COFFE SHOPS
'Indulge' at Portarlington, 10 mins away, views from the You Yangs to the city, good coffee and yummy gluten free friands. Great on a Sunday afternoon, followed by a walk on the pier and a leisurely drive along the Esplanade to St Leonards.
'The Zoo' Drysdale - 10 mins walk (will only be 5min from Newcombe St). Nice friendly atmosphere, good g.f florentines, where we go for 'committee' meetings, usually to do with house planning, sometimes ends in tears (not often).
'Smudge Cafe' 'Pako' St West Geelong (25min). Merilyn has their de-caf but I have iced-chocolate and a g.f lamington with jam & cream! Pakington St has many specialist shops and is a good place to buy g.f. food, especially edible, tasty bread.
The Surf Club at Ocean Grove (15 mins), overlooks the beach - what more can I say.
And so many more yet to be discovered.
WALKS
We have done many short walks around Drysdale - including the Rail Trail, around Lake Lorne and many of the local streets. Within minutes of leaving home you are 'in the country'. We have discovered a Clydesdale horse Stud farm where there is a foal, many properties with sheep, horses, goats and today a property with turkeys and another with 2 alpacas and a camel. All this less than 15 mins from home. We have also walked along the cliffs next to the bay at Clifton Springs and done foreshore and pier walks at Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale, Portarlington, Barwon Heads (bridge walk) and St Leonards.
SHIP WATCHING
We love watching ships. We have found a shop in Queenscliff (15 mins away) that does g.f fish and chips, how good is that!! Also, only minutes away is a lookout where on a balmy night you can sit and watch the ships go through the heads - we have sat in the car when it has been not so balmy. We have seen huge container ships, tankers, cruise ships, freighters and smaller vessels going to Tassie. The first monday of the holidays we had Leisel with us and the two Spirit of Tasmania ferries passed each other going through the heads. That must be a once in a lifetime event! Two night later Jack was with us and we saw several ships and just as it turned dark we saw a bright light out in the ocean. It kept getting closer and all we could see as it came through was a massive search light at the front and no other lights except for a red one at the stern. Jack was sure it was a ghost ship and was all for getting in the car and escaping.
INTERESTING THINGS TO DO AND PLACES TO GO
We have been to a play at The Potato Shed, only 5 mins away with an interesting program for the coming year.
An open garden at an historic home in Geelong was just beautiful.
The Geelong Botanical gardens, fourth oldest in Australia, are just fabulous.
Last Sunday we attended the opening of an art exhibition in Queenscliff - one of Hannah's students from Deakin Uni.
We caught the ferry to Sorrento and had lunch with Bob and Marcia Hindle.
A day out with the family to the Werribee Zoo was a great adventure.
I have been with Jack to the Ford Museum in Geelong.
Merilyn caught the bus to Geelong with Meg and rode the Carousel.
Good Friday we went to a performance of 'The Crucifiction' by Stainer in Geelong which was excellent.
Next week we are going to a lecture at the Geelong West Library by David Corlett who produced the 'Send Them Home' series which was shown on SBS last year.
So, there are some of the reasons we are enjoying this new environment. We are also appreciating being so close to shops and it is so easy to get to Melbourne. We had a family meal with Matthew a few weeks a go and it only took us 80 mins to get home, a bit different to 3 hours. What we do need to find is 'church family'.
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| Leaving Queenscliff |
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At the school fair Claremont House, Newton |
Geelong Botanical Gardens
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