A salty neighbourhood

from w
We live only a block and a bit from the shores of Corio Bay but this is not about beautiful beaches but an animal health laboratory and nearby very large salt-making ponds and factory called Cheetham Salt. Sometimes we get the smell of salt and of seaweed. This is the area where Newcomb joins Moolap suburb. Richard Cheetham began to harvest salt in 1888 here from the sea. Old photographs show men with shovels making dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of cone-shaped piles of salt, waist-high. The process today is more mechanized but the basic process still relies on two things as old as time: the ocean and the sun.

Cheetham Salt is Australia's largest salt maker. They trap ocean water in a series of flat-lying rectangular ponds along the coastal flats. Using a series of dykes to control the water, the ponds are dried by the sun, leaving the salt behind. The salt is mined and refined in the local Cheetham factory at Moolap. The process relies on the sun's energy to do the work. The only refining Cheetham has to do is to wash, dry, crush and sieve the salt before packaging it for sale. Cheetham makes table-grade through to industrial process salts. All of them are the familiar sodium chloride (NaCl), made to different grain sizes, purity, and water content, as needed. Cheetham also have salt pans on the opposite side of Corio Bay which are sometimes visible from our side.

A lounge room

from w
A lounge room, I suppose, is for lounging not for immaculate neatness which seems to be the emphasis of most of my friends. What with eight people coming and going at our place, lounging about watching TV, doing homework, on Facebook or sending emails on two computers, eating meals, drinking kava, playing the guitars, and praying, the lounge room just aint what it used to be. Here's a sample from a sketch I made while the guys were out at athletics or something. The photo shows another view of the room.

In the street where we live - part two

from w
In the street where we live

It had been the hottest day on record so now Ethel was recovering from the stress of 46 degrees stinging heat. To cool the house she had opened up windows and main doors. Henry was sleeping in the lounge room, and Ethel in the bedroom. They’d been watching a video from Newcomb library, borrowed on the day they went there to escape the heatwave the week before. The Power of One. Before midnight they had tea and buttered buns, sitting in the back garden, watching the moonlight behind the palm tree. The neighbours in the new next door units had quietened down by then. They too had been talking outside and the sound carried. It was now a pleasant evening.

Ethel was mulling over the movie and also the Neighbourhood Watch newsletter she had to edit. Should she put in the article about keeping your house locked at all times, even in the heat? Nah. No thieves would work in a heatwave!

Then she heard the back door bang and a rush of voices. Female. The moonlight shone into the passage and two figures, black as bats flew past. ‘Come back,’ she heard.

Ethel wasn’t the easily scared type but she was just worried about her modesty, so wrapped herself in the new floral sheet – given to her from the Pizza shop friend, then traipsed out to investigate. There were more crashes. The two ‘visitors’ were no doubt tripping over paintings, a bookcase and an old television set! But they couldn’t find a way out.

They’re like trapped birds, Ethel thought. ‘Hey, what are you doing in my house?’ Ethel called out.

One of the girls shouted back, ‘She’s lost. This isn’t her house! She lives a few more houses down the street.’ One of the young women was flailing about, falling down.

‘Malcolm,’ Ethel called out to her husband, ‘We have visitors!’ But Malcolm still seemed to be fast asleep.

The girls changed direction again and crashed once again through a doorway, and did find their way out to the front garden. Ethel ran through the house, turned on the lights, opened the front door, stood on the verandah like a well-wrapped Statue of Liberty.

A taxi pulled up in front of the drive next door and someone called out. The usual Saturday night – taxis bringing drunk people back to their nests. The two girls had vanished. Malcolm now awake, was told the story, embellished a little.

‘Probably the taxi dropped them off at the wrong driveway. They all look the same at night.’ Never fazed, always sensible Malcolm.

‘But our driveway has hundreds of potplants and surely...’’

‘It s the heat,’ said Malcolm. ‘Makes everyone go troppo.’

‘No, one of the girls was very drunk or..’

‘Go back to sleep,’ said Malcolm.

This time Malcolm didn’t go back into the lounge room and was soon gently snoring beside a wide-awake Ethel, already designing a story to write.. Should she put her story into the Neighbourhood Watch newsletter - together with the police report telling everyone to make sure they lock all doors and windows. Even when the temperature is 46 degrees? Perhaps now that they were both elderly – well, over seventy - they ought to start locking doors.

A blue flowering plant

from w
The neighbours two doors down have a brightly flowering shrub in the front garden instead of a fence. Way to go! I did a pencil/pen sketch of it (might do colour later) and did a google search to identify it - took a bit to track it down until I just added things like long pointed leaves, cone shaped flowers, etc. Found out stuff as follows:
Echium aff. candicans
Common Name: Pride of Madeira
Family: Boraginaceae
Climatic Zone: Macaronesia, Madeira
Plant Type: Open, usually rounded woody based biennial shrub
Soil Type: Moderately fertile, well drained soil, full sun
Maximum Height: 1.5-2.5m
Propagation: Seed sown in summer
Flowering Period: Spring to Summer, deep purple blue to bluish white, the nectar of the flowers attract bees
Sun Exposure:Full Sun
Danger:Handling plant may cause skin irritation or allergic reaction
Other details: This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds
Drought-tolerant; suitable for xeriscaping
Propagation Methods:From softwood cuttings
Seed Collecting:Collect seedhead/pod when flowers fade; allow to dry
Allow seedheads to dry on plants; remove and collect seeds
For eleven months it’s a somewhat open, woody shrub with rosettes of long, narrow leaves, of a soft grayed green color. Then in spring it puts up cones of blue, lavender or magenta. The shape of the cones can be a little rounded towards the tip or fairly pointed. The plant can grow three to five or more feet tall, and twice as wide.

Many other species in the genus Echium are biennials. They put out a rosette of leaves one year, and bloom themselves to death the following year, often in a wild display of flowers. But candicans tends to be much more long-lived, is well adapted to Mediterranean climates down to zone 9 and doesn’t require much water.
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BUT a cousin of this plant is a cursed weed in Australia as it infests farming land. Might look pretty but it ain’t useful at all!
Paterson's curse, Echium plantagineum!

A garden in Geelong

fron w
I should take a break from those psychedelic kind of pictures I've been posting lately before more than one person thinks I'm on a good or bad trip! Here's a sketch of part of a front garden in Myers Street, East Geelong.

Rating the Geelong suburbs

Picture is part of the Geelong bus routes - East of the city.

from w
I found an interesting group of posts when I googled 'Geelong suburbs' as writers listed their favourite and not so favourite parts of Geelong to live in. The stereotypes are obvious as many of them pick on Corio and Whittington as the pits - which is unfair. I've deleted irrelevant stuff, but it's an interesting discussion. We live in Newcomb but across the road is East Geelong which has a higher status!
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Philmeup_s13
Feb 24 2008, 03:01 PM
Post #1
Starting to look into buying a house in the geelong area, at this stage its just pictures and prices. As im not a local I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on areas, rental prices etc. Basically, where do you live in geelong, do you like it, is rent cheap/expensive, is it a good neigbourhood, have house prices gone up alot in your area.
Area:
East geelong
West geelong
Manifold heights
thomson
whittington
south geelong
belmont
north shore
bell park
corio
And yeah, any other areas

Im going to make a trip down there soon but I figured any advice from people local to geelong would be good advice. Cheers for your help guys!

This post has been edited by Philmeup_s13: Feb 25 2008, 09:34 AM
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180sx_luva
Feb 24 2008, 03:38 PM
Post #2
Phil- kate's parents live and have propertys down there, so let us know if you need help.
East geelong- NICE, not the cheapest area, rent is melbournesque
West geelong- dunno, i'll ask next time i'm down, think its NTB
Manifold heights-okay
thomson-maybe
whittington- scum
south geelong- okay-ish
belmont- Seems niceish
north shore-NO
bell park- NO
corio- scum
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ZeroFallen
Feb 24 2008, 03:40 PM
Post #3
I lived in Geelong for three years back from 2002 till 2005... Spent two of those years in a two bedroom unit in Wellington St in Geelong West. Really nice place, but was paying $215 a week. I have a mate who lives in Herne Hill now and that's not too bad either... Not too sure what they're paying, but for a similarily sized place (older though) the rent is cheaper.

Pretty much anything West of Geelong, so West Geelong, Herne Hill and that sort of area is good to live in.

Corio (comment deleted as rather crude.)

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spudnic
Feb 24 2008, 07:03 PM
Post #4
i live in geelong in old school area... and trust me its some of the nicest house you will find but there are some dodgy areas near the high school, east geeling isnt the best but it does ahve some nice homes newtown is the top of the town if you head up from chilwill north along packo, also family has a few rentals in the geelong area and (south and east) south pulls in more money and attracks more the the melbourne people.

if your looking to settle down maybe the back of waurn ponds in the new houseing estate but belmont for a good house your looking at 500k+...LOL and hern hill was a comission area LOL..... same with westenhights, the back part of bellpark and i ahte to say the hill part of corio is part of the boom area as well as waurn ponds.

got any direct questions just ask...

whittington is a place to stear well clear of, worse then corio...anyone with have a brain in geelong knows this..
Area:
East geelong - good
West geelong - good
Manifold heights - average
thomson - no
whittington - THIS SI A HELL NO, unless you want to get gang raped but 6 year olds and stabbed everytime you walk to your car that has been stripped in the street, no offence to people that live their.
couth geelong - ?
belmont - depends what area, some are ok some are extremely good
north shore - no
bell park - some parts
corio - 1 part is ok..

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jase.s15
Feb 24 2008, 07:11 PM
Post #5
cant go wrong with newtown mate or east Geelong .. well situated! will be abit more costly tho!
I live in Bell Post Hill (in a new estate) its rather nice!
rjr666

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Feb 24 2008, 09:13 PM
Post #6
my family has lived here for over 60years now...the good suburbs from highest to lowest of snob-ness
Newtown + Chillwell (more heritage homes)
Highton + Wandana Heights ( some affordable older homes in highton and but alot of new homes, with views of geelong $$$)
West Geelong (Kinda trendy to live there near Pakington street cafe's and clothing shops, not that far to walk to geelong train station or city)
East Geelong (Close to the city is allright) futherout gets dodgy eg Thompson and whittington
South Geelong ( Melbourne Train line nearby, but not that bad for noise)
Belmont (not bad, pretty affordable houses) few dodgy ppl, but not overall pretty good.
Leopold (fairly far out of geelong 15min) Pretty boring place though, not much goes on there)
Lara (few scum bags, but not bad, melb trainline, closer to melb, but not alot of stuff to do out there!)
Newcomb (not that bad... pretty affordable, few dodgy ppl, but not that bad, but neighbours to whittington across the bellarine highway)
Moolap, bit industral, biger ranch style homes, but i saw a home for 350k with decent size land, and house okay)
Grovedale ( not bad, few dodgy ppl i reakon in some parts)
Waurnponds (new housing estate once the bypass goes in, getting to melb from there will be pretty good)
HerneHill, some nice houses, some older houses, pretty expensive in some parts but good area i reakon.
Hamlyheights, not bad, few rough ppl. but not that bad.
Bell park (ethnic heritage, typical wog style houses with white lions and shit on some joints, few dodgy ppl, but not that bad my gf lives there and no prbz yet and theres a 7-11near by u can chill at)
Bellpost Hill (higher class ethnic area, new area with views and $$$housing, older area pretty reasonable)
North Geelong, bit industral, few dodgys i reakon.

THe stay away zones Corio, Norlane, Whittington esp Solar Drive, st albans park (use to be called whittington, just newer homes), thompson, breakwater.

Although some places are bit dodgy, geelongs suburbs are not that bad to live in. Choose somewhere thats closeish to work, has pretty good shopping faciltys and schools.

Although living in a better area, crooks have cars and drive around stealing. Bet my stereo is now out in corio, whittington ect...

OVER DOZE RISK OF ONES LIFE - KANAGAWA JAPAN
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Philmeup_s13
Feb 25 2008, 09:54 AM
Post #7
Thanks for your help guys, i think the general consensus is stay away from whittington and most of corio and those sort of areas (I now understand why the houses are so cheap down that way)
Im probably guna make a trip up there in the next few weeks and do some house cruising.
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Hawker180
Feb 25 2008, 10:18 AM
Post #8
normally houses are cheap for a reason, hehe! good luck!
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.Martyr.
Feb 26 2008, 12:33 AM
Post #9
my family has lived here for over 60years now...
the good suburbs from highest to lowest of snob-ness
Newtown + Chillwell (more heritage homes)
Highton + Wandana Heights ( some affordable older homes in highton and but alot of new homes, with views of geelong $$$)
West Geelong (Kinda trendy to live there near Pakington street cafe's and clothing shops, not that far to walk to geelong train station or city)
East Geelong (Close to the city is allright) futherout gets dodgy eg Thompson and whittington
South Geelong ( Melbourne Train line nearby, but not that bad for noise)
Belmont (not bad, pretty affordable houses) few dodgy ppl, but not overall pretty good.
Leopold (fairly far out of geelong 15min) Pretty boring place though, not much goes on there)
Lara (few scum bags, but not bad, melb trainline, closer to melb, but not alot of stuff to do out there!)
Newcomb (not that bad... pretty affordable, few dodgy ppl, but not that bad, but neighbours to whittington across the bellarine highway)
Moolap, bit industral, biger ranch style homes, but i saw a home for 350k with decent size land, and house okay)
Grovedale ( not bad, few dodgy ppl i reakon in some parts)
Waurnponds (new housing estate once the bypass goes in, getting to melb from there will be pretty good)
HerneHill, some nice houses, some older houses, pretty expensive in some parts but good area i reakon.
Hamlyheights, not bad, few rough ppl. but not that bad.
Bell park (ethnic heritage, typical wog style houses with white lions and shit on some joints, few dodgy ppl, but not that bad my gf lives there and no prbz yet and theres a 7-11near by u can chill at)
Bellpost Hill (higher class ethnic area, new area with views and $$$housing, older area pretty reasonable)
North Geelong, bit industral, few dodgys i reakon.

THe stay away zones Corio, Norlane, Whittington esp Solar Drive, st albans park (use to be called whittington, just newer homes), thompson, breakwater.

Although some places are bit dodgy, geelongs suburbs are not that bad to live in. Choose somewhere thats closeish to work, has pretty good shopping faciltys and schools.

Although living in a better area, crooks have cars and drive around stealing. Bet my stereo is now out in corio, whittington ect...
Yep, Richie has pretty much got it nailed here.
Too right about Solar Drive in Whittington, its not called "The Bronx" for nothing!!

Grovedale is not bad, i lived there for 22 years or so. Only 15 min drive from Torquay and beaches too. I lived in East Geelong for a few years, not bad there. Close to town and fair few older people, so its a quiet suburb. But does get dodgy out towards Thompson and Whittington. Someone mentioned houses in East Geelong are expensive, not true. Plenty of cheaper houses for rent/sale.
Rarely houses for rent in South Geelong compared to other suburbs, not many at all!

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spudnic
Feb 26 2008, 11:00 AM
QUOTE(.Martyr. @ Feb 26 2008, 02:03 AM)
Yep, Richie has pretty much got it nailed here.
Too right about Solar Drive in Whittington, its not called "The Bronx" for nothing!!

Grovedale is not bad, i lived there for 22 years or so. Only 15 min drive from Torquay and beaches too. I lived in East Geelong for a few years, not bad there. Close to town and fair few older people, so its a quiet suburb. But does get dodgy out towards Thompson and Whittington. Someone mentioned houses in East Geelong are expensive, not true. Plenty of cheaper houses for rent/sale.
Rarely houses for rent in South Geelong compared to other suburbs, not many at all!

We have 2 rental properties in south geelong 2 blocks from the train station... there not cheap to rent and they are in good condition, and the next street over theres a shit laod of units, couple for lease atm. as invesment properties go, geelong isnt the palce to be.

BAHHH belmonts has some awesome areas!!
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Martyr.
Yesterday, 02:13 AM
Post #11
Well, i guess things have changed since i last lived there. I haven't lived in Geelong for more than a year now.

Development in the suburbs

from w
Yesterday I went to the revamped Newcomb library to take books back, and while waiting for a bus later, did a sketch of a view of the new children's centre, library, Aldis (or is it Audis) and the shopping centre is now called Centro. Mucked about with the sketch later using my ancient Photo-edit program. I really don't like large supermarkets, would rather support small family businesses but there isn't much choice these days. One green-grocer went out of business when Audi's (or whoever) set up with cheaper products.

A cross, orchids and a bus-stop

from w
Some sketches mainly with coloured pencil are here as I try to tone down the bright colours I usually use. The new orchid is just opening and in a pot near our back door. The view from the Normanby Street bus-stop is ordinary but I had ten minutes to wait. The Altona Meadows Uniting Church looks like an aeroplane hangar and has oddly shaped windows, roof and ceilings and the placement of a cross, plotplants near a window caught my attention. This is one of the Melbourne churches where there is a Fijian congregation. I go there sometimes with Peceli. I did not draw this during worship, but later when the choir was practicing!

It's raining at last in Geelong

from w,
We have had long periods of soft rain for the past two days, very quiet in the night on the tile rooftop, but enough to soak into the garden, green up the grass. Also, because the spouting has a hole, to fill two large recycle bins with clean rain water! What a difference it has also made to the spirits of people. On Saturday morning about 7 a.m. Peceli was outside and called out to come and see something. Oh, a huge ginger cat sitting on a block of wood - one of the once feral kittens now grown up! No, not that he said, the recycle bin is totally full of water! Then yesterday I sketched a part of the back yard - where there is lots of cement (yes, it is rather too much but a former owner put it there for some reason) and there were actual puddles!

Pictures of Eastern Beach continued

from w
Here are some variations based on the drawings/paintings I did at Eastern Beach on Friday and one of a house in Watsons Rd - some cropping, editing with different colours, textures, lines.

While waiting for a bus in Normanby Street

from w
Yesterday I had five minutes before the bus was due so I sketched the perspective and shadows of the palm trees in Normanby Street. I was still drawing with a pencil when the bus turned up and I had to run! I later added watercolour, more pencil and even salt!