Yarra Valley - Mornington - Melbourne

Breakfast at Oscars was a little ‘Faulty Towerish’. While a chef had cooked dinner, this morning one of the owners  was in charge of breakfast. We were the only residents yet when we arrived in the dining room, no table was set for breakfast  and the hot water burner was turned off  - hence cold coffee !!The proprietor put his head out of the kitchen door and said he was running late!! At his request, we had nominated breakfast time! The receptionist arrived to make us tea and coffee. The cooked breakfast was just about edible - the scrambled eggs unappetizing and the tomatoes burnt. Nor did we receive what we had been requested to order for breakfast at check -in.  At $320 it was expensive!! 

Having quitted Oscars, we drove towards the Mornington Penninsula and arrived at the Peninsula Spa. 

( No photographs of pools permitted because others privacy compromised)

It was a delightful place, set in a wooded landscape with various types of pools to treat all ailments. It also included a steam room and a sauna. We spent two hours there - we could have stayed all day - but time didn’t allow.  

We departed for the Mornington  Peninsula. It was again a beautiful day. We arrived at the Port Sea Hotel - an iconic landmark of the Mornington Peninsula. . 

The view from the dining room over Port Philip Bay was spectacular.  

We ordered lunch. I had crab and guess what - it was deep fried!! Why do the Aussies desecrate their fabulous fish by deep frying it.??  After lunch, we walked along the jetty, where numerous fishermen awaited their catch!! We continued along the coast but the view in many cases was obscured by trees. 

We returned to Melbourne, having spent two days enjoying some of the delights of the state of Victoria. 

Dunedin - Oamaru

The Edinburgh of the Southern Hemisphere! Last evening , having arrived in Dunedin we went out to check out Dunedin's credentials! We were staying at the Alexis motel a 10 minute walk from the Octagon - the city centre. The Octagon has some spectacular buildings including the Cathedral of St Paul and the Town Hall.

We continued to Dunedin Railway Station and what an impressive building it is! It took over twenty years to build , finally reaching completion in 1906. 

The green, yellow and cream majolica tiles were made especially by Royal Doulton and the mosaic floor celebrating the steam engine has more than 700,000 tiny porcelain tiles! 

I have seen railway stations of wondrous architectural significance but none to equate with Dunedin. On the first floor two stained glass windows depict approaching trains with headlights on.  

The station only now caters for two to three heritage train trips including the Taiere Gorge which we hope to take tomorrow. 

We returned and in Stuart Street spied the Law Courts Hotel where Queen Elizabeth's stayed on her visit to NZ in 1954. It had the Jury Room

Bar and Wig and Pen restaurant but the hotel had seen better days ! 

 

We also saw the Cadbury facility which gives guided tours of he factory but we refrained.

Dunedin is the largest city in the southern half of the South Island., with a population of 120,00. The city has suffered on recent years   The south appears to rely o n tourism. 

Dunedin was a Scottish settlement planned in the 1840s. In 1848 the first emigrant ship arrived lead by Captain Carghill. and Thomas Burns, nephew  of the poet Robert Burns. The Irish and the English followed but the Scots had put their stamp on the area. 

In 1851 gold was discovered 100km west of Dunedin and the gold rush began. The gold rush subsided in the 1870s and shipping became the mainstay of the economy. in addition to railways and farming. However with the iopening of the Panama Canal in 1914 Auckland was favoured over Dundee. 

This morning we took the Taiere Gorge rail journey from Dunedin to Pukerangi. 

The 77 km stretches northwest from Dunedin It was constructed between 1879 and 1921 and I originally went from

Dunedin to Cromwell - 235 Km. today it is run by a Trust who wanted to keep the line open after NZ National Railways closed the line. It is a spectacular journey up through the Gorge .

We returned to Dunedin and commenced our hjourney to Oamaru to see the penguins. En route we had glimpses of the western coast equally as scenic as the south and east coasts. 

En route we stopped to see the Moeraki Boulders partially submerged in the sand with honey combed centres   They were part of the cliff but as the cliff eroded the boulders were revealed. -they were formed around a central core of carbonate crystals and attracted minerals from their surroundings 60 million years ago when accumulations of shell and plant fragments accumulated on the sea floor - large ones 2 metres across and smaller pellets are to be seen. 

We continued to Oamaru, where the old centre is a feast of Whitestone buildings of Victorian vintage. 

And the now defiunct Railway Station except for a few heritage trips! 

We're off to see the penguins tonight but the don't arrive until 7pm     ...... more tomorrow. 

Lusaka - Dar - Day 3

Today is our final day of our epic journey.  Our ETA was to be 1600hrs but there have  been major slippages and the latest information is that the ETA will be 2200 hrs! But it varies depending on to whom one speaks!

I awoke feeling very cold, which necessitated a jumper ! We were in the          

Mbeya Range and the temperature reflected it. Tanzania appears more prosperous and in the wide valleys market gardening is practised widely with the women and children doing the back breaking weeding!

We passed through the Usungu flats and the Iringa region; the region where most of our aid is spent. It looked prosperous. 

Won shared her cabin with three Zambian women - one of whom was a nun. They explained to her that they often came to Tanzania to purchase vegetables as Zambia's food is genetically modified (GM) and Tanzanian food is not. As a result, they regard the Tanzanians as healthier. 

We stopped at station after station - the ETA continued to slip 

 

The produce being  sold changed as we entered Equatorial Africa - bananas were everywhere.

My CC bought a bunch from a little girl. He asked the price Tsh200 (20cents) and for that she wanted to give him a huge bunch when he took only 6 and gave her Tsh500, she was ecstatic! However, Mama was there to collect the earnings and smiled benevolently at her daughter- job well done. Boiled eggs were also on sale, unopened, with salt on top! . Doughnuts, cooked beef and chicken, corn on the cob. Water and minerals were on sale . Dinner from the platform.

The countryside rolled on ... The ETA was  now between 01.00 - 02.00hrs. If we made it by 02.00 it would be better than 5 days, which the Tasara recently took when the last passenger coach derailed from that train! No one was injured - luckily! The track is not the best in places .....

  

The driver told me that a goods train had derailed and he had to give up one of his engines to take the derailed train back to a station! They usually leave them to rust at the side of the track. We saw some on our journey!!  More delay! 

We read and relaxed as much a possible - no observation deck on this train.

We were scheduled to pass through Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site  at 16.00, where we might spot more animals. But alas! It was 20.00, when we reached the Park and it was dark. Dawn is 0600, dusk 1800hrs. To soften yours and my disappointment, dear reader, I'll show you another beautiful African sunset. 

It appears we will have to spend another night on the train! 

Goodnight dear reader, the end is nigh, Dar Es Salaam is in sight but when?