It’s always a bit weird when you read or watch something where you already know the basic storyline. I thought that when I saw Macbeth – hell, I know half the lines of the play, but I still got into the presentation of the thing. So reading a novel about the eruption of Vesuvius, and the happenings around the Bay, was quite funny, because obviously you know the main thing that is going to happen, but it’s how Robert Harris (the author) gets there that’s the interesting thing.

And he did do a very good job, I think. The engineer was an excellent idea for the main character, because he’s obviously going to have a stake in finding out what’s happening on the mountain. And he’s just a great guy. I was very happy that Harris included Pliny – I mean, obviously you you have to, but I was a bit concerned about how he would come across. I had never thought that he would be fat – I always imagined him to be emaciated if anything, obsessed with science and writing – but his eye for detail – which he must have had for real, to write his books – comes across very clearly. Someone should write a bio of him, I reckon, if it hasn’t been done yet.

Anyway, it’s a good read (I read the whole thing in a day or so). The variety of characters was good, although some of them are caricatures (which is, sometimes, fun).

but Meryl Streep does it so very well.

It probably wasn’t quite as funny, overall, as we had thought, but it was still a fun movie. The opening particularly was very clever, setting up the whole tension between Anne Hathaway’s character and the fashionista types at the magazine. Simon Baker’s character was a bit of a strange one. I think the one thing that makes this movie make a bit more sense, in a strange way, is knowing that it is at least loosely based on someone’s real experience. So the bizarro motivations of people, and the odd things they do – they actually make a bit more sense, because in real life people just don’t make sense.

I liked it. Not often I like comedies.

There are definite bonus points for working in the insult “Glamazon.”

We saw echidnas after the whale – just by the side of the road; we didn’t get a chance to stop and see them. Also several FBCs,* which is always entertaining.

Our stay at Blanket Bay was quite nice – the beach there is great, a nice little treasure trove of rock pools and tesselated rock formations.

From Blanket Bay we went to Apollo Bay. I wanted to go to Shelly Beach, but it turned out that the gate was locked so we would have had to walk… and my shoes were hurting me a bit by that stage.

From Apollo Bay to Lake Elizabeth and Forrest where, J had heard, there is good mountain-biking. It was a bit hard to find, but J did do some good riding. We had thought we might stay at Lake Elizabeth – but it was a camp ground separated from the carpark, which is no good when you’re in a truck – and then we tried Gellibrand (I think), but there were already a few people there, and Stevensons Falls were closed to the public (the renovations were meant to have been finished by the start of spring… say the signs at the start of spring…). So, in the end, we decided just to come back to Ballarat. So we had a pleasant evening in front of the fire, with an electric blanket-heated bed.

So, we’re coming to the end of our holiday… but that’s okay. It’s been a good one.

*A term coined during our first trip to Tasmania, when we couldn’t figure out whether those Furry Bouncy Critters were paddymelons or potaroos (a very important distinction).

See the pyramids live! Pyramidcam! So cool!

J thinks it’s tacky. I don’t care.