Day 6 Saturday February 20, 2010

The Grande Hotel in Queenscliffe, Victoria, Australia

Anne walking the Beach near the sandstone cliffs of Queenscliffe.

Linda near the white lighthouse guiding ships into Port Phillip's Bay through the Rip.

The Queenscliffe/Sorrento Ferry at the dock in Queenscliffe.

A day off for Linda to have fun exploring with Anne. Today we took the bus heading west towards the end of our peninsula, to the village of Sorrento where we caught the ferry to Queenscliffe across the Rip (entrance) to Port Phillip Bay.

Linda had never ridden a public bus or ferry before and thoroughly enjoyed both adventures. The people of Australia bend over backwards to be helpful to the clueless ladies from the States. Our return bus driver even let us on $0.15 short as we had not dug out enough change.

We ate lunch in Queenscliffe at the Gusto Cafe and Herb Garden. Linda chose pasta and Anne had a steak sandwich both so tasty. The village of Queenscliffe is historic built in the 1800s as a fishing village and then a resort retreat for Melbourners. It is known for it's Victorian Hotels and B&Bs.

We enjoyed a little shopping in town admiring all the Victorian architecture and then headed to the shore to walk along the edge of the surf. The sandstone cliffs hid the shoreline from view and we found ourselves going always a little further to see what would be around the next corner. The tide coming in, made us turn and hurry back, but Linda's capri's got a little wet from the waves as we squeezed between cliff and surf.

The ferry ride out had some waves and was very windy on the exposed decks, but the Return was smooth and beautiful. We stopped in the village of Sorrento for their famous Vanilla slice- two thin pastries sandwiching a 3 inch vanilla custard. Linda washed it down with an iced coffee(cold coffee with a scoop of ice cream) while Anne had a spider(coke with ice cream).

We also bought essential groceries: prosciutto, wine and beer, and carried it all home with our other purchases in Anne's backpack. A long walk home from the bus stop after a day in 90+ sun and wind made two weary ladies.

Linda refreshed with a beer and a bath, while Anne enjoyed her beer following a few laps in the fresh water pool. Too bad Anne spilled the top inch of beer from laughing as the Kookaburras started their laughs just as she took off her towel to get in the pool.

Another glorious day in Australia, made even better by the friendly Aussies who always said "No worries" when we made mistakes.