Life In These United Kingdoms

Well it’s almost the end of my little holiday back in Oz, well OK, not so little, I’ve been here 5 weeks now so I thought I’d put some pics up for y’all. After working for a week in Melbourne I went up to Canberra to see my friend Paul and get myself an ancestry visa. He’s got himself a small castle on the outskirts with a fantastic view from both the verandha and spa.

He’s also just 5 minutes from the Murrumbidgee River where there’s some great swimming holes for his kids.



After that I worked for another week then spent the last 2 weeks bludging around in Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Daylesford and my parents house down in Paynesville in the Gippsland Lakes. Spent half an afternoon down at the Mornington Pier.





There’s a group of 7 sting/manta rays that live beneath the pier. They’re fed fresh fish twice a day by the locals so they don’t have to go looking for fish and get caught up in nets and lines. Looks like a lot of fun but I’m sure they wouldn’t let the general public feed them.



The last 4 days I’ve been at Paynesville staying with my parents at their holiday house. Well, technically it’s their full time house now but they split their time pretty much 50/50 between there and Mount Eliza. These are their views, garden, and how the place looks from the water.






Naturally there’s lots of birdlife around.

Black Swans


Sulfur Crested Cockatoos


Galahs



There’s Rainbow Lorikeets too but they’re usually just flying over and you only hear them, not get to take photos.

Spent today out on my parents boat, the Balboa Star


Luckily it’s in better condition than their neighbour’s one…



Heading across the lake to the Bunga Arm

A cormorant drying out on the markers



The Bunga Arm



Danger Will Robinson!

Over the other side of the sanddunes is a surf beach, and in the fine tradition of creative Australian place naming it’s called The Ninety Mile Beach.






After lunch we headed back out and went to Duck Arm and sat on the back of the boat drinking wine, eating cheese and trying to torture fish for the rest of the afternoon…




I’ve now just had one of the biggest t-bone steaks I’ve ever seen for dinner and am on my 3rd glass of wine. Must say I’m not looking forward to heading back to the UK in 3 days time…..