{"id":4189,"date":"2019-12-30T21:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2019-12-30T21:00:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T10:00:55","slug":"to-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/30\/to-melbourne\/","title":{"rendered":"To Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lazy start to the day, up late sorted and out. Drove up to where we’d had dinner and found a 2 hour parking lot and went to have breakfast. Wandered back by the library which had some nice sculptures, though Joe wouldn’t let me go in. Decided to head into Geelong to see what the waterfront looked like, with the understanding that if we couldn’t find parking we’d head somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Found parking easily (seems people would rather park down by the beach than up on the hill). Finally saw a cockatoo (but still only in the air, still haven’t seen one landed on something! Seen plenty flying though.) We walked along the waterfront, which has a nice swimming area. Had a lido for children which was shallow, then an enclosed area in the sea surrounded by decking with floats and diving platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then walked up to the pier, passing some nice old houses and looking at the bollards (Geelong is known for the bollard walk<\/a>). We went in to see the 126 year old carousel<\/a>, which is now enclosed to protect it (Joe thought the protection wasn’t done very sympathetically, but probably due to cost). We didn’t ride but had a look and at the older pieces. Then we walked down the pier. It’s mainly parking with a bar\/restaurant at the end which was closed. There is some nice sculpture around the waterfront and children play areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the pier we headed to the Wool Museum<\/a> and the Tourist Information centre. We didn’t go into the Wool Museum (Joe was probably worried about allergic reactions!) but we had a look around. They also had the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition showing there. But we wanted to get on to Melbourne, so we headed back to the car, along part of the town then the waterfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive to Melbourne wasn’t too bad, a bit of traffic on the West Gate Bridge, but otherwise rather easy to get to the hotel. The car is now parked until 2 January! Hooray! We rested in the room – it was nice to just stop for a bit – and learned that Australian game shows are very snarky! Then out for dinner. We found a place that had Jambalaya for 2 on the menu so we went in and had that. It was really good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow we have a look around Melbourne!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lazy start to the day, up late sorted and out. Drove up to where we’d had dinner and found a 2 hour parking lot and went to have breakfast. Wandered back by the library which had some nice sculptures, though Joe wouldn’t let me go in. Decided to head into Geelong to see what the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[25],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T97-15z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4247,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2023\/12\/09\/cant-see-the-birds-for-the-trees\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":0},"title":"Can’t see the birds for the trees","date":"Saturday, 9 December 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Up earlier this morning and breakfast by 7 - sat on the terrace and watched the sun come up while drinking coffee which is a lovely way to start the day. We'd loaded up the car before breakfast so once that was done we headed out. We aimed for Las\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tree-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2005\/12\/01\/working-on-the-second-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":1},"title":"Working on the Second day","date":"Thursday, 1 December 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Waiting for Joe to swallow a tablet - we're off whale and dolphin spotting. So long boat trip. Yesterday: Walked around the harbour area and looked at the cruises in the harbour\/bays. Saw the dolphin and whale tour heading out and went and asked for info. We were thinking a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/23\/sorry-for-the-f-in-fog\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":2},"title":"Sorry for the F in fog","date":"Monday, 23 October 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Or Carl Sandburg was right. THE fog comes on little cat feet. \u00a0 It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. We decided today we'd walk to the Golden Gate Bridge so we headed out in bright sunlight and warm weather. Walked along the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2008\/08\/22\/netherlands\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":3},"title":"Netherlands","date":"Friday, 22 August 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We are heading for the wilds of The Netherlands. After work yesterday headed home and finished packing, watering the plants, general tidying, then got the train to Liverpool Street Station to start the journey. We took the night ferry from Harwich to Hook van Holland. Very nice with a cabin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/15\/the-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":4},"title":"The Office","date":"Thursday, 15 September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was relaxing day. Up when we woke up, then breakfast, then off to the station to get our tickets to Delft. The day is so nice we decided we didn't want to spend it in a museum - sun out and warm so we walked from the station along\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/23\/last-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":5},"title":"Last Day","date":"Monday, 23 October 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's the last day and we're all packed and waiting for the airport shuttle. Really don't want to leave the sunshine and warm weather. Got up this morning and did the last bit of packing. Then sorted the room and left the bags for a last wander into San\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4191,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions\/4191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}