I have loved every minute of our visit to the big brown land (with the exception of the nose dive while running for the tram).
Now, in Port Melbourne, our journey is almost over, and tonight we shall catch a plane that arrives in Wellington around 6am tomorrow. We arrived back from Echuca yesterday morning and have enjoyed time with our elder daughter and son-in-law. I went for a walk around the waterfront, drawn back to Princes Pier. I am not sure what was in the surrounding area in early times. but the port has undergone serious residential development in recent years, and I can see that it is an attractive area to many.
At the end of the pier, I looked across to Williamstown at the naval vessel which I understand will become the name ship of the Canberra class of assault vessels. As I understand it, there will be two of them, capable of launching helicopters from the deck, and landing craft from an internal dock. I am a little mystified by the bow ramp which I understand are useful for Harrier jump-jets, but as far as I know the Australian defence forces have none of those.
Port Philip Bay is usually a busy place and yesterday was no exception. Tankers were coming and going, two tug boats and a police launch were out on the bay and the piles provided an interesting foreground.
I turned my attention to the piles themselves. I lament that airline baggage restrictions make it impractical to carry a sturdy tripod so some shots I wanted were impossible. I had to make do with what was available.
Meanwhile, out on the water, one of the tugs was exercising its fire-fighting water monitors and sending spectacular arcs of salt water across the bay. The police launch returned to base as we are about to do.
Next post will be from Wellington.
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