<\/a>Last week we’d managed to get ourselves on an early appointment for my Friday RT session \u2013 8:45am in fact. We arrived just in time owing to work and school traffic. Being first thing in the morning I whizzed through and we were out by 9:30. I even had time to take a picture of my bust used during the making of my mask.\n<\/p>\n

As the forecast for the weekend predicted better weather later on we decided to go west as far as possible first and make our way back over the next few days.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>We reached Camperdown by midday where we ate lunch hoping for a break in the weather as it was wet and windy with occasional breaks of sunshine. After lunch we drove up to the car park on nearby Mount Leura<\/a>. We managed a few moments of sunshine but had to hightail it back to the car when the heavens reopened. We did get good views of nearby Mount Sugarloaf (part of the same eroded crater rim) and the surrounding lava plains and craters.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>Our next stop was the nearby Camperdown Botanic Gardens. They were pretty but not large. It made a nice stop though with lovely views of the surrounding lake.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>We then pressed on to Tower Hill State Game Reserve<\/a>. This was the highlight of the day. We first stopped to climb to the top of the central peak where we had great views of the surrounding geology.\n<\/p>\n

As ever, this would have been any easy climb in the past but a bit of a challenge today. Totally worthwhile though.\n<\/p>\n

Back at the car park Helen spotted a koala up a tree. <\/a>We stopped to take pictures and watch it eat. Even though this is a game reserve, it’s certainly not a zoo so it’s a thrill to spot animals in the wild.\n<\/p>\n

We then stopped at the visitors center, immediately spotting an emu. There I bought a boomerang <\/a>(how could I not). They also had some great information on the area’s geology. I always find it fascinating how the planet shapes itself over millions of years.\n<\/p>\n

We then went on the ‘Journey to Last Volcano Hike’ during which we saw more geology and wildlife. We saw many rabbits, a couple of turtles, an echidna and many birds.\n<\/p>\n

Feeling quite exhausted we left the park, spotting more emus and another koala, and headed to Port Campbell and our accommodation for the next <\/a>two nights, the Portside Motel<\/a>. Along the way we couldn’t resist one more side trip to see London Bridge<\/a>, one of the many coastal features in this area. It was very cold and windy so we didn’t stay too long. We saw enough to enjoy the place.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>Port Campbell was just a few minutes away and we were soon settled into our room having had a very informative guide to the area by the owner?\/receptionist.\n<\/p>\n

We ate out at 12 Rocks Caf\u00e9. While there we learned that the boat inspection by Dignity’s prospective owners had gone pretty well. No howling issues had been found which would have been a surprise to us but there was always the possibility I suppose. There was a ding on one of the keels. Now there’s a phrase that says there are two types of sailors, those that have hit the bottom and those that lie. We’re definitely the former but nothing more than minor and usually mud or sand. We thought we’d had our previous scratches repaired so we await the report with curiosity as we hadn’t expected this.\n<\/p>\n

Back at the motel we learned that our final insurance claim has been approved. We included a request for one of our trips from Melbourne to Brisbane to be included arguing that our efforts during such a hard time in our lives to get good workmanship at good prices saved them a lot of money. We’ll only know if this was included when the cash arrives. We’ll see.\n<\/p>\n

Incidentally, whenever I do blog entries in this format (which takes a lot longer to do) all the embedded pictures are enlargeable simply by clicking on them. From any enlarged picture you can scroll through the rest using your left and right keys. These and more pics can be found in the slideshow below.\n<\/p>\n

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