This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.


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2017 Travels October 16

MONDAY OCTOBER 16     LAKES ENTRANCE

The day began sunny and pleasant. I took my breakfast outside and enjoyed the sun whilst having it. Mid-morning, a thick sea mist rolled in and it became cooler.

There are lots of banksia trees planted in the park and these are the haunts of wattle birds.

Native vegetation at the caravan park

I took Couey for a walk around the park perimeter. She promptly became a target for the wattle birds, who kept swooping at he, making clack-clack beak clashing noises. She tried valiantly to pretend they didn’t exist, but was very keen to keep moving.

John got up about the time the fog came in. After his late breakfast, we drove to the central shops. I browsed a quilting fabric shop and indulged in a modest purchase.

The main street town – the Esplanade – is most picturesque, running parallel to Cunninghame Arm, which acts as a marina along here. Lots of very good looking boats were moored, boat trips were on offer – both in the lakes system and out in the ocean. It is a great place to wander, watch boats and people, and take photos.

At the floating fish restaurant and sales outlet that we have patronized on previous stops here,  I bought some flathead strips, a piece of duckfish and half a dozen oysters that John wanted. The fish here is fresh of the trawlers each day, and what is available varies, depending on what has been caught.

Can’t get much fresher than this…

Lunched back at camp and took Couey for a walk, over the bridge and down to the little park. This time, as well as some more swooping wattle birds, a magpie got into the mix too. Saw some interesting looking houses across from the park, with frontage to Cunninghame Arm.

Drove back to town again and onto the area called Bullock Island, opposite the entrance to the lakes system. Down a dirt road from the marine businesses and fish co-op was a lookout  area that was walled to protect from erosion and where there were more boat moorings. A refuelling point for boats was a bit further around. This was an interesting vantage point. We could watch a few people fishing from the top of the wall. Any boat traffic going from Lakes Entrance to other parts of the Lakes system has to come past here, so there were various small craft to watch. It is below the main highway that comes down the steep hill into town, so we could also see the traffic.

Looking east from Bullock Island

There looked to be a big trawler working just outside the Entrance. John was hoping to see it come in through the channel, so we hung around for a while. But it seemed to be working in a pattern that took it back and forth outside.

Big boat working outside the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes system

The entrance can be tricky to negotiate. It is not very wide and the currents can be an issue. There have been boats capsize there in bad weather. It has required ongoing dredging to keep the entrance open and make it safer for shipping.

We were just about to go, when we realized it was actually coming in, so stayed to watch it negotiate the narrow channel.

Ship coming through The Entrance

 Nearby, a man in official work clothes was taking photos of the vessel and told us it was in fact a new sixty metre long dredge, to be based permanently here. It had been built in China specifically for this job, costing the Victorian Government $23 million. It arrived here last month, for trials and final handover from the builders, and started its dredging work less than two weeks ago.

It was called the Tommy Norton. The original boat of that name was a paddle steamer that used to operate on the Lakes over 150 years ago and towed other vessels through the dangerous Entrance, back in the days before dredging.

We watched it make its slow way through the little cut from the Entrance. A catamaran was too impatient to wait for it and proceeded to motor across the path of the big boat, earning a very angry blast of the horn. A small Coastguard boat, though, waited back then passed around the back of the dredge. I wondered if it was following the catamaran – maybe it would get “booked” for failure to give way?

Big boat offended by the catamaran

The dredge’s berth was just along from where we were standing so we watched it berth.

Turning right…

Obviously it had the modern engines that enable easy sideways movement as well as front and backwards.

Turning around…

The crew parked it more precisely and easily than I can park my car!  Quite fascinating to watch. There seemed to be four crew members.

Parallel parking

Good to see this government investment in the ongoing port and fishing operations of the Lakes.

Thence to the very attractive Visitor Information Centre. I did not pick up much material there, as we were not really intending to go touring about. I did buy a beautiful art card by a local artist, featuring a rainbow bee-eater bird.

Back at the Bus, I changed the leg dressing, whilst John took Couey for yet another walk.

Chatted with our neighbours for a while. They were off to Merimbula tomorrow. Had done the three hour cruise on the Lakes this morning – said it was great and well worth doing. They had seen dolphins. Unfortunately, because of dog, not an activity open to us, though I would really have liked to do it. John thought he might like to do the five hour fishing trip, out at sea, which costs $160. He would think about it.

Our tea was later than usual, because I stayed talking. Salt and pepper flathead strips – very yummy.

Both in bed by 10pm. Must be the sea air.


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2017 Travels October 15

SUNDAY OCTOBER 15     HOME TO LAKES ENTRANCE     345kms

As usual on most Sundays, I was up early in order to breakfast with M, who comes to dinner Saturdays and stays overnight. She was invited to join us on this little trip, but had other appointments.

John had to get going much earlier than was his usual custom.

Breakfast over, in a leisurely fashion, m departed and we got stuck into the last minute preparations. Pot plants were watered, power points turned off, laptops and camera packed. We were soon ready to move Bus out onto the street, hitch up the Terios behind it, load the dog – who had gone into her usual anxiety mode. As in…”are they going to go somewhere without me?”

Trundled off at 10.15am on a pleasant morning. Blue sky, some sunshine, only high cloud.

Drove through Bayswater. There removal of the railway level crossing there, earlier this year, had certainly improved the traffic flow. Onto Eastlink to the Monash Freeway.

One hiccup, though. Our e-tag did not beep as we passed under the detection gantries. Had no way of knowing whether the tag in Terios was picked up. That was something that would need to be checked in the coming week. We discussed whether these things have batteries that need periodic replacement? Or if it had just died, for reasons unknown.

Once onto the Monash we were into roadwork territory. It seemed that lanes were being added. So, from Eastlink, to beyond Berwick, there was constriction of lanes, and 80kmh speed limit, and a confusion of yellow and white line lane markers – the yellow ones were the temporary ones to follow.

It seems that, these days, there is just constant catch up being played, where Melbourne has outgrown its infrastructure – and then the improvement of this leads to more growth, and so on. Those of us in the outer east are waiting to find out which route, of three alternatives, will be the chosen one for the extension of the Ring Road, which currently rather abruptly ends at a standard road. I would love to see the government be truly visionary and create a true outer ring road around the urban area, but that is not likely to happen.

We seemed to encounter a lot of traffic, compared to what I would expect on a Sunday. This was so for both ways – towards Melbourne as well as out the way we were going. It flowed, but was solid, and did not really lessen until the Latrobe Valley region.

The day was quite hazy. Usually, travelling the Princes Highway through the near parts of Gippsland, the blue rises of the Great Dividing Range can be seen to the north, quite close in places. Today, they were hardly visible at all.

Approaching Morwell, the chimney stacks of the now closed Hazelwood Power Station were to our right. It seemed strange to see these without any smoke or steam coming from them.

Defunct power station

But further on, at Traralgon, there were the familiar plumes coming from the Loy Yang plant.

At Traralgon, our unpredictable GPS wanted to direct us via Heyfield and Maffra, thus avoiding Sale. This seemed strange. When John moved the gadget from his car to Bus, this morning, he had not changed it from car to truck mode, so it would not be picking up on things that might worry us, like low rail bridges! So we ignored it and stayed on the highway. Later we realized that its requested detour route was because of the several lots of roadworks happening along the highway. But being Sunday, construction was paused, so the works didn’t bother us.

There was clearly much effort – and expense – being put into duplicating the highway from the Latrobe Valley to Sale, and beyond, to Bairnsdale. Much of the section from Traralgon to Sale was already complete.

We needed to stop in Sale to give the rather hot dog a drink and walk, and get ourselves some lunch. On our past few trips, I’d stopped my usual practice of packing lunch before we left home, as John inevitably was tempted by the bakery fare at Yea or Heathcote. Today, I should have made some! We didn’t see much of promise, food wise, where we could park the rig, as we drove through Sale. But, on the far side, there was a Red Rooster, so we turned down the side street before it and found Victoria Gardens – easy parking.

Hot dog

John walked to buy lunch and I watered and walked dog, who was really hot. She still had much of her thick winter coat, it seemed, I might need to investigate some sort of cooling jacket for her, for hot travel days like these. Or see if we could get vehicle air-con installed in the Bus. It did not appear to have ever had this and of course the motorhome unit on the roof does not work when we are travelling.

Victoria Gardens Sale

John came back with a chicken roll for himself, and a small container of chips for me. Not the healthier fare I’d have preferred, but beggars and all that…

There were a couple of interesting old water towers in the Gardens, on one of which restoration work appeared to be happening.

Water tower at Victoria Gardens

It was 1.45pm when we left Sale. As we drove past the Red Rooster it became apparent that there is quite a cluster of food outlets in that section. There was also a pizza place, a Subway and a hot bread bakery. I will remember that for future travel.

Stopped again at a park in Stratford – a toilet stop for the humans, this time. The little park there would also make a pleasant coffee or lunch break spot. There was easy parking and some information boards.

Road accidents have been a problem on the unduplicated sections of the Bairnsdale road, evidenced by a new type of road sign we saw there. It showed five arrows branching off a straight line, and illustrated that there were five sections of passing lanes between the two towns. In theory, this deters impatient and imprudent passing and thus reduce the incidence of head-on collisions. In practice…?

Also new to us was an electronic sign board that was lit up with a warning that there were bushfires in the area, with instructions to refer to the Vic Emergency App. All very well, but no help right now. I would have to consult with someone more mobile phone savvy than me to find out how to get that on my phone – one of the grandchildren perhaps?

In the meantime, we trundled on, figuring that if fire was an issue near the main highway, there would be other warnings of a non-mobile phone dependent nature.

Negotiating the main street of Bairnsdale, with its sets of traffic lights, we were behind a caravan that had no working brake lights. As we drew level with that outfit, at the last set of red lights, John beeped to get the driver’s attention, and I held up a sign I’d hastily written, saying “NO LIGHTS” in big letters. From the way the driver stared resolutely straight ahead, hunched over the steering wheel and ignoring us, I suspected he already knew this, and was continuing on, regardless.

The last stretch, between Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance, is an attractive one, with the crossing of the two rivers, the Nicholson and the Tambo, with their attendant small towns.

Tambo River

Then there was the long downhill run into Lakes Entrance, with its brilliant views, from high up, over the lake to the Entrance to the Gippsland Lakes system. It was a pity the driver had to concentrate on the curving road, rather than the view.

Coming down to Lakes Entrance – with the entrance channel straight ahead

Our destination of Eastern Beach Holiday Park was on the far side of the town, down – no prizes for guessing – Eastern Beach Road. Just before we reached that, pulled into a servo and refuelled – it was one with easy access for a rig our size. Paid $1.289 cpl for the diesel.

The caravan park had a dedicated check in lane – usually a sign of a good park. It was a Top Tourist as well as an NRMA one. After discount, I paid $252.90 for our five night stay on en-suite site. At the end of the stay, we felt it had definitely been worth that money.

The site we were allocated was the smallest of the eight such sites, but still adequate.

However, we had to park Bus nose in, and on the shadecloth that took the place of a slab. There was not quite enough room on the angled site to park beside this, without having the back of Bus, and the hitch, uncomfortably close to passing traffic. I did wonder if the man on Reception had sufficient visualization of his sites, because I’d told him, when booking earlier in the week, that Bus was a bit over seven metres long. Any one of the other sites would have been better for us – and they were not all occupied. Next time, I would ask for a more suitable one – as I am sure we would be  returning  here.

En suite sites at Eastern Beach

The ensuite bathroom was excellent. I rated it, along with the ones at Lightning Ridge and Kinka Beach, as the best we have encountered. It was roomy enough and with a wonderfully large shower recess, with glass door – and with a type of bench at one end to put toiletries on. Plentiful hot water too.

We were to find that the park had an interesting layout. At our end, the sites were conventionally laid out but all quite spacious. There was an amenity block and BBQ area close by. At the other end, the sites were arranged around a large central grassed area – and I mean large. This contained a playground, camp kitchen and amenities block. There were some cabins with private outlooks onto the Cunninghame Arm of the Lakes, which runs behind the park.

After setting up the camp and finding that there was an area beside Bus where Couey could be tethered on a good length rope, we all went for a walk to explore down Eastern Beach Road. This road continued on, past the park, across a bridge over the tidal Cunninghame Arm, to end by a park area that had a playground and BBQ’s. From there, a sandy wide foot track extended through the scrub to the sea and the Ninety Mile Beach.

A foot track between the park fence and Cunninghame Arm led back towards town and meant that those more energetic than us, could walk that way to town, or a circuit involving that and the beach.

It was a very attractive setting, overall.

I’d brought skinless franks with us, for tea, and a loaf of olive bread, which I warmed up in the electric frypan, to freshen it up. That made an easy meal. John’s sort of food!

We were both really tired. Maybe we were no longer used to travel? So it was an early night. Could hear the waves breaking on the beach – a lovely sound to fall asleep to.


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2017 Travels October

OCTOBER 2017

As seems to happen these days, we did not intend for there to be such a time span between trips. However, as always, life intervened.

Investigation into my thyroid health – or otherwise – extended to specialist visits and procedures. Ultimately, it was decided to let the status quo be, but only after a particularly unpleasant experience called a needle biopsy. This involved not moving whilst a needle probed the gland in question. “Keep very still now, this is really close to the carotid artery” is guaranteed to scare one – literally – rigid, I can promise!

As well, yet again, an ulcer opened up on my lower leg, and required many medical visits through much of winter.

Then, too, the winter weather in Victoria was not conducive to short breaks in this State.

In the way? Just helping, Dad

There were school holiday periods to avoid…and, of course, the bowls season started up again in spring.

Being grounded did give me the opportunity to create another crocheted patchwork blanket – this one claimed by M, who loved the autumn colours.

The latest blanket

John thought he would give some of his vegie garden a head start on spring, by putting up a greenhouse. The plastic structure lasted only until the first strong winds.

Once was a greenhouse…

A little window of opportunity opened up in mid-October, so we quickly planned a few days’ break, to give Bus a run and remind dog about “holiday in Bus”. We just had to hope that the weather did not suddenly get hot enough to adversely affect John’s young vegie plants. It was the very productive vegetable garden that usually kept us tethered to home through the summer months.

Yet again, we contemplated a run along the Great Ocean Road, but decided against that. With the short time available, it would have meant driving most days. Also, dog-friendly caravan parks along that stretch of road were few. The options were too limited for my preference. Given the increasing volume of travellers along the Great Ocean Road, it really was time that the quality of parks, and the range of travellers they catered for, was improved. I would like to see some pet friendly establishments with some en-suite sites – not too much to ask, surely?

So, we decided to go in the other direction, and spend our time at Lakes Entrance, where we could basically just relax and not do much. Whilst we’d overnighted in that town several times, had not spent a longer period based there.

For those previous overnight stops, had used caravan parks close to the town centre, so we could stay hitched up and walk to shops, especially the fish suppliers that were an attractive part of the place.

This time, for a longer stay, space, attractiveness and access to places to walk the dog were our main needs. I focussed on the Eastern Beach Holiday park, initially because it advertised as an NRMA park, and we’d previously found these to be of a good standard, if on the expensive side.

Google maps showed the park to be within walking distance of the ocean, and with a grassed area nearby where we could take dog. What I could see on the satellite view looked pleasant. They offered en-suite sites too, which would keep the driver happy.

I phoned and booked us in for five nights.

The packing needed was minimal, given that most needs were kept permanently in Bus. As I intended to indulge in fish meals whilst in this town that was home base to a decent fishing fleet, the only frozen foods that needed to be transferred from the house were a pack of the dog’s mince, a few rashers of bacon just in case, and some of the Magnum ice creams John had taken to eating for dessert.

Unfortunately, packing did have to include all the paraphernalia required for my leg dressings.

Fed dog a Nexguard tablet, to give her some protection against paralysis ticks, which can be found along the eastern Victorian coast.

Preparations thus complete…


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2017 Travels May 14

SUNDAY MAY 14     MARYBOROUGH TO HOME     314kms

After the usual cold night it was hard to get up early, so it was 10.15 by the time we were packed up and leaving the park.

The day was pleasant – getting warmer, with blue sky, but rather hazy. That might be due to the inversion and smoke previously mentioned.

Looking down at our Maryborough camp from the lake walking track

I thought that it would be best to go home the long way, via Bendigo, rather than down the Calder Highway and through the city, which might be quite busy with traffic related to football and other special events happening today. We could tootle up some previously untravelled back roads through Eddington and Lockwood. John agreed with that thinking, so he programmed Marong into the GPS.

The ”lady” instructed us to turn right out of the caravan park. That wasn’t logical, according to the basic town map I had in a tourist pamphlet, so I made John turn left. Then, I worked out that the machine had been going to take us around the town centre – very smart. Oops! I had to apologize to John as he negotiated the surprisingly busy centre of town.

It seemed we had hardly left Maryborough before we were into Carisbrook – almost a suburb. Saw an interesting home there, built from shipping containers. There should probably be more use of these, for all sorts of things as there seem to be a lot sitting around in various places mot be utilized for much. One of our former employers in the NT made quite a reasonable dwelling using a couple of containers. The one at Carisbrook looked like it had been architect designed.

By the time I finished admiring that house, it was evident that the GPS had decreed we were continuing on towards Castlemaine, not the way I’d intended. Perhaps I should regard that gadget as adding extra spice to a trip, as in wondering:  where is it taking us now?

The country was different on the eastern side of Maryborough. I could see the occasional volcanic cone in the distance and some paddocks had volcanic rock in. I hadn’t known that the western Victorian volcanic district extended this far to the north.

Saw an old, two-storied substantial bluestone house that would have dated from well over a hundred years ago. Still occupied and cared for – good to see.

This stretch was really interesting to travel. It was quite rich looking land, possibly volcanic soils. There was a lot of cropping evident, but I think it was still grain of some kind, We crossed an arm of Cairn Curran Reservoir – which dams the Loddon River for irrigation and town supply – and could see the cone of Mt Tarrengower in the distance.

Crossed a rail line – defunct, of course, once part of quite a dense rail network serving these agricultural areas. Around the 1970’s the State government shut down so much of Victoria’s country railways, citing cost of upkeep and greater convenience of road trucking. I suspect that, if an honest study was done, the cost of road upgrading and upkeep now far outweighs what rail upkeep would have.

Suddenly, we were in Newstead, where the GPS directed us onto the Maldon road. Ah – now I see its logic! That put us on a road we’d explored last year. I would have preferred a virgin route.

Maldon was busy – maybe there were Sunday markets? We didn’t stop and proceeded out of town and past the old dredge we’d visited last year.

Could clearly smell wood smoke and even see smoke lightly lying in hollows. Such a smoky time of the year. I love wood fires, but have to admit that, in these times, they are not really environmentally friendly.

Stopped at Marong to top up the fuel, at an automatic Express diesel place – where it seemed easier than waiting until we were in Bendigo. But John had immense trouble getting his card to work, knowing which buttons to press, and just how to make it all happen. I didn’t have a clue. Maybe it says something about our world today, when two people who hold post-graduate university qualifications, can’t make a bloody fuel bowser go? John became very cross. He did not want to just up and leave, in case he ended up being charged for $50 worth of fuel he didn’t obtain! Eventually it all happened, though neither of us was quite sure how. Then he was worried that we might be charged twice for one lot of fuel! This is not a fuel stop we will repeat when we are up this way – ever! There are a few servos on the road from Bendigo to Heathcote that offer adequate access for a rig our size. The diesel there was $1.299 cpl.

Negotiating our way on the usual route through Bendigo was not too bad, though I think we struck some Mothers’ Day lunch traffic. It was just after midday as we cleared the central part of that city.

I noticed that, between Derrimal and Heathcote, there were kilometres of dying eucalypts on the roadside verges, and wondered what was causing this.

We stopped for lunch at Heathcote, parking as usual on the side street by the entrance to the oval. This place, too, was quite busy. John took Couey for a walk while I went to the bakery, to spend $28 on coffees, pastie and pie for John, egg and lettuce sandwich for me. The bakery always has a large range of pie types and I chose a chunky steak and pepper pie. John decided it was a bot too chunky! Plain ordinary meat pie for him next time! My sandwich was on grain bread and was stuffed full – yummy.

While we sat at one of the roadside tables, near Bus, we saw a caravanner demonstrating why so many people think badly of the species. This clown – a 4WD towing a big Concept van – drove down the side street, did a U-turn, then drove back towards the main street, passing a couple of long empty spaces where he could have parked. He then pulled in, right at the corner with the highway, almost touching the Give Way sign. He was actually protruding a little way into the intersection, and blocking the crossing from the footpath, so proceeded to reverse, forcing a small car that was parked – legally – behind him, to quickly reverse too, so as not to be hit, That car had been there before the clown arrived. Luckily, there was still a driver in it. All for the sake of saving less than fifty metres of walking distance. Arrogant morons like him give caravanners a very bad image. Unfortunately, we have encountered far too many of them on our travels.

By the time we’d finished our leisurely lunch, mister idiot had departed.

Place where idiot driver parked his rig, right across footpath and poking into highway!

Continued on the usual route home. By now, the day had clouded over. Or maybe it was the smoke polluted air around Melbourne? Near Yea, some of the hill tops just poked out through the haze – looked like they were floating.

Thin line of floating hilltops between the trees

Did not need to stop in Yea, which was its usual Sunday busy.

John decided to top up the fuel at the usual servo at Glenburn, so we would have an almost full tank when we head off on the next trip. Here fuel was 3 cents a litre cheaper than at the best-forgotten Marong place. $1.269 cpl.

We came down the range into the autumn colours of the trees and grapevines around Dixons Creek and Yarra Glen, Very pretty. More smoke haze hanging about.

It will be good when (if?) the Yarra Glen bypass actually gets extended across the Yarra River towards Coldstream. The section of road that currently winds across the river flats and takes both the Coldstream and Lilydale back road traffic, is so slow and tedious. It always seems to have more than its share of impatient and idiot drivers, too.

Reached home at 3.30pm.

The usual fairly quick unpack and sorting things out followed – and a bout of clothes washing.

Trip done, I needed to focus on this week’s appointment with a thyroid surgeon and working out what might be going on with the half gland that remains. Back in 1996, a benign enlargement of half the thyroid – a butterfly-shaped gland that lies across the front of the neck – saw its somewhat difficult removal. The resultant scar drew speculative looks for years after – had things really been so dire that I’d tried to cut my throat? When we’d been travelling in Tasmania, John had been known to tell people that the scar showed my Tasmanian ancestry – it was where the second head had been removed!

Once we know what needs to happen, and get it sorted, can start planning the next trip. Maybe somewhere warmer and drier?

STATISTICS

Nights away: 13

Accomm cost: $419.40

Discount gained: $20.60

Fuel cost: $251.29


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2017 Travels May 13

SATURDAY MAY 13     MARYBOROUGH

Again, a lovely day after a cold night.

After the usual morning routine for dog and me, I left her to slumber with John in Bus, and drove to the town centre, ostensibly for the Saturday papers. Parked where John had, yesterday, and walked to the main street. It was not far to the newsagent. As one would expect, the town was busy.

Now that I had time for myself, was the chance for some indulgence. At the quilting shop, I bought three pieces of Japanese style black/grey/glittery fabric. I am gradually building up a collection in these colour tones, that might one day be turned into a quilt.

In the wool shops, which had some superb yarns, I could not resist buying the wools and instruction booklet for the garment in the window, that had caught my eye so strongly yesterday. The proprietor explained the colours she’d used to knit the sample garment and I bought those same colours. The jumper had a textured stitch, the wools were variegated tones, the end effect was irregular stripes. Hard to describe, but looked beautiful. Hopefully, I might get it made for next winter! That indulgence cost me $138. Money into the local economy.

I visited the very good Information Centre and collected a number of pamphlets. There is much emphasis placed on the history, here, and some of the substantial old buildings date from the 1800’s. Maryborough began as a settlement in the gold rushes of the 1850’s. Gold was a local industry until the 1920’s and, of course, with modern metal detectors, the gold hunters have returned. I would keep the information gathered today for a future visit, hopefully not too long away.

I’d heard train whistles at intervals since we’d been here. It sounded like at the park we were not too far from a rail line. I noted that Maryborough has a grand old railway station, dating from the 1890’s – far more substantial and large than the place ever warranted, apparently. Next trip, we will go look.

Maryborough site

John had to get up in a hurry while I was away. The neighbour from the next van was leaving and very nicely wanted John to turn off and move our water hose, so it wasn’t split as he drove over same. So, he’d knocked on our Bus door – and Couey went beserk! Just as she does at home when there is a knock on the door. People can walk around Bus, with no reaction from her, but knocking on the door is a different matter altogether. So John had to get up and deal.

I had a late breakfast. Hadn’t eaten before going shopping, because I need to leave at least half an hour between medication taken first thing, and eating.

I took Couey for a ball game. I walked her on the lead around part of the lake, to a large grassed area beyond the caravan park. I judged it was far enough away from the water, so let her off the lead and threw the ball for her until she’d had enough, signalled by refusal to give it back to me. Purpose accomplished – one tired dog, however temporarily.

Lake Victoria

As we walked back – on lead again – there was a large black swan wandering about. Couey took one look and just about pulled my arm out of its socket – not in the direction of swan, though. Suddenly, she was very anxious to get back to the safety of Bus. Smart dog.

Walk track behind our site

Read the papers until lunchtime, sitting outside in lovely sunshine.

The large bus motorhome by the amenity block was an older, imported American one, showing its age. I could not see a driver’s door at all – it looked like the side entrance was the only way in. Judging from the tradesman’s ute parked at its front, it might be a long term fixture.

John was not in sightseeing mood, but after lunch suggested a walk right round the lake. In one area where there was some parkland, he let dog off lead for a bit of a free range. There were no people anywhere near us. For a little while she ranged quite happily, gradually and sneakily working her way back towards the lake, until eventually, she ignored John’s calls and happily went in for a dip. I knew that would happen!

Beautiful Central Victorian autumn day at Maryborough

After that walk, I sat outside with the drying dog and did some of my Hardanger embroidery, until it got too chilly to stay out there.

John played his WOW game on the laptop for most of the afternoon.

Tea was tinned mushroom soup, chicken and mushroom sausages, fries and egg. The latter two were John’s choices – woe betide that we should eat healthy vegetables!

The night was cold. There was a full-ish moon. It smelt very smoky outside, partly due to wood fires, I thought. Apparently, Melbourne’s air pollution this weekend had been worse than that of Shanghai! A good time to be away in the relatively unpolluted country air.

There was football on TV.


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2017 Travels May 12

FRIDAY MAY 12    WARRACKNABEAL TO MARYBOROUGH   190kms

Another cold night, followed by a nice day. Pretty typical weather for this part of the State at this time of year.

We were away at 9.50am. While we had been packing up, the caretaker was working around the park, cleaning a couple of vacated en-suites. First time we had seen him doing this, although of course he could have been on previous days while we were out.

Morning reflections in Yarriambiallik Creek

Took the highway back towards Donald – same way we’d come the other day. Not far out of Warracknabeal, a car and caravan going the other way, trying to dodge a bumpy section,  got into the gravel at the road side and kicked up a spray of stones, much of which hit the windscreen on my side, and put a star shaped crack in it. Hope this can be repaired at home, without having to have the whole windscreen replaced – technically, it makes Bus unroadworthy!

After Donald, it was onto a new route, for us, to St Arnaud. We were still travelling through sheep and grain growing country. Could see a low range in the distance – maybe the Pyrenees?

The road was absolute rubbish. It was bad enough before Donald, but really dreadful after. There is so much truck traffic, carting grain and fertilizer. The surface was really bumpy and uneven, and there were sections where the road edges were crumbling  badly.

I found it really annoying that, for some of the way, we were travelling alongside a railway, yet there were all these trucks frequently passing us, and no trains. There should be some sort of government intervention forcing these things to be carried by rail and then only by truck for a very short distance from the nearest rail stop to or from the farm concerned.

Quite clearly, State and local governments cannot keep up with the scale and cost of the road repairs that are needed. The answer seems to be to put up “Rough Road” signs!

Out of St Arnaud, the trucks going both ways were bouncing around badly, too – just making matters worse.

Typical Wimmera scene – long, straight road and silos of a small down in the distance

We stopped in St Arnaud for a coffee break. It appeared a pleasant, well-kept small town, somewhat marred by some rough looking, somewhat intimidating youths, hanging about in the gardens area by which we parked. Their presence made us decide not to go out of sight of Bus, but there was a small café nearby that sold me coffees and jam doughnuts.

We sat on a seat near Bus to have these. An older man walking by stopped to comment on the dog. Just another of the many people who comment on her lack of a tail and to whom we have to explain that she was born that way, and that a Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is an actual distinct breed.

Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog – made this way!

The man was obviously in the mood for a chat and was very talkative about where he had lived and worked in Melbourne, including as it turned out, at Dunlop Rubber at the same time as my father had worked there, in the 1960’s. He certainly would not recognize that area, these days.

Managed to extricate ourselves from our new friend and continued on our way, towards Avoca, on the Sunraysia Highway, so called. John was relying on the GPS for directions, rather than this navigator, but for once machine and I agreed, and after a while we turned off, towards Natte Yallock.

Just after St Arnaud we had driven into an area of hilly scrubby forest, with an unusual speed sign: 70kmh during the dusk to dawn hours. Obviously this was for the protection of both wild life and drivers.

Then we segued back into farm land, but much more undulating country than before, and with a lot more trees.

Natte Yallock was a hamlet of a school, church and a few homes.

Ahead of us, it became very hazy – a combination of smoke, fog and cloud. We’d heard on the radio that Melbourne was subject to a poor air quality warning today, and this seemed to have spread north of the Divide for some way.

Maryborough is a larger town, of some 8000 people, with a layout that reflects its origins as a gold mining town. It proved easy, though, to find our way to the Maryborough Caravan Park, mostly on a road that skirted the edge of town. Reached there at 1pm.

We took a powered site and were charged $28 a night, after a $4 Seniors discount.

Our allocated site was a pleasant one, albeit rather well-used and bare, backing onto a bank, beyond which was Lake Victoria. Another body of water for the swamp dog! The site was slightly sloping, but parking nose in meant that, at night, our heads would be “uphill”, so we did not bother with the levellers.

The park had a new amenity block in the individual bathroom style, but we were closest to the older, conventional block, so used that. It was well set up and clean. The park seemed fairly full. There were a lot of permanent residents, but a fair number of tourist sites also.

At Reception, we had seen a lot of displayed photos of gold nuggets that park patrons had metal detected in the region, so no prizes for guessing why some of the visitors were here.

There was no water tap to our site. John had to lay the hose across a neighbouring site to reach the tap that served our site. Not the best arrangement, as the occupants of the next site had no choice but to drive over our hose. There were no sullage points either, but a notice that Council rules forbade sullage hoses being run on to the ground, that buckets or containers had to be used and emptied into dump points. However, all the vans around us had their hoses emptying onto the ground at the back of their sites. There was a CMCA type dump point by the amenity block, but it had a sign that only toilet cassettes and similar were to be emptied into it. I never did find a place where sullage waste was to be dumped. We did as the neighbours were doing!

Maryborough site – and hose arrangement

As soon as we arrived on site, were investigated by some busy ducks, but they wisely gave the tethered dog a wide berth. She knows that “birdies” of all descriptions are supposed to be off limits, but was no doubt hoping, as she watched them closely, that one might be tempted to stray too close and she could have some fun.

After set up and lunch, drove to find a Woolworths, as I needed milk and some salad makings. Whilst there, John decided he wanted skinless franks and hash browns for tea, so I bought those too.

I had to visit a chemist to try to get some dressings for a sore that had developed on my leg. John and dog waited in the car, in a parking area behind the main street. By now, it was after school hours, and the town was quite busy. On my walk to and fro, saw some interesting shops, one with quilting materials and another selling knitting wool. This had a really eye-catching knitted jumper on display in the window. The Information Centre was nearby, too, but out of consideration for John waiting in the car, I was very strong and kept walking past all of these.

Back at Bus, John took Couey for a walk on the very attractive lake circuit path. Of course, as soon as he let her off the lead, she was straight into the lake! John thought it was funny, so he got handed the pile of old towels and left to do the drying session alone. That took ages because she has a really thick double coat.

John’s meal was enjoyable, if not healthy!  I had salad and tinned fish.

Football featured on the evening’s TV. John was quite happy with the picture quality here.

On a sort-of site, right next to the clothes lines of the amenity block, there was a really long bus type of motorhome parked – too big for the normal sites. It occurred to me that backing it in there must have been a challenging exercise.

We had not visited Maryborough before, so this short stay would give us a bit of an idea whether it would be worth coming back for a longer visit. The caravan park was one I’d certainly return to – provided we could get one of these “back” sites and not one of those against the road at the front – open, noisy.


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2017 Travels May 11

THURSDAY MAY 11     WARRACKNABEAL

Last night was another cold one, but it became a nice day.

John slept in again.

Have to say that I didn’t like these mornings where it was so cold that I couldn’t sit outside to have my breakfast while listening to morning ABC radio, but must lurk inside for the sake of warmth, tippytoeing about and being silent.

John eventually got going and took himself off to the agricultural machinery museum. He was gone for a couple of hours.

I had lunch alone, outside, and enjoyed sitting in the sunshine. Read for a while, then took Couey walking.

Yarriambiallik Creek at Warracknabeal Caravan Park

According to John, the machinery museum display was well worth seeing – if one is interested in that sort of thing!

The caravan park really filled up this afternoon, relatively speaking, with about eight tourist rigs in.

Unpowered sites backing onto the creek

Tea was ham steaks, fries and eggs. I don’t like the commercial, manufactured ham steaks, and make my own by buying a piece of hickory smoked boneless ham and cutting slabs from it to cook.

Watched some TV, but, as usual, I got sleepy early and went to bed.

Our travels around Warracknabeal


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2017 Travels May 10

WEDNESDAY MAY 10     WARRACKNABEAL

John slept in until about 11am. I couldn’t really blame him as it had been a really cold night and the morning was initially so sold. If it hadn’t been for the needs of the dog, I would have stayed much longer under my warm doona too.

After we eventually got going, drove north on the Henty Highway for about 20kms, to Brim.

The painted silos installation here, completed in December 2015, was the first to be done in Victoria, but not in Australia, because some had been completed a few months earlier in WA.

The artist here was Guido Van Helten. The theme was a tribute to farmers.

Brim Painted Silos

A theme seemed to be emerging of these silo works paying homage to some aspect of their community, be it original people, pioneering farmers, district youth. I would be interested to see what subject matter would emerge for the planned new silo art works at Lascelles and Rosebery.

The Silos being painted

I liked this Brim work, just as I had that at Sheep Hills.

There were information boards placed in the parking area across the road from the silos.

Information board at silos

We were not alone, with several other people there viewing the work, too. The silos were certainly bringing visitors to the region, or keeping them here longer.

We then drove around through the little hamlet of Brim, which still had some operating businesses.

I wanted to look at the Redda Park camping ground here, that has been refurbished and kept cheap enough to attract travellers.

Bush camping area at Redda Park Brim

We found a very pleasant area. Parking bays carved from the bush, beside a lake formed in the creek. There were plenty of low mallee trees about. Some of the bays had power poles, but it seemed to me that one might need to get here early in the day to snaffle one of those.

One of the powered camping bays

There were basic amenities in a steel building, plus a BBQ and play area. All very well done. It seemed the charge was $10 a night.

BBQ and play area at Redda Park camp

We were very impressed and thought in many ways it was nicer than where we were at Warracknabeal, though John really does prefer to have an en-suite site when he can, these days.

A weir across the Yarriambiallik Creek has formed a lake. We walked through the campground and along the lake for a short way. Dog was kept very firmly on her lead, much to her disgust.

Yarriambialik Creek by Redda Park campground

A set of display boards gave information about the 2011 floods of the area, the largest ever at Brim. Last year’s flood event was much lower.

Information board about 2011 floods at Brim

Photo displayed on the Information board, showing floods

We drove back to Warracknabeal. I needed to get milks at the IGA and while I was doing that, John snuck off and bought himself a pie at the bakery.

By the time we got back to Bus, and I could get myself some lunch, it was 3.30pm. That was far too late for a midday meal. We really needed to do things differently – like get up earlier? Take a packed lunch even on short trips?

Relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon. John played WOW on his laptop. I took Couey for a long walk along the creek path – on the lead! She had seemed to have an upset stomach this morning. I blamed the creek water ingested on yesterday’s frolic. So She is not going back in there.

An unusual rig came into the park today. Perhaps a bit of a battler? He had an old station wagon, towing some sort of small commercial van that had been made into a camper. I wondered how legal it was?

Tea was steak, mushrooms, fries.

Watched more Masterchef on TV. Quite a juxtaposition – sitting in my very basic Bus kitchen seeing the contestants in their kitchen equipped with every cooking gadget one could think of, and many I’d never encountered in real life!


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2017 Travels May 9 (2)

TUESDAY MAY 9 (2)     SOME PAINTED SILOS

After we had set up and had a quick lunch it was time to go driving again.

But first to the local IGA supermarket, because John had decided he wanted hamburgers for tea. Whilst “up the street” I picked up a couple of tourist leaflets from outside the closed Information Centre.

Nearby Sheep Hills, a few kms south of town, was our first destination, to view the silo art.

What was now known as the Silo Art Trail had developed over the previous couple of years. Basically, there was a movement to get well-known and talented street artists to paint murals on disused grain silos, depicting something that relates to the local community or area. So there was at this time a sort of outdoor art gallery, in four towns, spread over some 200kms. Two more were planned for later this year. The concept seemed to have caught the imaginations of the travelling public, who were driving in significant numbers to see the silos. A similar thing was happening in SA.

John had wanted for a while to go back and visit the site of the second of the one-teacher schools he taught at in his early career. This was at Boolite, just down the road from Sheep Hills. Being in this area would give us a chance to do that and see two or three of the painted silos too.

The Sheep Hills silos were visible from some distance away, on the flat country. When we arrived there, found there were a couple of Council workers, in orange shirts, mowing and weeding around the silos, so any photos were likely going to include them!

Sheep Hills Painted Silos

Sheep Hills is rather in the middle of nowhere, so we were quite surprised that there were several other sets of visitors there, and more arrived whilst we were there. This was our first indication of how quickly the Silo Art Trail had gained a following.

Sheep Hills was the third silo installation to be painted, in December last year, by Adnate.

It features an aboriginal lady and man, and children, against a starry sky that is of significance to the local aboriginal peoples.

John shows the scale of this installation

It was really impressive. The scale alone was amazing, and the fact that an artist working close up could maintain the right lines and images on such a tall and curved structure. Brilliant.

There is no township at Sheep Hills. The now defunct Minyip to Warracknabeal railway came through here, hence the grain silos, now isolated. The railway station has disappeared. There is just a house near the silos, and at the nearby crossroads, what may have once been an inn or a hotel, with a house attached to that. It occurred to us that, with visitor numbers growing, the old inn might be a great venue for a café. It was rather a lovely old building and it was a shame to see it closed up and neglected.

This hotel would have served the surrounding community, back when the district operated at a different scale. The farms would have been smaller, without the huge and efficient machinery of today. Hence, there would have been more people. Foot, or horse transport meant that Minyip or Warracknabeal too far away for regularly required services like a school or a beer after work. There once would have been at least one general store as well.

Former hotel at Sheep Hills

We continued on down the little local road, to Boolite, another place where there is now nothing but paddocks. Even back in the 60’s, John had only nine students at the school.

We found the school site, marked by a sign, as are many of these former small school sites in the State.

School site Boolite

There was also a plaque commemorating the school’s one hundred years of operation, in 1979. A few months later, it was closed!

Centenary of Boolite School

John wandered about, looking, remembering, and taking photos. He had boarded for some months with a family at a house on the corner of a nearby road. There was no trace of this now.

The life of a young man in such a one-person school, in areas like this, had often been a rather difficult and lonely one, but it was seen as a necessary starting-out experience. Residences were not provided, with the Education Department relying on local families to board the teacher, in some fashion, often below what we would find acceptable these days.

John then decided he wanted to drive the back roads he used to take to go to Minyip, where he had boarded for a few months back then. We set off down a dirt track, but this soon led to a decent sealed road, which wasn’t there in his time, apparently. It made things easier now, from my viewpoint, as I was driving so he could look around.

Since we were at Minyip, decided we might as well continue on to Rupanyup and another silo art set. It was not far. However we did have some trouble locating the painted silo there. We were looking for a similar structure to that at Sheep Hills, like most silos one sees in the country towns in these parts. However, it turned out to be a lower metal structure and it took me a couple of passes up and down the main street to work out where to go. As the railway no longer exists, there was no guide from that.

This silo was painted in the first part of last year by a Russian street artist Julia Volchkova. It was monotone, compared to the bright colours of Sheep Hills, and I did not like it nearly as much. It seemed rather boring by comparison.

Rupanyup Painted Silos

The two figures on it represented a local netballer and footballer – the two staple club sports of country towns.

I was much more interested in the old railway station, nearby. It would once have been a substantial station building, but was now almost derelict.

Once was Rupanyup Railway Station

There was no railway now, of course. What a pity that some fitting use could not have been found for the structure.

Once was a railway line

John took over the driving again, and we made our way back to Minyip and then Warracknabeal.

Another “artistic” trend in these parts seemed to be to build representative installations on roundabouts. We had seen some in Warracknabeal that honoured working dogs and dingoes. In Minyip there was an installation meant to highlight the role of wheat in the district – a farmer kneeling down, and sprouting wheat grains. Unfortunately, the pale green “sprouts” made me laugh – they were very suggestive! I had to get a photo of that, and John drove a couple of times around the roundabout for me – somewhat to the mystification of a couple of locals.

It was almost 5pm by the time we got back to camp.

Roundabout at Minyip

John decided we should stay three nights here. He wanted to go look at the big farm machinery museum we saw on the edge of town, and there was still Brim to visit.

Whilst I was cooking the hamburgers, outside, in the electric frypan, a man came by to collect our camp fees.

After tea we watched Masterchef. The TV signal was regularly interrupted, whenever trucks went by on the nearby road!

It was another really cold night.

John took Couey out, on the lead, as usual before bed. There must have been a possum down out of the trees, because she just about pulled him over trying to run after whatever it was. Now we know to be careful and hang on tight both to dog and the handrail by the step down from Bus!


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2017 Travels May 9 (1)

TUESDAY MAY 9 (1)    BOORT TO WARRACKNABEAL     170kms.

We managed to get up at 8.15 on this very cold morning.

Left the park just before 10am, without rushing the pack up unduly. The stay here in Boort had been enjoyable. It was a place we might return to, another time, just to relax by the lake.

It had turned into a lovely day for driving: sunny, but not too hot.

Refuelled in Boort, to be on the safe side. $1.274cpl.

I had planned to take us via Wycheproof and maybe stop at that lovely bakery café there, for an early lunch. Then, we would be able to stop at the painted silo at Brim, and look at that, on our way to tonight’s destination.

However, John decided to follow the GPS directions, rather than mine, after entering Warracknabeal as the destination. Predictably, it directed us via Charlton and Donald. I had not wanted to go that way, thinking we would probably be doing the Warracknabeal to Donald leg in a few days’ time. Oh, well, it might look a bit different, going the other way.

My secret consolation for being ignored was that John missed out on an indulgent lunch!

The road between Boort and Charlton was much more interesting than the way I’d wanted to go. There were huge olive plantations, starting not far out of Boort. The land looked to have quite a good red soil. There were some irrigation channels. I saw one sign at an olive acreage, reading Boundary Bend Olive Company. Later, I checked this out. Their web site claimed their Boort operation is one of the largest olive plantations in the world, with nearly a million trees planted.

Until then, I had not realized that Boort had become so significant in the Australian olive production scene.

Further on, there were vineyards too: Lake Marmal vineyards. I had never come across wines of this brand, so maybe they grow grapes for other winemakers.

There were eucalypts growing along the road side. Occasionally, there would be one with a really bright, smooth, orange trunk and branches. These appeared to be a mallee type, often with more than one trunk, and it looked like the orange colour appeared after older bark peeled off. Most attractive looking.

Unusual orange-trunked mallee eucalypt trees

Clearly, this part of Victoria has a Mediterranean type of climate.

We had, of course, been to Charlton before and stayed a night here on a previous trip. There were the ubiquitous blue plastic covered heaps of grain here too, but these were different – they had bird netting over them. Charlton has a really big silo complex, too.

Last time here, we’d been impressed with the efforts this little town was making, to revitalize itself. This time, it seemed even more go-ahead and vibrant. We saw no evidence of the floods that had affected the area last year.

Took the Borung Highway, towards Donald. Although, “highway” was misleading, given its condition. About 14kms from Charlton, passed the Wooroonook Lakes rest and camping area – another place I’d never heard of. From what we could see of the lake, it looked smaller than the Boort one we’d been camped by, but pleasant enough. There were some camping rigs set up there, and some camp power poles, so there were obviously some powered sites.

There are so many lakes scattered through the Wimmera region – something else I hadn’t known.

Some of the land down this way looked to be affected by the dryland salting that has become a significant problem in some agricultural areas. There was a saltbush plantation in one area. It is still very much sheep and wheat country.

Wimmera country

Road signs warned “Caution – slow moving farm machinery use this highway”.

We did not stop in Donald. From passing through, it looked to be just a standard little country town. There was a caravan park that looked pleasant enough, beside a little lake.

Stayed on the Borung/Sunraysia Highway, which skirted south of the Buloke Lakes. At Litchfield, turned left. There had been a railway beside the road for some of the way, with warning bells and flashing lights, not just the uncontrolled crossings one often gets in the country. But where we crossed it at Litchfield there were boom gates too. From that, we concluded there must have been some serious train Vs vehicle encounters here in the past.

The roads we travelled today were really bad in some sections – bouncy and uneven. This was the result of frequent large trucks using roads not originally built to take their weight and number of wheels. It made for uncomfortable travel, especially in a vehicle like ours. It makes me so cross that, in an area that obviously has a network of rail lines, there is this almost total reliance on trucks. I do wish our State government would be more pro-active in encouraging/forcing more usage of railways for freight movement. There are just too many trucks on our roads.

Arrived at Warracknabeal around noon. A sign at the entrance to town informed us that it is the birthplace of Nick Cave – who knew? Or, in our case, cared?

Went straight to the caravan park. I had phoned the given number this morning, before leaving Boort, and been told there were en-suite sites available and just to pick one that was unoccupied and had the key in the door!

We found that there were twelve en-suite sites, in a double row in the centre of the park. About half of them were occupied by clearly longer term stayers. The available sites were scattered in amongst the long-term occupied.

We found a site where, from our outside sitting area, we could look across to the large creek that bordered the park. Yarriambiallik Creek. Try saying that one in a hurry! The en-suite was adequate – clean enough, though looking rather aged. The site was gravelled.

Warracknabeal site

A few sites up from us, the resident had a couple of very yappy, aggro little dogs, that carried on furiously whenever anyone moved into their line of sight. A wire mesh fence had been put up around the site, so the horrible things had a “yard” to run in.

This was a Council park. The lady on the next site told us that she had been here since last September, and that her husband had died two weeks ago. She said the Council wanted to refurbish the en-suite sites and were thus trying to get the long-termers to move out. It si not look like the Council was having much luck with that.

The en-suite site cost us $25 a night. Ordinary powered sites were $20. The long-termers paid a weekly rate of $125 or $100. I could see why the place was attractive to them.

It was actually a really attractive setting. There were plenty of trees, but not over our sites, so no worry about branch drop. It had rather a “bush” feel about it. Plenty of birds about. Campers on the ordinary sites that fronted onto the creek had clearly had campfires there.

Creek side section of park

A walking track along the creek extended both ways from the park, so it was a good place to take dog for her exercise walks. After we were set up, John took Couey a little way along the creek bank walk, to let her off the lead and throw the ball for her. Of course, after a couple of retrievals, she ignored him and shot off into the creek for a swim. As if it wasn’t obvious that this would happen! I tossed him a couple of towels and left him to do the drying.