This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Tag Archives: Shepparton


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2019 Life and Travels July 12

FRIDAY JULY 12     HOME TO MULWALA     245kms

By mid-morning, we were just about ready to depart. I made a tentative suggestion that, given the bleak day, we might consider a delay of a day or two. Nup. No way. John was in travel mode. End of story.

I had taken some perishables we could not use, to the neighbours on our other side. They had only moved in a couple of months ago, so we did not yet know them as well as the travelling ones. Gave them orange juice and milk, as those containers didn’t fit in the small Bus fridge, and some grapes – anticipating travel in fruit fly exclusion zones.

The man – G – came out to watch us hitch up the rig out front, after John had extracted Bus from the sideway, and I’d locked up the house. There was a D shackle missing from the car hitch – must have been “borrowed” for some other purpose, and not put back. So I had to unlock the house  again, to get the keys for the locked shed, so the missing item could be found. I think neighbour was slightly amused, as well as intrigued by the car hitch. He’d not seen one close up before. Our departure did not really paint a picture of efficient travellers.

So, almost 11am before we left. Still raining…

Great day for travel

We had not been to Yarrawonga or Mulwala before, so decided on those twin towns that straddle the Murray River, for our first night’s destination. Not too ambitious for the first day of travel. I was kind of determined to keep us to short travel days, if possible, as sitting for too many hours in Bus without any exercise was not great for my leg circulation. Whether I could rein in The Driver’s predilection to just keep driving remained to be seen.

As soon as we left home, I entered battle with the GPS, which wanted to direct us through the centre of Bendigo, and managed to persuade John to take a route via Eaglehawk. Eventually GPS caught up with the way I wanted to go, to join the highway at Epsom. Not often I win one, but my nemesis sulked away, plotting revenge.

Victoria’s solution to roads that need repairs…

The day was grey and drizzly when we left home. The rain grew heavier through the day. We passed a lot of wet and very miserable looking sheep along the way.

Wet and woolly

In Mooroopna, needed a comfort stop and then decided to eat our lunch rolls while parked up there. It was too chilly to wander about outside, so we ate in Bus.

Crossed the Goulburn River wetlands between Mooroopna and Shepparton, and then missed the angled deviation road that we should have taken. Not a peep of prior advice from the GPS! The resultant turn on to the highway in the centre of town was not easy, with traffic squashing up tightly. We do need to swing a little wide on sharp turns.

Goulburn River

Took the Katamatite road. I had it all plotted out on my paper atlas map. But the GPS had a brain fade – revenge? – and took us along back roads. I mean real back roads, just one step up from unsealed. I had no idea where we were. At one stage we seemed to be in an area called Boosey, which didn’t appear on my maps. Eventually we rejoined the road to Yarrawonga, east of Katamatite.

Back road countryside

I had booked us into the DC on the Lake Park at Mulwala, so we trundled through Yarrawonga without stopping, drove across the bridge/causeway into Mulwala on the NSW side and sought out the park. It was considerably further out of the town than I’d anticipated.

Bridge from Victoria into NSW

Our powered site cost $27 a night, after Top Tourist discount. The reception lady said the ground was sloppy – not surprising after all the rain – and we could go for a walk and select our own site. In the middle of winter, in the midst of a rain event, a waterside caravan park was not exactly bursting at the seams! In fact, there was no one else on any of the sites. If I believed in omens…

The park was dominated by cabins and privately owned permanent camp set-ups, it seemed. There was a foreshore grassed area but dogs were not allowed on that, which might have been annoying in fine weather.

We chose a site that had some gravel on it, that looked a bit drier, than the others around. There were no sites with cement slabs. The site was not far from the amenities block, a good idea given the continuing rain.

No need to worry about neighbours…

It was a bit windy, as well as drizzling rain, so we got set up quickly. John took Couey right off to the side of the park and gave her a ball chasing run.

John spent quite some time fiddling with setting up the new TV recorder he’d bought a few days ago, so he wouldn’t be limited to just “live” TV. He’d spent about $400 on this. Eventually decided that, to make it work, he needed a new cable, that had not been provided.

I’d planned that we’d go get fish and chips for tea, but John was pre-occupied with his TV issues, and it was a fair way back to town, so I fished a tin of tomato soup from my under-seat cache of tinned goodies. Cooked some pasta which we had with bottled stir-through sauce. It was an alright meal, but not what I’d been looking forward to.

Late in the afternoon really heavy rain set in. By dark, the ground outside Bus was flooded. Going to the amenities involved wading…

After tea, John watch football on TV. I read.

Through the night, my sleep was interrupted by John’s snoring, which seemed to have become much louder than the last time we travelled.

I was not enjoying this…


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2015 Travels May 29

FRIDAY MAY 29     SHEPPARTON TO BENDIGO     122kms

I was up before John and took dog walking around the park, on a sunny but cool morning. Some cloud about.

Our outlook at Victoria Lake Caravan Park

It was 10.30 before we left.

The reed-choked lake

Were somewhat delayed by talking with the neighbours in van parked behind our site. They had a red stumpy tail cattle dog travelling with them. It is so rare to find someone who even knows about the breed, let alone who has one with them. In fact, this was the first stumpy we had encountered whilst travelling. She was also timid about new things, like ours. She did not want to do a doggy meet and greet with Couey – growled at her – but was really sweet with us.

Our Lake Victoria site

Refuelled at the servo right by the park entrance – so easy. $1.309cpl.

We had a very routine trip, through the flat country of central Victoria, through Stanhope and Elmore, to Bendigo. No stops along the way.

Went into the Gold Nugget Tourist Park, at Epsom, on the northern side of the city. We had not stayed here before, but the two parks we had previously used were no longer taking dogs, so they had lost our custom. Yesterday, I had phoned the park at Ascot that we had really liked two years ago. The lady who answered the phone was most apologetic but said there had been a change of management and hence a change of attitude to dogs. By contrast, Gold Nugget was most welcoming.

Our en-suite site cost $40.50 a night, after discount. We had to unhitch before backing on to the site. The location of the en-suite sites had us rather isolated from the main part of the campground, in amongst cabins. The ordinary powered site part of the park was quite attractive. Our en-suite was adequate.

Our site at Golden Nugget Epsom

We were able to access an area of dead-end road, beside the park, to give Couey a bit of a run after the ball. Otherwise, I enjoyed walking with her on the internal roads of the park.

After setting up, drove to a nearby small shopping centre (Epsom?) where there was a Woolworths supermarket and other shops. Needed milk, bread, fruit. We bought an iced fruit loaf and had that back at the bus, for lunch. John collected a card from the fish and chip shop at the centre, so we could order tea tonight.

Grandson was playing hockey at 5.30pm. Set the GPS and I double-checked the navigation on a paper map, and we found our way to the hockey centre in the near dark.

There was a very strong smell of burning rubber in the car, as we’d previously noticed in Canberra. We were quite concerned. The wheels did not feel hot to the touch, though. I wondered whether the handbrake adjustment that was done in the last service was “catching” somehow?

Left Couey in the car while we watched the hockey – for obvious reasons. A ball is a ball, after all, and meant for serious chasing when sighted.

It was good to finally get to see the grandson play hockey. Another game I know little about, but apparently he did some good things. His team won. The boy was growing up so quickly – twelve years old now – getting taller and filing out. I think he was pleased that we finally got to see him perform. And, of course, we spent some time with daughter.

It was bloody cold, standing around watching the game!

After the hockey, went back to Bus. Phoned and ordered our fish and chips – there was a forty minute wait! Food must be good if shop is that busy? John drove to pick up our order. The fish was excellent, so were the ships, but serves were generous and we had ordered far too much.

Watched the football match that was on TV.


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2015 Travels May 28

THURSDAY MAY 28     GRIFFITH TO SHEPPARTON     295kms

When I got up in the morning, there were leaves all over Bus and car. Annoying. It took me quite a while to pick them out of the grille sections at the front of Terios.

Left Griffith at 10am on a day that was cool, but with blue sky and sunshine.

Not far out of town, we passed what appeared to be a very sizeable but apparently unused poultry farm. We wondered why it was this way and whether it was a casualty of the move to free range eggs? This area is a major one for egg and poultry production.

Just a bit south of Hanwood there was a large and fairly ornate new building. There were no signs to show what it was. The two sets of large gateposts were closed. Big house? Defunct winery?

We passed a truck waiting to turn onto the road with a load of round, yellow shrink-wrapped somethings… We were discussing what these might have been when a clue appeared in the form  of white blobs beside the road. Cotton! I hadn’t realized that this had become a cotton growing area. We soon started to see lots of the round, wrapped, bales of cotton stored in the paddocks, in long rows.

Roadside cotton blobs

There were more trucks transporting bales. They seemed to be converging on the Darlington Point township. (Later research revealed there was a cotton processing gin there).

Shrink wrapped cotton bales

We even saw some cotton plants growing, still with white blobs on the plants – maybe ready for harvesting? It hadn’t occurred to me before that there was much I didn’t know about this product and processes. Is there one harvest season for cotton, like for wheat? Or do the plants produce all year round?

Cotton growing…

We crossed the Murrumbidgee River at Darlington Point. Noted that there was quite a good looking caravan park on the banks of the river there. That could be a good place to relax for a few days, sometime.

Coleambally village had an old irrigation channel digger on display – large beastie.

Then we were back on the Newell again, after our friend visiting detour of yesterday.

We stopped at Jerilderie for a break, by a very attractive area of park land by a lake. Part of it was a War Memorial and contained military memorabilia, like a tank.

Military memorabilia at Jerilderie

There was a stylized windmill sort of structure in the distance. From the number of caravans moving in and out and pulled up there, it was obviously a well-known rest area.

Lake and rest area

This was a very handy area for a walk, toilet stop and dog ball throw – which we did on a grassed area over the road from the parklands.

I would really prefer just to lie here and look at it…

Not a great success – there were burrs or prickles in the grass, judging by a high-stepping dog. Really, all she wanted to do was head for, and probably get into, the lake. No way….

That’s as wet as dog is going to get…

Jerilderie appeared a very pleasant town. Next time we were on the Newell we should consider staying a night or two here.

Jerilderie lake

Continued on, with occasional clouds starting to appear in the sky ahead.

Do we need to be concerned?

In our travels on the Newell, over the past few days, had noticed a surprising number of trucks carrying new caravans northwards.

Drove through Finley without stopping, but noted there was a caravan park, by a lake, that could also be good for a stay.

South of Finley there was an ominous build up of dark cloud ahead. Guess we were heading for Victoria!

Victoria up ahead!

At 1pm, crossed back into our home State, at Tocumwal. As soon as we were across the Murray River, it started to rain – heavily.

As we approached Numurkah, the GPS directed us to turn right. That put us on to the road to Nathalia. Initially we thought this might be some sort of bypass route around Shepparton, but no, the lady definitely wanted us to go to Nathalia. We didn’t. Eventually were able to turn around and go back to the highway. The reason for that directing remains a mystery. We are not giving up on paper maps any time soon.

Drove through central Shepparton – there was no alternative – to the Lake Victoria Caravan Park. The way into this caravan park is not all that easy to find, tucked in as it is by a servo.

This area had obviously recently had some heavy rain – much heavier than we’d driven through – as there was water lying about everywhere.

Our en-suite site cost $37.80, after discount. After booking in at the office, I walked to the site, with John trundling Bus along behind me and the dog barking her head off in there, because I wasn’t inside. I had to dodge great pools of water. We would have to keep a tight lead on Couey if we didn’t want a wet dog to worry about.

We had to unhitch the car before backing into place.

There was a very attractive outlook over a large grassed area, towards the lake/river.

Back in 2001  we’d stayed a few days at this park, when we came up from Melbourne for a family wedding. I remembered the lake as being a fair-sized, open body of water, and was surprised to now find it more a series of ponds with large areas of reed banks. Wasn’t sure if my memory was faulty or if it really had changed that much.

It was fairly chilly and damp, but I managed to take Couey for a couple of walks around the park and along a good path by the lake. Of course, she spent a lot of time straining at the lead in an attempt to go get her feet – and more – wet.

It was a cold night. Yes – we were definitely back in Victoria.


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2002 Travels December 17

TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER     FORBES TO SHEPPARTON     520kms

Yet another long day of driving.

It did not have to be this way. We had told the house sitter we would not be home until 20 December, so we could have slowed down a bit!

Again, we travelled through the broad acres of the sheep/wheat belt of NSW.

Refuelled at Jerilderie – 92cpl.

At the Victorian border, the road changed from the Newell to the Goulburn Valley Highway. Since we had three nights to “spare”, I persuaded John that we should stop at Shepparton so I could try to arrange a visit with daughter. He did not want to deviate from the straight line home, with the van, but agreed we could park up in Shepparton, and do a day drive over to Bendigo, if I was able to arrange it.

We booked into the Shepparton East Caravan Park – $18 a night. Could not get into the one by the lake, where we’d stayed before. This was a nuisance, because the park was out of town and we had to drive to get to everything. Again, there were thus no pleasant walking options for me, while John napped or played on the computer – just surrounding road edges, mixing it with the traffic.

I phoned daughter and arranged to meet her for a while tomorrow, in Bendigo. They live a little way out of the city, and since her husband was home, and he and John do not mix well, we arranged a rendezvous at the shops in town.

Resize of 12-17-2002 to sJPG


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2001 Travels April

2001 – BACK AT WORK

As we drove the width of the continent, late last year, coming home, we had resolved to try to at least take the van away for some 4 or 5 day breaks, through this year. This would sustain us until we could, somehow, arrange matters to allow us longer travel again.

But life has a way of altering plans.

At the start of the year, John was offered work with a company making high end vehicle tracking devices. It combined his knowledge of computing and GPS technology – just too tempting. The work was part time, and erratic. Some weeks, five days. Sometimes just once or twice a month.

This made planning ahead rather hard.

The job also involved a hefty commute across the suburbs. In Melbourne peak time traffic, it meant at least an hour in traffic, each way.

The Great White Truck was definitely not the ideal city commuter vehicle!

In the middle of the year I was asked to return to teaching, for a term, to fill in for someone on sick leave. Senior Politics teachers were a somewhat scarce commodity.

It had been about three decades since I filled a solely classroom role in a school. I found it quite pleasant, not having any other responsibilities in the place, apart from delivering senior Politics, History and Literature.

However, the experience underlined the fact that I had no desire at all to resume my career – that travel was what I  liked best!

 

APRIL 2001

After four months of sitting in one place, the van was dragged out, at the end of April, and packed for only a few days away.

The occasion was a family wedding in Shepparton in north-central Victoria.

While packing the van, I discovered a zillion ants nesting in the freezebox of the fridge. Their close relatives had taken up residence in one of the van tail lights.

I couldn’t think of any way to extract the colony from the fridge, except to spray much Mortein in there, shut it all up overnight, then wipe out all the corpses I could find. The fridge needed a good air out after that.

We had to dismantle the tail light to clean them out of there.

Ants are the bane of a caravanner’s life! Ours had arrived, this time, we thought, via a shrub branch that was touching the van – in a corner of the parking area that was hard to see. I resolved to be ruthless in pruning the garden around the van, in future.

We drove north, via the usual Yea route. It was so good to be mobile again.

Stayed three nights at the Victoria Lake Caravan Park, which was quite pleasant. There was water in the lake and so some bird life to watch.

04-27-2001 lake by caravan park in shepparton.jpg

Lake Victoria

Some walking tracks went round part of the lake and continued on to other areas.

The weather was very pleasant – lovely autumn days, nights just a bit cool.

04-27-2001 shepparton caravan park.jpg

Early autumn colours by the lake

The nuptials and associated events occupied us for two full days.

That was all the time we had free, so the next day it was back the way we came.

Just a little taste of travel. Just enough to sustain the talk of “maybe next year”…..and all sorts of plans that were tossed around, some more feasible than others.