I'm currently in Geelong (and Will is sitting beside me doing his assignment!! Yay!). It's an interesting place here, a little bit like Redcliffe with a Melbourne vibe I guess. A bit bogan, but there is a beautiful waterfront that backs onto a bay called Corio Bay. There is a ferris wheel and a pier and lots of shops and places to walk your dog. Kind of feels like somewhere in America, a mix of LA and slightly a bit like New Orleans down by the water, and also like a place I visited in San Diego called Coronado.
Speaking of walking dogs, there are so many dogs here, everywhere you look! High percentage of golden retrievers and staffies and they are all very cute. Will and I walked past a spoodle looking dog and it just lay down on the ground with all its legs splayed out in all directions like 'I give up!'. It was hilarious and its owner laughed and laughed.
I can't quite remember where I left off my last post but I assume I was still in Queanbeyan. On Thursday we took the plane from Canberra airport to Melbourne airport. But not before we had visited the Australian War Memorial. It was absolutely beautiful! There was this big memorial garden which had a long rectangular pond with a flame. It also had gargoyle like symbols around the garden showing the major conflicts Australia had been involved in. The most impressive part of the memorial garden was the big kind of dome building at the end. It had tiling covering all the walls, with large stained glass panels showing various service people with words underneath like 'Audacity', 'Courage', 'Curiosity' and 'Kindness'. There was also big tiled mosaics on the walls making up the images of people from the different armed forces and a nurse. At the end of the room stood four giant pillers made of different materials (wood, steel, glass and... stone?). The roof was incredible, a big dome with different coloured rings and patterns like a kaleidoscope. There was a long stone plaque in the middle of the room for 'The Unknown Soldier' with some wreaths scattered around it from visitors. After having a look at the memorial garden I headed inside to the museum.
The museum included images from the major wars, stories and anecdotes from important war figures such as Victoria Cross winners and a massive hall called Anzac Hall where they do audiovisual shows using the huge model planes and movie screens. One of the most exciting/interesting things was walking past a Kittyhawk plane and seeing some familiar information panels behind it. The Battle of Milne Bay! (The hall where we practice band is the Milne Bay Memorial Hall and the street it's on is called Kittyhawk Drive). The posters that they had up were exactly the same as the ones I read every week in band while I have lots of rests or I don't have a part for a song! It was exciting to see a piece of home in Canberra and also they had some personal effects and items that related to these people (mostly pilots) who I had been reading about for years now. I felt a special connection to that part of the display. I headed into Anzac Hall and read about the 'aces', which were the fighter pilots who shot down a lot of the enemy aircraft. There was a display dedicated to the 'Red Baron' who was the most famous ace from Germany (I think?). There is some dispute whether he was finally shot down by an Australian or an American. They had one of his massive fur boots displayed and it seemed like something out of a war movie and not quite real. The other part that effected me in this part of the exhibition was the display of one pilot's good luck charm, a small stuffed black cat, as we often portray these people as brave heroes but in reality they were scared just like anyone else would be. I also felt sad reading about one of Australia's most renowned aces (I have forgotten his name). He was highly regarded for his efforts and had shot down something like 47 enemy planes. Eventually he was shot down himself and his makeshift headstone read 23 years. The information panel that accompanied this exhibition stated that this was untrue and he had not yet reached his 23rd birthday.
I headed back to the memorial garden for one more look and then we got a quick photo in front of Parliament House (there is a perfect view from the front of the war memorial to the front of Parliament House). We headed to the airport for the flight, said goodbye to our hire cars and boarded our plane. The in flight food was a bit disappointing (four strange tiny crouton-like biscuits which were supposed to be crackers, eggplant and tomato dip and a large stick of cheese) but oh well. At the other end we headed to get our hire cars which was a mission as the two people behind the desk were new and couldn't work out how to give us the hire cars as they were hired through a company not an individual. About an hour later we were on the road. Unfortunately just getting out of Melbourne was a task as Cam's GPS on his phone kept taking us to the wrong place. Neridah was driving and I think everyone had a case of the angry-hungry-tireds. Eventually we got on the road but by this time it was about 830pm and there was still 1.5hrs to Geelong. We stopped off at a Thai restaurant where I had the worst restaurant meal I've had in my life (I ordered noodles but because they were so overcooked and broken apart I thought they were rice??). On the menu was a dish called Poo Sarong - and I think maybe that would have been even better than what I got! Finally we made it to Geelong!!
The next day I took a walk down by the water and had another awful meal at a restaurant. Turns out I'd walked the total wrong way down the boardwalk and the restaurants and city centre were the other way! Fail! After a trip to Woolworths I waited for Will to arrive! In the meantime we had a lighting plot at the theatre. With perfect timing Will arrived just as we finished the plot and we headed back to the hotel. After settling in we took a very long walk to find a bottle shop! Just made some heat up pasta and sauce for dinner.
The next day I was up for 2 family shows at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre. The shows were great but it was a little different performing to a more rounded seating bank as we had to make sure everyone could see and was getting enough attention. Lots of little Tashi fans there. One little boy got so involved in the story that at the point where the villagers think they will lose their homes he turned to his mum and said 'Do we have enough money to buy our house, Mum?'. All the kids had really cool names too like Jemima, Milly and Ava. This venue organised colouring competitions and how to make a Tashi hat before the show and some of the kids had won Tashi books! The second show ended around nap time and there were a few mopy kids and disgruntled parents but I think they all enjoyed the show! Afterwards Will and I took a walk to find some fish and chips to eat down by the water.
Today we spent the day hanging around the main area of Geelong in front of the bay. We had lunch at a cafe/bar called The Edge, which was alright. We had some tapas, the best one was chicken and coriander gyoza (dumplings). After that we went to the Westfield to find me some new sunglasses (mine broke) - no luck, oh well. Back to the waterfront for an icecream and some dog watching. Besides the many beautiful dogs, there was also a vast array of cars to keep Will interested. Lots of kind of bogan commodores and lowered utes but also lots of lovely old cars. The one Will was most impressed with was an Tarana SLR 5000.
Back in the room now, I practiced my yoga and my headstands/handstands are improving slowly but surely! We are having tacos for dinner and a nice night in. Was great to see Will and excited for when he comes back in 2.5 weeks in Melbourne where we get nearly a whole week together over Easter!
Hope you are all well!
Steph
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