28 Jan: How To Spend A Very Hot Day.

Well, it was only hot by Victorian standards but we had to manage the day carefully as we wanted to stay out of the sun, check out Geelong, and see the beginning and end of the women's road race while protecting the racers' egos from the blow that would result should they realise that we were in town with our bicycles. 

We started off at the National Wool Museum, celebrating Geelong's role as the birthplace of Australia's wool industry, it's rich heritage of wool milling, and it's once-upon-a-time position as the 'wool capital of the world'.

What better way to start our learning journey than with a slightly creepy giant ram's head fleeced with paper flowers?

We met the Axminster Jacquard Loom, which sadly was out of action due to a shortage in the specific jute fibre it needed to operate.  Here's a peek at some of the threads it uses:

We failed to finish the Wool Museum because we had to quickly catch the start of the women's road race with all the attendant hullabullo: crowds, hangers-on,  and policemen on motorcycles trying to look as if it was just another boring day and they weren't secretly pumped at getting paid to ride laps on a circuit of Geelong's best scenery on a lovely summer day with the only downside being the requirement not to run over the odd errant cyclist or spectator. 

"Let's look serious, boys!"

 

At the start/finish.

 

Treadle-dum and Treadle-Dee, neutral support off to crack some laps.

 

Off they went!

Once we'd farewelled the peleton to pedal 143km up hill and down dale in sweltering 36C heat we toddled off to the cinema to enjoy comfy seats, sneaked-in snacks, and of course air conditioning.  When we emerged blinking into the daylight the cool change was moving through, pulling the temperature back toward comfortable, and the women were in the final laps of the race.  We joined in the crowd at the finish and cheered loudly for people whom we didn't know from a bar of soap, but it was fun anyway. 

This being Geelong, the bicycle race wasn't the only show in town.  We only had to turn around on the spot and we were right in the Festival of Sail,

 with a cool Soul band to listen to,

And some big (and little) ships to watch.

Of course the Festival of Sails was right next to the race finish, so off we went to listen to Soul bands, eat food, and wander out along the marina to watch big mobs (100's?) of yachts and sailboats doing what looked to me like large circles with norrowly avoided collisions.

Back at camp a new clutch of nomads had moved in and were busy setting themselves up to leave for the boat early in the morning.  The corellas were busy doing their thing, and the mosquitoes were not at all put off by the cooler weather, chased us into the tent before the sun had properly set.

Update in the Corella Wars: The earplugs worked a treat and we were able to sleep with just the occasional breakthrough screech to flavour our dreams. An added bonus was not hearing the grey nomads removing their power cords from the pole beside our tent when they tried to leave quietly way too early in the morning.