm afraid. No photos though as it's forbidden.



Phillip island nature park had residential properties until very recently, but the government bought up each house as it became available and the last one was bought only 5 weeks (Months?) ago. Once acquired by the nature park the houses are demolished and the land returned to nature.
Also on this tour were visits to a cattle farm with various rescue animals and a koala park





I'm late posting this, already moved on from Melbourne, staying in Castlemaine with friends.

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Location:George St,East Melbourne,Australia