Port Fairy

Port Fairy has a lovely golf course situated about 6kms from the centre of town, and that is where I headed. Even though it was overcast, and there was a little bit of light rain around, I made my way to the course. It looked good...but there were lots of people around.

In another situation it might have been great. It was a VGA Seniors event running over two days - with shotgun starts. Course closed! Port Fairy Golf Club will have to wait for another day.
Their practice facilities got a bit of use though. Having travelled all this way in hope it seemed appropriate to ask permission and do some work on my short game. Yes there was a little bit of drizzle, but the day was warm, and I really didn't get that wet.

Later, when Beth had recovered from my extended absence, we did a little bit of sightseeing, and drove around the area.

Yes, we are back in Victoria. It was the cusp of summer - the skies were grey, and there were regular showers.

Yes, we were glad to be in Port Fairy, for that night there was heavy rain around Melbourne and a storm that ripped through Blackburn and caused a fair bit of damage.

The slogan on our number plate says it all - Victoria, the place to be. Yeah, right!

Victoria

If you go east for long enough you eventually run out of South Australia. That happened to us somewhere between Mount Gambier and Nelson.

Our first night back in Victoria was spent at Pritchards Campground, a lovely spot on the Glenelg River about 25 kms east of Portland on the Dartmoor Road. It was there that the initials GSWW became intelligible, and a noisy koala enjoyed chomping on eucalyptus leaves high in the trees above our van.

After setting up camp we also discovered that you are supposed to get your permit to camp and then go to the site. A specific site is booked, not just a place in the campground.
In our travels in NT, WA and SA we paid for our permit on the spot. There they trust you to fill out your own permit and put the money in. I guess that there may be a few more people wanting to camp in some of these spots, but it would have been helpful to have some sort of sign or indication BEFORE we camped there. Now we have to find some way of getting the money to Parks Victoria

For the uninitiated GSWW appears on a number of signs along the road - and it means Great South West Walk. We managed about 800 metres of the track as we caught a glimpse of the Glenelg River from a lookout spot.

On the Nelson to Portland Road we also spotted a family of emus - seven in all, happily feeding less than fifty metres from the busy highway. They are the first emus I can recall seeing in this part of the world, and to see seven was remarkable.

Family - and history.

There are things you discover as you travel the path of life... and among them are old photos.

Despite the fact that these pictures have been around for close to eighty years I have no recollection of seeing any of them. My father and his older sister are the children in the photo at left. I assume it was taken mid to late 1927.

In looking back into the past I discovered where my middle name came from. Maybe the information had been shared before, but now there is reason to remember. I have become the proud owner (or is that trustee) of a chair that once belonged to my great-great grandfather.

And then there is this posed photograph of mother - looking decidedly younger in this studio portrait.

But wait...there's more, but those other pictures are not going to appear here - at least not yet!

Family connections - golf

After Nullarbor Links Victor Harbor offered green fairways and green greens. With an 82 year old father who plays competition golf twice a week (now on a gopher), a sister who got interested early this year, and a brother-in-law who got the bug as well it was inevitable that golf was on the agenda.


A little time on the practice fairway, three visits to Victor Harbor Golf Club and one to South Lakes (Goolwa) meant time to sort out a few golfing problems.

Sorting out problems and scoring well do not always go together, but at least I managed to play two good nines in competition. The only problem was that one was on Tuesday and one was on Thursday. Hope remains!

At least I was able to help my sister find some extra distance off the tee for a while. The problem was not paralysis by analysis, but there are times when we concentrate so hard on getting things right that we just fail to give the ball a good solid whack! One trap that I occasionally fall into (especially on narrow fairways) is trying to steer the ball 'down the middle'. The result is often far worse that standing on the tee and trusting my swing.

Enough of golf already (not really but this is not the place - see www.thisgolfinglife.com/graham)

Where was Beth all this time? Well she had unrestricted access to the laptop to work on photos and in movie maker. A lot of progress was made in sorting out the thousands of photos we took on our way around Australia.

Family catch up

After a week of constant travel it was good to stop in one place for a week and to catch up with family. This week was the 12 month anniversary of my sisters death at age 57, the end result of an aggressive form of breast cancer. Her courage and strength in facing adversity were obvious, and she is still missed by her children, grand-children and wider family. Even so, life goes on.

At her funeral the final word was with Gloria. She knew time was running out, and made the most of that time spending all she could sharing with her children and grand-children. Some people do not have that time to say goodbye. It was a reminder for us all to value those we have while we can.

SA Great

I heard that SA Great has now changed its name to Advantage SA, witha sub-brand Advantage Adelaide. There was apparently some confusion with South Africa they say. Great move to change after only ten years of confusion!

Whatever, it was great to be back in SA. Beth got quite emotional as we were coming through Port Augusta, but there may have been other reasons for that!

Once over the border and into SA we stopped at a couple of places on our way to Victor Harbor.

Streaky Bay was a lovely respite by the sea, even though the temperature was still high. A gentle breeze at night at least cooled us down a bit.

Looking back it was ironic that as we headed to Streaky Bay ABC local radio was focusing on the 'catastrophic fire alert' procedures for schools. Two days later they were implemented for the first time ever! Then it rained. The farmers were celebrating their first decent harvest in years, then some got hit by fires, and those who hadn't finished their harvest had to cope with unseasonal rain. Farming is a tough life!

The next night was Port Broughton, and we were glad the caravan park had a great swimming pool. It was delightful!

When we set up camp on the shores of Spencer Gulf we were well clear of the Nullarbor. Yet getting on the way some of the scenery looked eerily like the area we left a couple of days ago.

South Australia is the driest state in the country, and driving through the area around near Whyalla and Port Augusta it was not at all hard to beleive.

Then it was on to Victor, via Copper Coast Salvos (it was Sunday morning) and Adelaide.