Lorne, Great Ocean Road and Our Home until July

Phew! Seems like we've been busy with schoolwork, moving around to different rentals, traveling and exploring on the weekend and FINALLY moving into our permanent place while here.

January 17, 2015, View along the Great Ocean Road

We went to Lorne last weekend. It's about 65 km from Geelong and is a town on the Great Ocean Road. This was further than Torquay/Bells Beach, so the road got much more interesting. It's a very windy road and narrow with a dropoff to the ocean in some places. It is gorgeous!! We took turns driving, so we could both stare. We ate lunch at a place in Lorne that overlooked the local beach. It was rather busy, but too chilly for the Kansans! After lunch we drove to the entrance to the trail that lead to Erskine Falls. Erskine Falls is in the Great Otway National Park (called The Otways by locals) and is one of the most popular falls to visit because its easy to access. It was a short walk downhill via stairs to see this gorgeous view!

Erskine Falls, Great Otway National Park

Trailhead to Erskine Falls, January 17, 2015

Windy roads of Great Ocean Road

Teddy's Lookout, Lorne, Victoria, January 17, 2015

On the drive back we stopped along one of the beaches and looked through some rock pools. We saw a few starfish, snails and lots of shells. I also caught a glimpse of one fish (looked like a blenny), but it swam out of view once it saw me.

Rock pool stop, Great Ocean Road, January 17, 2015

Rock pool, Great Ocean Road

Galah

Barry and the kids have done a bit of geocaching. There are many to find in this area! When we were at the Newcomb rental last week we saw parrots up in one of the trees. That was a pretty fun experience to notice them and then figure out what they were. They are called galahs. Not the most colorful bird you find in this area, but still very interesting and different to see in the wild.

Galah parrot, Newcomb, Victoria

On Tuesday, January 20th we moved into our permanent place in Ocean Grove, Victoria. If you need our mailing address please let me know and I'll send it to you. It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a nice fenced in backyard. There's a veggie patch, trees and a large grill. Bring on the barbie!! The kids each get their own bedroom, so they are happy about that. There's a washer and dryer (dryers aren't as common here). Most people hang their laundry to dry. There's a nice big clothesline outside, so I've been hanging most laundry and using the dryer if I run out of daylight. The home came furnished, so other than some bedding and towel purchases we've had everything we need. It's nice to have some room to spread out.

On Wednesday we went back to Ocean Grove Beach to enjoy the waves. It was low tide at the time, so the kids were kind of amazed at how far out the water was. Hannah and Kiernan tried out the boogie boards we found in the shed here. They both had some practice at Cherry Grove Beach in South Carolina a year and a half ago, so they caught on quick here and can ride the waves pretty well. We also had fun building a sand castle village.

 Thursday evening we had a spider incident! I noticed mid-afternoon what appeared to be a very large dead spider between the screen and glass in one of windows. As soon as Barry was home we showed him. After dinner, we decided it was best to at least get it out of the window. I wasn't certain it was dead so I wiggled the screen some and it moved. I about LOST IT! The screen is broken at the bottom, so if it wanted it could have come inside-ummm, yikes!! Barry decided to take a broom outside and get it out that way, but it was so scrunched up at the top of the window that we had to spray it a bit through the screen to get it to drop out of the window. Then it kind of crawled off and it seemed to watch us for a bit. ICKY! It was a Huntsman spider....look them up if you want to learn more. They are pretty much harmless to people, other than causing a serious scare because of their size. They are just so darn huge. Apparently they like dark corners and hiding places, so it is common that they are found in cars too. A common location is above the visor, so when you put it down they fall on you. So, now I'm busy checking the visors before I get in the car too. I also examine the windows in our house a lot....I really don't want any unwanted visitors IN the house! Sadly, I doubt this is our last spider story. This place is teeming with critters. On that note, I've not seen a snake yet.

Huntsman spider, Ocean Grove, January 22, 2015

On Friday, Barry texted me on the way to work to let me know that our car had overheated and was on the side of the road. Sure hoping we didn't buy a lemon! After a $120 tow it looks to just need a new radiator (or something like that). The local mechanic had just serviced the car 2 days before, so we already know him. He gave us a loaner car for the weekend (it's tiny, but we all fit). Just part of the adventure, right?!

Loaner clown car-WE ALL FIT!

We've been settling in to the new place well. We keep the kids busy with a few chores around here and sneak in as many sunsets as we can. Barry takes the car to get to work in Geelong (which is a 20 minute commute for him). The kids and I have about a 10-15 minute walk to the business district of Ocean Grove, so we've already walked to the library, Target Country, and a toy store. The walk is easy and makes for a fun adventure. We finally got a library membership and have taken full advantage of it already! Hannah and I even went back today to return some and checkout more.

Lydia watering the veggie patch, January 2015

January sunset, Ocean Grove Beach

Reading books at Ocean Grove library

Look for more blog entries this week. I did a video tour of our home, so I plan to upload that to the blog soon. Barry and Kiernan should have blog entries up this week too.

Sarah