20190101 – Tuesday – New Year at Geelong Show Grounds and on to Pakenahm

20190101 – Tuesday – Ethan’s birthday, New year at Geelong Show Grounds.

I spent the night at Geelong Show Grounds and then began my journey on to Mornington Peninsula.

Now I am parked at a Service Centre just off of the Melbourne Hwy.

I am writing up my diary prior to heading towards my destination for the day which is to a quiet spot on Mornington Peninsula.

I have worked out that I only ever want to travel for about a 2 1/2 hour distance between destinations, because there is always my diary to fit into my schedule and then there is other stops along the way to see something as the mood takes me.

This means that I generally get to where I am going after about 3 pm and then I can settle in and look around.

Having to “kill” some time before I visit my daughter Number 3 in Melbourne has been a wonderful experience for me.

Normally I am an impatient person and can’t stand just “hanging about,” but it has forced me to stop and “smell the roses.” 

Mostly I didn’t even see the roses, let alone smell them.

But this time I have wandered around so many places.

Setting my GPS to “avoid tolls” has meant that my pathway to my destination has been amazingly convoluted. 

The roads I have travelled have added ks to the length of my trip, but it has meant I have seen places I would NEVER have seen otherwise.

And I have discovered something else. 

NEW YEAR’S DAY, (1st January) is the BEST time to travel!

There are simply very few cars on the road. 

Many of the places I passed through were deserted.

It was “easy peasey” going through Melbourne itself.

All the lights seemed to be green, so I could just cruise along, and even take some photos going through Melbourne.

I have NEVER been able to do that before.

It was so annoying however, because my ipad battery AND my iPhone battery were very low and I couldn’t take too many photos, on this the one time when I could have taken lots!

I stopped at a Woolworths and purchased my supplies for the next day or so.

This is something I have learned, Google maps shows all Woolworths in big letters on the map.

So I just have to keep my eye on it to find a place to shop. 

This means I will never (hopefully) shop at smaller places and pay high prices for my food.

Breakfast is my luxury meal for the day and the place where I write up my diary.

Then at Woollies buy my food, so I do not have to shop for the next day or so.

I am learning. 

I can handle Wikicamps pretty well these days and find free camp sites if I want to, but in some places I feel pretty comfortable just in a reserve or similar.

Also Yelp is useful for finding breakfast places.

If I find a good place, I enter its details in my phone with the address so I can find it next time I come this way (if ever).

Eventually I came to my beautiful little camping ground in Pakenham where I parked under a shady tree.

And spent the rest of the day in my trailer. It was lovely.

I was parked right by the toilets overnight.

BUT I didn’t sleep one wink! 

I seem to have days when I sleep really well, and then this ONE day when I cannot get to sleep for the life of me.

I ended accidentally ringing Pauline O at Cobar in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! 

Luckily for me, she told me this morning that she had her phone off so I didn’t disturb her.

Peter H was in contact, and so I chatted with him for a while.

Apparently he wasn’t sleeping either.

Kate D was up and texting me at 5 am in the morning.

She is such an interesting person and we talk about such a range of things. 

She has had the Dangerfields from Melbourne visiting her in her new little house at Mt Barker.

I have such a lot of people who will talk to me at odd times on my journey.

I don’t know what I would do without fb and messenger.

Well, this restaurant where I am sitting right now on is at Stanley Street Pakenham, and is a lovely place.

I think it is time for another coffee or green tea