Days 234- 235 Birthday Weekend

Days 234-235 Saturday, August 18th and Sunday, August 19th

A Photocast of our weekend is available by clicking here

Kevin wanted to go boarding/skiing at Mt Buller for his birthday weekend. The drive up is 3 hours and the snow is still good, although warmer weather is expected this week (up to +18 in the city, maybe +5 at the mountain). When we found that for tickets, accommodation, snow chains (every car has to carry them in case), gear rental, etc. it would have cost us well over $2000, we decided to go surfing
instead. Wetsuit and board rental = $10 per hour....a no brainer

Last weekend, while we were on an exchange teacher's weekend in Bendigo (see the New Blog for details), Colleen got talking to fellow exchange teacher Heather and husband Wayne, from Winnipeg, who are living in the beach town where we took our first surf lessons back on Rod's birthday in Februray. They wanted to go hiking in the Dandenong Mountains just 20 minutes from our place. The Dandenongs are a National Park with lots of trails and cute mountain villages with tea houses that serve afternoon tea (scones and Devonshire cream etc). So the ladies decided that we would visit Inverloch and the beach, and in return, they would visit us and hike the Dandenongs sometime.

So we drove down to Phillip Island early Saturday and rented our surf gear at the little place where Colleen took Kevin, Nicole and Dillon to surf back in July- funny little place a 100 metres from the surf beach. Island Surf Boards rents gear and builds custom boards right next to the water.

http://www.islandsurfboards.com.au

You hop into your wetsuit in their changerooms, grab your board and walk down the street, over the dunes, down the stairs and onto the beach. Kevin did a lot more surfing, while Mat and I did a lot of riding the waves lying down on our boards. The water was cold, and it was not until you wiped out that the cold water runs down the seams of the wetsuit that you know how cold it is...maybe 14C. But it was sunny for 2 hours and the waves were perfect as the tide rolled in and Kevin was happy. After
a while you realize your hands are numb and you can't make them work to do anything and you know you've had enough.

We drove the 40 minutes to Inverloch, where we were staying and had some snacks. Then, Mat and I drove back to the island for the Penguin Parade. A species of Penguin called "Little Penguins" (for obvious reasons) nests on the dunes of Phillip Island. Each night at dusk, they come out of the water in rows, sometimes by the thousands! and wander up to the dunes to nest, moult, mate, feed, depending on the season. I knew this was a popular tourist place, but we arrived a few minutes late to find the parking lot full (at least 20 tour buses + many cars), and 1000's of PEOPLE sitting on terraced slopes and boardwalks above the beach...eventually, a hundred or so Penguins (a slow night I might add - Colleen and the teens saw a few hundred when she was there on a Thursday and sat in the "reserved" close-up seats (called "Penguins Plus" which are double the regular price!).

We drove back to Inverloch and watched Forrest Gump on TV. Mat was remembering that it was one of the 3 movies we had at the cabin. Kevin had not ever seen it and really liked it. Mat says it's one of his favourites. Amazing tale of American modern history really, and we lived through that age and remember all the songs and major events.

So we awoke this morning in a beautiful place on the top of a hill overlooking an inlet, the waves crashing in on the shoal, all viewed from the second floor bedroom window and beautiful sitting room with huge windows facing the ocean. I think the ocean is the thing I will miss the most here. We are envious of Heather and Wayne as they seem to have landed one of the best places, location wise. But we have learned that there are lots of pluses and minuses to an exchange and you get what you get.

We drove home via Leongatha which is dairy country. Everything is so green compared to when we were here in February. The hills were beautiful too. Heading northeast past Leongatha, we stopped at Mirboo, where we joined up with the Great Ridge Road. It runs for 150 km SE to NW along the greenest hills I've seen since I was in Ireland many years ago. The sheep covering them added to the ambiance. The views were quite
incredible and we stopped the car and just stood there, looking out at
the terraced hills, the amazing vistas, all the while listening to the myriad sheep calling.
We drove about one third of the way along this road, winding our way back towards the M1 freeway. Arriving home before dusk, we unpacked and decided to forgo the ice cream cake that we had picked up for Kevin's birthday. We were all tired but happy, since we had done something different, experienced an incredibly beautiful corner of Victoria, and celebrated Kevin's birthday surfing, when we should/could have been skiing.
Kevin and Mat posed for pictures when we returned.



The next night, we finally got around to having Kevin's Birthday Cake. It was an ice-cream cake and Kevin and Mat ate most of it, I think!


We had Chocolate Ice Cream Cake and Candles and Kevin Did His Own "Happy Birthday" Cake Ceremony