On the road again..............Part 3 .....Bellarine Peninsula and home ............

                   Our next stop was in the caravan park at Barwon Heads and we did unhitch the van this time.............where we booked in for the  next 3 nights...........this was our base while we checked out the Bellarine Peninsula.

                                       

                  

                   

One afternoon we visited Portarlington..................

                   

.....and this is the Portarlington Miniature railway station..............

.....and the town centre.............

.....and the Port Phillip ferry, that travels from the Peninsula and up into Melbourne.............

                           

That afternoon we visited friends who had moved from Bordertown a few years ago, and retired to Portarlington..........the view from the upper level of their house, out to the bay, was amazing................

                              

   We enjoyed afternoon tea and a lovely chat, and it was so good to catch up with them both.............Pat is an Honorary member of the Bordertown Gum tree Quilters and a former President.....we miss her.

                                     

           On our way back to the van, we drove along the coastline, and through St Leonards...........

                                          

................and down to Queenscliff...................which is another town with a lot of history............

.....this is the ferry terminal, for the ferry that crosses the bay to Sorrento...........

The following day we enjoyed lunch with some more friends........Sue is a blogging friend and I had met her at Scrub stitching retreat back in 2023. It was good to catch up with her and meet her hubby too, and introduce them to Barry. We met at Van Loons garden centre at Wallington. The plants were amazing and I would have loved to purchase, but unfortunately I couldn't take them over the border into South Australia.

There is a cafe at the garden centre, and we enjoyed a yummy lunch.

We had intended crossing the bay on the ferry and heading into Melbourne to catch up with DD3 and family, as we had not been there for awhile. We had hoped to be away for 2 - 3 weeks, but while we were away, Barry received the news that his Uncle had died, and we wanted to attend his funeral. And not long after that the news of his cousin passing away too. So the decision was made to head home.

But before we left we decided to walk along the path in front of the caravan park......... we got this far, and Barry sat down, and said he would wait for me to get back!!!

                                              

Of course, he was joking........and here are some pics from our walk...........

                            

                             

                            

                             

                                    .......and this is our van, taken from the path that we walked on.

                               

The next morning we headed back west across the centre of Victoria, and saw lots of canola crops in flower.................the countryside was looking amazing as most areas have enjoyed good rains.

                                   

                                              

            We drove through the Grampians and Halls Gap...........and decided it would be a good spot to stay sometime.........

                                    ..............and then back into Bordertown .................

                            

..................where we received more sad news, that Barry's office manager of 24 years had passed away. 

We slept in the caravan in the driveway of home that night. Next day Barry went to work, and a decision was made to shut the office doors for the rest of the week in honour of Faye.

They placed a floral tribute in the doorway of the office.

 

Next plan was to take the caravan to Murray Bridge, where the funeral of his uncle was to be. It was a lovely service for his 93 year old uncle, and Barry met up with some of his cousins that he had not seen for awhile. The following photo was taken a couple of years ago, Barry with his Uncle and Aunty.

We had expected to stay away long enough to also attend his cousin's funeral, but that was delayed for 2 more weeks. We spent time with mum, and also a day trip to Goolwa to see Barry's aunty.

And then it was back home with the van, after a lovely trip, despite the sad news we received.

Blessings, From Jude and Baz