Before we left on our road trip, Jamie had to work until 1pm, so rather than backtracking to pick me up and thus wasting an hour, I came in with him. That meant I had five hours to kill in a carpark and rather than do that, decided to walk to Geelong Fresh, a market style grocery about an hour from his work, going past Aldi and Chemist Warehouse (a cheap discount chemist) on the way.
I don't ever walk in town, because I live rurally, so was actually looking forward to it even though I expected busy roads and a long boring walk.
The first fifteen minutes were actually a long a busy road. Of course cities have them - traffic has to move somehow!
However, I quickly took a diversion along what they call a linear park, usually a green area that runs between housing and perhaps along a side road. I didn't expect it to be so pretty, although I somehow did know this - of course these old suburbs would boast big trees!
The first linear park also contained a tennis court, basketball court, footy oval, and a free outdoor gym. What a great Community space for sporty people and kids! I didn't even know it was tucked in here. At this point I really started to enjoy myself. I didn't expect there would be areas wouldn't you couldn't hear the traffic at all.
I loved looking at the houses. Some blocks were really old and large, with vegetable gardens and fruit trees, and some were divided into flats and apartments. There were 1960s houses and older, and newer builds. It used to be a fairly poor area but it's certainly getting more gentrified. I wish I had taken more photos of the various houses en route, but I felt like a bit of a snoop, and was trying to make good time.
I did get one of this lovely cottage garden though. You could really tell the houses where people took pride in their yards.
In another linear park someone had planted a small fruit orchard and I grabbed a sole windfall apple, which was sweet and delicious. Places like this made me think I could even live in town. In fact, I was starting to see why people DID choose to live here!
There was so much to look at I didn't realize I was walking in the wrong direction. Cubby houses in old pepper trees, water bowls left out for dogs, huge fir trees darkening old houses, run down units, modern apartments, solar panels, 🌺 hibiscus, caravans for spare rooms, modern caravans on the street for getaways, signs against the gas plant in Corio Bay, Australian flags, hedges, rental signs, leased signs, wheelie bins out for rubbish collection, paper bark trees, peppergums, churches, delivery vans, playgrounds, cherry trees, rose bushes, lemon trees, osteopaths, vets, pet shops, buses - oh shit I'm lost.
This added another half hour to my route. Oops. It didn't matter - I needed to flush some stress through and moving helped a lot. Finally I ended up back on a main road which led me past rows of shops. Nothing high end, just discount grocers, health clinics, bakerys and milk bars. This place had a line out the front - clearly it was trendy. I would have liked to check it out as I could see yummy food through the window and smell good coffee. No way was I going to wait in that line - Im from the country don't you know?!
At last I reached one of my destinations - good old Aldi. I needed a few things for the trip like dates and tinned tomatoes and they'd be cheaper here than anywhere else.
That's the end of my photos I'm afraid. I ended up a bit laden with stuff - I had to go to the bakery, the bottle-o, and the chemist to pick up some good quality magnesium. No way could I walk another hour back with all my shopping so I called the first Uber in years.
It ended up being quite the adventure. I had another hour to wait for Jamie so fell asleep in the back of the Landie after unpacking the shopping, made a quick cup of tea, and then we were on our way.
I hope you enjoyed this Wednesday Walk - not my usual affair but I certainly enjoyed it!