TravelStream™ news feed for member ellenwillow on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ellenwillow en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:32:09 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/2/1249192766/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/2/1249192766/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/2/1249192766/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:32:09 -0400 Day trip to the Mornington Peninsula

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Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia

We had an early start for our trip down to the Mornington Peninsula. We wanted to get to the Hot Springs by 9.30 as they get very busy on weekends. At the moment there's 4 public outdoor pools, which are fed from natural springs. There will be more pools in November as they are doing extensive building, but we didn't notice the work. The setting is very natural & relaxing. The cool air was quite refreshing as we moved from pool to pool: Winter is quite a good time to visit the Hot Springs! We spent a couple of hours in the pools, then had a drink in the cafe before moving on.
Our next stop was a quick visit to Sunny Ridge so my friends could sample the Strawberry wines. Being winter, there was no berry picking, but it's still quite a nice place to visit.
We had lunch at Montalto Winery cafe. We all chose the Lamb stew, which was very good. The serving size was quite small for the price, but it was still very filling. We then wandered through the Sculpture Garden down to the wetlands walk, before returning to the tasting room. As well as making some very nice Pinot Noirs, they also have olive products. A few of the olive oils weren't available, but I did buy some yummy Olive Bread to take home.
My friends are keen gardeners, so our final destination was Heronswood in Dromana. It has extensive garden's, & a great view of the city skyline over the bay! The cafe there, Fork to Fork, is excellent. They use fresh local produce, some of which is produced at the property. It was afternoon, so we decided to have scones with our coffee. The scones were excellent, & very filling! You can visit the cafe without paying the entry to the gardens, but you do need to book if you want to have lunch there:
As we had driven down on the freeway, we decided to drive back to the city along the beach road. This was a good decision as we got to watch a spectacular sunset over the bay.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222557540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222557540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222557540/tpod.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:59:03 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

During the flight from San Francisco to Auckland we crossed the International Date Line, so Friday was lost - we arrived in Auckland at 4.00am on Saturday (around 9.00am on Friday USA time and around 2.00 am Saturday in Melbourne). The airport stop over was about 3 hours. We then boarded the plane at 7.15am bound for Australia. The flight should have been 4 hours long but ended up taking longer due to high winds across the Tasman Sea. We arrived in Melbourne at 10.00am but had to wait on the runway for half hour as there were no gates available for the plane to enter. Finally at around 10.30 am we were able to exit from the plane. After passing through Customs and collecting our luggage we said goodbye and headed off home - Ellen to the city- Trish, Dave and Kiara-Lee to the country. Our holiday was fantastic, but it is good to be home!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222383900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222383900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222383900/tpod.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:42:57 -0400 Road Trip USA

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San Francisco, California, United States

Today was our last day on San Francisco - we packed our stuff up then went walking along Union Street to look in the quaint little shops. We had breakfast at the La Boulange Bakery in Union Street which was delicious. We checked out of our room at 12.00 pm and stored our luggage at the motel. We then took the long, steep walk up Lombard Street to catch the view of the cable car travelling down Hyde Street with Alcatraz in the background. Fantastic view. We then walked down to the end of Lombard Street, down the "crookedest street" and headed to Fisherman's Wharf to fill in time before heading off to the airport. Trish and Ellen had their last Clam Chowder and sourdough bread meal, while Kiara- Lee and David had a burger from In and Out. We walked along the wharf and the beach. Then up through Fort Mason and along Mariner Green to view the Golden Gate bridge and the eastern side of San Francisco. Another quick look around Union Street before heading back to the motel to pick up our luggage. The taxi picked us up at 5.30pm from the motel to take us to the airport. Our flight was at 9.30pm. The flight took about 14 hours before we touched down in Auckland, New Zealand for a 3 hour stop over before heading to Australia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222314180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222314180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222314180/tpod.html Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:00:30 -0400 Road Trip USA

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San Francisco, California, United States

Today was a shopping day - after we dropped off the car, Ellen went off alone to do shopping for her work while the rest of us headed to Union Square to do personal shopping for those we left behind. We set off to Perry's restaurant in Cow Hollow for a lobster dinner, but we missed out (thanks to an incompetent waiter) - tomorrow we check out of the hotel, do some more shopping, then head for San Francisco airport at 6.00pm ready to fly back to Australia- 19 hours of travelling (with a stop over in Auckland for 3 hours approx) and arriving at Melbourne Airport at 9.00am on Saturday morning - mind you we miss out on Friday due to crossing the International dateline!!!! Goodbye USA - the last 30 days have been awesome.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222217940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222217940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222217940/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:32:22 -0400 Road Trip USA

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San Francisco, California, United States

After breakfast at the Yosemite cafe we said farewell to the National Park and headed off towards San Francisco. We stopped off at some turnouts as we left the park for last minute photos of El Capitan and the Yosemite valley. The road to San Francisco was quite winding, as we drove around the mountains. We arrived in San Francisco around 4.00pm. We stopped at the Marin Headlands, just before the Golden Gate bridge, to take in some views of the Bridge, Alcatraz and San Francisco. The view across the bay was magnificent. Photos were also taken. Once settled into the motel we walked up to Union Street/Cow Hollow to check out the quaint little shops (mainly clothing shops) and the restaurants. We finally settled on an Italian restaurant called Luisa's - the meal was delicious!!!! Back to our room for some R&R and internet catchup to finish off the night's activities.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222060140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222060140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222060140/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:03:51 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Yosemite National Park, California, United States

We left Lee Vining around 9.00am and headed east to Yosemite National Park. A very long, winding road with some spectacular views of rocky terrains and deep valleys greeted us along the way. We stopped off at Tuolumne Grove to hike down to the grove to look at the Giant Trees (Sequoia trees) that are thousands of years old. The hike down was easy. Coming back up was steep and tested our muscle endurance once again. We also stopped to view the Half Dome and El Capitan peaks that rise above the Yosemite Valley. Our last stop before reaching the valley was at Bridalveil Falls, which still had some water running down the rocky terrain. We arrived at the lodge at about 1.00pm and settled into our room. Unfortunately the Yosemite Falls are dry so we didn't see the waterfalls. We headed off for a hike (about 3 miles each way) to Mirror Lake via the Yosemite Village, where we watched a 20 min video about the Park, which was very interesting. Mirror Lake was dry as well but the walk was very peaceful and beautiful through the trees. We had dinner at the Mountain Room before retiring to our room for the night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221629520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221629520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221629520/tpod.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:59:41 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States

This morning we were up very early (around 6.00am) to watch the sun rise over the canyon. Once again there were clouds hindering the magnificent views and reflections. Once breakfast and laundry duties were over we set off on our hike down the Bright Angel Trail to the first rest stop ,which was 3/4 of a mile down the Canyon. Hiking down was the easy part. Coming back up was really hard on all our leg muscles and we had to stop several times for short breaks (40 mins down 80 mins back up). On the way we saw some wildlife, including lots of squirrels, some chipmunks and some big horn sheep (mountain goats). After lunch we walked along the rim from the lodge to Mather Point, checking out all the beautiful views. Home for a rest and another chance to try to watch the sunset over the Canyon. It was much better tonight. Dinner was at the Arizona Room.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222041480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222041480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1222041480/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:43:22 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Lee Vining, California, United States

It was a beautiful sunny day today. After we had breakfast of cereal and toast (finally we have a toaster) and jam - a rarity on this trip - we set off to Mono Lake. Very interesting as this is a saltwater lake. It is much lower than it used to be because the creeks that feed it have been used to provide water for Los Angeles. It is very beautiful to look at from the car, with tufas growing out of the water. Tufas are like salt rocks but made of sulphur carbonate & are formed where the freshwater creeks meet the salty lake. In the middle of the lake there are ancient volcanoes. We then set off for Bodie, which is a ghost town up in the mountains. It was once a gold mining town, and has been preserved by the State Parks, so many of the buildings that are left since a fire destroyed the town in the 30s, are maintained. We then drove to Bridgeport to seek out the Travetine natural hot springs. We found these, but unfortunately there were some old men bathing naked - needless to say we didn't stay for a dip!!!! Tonight will be a home cooked dinner again - steaks and salad - some TV viewing and an early night. It's an early start in the morning as we drive over the Tioga Pass to Yosemite.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221968040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221968040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221968040/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:05:56 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Lee Vining, California, United States

We set off from Death Valley at around 8.30am, before the heat set in. On the way we stopped to check out sand dunes of Death Valley. The sand was quite hot. We then drove through Lone Pine where the Alabama Hills are situated. These hills are quite famous as they have featured in many western movies, such as "How the West Was Won". We arrived at Lee Vining at 2.00pm and checked into the lodge. Our room wasn't ready so we went for a walk along the street. We caught up on the laundry (one of the pleasures of road tripping) and did some grocery shopping. We cooked our own tea tonight because we finally have a kitchen in our cabin. Internet catch-up and TV will finish off the night for us.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221881040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221881040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ellenwillow/1/1221881040/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:04:17 -0400 Road Trip USA

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Death Valley, California, United States

We said goodbye to Vegas and set off for Death Valley. As we approach we see the temperature rising quickly. It got to 108 degrees F by the time we arrived. And for the first time in a while we hit sea level again. We stopped at Zabraskie's point for a look at the natural rock formations near Death valley. It was really windy and hot. We settled into our cabin. After lunch at the cafe, we had a swim then headed off sightseeing the Valley. We checked out the Devil's Golf Course which is cracked ground with salt deposits from the ancient sea. We then drove to Bad Water which was 286 feet below sea level and was mainly salt. Some natural spring water was seeping through the salt. We then drove to Dante's View to look out across Death Valley and the dried up sea bed. It was hard to see the canyons because of the smog in the Valley. Dinner was at the steakhouse at the Ranch, then an early night. It was still so hot and windy.
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