Mar 31, Geelong, Queenscliff

What a nice Easter we've had. We attended services at St Paul's Anglican Church in Geelong. After the mass there was an 'egg scramble' (egg hunt) for the kids. We were invited to the church hall 'for a cuppa'. When we met the priest he said that one of the parishioners was from Chicago. We found Mark and he actually knew LaPorte! He's planning a trip to Michigan with a mate to visit a friend and pick up a Corvair that his friend has. Then he & his mate are taking Route 66 back to LA. We invited him to LaPorte when he comes to the area.
Queenscliff was next on our route. When we parked near the fort there, a policeman did a U turn and stepped over to the rv. He just wanted to know if we needed help. Then he gave us a map of the town and some hints for things to see. We walked around the little town, long a vacation place for wealthy people from Melbourne. Then we went for a tour of Fort Queenscliff. Margaret, the guide, was very smart and enlisted the help of the children on the tour to keep people from climbing on the guns. There was a boy of about 8 and 2 girls, maybe 8 and 10. They were really into it and helped people watch their steps and stay off the steep hills. There was a 3 year old who reminded us of Shanton. His name was Jasper and he joined the older kids. We had talked to his mother before the tour and she didn't think he would last the whole 90 minutes of the tour. But he was the hit of the tour and kept us all entertained.
The fort was good, too. It was built during the Crimean War to protect Australia from the Russians. It was used during WWI and WWII and is soon to house the army archives.
South of there was Point Lonsdale. There was an Easter surfing competition going on. The reason we stopped was to see The Rip, a whirlpool of waves on the western entrance of the bay. It's considered one of the most dangerous waterways in the world. Ships on their way to and from Melbourne have to have a pilot guide them through. We watched a big cruise ship jockey his way out to the sea.
Now we're camped in the overlook and enjoying the sound of the waves.
Pictures-Black lighthouse at Fort Queenscliff, Surfers at Point Lonsdale