One thing to be aware of is that the weather in Victoria, especially down at the south, isn’t quite as sunny and hot as it is in Queensland. Today was no exception as the rain overnight gave way to a brief hail shower. Despite this, we all agreed that a day on the coast would be a wonderful idea. Well, summer’s not for a few weeks yet and I’m only here for a couple of days! Lyn, the kids and I bundled into the car (armed with waterproofs just in case) and got on the road towards Rosebud. Yup, it seems one of the early settlers was an Orson Welles fan. Probably.
A quick stop for hot dogs by the roadside was lunch and we enjoyed some lovely scenery on the way to the southern peninsula. My cold’s still plodding along relentlessly, and by the time we were thirty kilometres from the house my hanky needed rung out. Still, the Luxfords were great company and didn’t complain once about my constant coughing, sniffing and blowing.
After around two hours we arrived in Rosebud, a fairly quiet little seaside town. The ocean was very rough due to the weather, but looked amazing with the grey skies above. We stopped at a viewing spot and I managed to get a handful of pictures in between heavy showers before my camera risked getting drenched. Further downhill, we pulled in at the cross-peninsula ferry port and saw some sunlight for the first time since we set of. The water seemed to change colour and the light glistening off the sea made for more good snaps. Jason found a large cuttlefish (brought home for the budgies) and several sponges. I saw what I thought was a duck in the water, diving under for food. Then I realised that ducks don’t do that. They especially don’t swim very quickly for about 20m underwater and the resurface. It was a young penguin! Unfortunately, it swam faster than I could walk with the camera so I didn’t get a photo.
Heading into the hills, we drove to Arthurs Seat – named after the hill in Edinburgh by one of the early settlers. One difference here is the addition of an actual seat. The one present is the third – the first two were wooden and destroyed in bushfires. Sensibly, the new one is made of metal. There are many walks which can be done from here, but with the weather we had, these just weren’t an option.
Our final stop of the day was at a strawberry farm where they make just about anything you can imagine from these lovely little lumps of red sweetness. Freeze-dried strawberries in chocolate, lollipops, jam, liquers, wines (they make the only sparkling strawberry wine in Australia)… I bought a bottle of the wine and we had “Devonshire tea”. This consisted of a lovely cuppa with two delicious fresh-baked scones and home-made strawberry jam and cream. Very classy.
I confess I fell asleep on the drive back – this cold is really knocking me for six – but while I was awake I saw more brightly coloured birds and my first glimpse of the not-actually-fictional “kangaroo crossing” roadsigns. 
