Braybrook, (Melbourne), 37 47 07 S, 144 51 86 E, (451 Km, including 434 Km ferry).The Bass Straight and the roaring forties lived up to their reputations during the night, the seas were mountainous, rumbles ,creaks,groans, bangs and crashes were to be heard and that was only our stomachs, the ship made similar noises and kept us both awake!Great, a free roller coaster ride, very exiting, good job actually we are both good sailors and it doesn’t bother us.After a time we were in the shelter of King Island and the seas calmed down enabling us to sleep, until we were again woken up by someone (a man this time) telling us we would be docking in 45 minutes, not a good idea having a loudspeaker in theheadboard of your bed, if I had had a slipper handy I would have thrown it.We were parked this time in the bowels of the boat, but were called first to our vehicles, 1 lorry, 1 car and we were third off and on our way, the intention was to stay in Albert Park, just a few minutes from Port Melbourne and have breakfast and a walk whilst the “rush hour” traffic dispersed, but the roads seemed so quiet when we disembarked from the ferry at 7:00 am that we drove straight to the campsite (against the flow of city traffic) and were there at 7:35 am and had to wait for reception to open at 8:00 am, the 25 minutes were not wasted, there was a Safeway next door and we re-provisioned and even wheeled the shopping trolley (why do all4 wheels want to go in different directions?) around to the campsite car park, I emptied it (and returned it) whilst Jenny organised our accommodation, we then followed Stevo in his golf buggy who showed us to our site. A relax was then the order of the day, although Jenny caught up with a machine wash and I had a clean up of the motor home.
Tuesday 2nd December 2008
I have said before why are other country’s transport systems so much better than that which we have in the U.K?Melbourne’s public transport system “The Met” integrates bus, tram (750 of them) and trains.We caught a bus which run every 15 minutes outside the caravan park, $6.50 for the day to travel anywhere (bus, tram or train) in the Melbourne area and we were 45 minutes from the city centre, the old trams which criss-cross the city are a great sight and we will be using one tomorrow. Who’s idea was it to destroy the U.K tram system?First stop when we arrived in the city centre was Little Bourke Street, renowned for its “outdoor” activity stores, camera shops and further on, Chinatown.We found almost straight away the store we were looking for, “Columbia” to buy Jenny some walking sandals the same as mine, (you may remember my Teva’s went to the great cobbler in the sky after nine years service) that I bought in Sydney.Good news, there was 20 percent off so they only cost $56, even better news, I bought another pair myself, mine are showing signs of wear as I have practically lived in them since May.We had a good look around the centre, however one city centre of shops is almost like the next so we sort out the arcades and back street places that were more interesting.We did look in the shop windows of the large department store Myers, as the Christmas display is something special, although we couldn’t get too close as the Japanese tourists insist on having their photos taken at each window, something that’s amused us before is that they never seem to take a group photograph, if there are 10 in a group, then it is 10 individual photos!Why is it that I can walk 10 kilometres around a lake, through a forest, or up a mountain, without a problem, but can only do 1 kilometre around a shopping centre before my feet ache?The only other purchase we made was to buy Jenny a watch, (her Christmas present?) she as been without one since hers failed in New Zealand, I decided that I’m fed up of her asking me the time. Ishould have waited until we arrived in Singapore in January, I could have bought her a “genuine” Tag Heuer at the market for S$5. maybe even cheaper if there’s a January sale.Good idea when we got safely back, (I say safely because the bus driver fancied himself as a racing driver), we decided to use the spa at the campsite, a hour ofhot water, bubbles and jets, did wanders for my feet, I need them to recover for tomorrow!
Wednesday 3rd December 2008
Coburg (Melbourne) 37 43 34 S, 144 59 02 E (18 Km).A very short 25 minute drive this morning to another Big4 Camp site in Melbourne which is a bit more North of Braybrook.Coburg was our first choice for our Melbourne stay but didn’t have wireless internet, we therefore chose Braybrook that did have, according to the Big4 book, unfortunately they were between internet providers so the wireless internet wasn’t working, also when we move on now it means we can avoid driving through the city we can skirt around the outside.After lunch we caught the bus outside the camp site the driver told us where to get off (in the nicest possible way) and we only had to wait 5 minutes for the No19 tram to take us into the city a journey of approximately 45 minutes.We had arranged to meet our two friends Runa and Violet who both live in Melbourne for dinner this evening, who we went on the Kimberley tour with and with whom we had such a great time (see the adventures of “the mad scientist” in Western Australia, 7th September 2008). We had a short ride on the “tourist” tram which is a free tour that does a circuit of the city centre whilst a recorded commentary tells you about the different points of interest,It is one of those “jump on and jump off” type so you can join the tram at any point.We jumped off at Parliament House (we will probably complete the circuit another day) because Runa rang Jenny on her mobile to finalise a pick-up point and with the clatter and clangs of the tram they could not hear each other.Runa picked us up at 6:00 pm in her Audi which she has recently bought (more dials, switches, lights and other gizmos than a Boeing 747 cockpit), she hasn’t worked out what they all do yet as she’s not read the handbook!She then drove us to Brunswick Street a favourite eatery street of Melbournians where we met Violet, we enjoyed a great meal, talking about what we had all been up to since the end of August and reminiscing about the terrific time together in the Kimberley’s and the fun and laughter we had.We finished the evening at Brunetti a famous coffee house in the Carlton district, they have 15 pastry chefs producing the most enormous array of cakes, biscuits and chocolate all made by hand from petit four size to large gateau’s, we chose an assortment of the small delicious cakes andcups of cappuccino, even at 10:00 pm the place was packed and the tables were full both inside and out, however Violet waslucky to find a table being vacated inside which she swiftly possessed.After a wonderful night it was time to leave, Runa taking Violet back to where she had parked her car before kindly driving us back to the caravan park, hopefully we will see Runa and Violet again at the weekend when they have offered to take us sight-seeing for the day.
Thursday 4th December 2008
After a couple of busy????? days, today we are relaxing at the campsite, we did go out this morning and found a hairdresser for Jenny to have her hair cut and we also spotted a Safeway to pick up some bread and fresh fruit.We have changed our location on the camp ground as we have decided to stay a few more days, we spotted one with more room and nearer the bush so we arranged a move with reception.With this morning’s elevenses’ we finished off the remains of the cakes we (or rather Runa) bought at Brunetti last night they were delicious andservedon the silver (plastic silver actually) tray that they we had them on last night, it was sheer indulgence.After lunch, as Jenny had had her hair cut this morning, it was my turn, it cost Jenny $17 this morning it cost me nowt!Despitehavinga duck in our pond at home it was a pleasing spectacle this afternoon to see a mother duck waddling through the camp site with her 8 newly hatched ducklings in tow, we made sure she could get through the wire fence near us as she went on her way into the trees behind, we presume there must be a water source nearby.We have been able to do 3 things today we have not done for some weeks, wear shorts, sit outside and use a campsite barbeque, yes, the weather has improved and hopefully Victoria’s summer has begun.Apologies again for lack of updates, strange that 2 large campsites both claiming to be nearest the city centre cannot provide an internet service, especially strange considering some of the more remote regions we have been in have.
Friday 5th December 2008
Gosh, it sure has warmed up, by 8:00 am the temperature must have already been in the middle 20’s and we were able to have breakfast outside, another first for quite for a long time.We caught the bus at 11:45 am (rather later than we intended) and were soon at the tram stop, the number 19 then took us directly into Melbourne and we got off near the Flinders Street railway station an impressive 19th century building. We decided to have lunch before exploring and enjoyed a tasty Foccacio at Dymocks the large bookstore chain and then made our way to the city circle tram stop passing Myers on the way where hoards of small school children were queuing to see the Father Christmas window displays.The old tram built in 1936 which they use on the city circle route was very crowded but we managed to find a seat and off we clanked and banged, we alighted at Victoria Street and walked up to the Queen Victoria Market, I do like looking at the various fish for sale in a market and obviously this one had many fish which we don’t see in the UK, it did seem expensive though.Not so the T Bone steaks on the meat section $9.99 for a kilo, no wonder the Aussies’ like a BBQ, it is a pity that our freezer is full at the moment or we would have bought some. After wandering the other sections of the market i.e., the fruit, vegetable and delicatessen, we walked back to the tram stop and boarded one for our next destination, the waterfront, were we walked along the esplanade which was comprised mostly of residential, dining and entertainment, with the odd millionaires yacht berthed for good measure.After a coffee and muffin at a “Gloria Jeans” café we again boarded the city circle tram and alighted at the terminus for the Number 19 to Coburg, we can see why the trams are a favourite mode of transport here, with some “quirky” road rules for other vehicles which I can’t begin to explain (get out of the way or else) it does mean the trams are a quick way of getting from A to B, two buses today, six trams all for the equivalent of approximately £3.00, good value or what?
Saturday 6th December 2008
Today we are going to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, we walked 20 minutes from the camp site to use a different tram route into the city, the No 112 was waiting for us at the terminus (or it felt that way as soon as we had stepped aboard the doors closed and we were on our way).We pre-purchase our bus/tram/train ticket at the camp site reception so we don’t have the problem on the tram of discovering how to use the onboard ticket machine, it is amusing however to watch other people use them, especially when they drop a 2 cent coin and it rolls all the way to the front of the tram, out of the door and down the hill in the groove of the tram line and the driver has to stop the tram while the Japanese tourist chases the coin down the street, (I’m exaggerating, it was a 1cent coin) we went into the information centre when we reached the city and found out the botanical gardens were in walking distance so we didn’t bother with another tram but walked through attractive gardens and park land to the them.We decided to have lunch in the tea gardens and enjoyed baguettes and fresh scones with jam and cream by the side of the lake, unfortunately it decided to pour with rain so we had to shelter under the trees, it was only a shower so with the bitumen steaming beneath our feet we explored the rest of the gardens.There were so many people having parties and BBQ’s around the grounds and different area’s can be reserved for specific functions i.e. a wedding ceremony was being conducted whilst we were there.After afternoon tea at the café and souvenir shop we walked back to the city centre and caught the No 19 tram back to Coburg, spending the journey talking to a local couple, the man had emigrated from Huddersfield in the UK 40 years ago and worked as a prison officer in the nearby prison which has since closed, he was telling us some parts have been made into “normal” accommodation, we past the old prison on the bus, the cells still have bars on them and the walls have turrets and watch towers on each corner, the sale board on the outside mentions a unique purchase opportunity!
Sunday 7th December 2008
Unfortunately Violet had a prior engagement today, however Runa collected us from the camp site at 10:45 am and drove us to the “Dandenong Ranges National Park” which are 35 kilometres Eastof the city.We stopped first at Mount Dandenong the highest point in the ranges at 633 metres, with a fantastic view towards the city and many kilometres around and beyond, Runa had bought some buns so we eat those while we sat at the picnic tables enjoying the landscape, at least the weather was dry despite a cool wind, to be expected I suppose when we were sitting so high.We continued to Sherbrook Forest and the Grants Picnic Ground, where we picked up a leaflet on the many walks from the kiosk, we did a very short one “the Fern Gully Walk” and then the longer “Lyrebird Walk” which was about an hour, the only obstacle was the “tame” Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Crimson Rosella’s and Galahs which frequent the picnic area and are fed bird seed purchased from the kiosk, obstacle????Runa dislikes birds, still they made those Japanese tourists happy, (what makes you think I won’t get a visa if I ever wanted to visit Japan?) and I haven’t even mentioned the Japanese tourist who’s hire car was demolished by a tram!After our walk Runa arranged with Beck (Rebecca) her friend to meet us for afternoon tea and we drove to a restaurant “The Snooty Fox” where we met Beck a Kiwi from Wellington, we had a great time chatting and enjoying (again) tea, fresh scones, raspberry jam and cream, Runa decided to also have a Bread and Butter pudding as long as we all shared it, don’t know how much Jenny and Beck had, but Runa and I enjoyed it!We managed to sit outside as the sun decided to partially show itself and although still cool it was very pleasant, but all to soon it was time to go (read that we had eaten everything) and we said goodbye to Beck, Runa drove us back to our caravan site and had a cup of tea with us before going home, we also showed her a wood puzzle we bought in Tasmania, we thought her scientific brain might solve the puzzle, wrong, she is as puzzled as we are, (I might put a picture of it on the website andsee if there is a “Brain of Britain”).It was great being able to see Runa and Violet again, hopefully when they visit Europe we can meet up again, they are two fantastic “Aussie” girls that it has been our pleasure to meet and we have had such wonderful time with them, on the Kimberley’s tour and in Melbourne, love and thanks to both of them.
Monday 8th December 2008
Inverloch, 38 38 04 S, 145 44 47 E, (174 Km).Melbourne was the longest we had stopped near a “city” and we have really enjoyed our time there, despite the changeable weather.Travelling into the city on public transport was a joy and so cheap, not so travelling out of Melbourne in a camper van, I thought we had plenty of traffic lights in the U.K. but they pale into insignificance and you might guess that the majority changed to red just as we got there, they are also, because the lanes are normally 3 wide with a filtration lane, so slow in changing back in your favour.Betty our sat-nav’ behaved impeccably and found the Princes Highway the main route to this coast and after a stop at a picnic area for lunch we arrived at the camp site we had phoned earlier this morning, a) to see if they had a vacancy, b) to check the price, c) wireless internet availability, everything was acceptable so we arrived there, NO WIRELESS INTERNET,at least none on the caravan park, (where obviously we were going to be).We have therefore forsaken a camp site with an indoor swimming pool, spa, gymnasium, etc, for one with none of those (thank goodness on the gymnasium) just so we can give you guy’s an update to our travels, on a camp site that has.
Tuesday 9th December 2008
Got things a bit wrong today, we decided to get everything up to date on the computer, the web site, emails, banking, etc and have a tidy up of the van this morning and go for a walk and explore the Tarwin River and the Screw Creek Nature Walk this afternoon.This morning was fairly bright, dry and not windy, after lunch was the exact opposite, dull, very wet and a cold wind, we have even got the warm air heating on in the motor home!The weather is the main topic of conversation with the locals, it is not what is normally expected this time of the year.We had an email from Jo and Glyn the Coventry couple we met in Portland in October, they are touring Queensland now and Queensland has had their most severe electric storms for two decades, with landslides and flooding causing major damage although as they said “it is still sticky pants hot”. We have therefore spent the afternoon relaxing, reading and playing on the Nintendo DS.If theweather here continues to be poor, we may push on a bit away from the Bass Straitand the Southern Ocean and the shittypoor weather that comes from Antarctica and drive “around the corner” into New South Wales onto the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean coast at least the weather will not be coming directly from the South. Glad we got a photograph of the sunset over Venus Bay last night as we will certainly not get one tonight, tomorrow we drive to Wilsons Promontory, principally to do some walking, we hope that the weather improves.
Wednesday 10th December 2008
Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory National Park, 39 17 83 S, 146 19 17 E, (151 Km).Not a bad sunset last night the opportunities will be fewer now as we “go around the corner”We backtracked 13 kilometres this morning to the township of Wonthaggias we found out there was a book exchange there and with the poor weather yesterday I had read my book, didn’t just go to the bookshop, however, we also “refuelled” with both food and diesel.We drove the coast road to “The Prom” stopping at Liptrap Coastal Park a lovely picnic area with benches and tables on a lookout platform over the River Tarwin, these were all along the one stretch of road where they ran parallel and to be able to park a vehicle next to the river and have a picnic whilst fishing seems a great idea.After stopping at another lookout which gave fine views of the promontory itself we arrived at the ranger kiosk, because we were camping in the park we were just given a “Parknotes” information booklet and a pass through to the information and parks office at Tidal River. Jenny perused “Parknotes” on the way in and decided we would have lunch at “5 Mile Road” car park and then suitably “fed and watered” we would walk to “Millers Landing" a nature walk to the worlds most Southerly stand of Mangroves.The 2 kilometre, 1 hour walk with sighting of Kangaroo, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, interesting rock formations, and of course the mangroves made for an interesting walk and as usual took us longer than the average time.We finally got to Tidal River late afternoon and booked one night at the “Victoria Parks” camp site, $22.50 included our camping (non-powered site) and entrance to the park until sunset tomorrow, plus, “Parknotes” on the short walks in “The Prom” (the peninsular is the southern most part of the mainland). “Parknotes” suggest two places to see the sunset so after tea we drove down to “Whisky Bay” (not a dram in sight) and we were lucky, with several other people on the beach either watching or taking photographs(including a Japanese tourist with more equipment than in a Jessup’s store) we saw the sun disappear beyond the “Glennie Group” of islands, one of the better sunsets we have seen for a while.
Thursday 10th December 2008
John Crew Memorial Picnic Area, near Welshpool, 38 37 42 S, 146 39 46 E, (106 Km).Decisions, decisions, where to go to today, we finally made up our mind to drive the short distance to “Telegraph Saddle” car park and went to the viewing platform, electing not to walk the trail up to the “Mount Oberon” summit as we did not think, even though we are feeling quite fit and able, that we would manage the walk classed as Moderate/Hard, the view from the lookout was excellent and there were extensive views over the coastline and surrounding mountains, so it was worth the drive up.We then descended the steep road and had morning tea at the “Glennie” lookout one of 2 lookouts within about 700 metres of each other, which again gave us some superb views of the “Glennie Group” and other islands, I did take a photograph from here after sunset last night, but haven’t had chance to look at it yet.Squeaky Beach was our next destination a short walk from the car park (300 metres) to a wonderful beach, I have experimented here with some photographs of the waves on a slow speed setting, wonder how they will have turned out? The beach was composed of sensational white-sand and you didn’t have to go far along the beach barefoot to see where the name comes from, taking advantage of a nice warm day, we walked from one end to the other along the surf line.It was soon lunchtime and once again we drove up to the lookouts, this time stopping in the other one, “Norman’s” lookout, strange name as Norman Beach which we are visiting this afternoon cannot be seen from here, nice though to have lunch, sitting in the motorhome with such a fantastic vista.We had lunch and decided to have “puddin” so on the way to Norman Beach which is adjacent to the campsite, we indulged in an ice-cream each,Chocolate and Old English Toffee for me and Rum and Raisin and Old English Toffee for Jenny, served by a miserable woman, who we don’t think has ever smiled, the ice-cream’s however were delicious.Norman Beach is a surf beach, but today with the slight wind coming off the land (forgot the scientific name) the sea was like a mill pond, even Jenny could have balanced on a sheet of6 x 4 polystyrene, at least it gave the surf school instructors an easy time.We walked along the beach to the Tidal River having a laugh at the school children who had found some mud to slide along, it is be hopes they have a change of clothes before they get back on the coach! Our afternoon coffee and cake, a rich dark fruit cake from Woolworth’s, great value at $3.45 for a large slab and of which I am going to fill the baggage holdalls with when we come back, never mind about Jenny’s undies, (I digress) was back at “Normans” lookout, a view which we would never get tired of.Our last drive this afternoon was to the bay in between Whisky and Squeaky, Picnic Bay (every state seems to have a requirement to have a Picnic Bay) was a longer walk (400 meters) and as we turned a corner on the trail a Kangaroo blocked our path, I jumped, he jumped (obviously higher and longer than me) and he disappeared into the bush. Jenny always insists I lead the way, so its always me that finds these “creatures” first i.e., the snake in Tasmania, Jenny’stheory is especially if there are spider’s webs on a trail I find them first, I don’t mind except a Huntsman Spiders web is like a rope climb on a SAS commando course and trying to extricate oneself is not easy.Although we have driven backwards and forwards around “The Prom” today we have only covered 34 kilometres as everything we wanted to see was in such a small area, tonight we are back on the Gippsland highway and have stopped in a picnic area for the night,No, I don’t know who John Crew was and no, we aren’t in Wales!
Friday 12th December 2008
Bairnsdale,(155 Km).Whoops, the leisure battery went flat this morning, (it was OK at 6:30 am), we always have water for a cup of tea in a bottle (a priority) and matches for the cooker, but were unable to have a shower and with the water pump also not working we couldn’t wash.It lasted 2 nights in Tasmania without charge but obviously it was a colder there, so the fridge (which is what takes the most power) had a lot less work to do.Never mind by the time we had driven 50 kilometres and stopped for breakfast on a forestry track off the main highway the fridge was working again, we didn’t chance a shower in case it went flat again and we were unable to rinse soap off!We reached Bairnsdale mid-morning, first stop was the information centre, nobody “shunned” us so we guess we must have smelt OK and we gathered lots of info’ on the Great Alpine Road into the Alpine National Park, which we are going to visit (weather permitting) in the next 3 or 4 days.After a quick visit to a book exchange shop (the one in Wonthaggi wasn’t very good), I’ve just noticed I have written quick visit, choosing a couple of books was quick, paying and walking out of the shop was extremely slow as we had a long chat with the owner.A first for us on our trip, we went to church, well at least we went in to a church, a catholic church, St Mary’s Catholic church is notable worldwide for its opulent ceiling murals, painted in the 1930’s by an Italian-Australian, Frank Floreani, the lady at the information centre told us not to miss it and although not normally something we would look at, it was impressive and we went back with the camera and tripod (flash not allowed, so I needed to use a slow exposure time) and photographed a part of it, we did leave a donation!We arrived at the campsite and guess what?It’s pouring down with rain, again, so we have not been able to walk the nature trail which is part of the campsite, still on the plus side it does mean we can both take a shower earlier, I had started to wonder what the smell was!!!!!
Saturday 13th December 2008
A short 16 kilometre drive this morning to the little township of Paynesville on the shores of Lake Victoria and Lake King which are part of the Lakes region of East Gippsland, Victoria.We parked at the “top end” of the town and walked along the lake shore past the marina and found a very attractive coffee and cake café right on the quay side, which obviously we couldn’t ignore, (it was smoko time), with the sun shining we sat outside on the veranda for a long time just watching the boats go by.We then took the short ferry ride to Raymond Island, you can either walk on to the ferry free of charge or pay a fee for your vehicle, we walked.The island is renowned for it’s families of Koalas and it was not long before we spotted one in a gum tree, unusually wide awake and being alert to our sound and movement.We strolled around the island awhile before joining the ferry back, to cross the water which at that point is only about 100 metres wide, so the “free cruise” only lasts about 5 minutes!We arrived back at the motorhome and had lunch in the car park which overlooked the lake, inevitable the morning sunshine changed to rain, Jenny had left our washing to dry on the line so we decided to drive back to the camp site to retrieve it before going on to our next destination.The weather however changed for the worst, warm, but very, very wet so a read in the motorhome was the alternative for the rest of the day. We did manage a walk around the camp site lake and fauna park, saw an Alpaca which had it’s wool shaved off, looked very peculiar in the nude, but don’t we all!
Sunday 14th December 2008
We have decided to stay an extra day in Bairnsdale, we want to travel; “The Great Alpine Road” the 305 kilometre highway from Bairnsdale to Wangarrata and the weather today is not conducive to tackling the roads up into the mountains, especially as we want to see the alpine landscape. Jenny when she booked the extra day was speaking to the owner of the camp site , who was telling her that some people that crossed the Alpine National Park yesterday had not been able to see anything with the low cloud and rain.Tomorrow’s forecast is better (although far from perfect) so hopefully we will leave then or make alternative plans.What do you do when it is pouring down of rain?Answer, go Christmas shopping, well at least buy the food for Christmas day lunch a breast of Turkey (pre-roasted so we will just throw it in the microwave), potatoes, carrots and sprouts, followed by ChristmasPud’ and custard, great news, Coles supermarket had Stollen, a German Christmas Cake that is my favourite and we buy each year, we bought 2 of them, even better news, I won’t have to share it this year with Lincoln my old friend at CST Pharma.The rest of the day we spent reading, listening to music and sorting photographs on the computer (getting a bit low on giga-bytes), organised a great screensaver on the computer with a favourite photo from each country and Australian State we have visited.
Monday 15th December 2008
Sullivans Lookout, Alpine National Park, 36 43 08 S, 147 79 27 E, (245 Km).Typing this in the most superb location, sitting at a picnic table, overlooking the Kiewa Valley with the Mounts, Emu and Bogong, (Victoria’s highest mountain at 1,986 meters) having just had Fish and Chips for our evening meal, a location which we would find hard to beat. The weather this morning was a bit dull and cloudy, but at least it had stopped raining, however the nearer the mountains we got the more it improved and by the time we got to the little township of Omeo 100 kilometre from the coast, we were treated to blue sky, white fluffy clouds and sunshine.We stopped at several lookouts on the way to the park, having lunchjust after Omeo and chatted to a couple in a motor home that were visiting from Great Yarmouth, we exchanged campsite information as they were travelling in the opposite direction to us over the Alpine Range, we also told them about our favourite places in Queensland as it is one of their later destinations.We seemed to have done a lot of yarning (UK=chatting) today with a Dutch couple at Danny’s lookout, a Dutch lad and his Chilean girlfriend at another and we had a very long yarn withprofessional artist Ray and his friend Ivan who were painting in oils at the Towonga Gap lookout which is about a kilometres from were we have stopped tonight, fascinating to learn something about painting in oils and that they only use 6 main colours, we must look at Ray’s web site as soon as we can.Will finish now almost out of battery on the lap top and as the sun has gone down it has got a great deal cooler, not unexpected at the elevation we are at. as we are staying here overnight, I think we will be snuggling well down in our sleeping bags! We have had a very enjoyable day and driven through some amazing scenery, the weather has surprised us, we did not expect such a lovely day, perhaps I shouldn’t type this bit, tomorrow may be different.
Tuesday 16th December 2008
Porepunkah, 36 42 29 S, 146 55 09 E, (220 Km).Jenny wasn’t to pleased with me this morning when I woke and got dressed to watch the sun come up over Mount Bogong, it was 5:30 am!I sat on the bench outside with a cup of tea (I did make Jenny one) and waited patiently, camera on tripod for the first glint to come over the summit, I had miscalculated it “glinted” at 6:06:22 am (precisely) and I could have stayed an extra ½ hour in bed, Jenny was even more displeased, especially the noise I made, I blamed a kangaroo crashing through the bush and a tree falling down (both true, but she didn’t believe me).Still it did mean after a shower and breakfast we were on our way fairly early, not early enough to beat the guys in a truck painting the centre yellow line on the road, we can only guess that they use yellow for all the road marking here to show up when the snow is on the ground.We had decided to drive to Falls Creek an Alpine Village 40 kilometres away, however when we got there most of the place was shut for the season so we drove back along the Kiewa Valley, stopping at Fainter Falls (peculiar name) for a short walk and photograph and for morning smoko at a parking area where we had spotted some beautiful Orange flowers, which we think may be Orchids, while Jenny got the brew on I photographed them with the Macro lenses, which I have not used very much on our travels, why is it when I want to take a photograph of a flower the wind starts to blow?Reminded me of the M5 motorway today at a place called Happy Valley, no traffic, but we still had to wait 10 minutes at a road works with a stop/go man (or was it a woman, we couldn’t tell), while they resurfaced the road didn’t really matter I switched off the engine and read a chapter of my book, it did mean we were a little later having lunch though.The spectacular granite cliffs of Mount Buffalo National Park was our next stop, from the park entrance ($10.30 for the day) it was a 20 kilometre steep climb around hairpin bends to reach “The Gorge” day area at 1,300 metres ASL, we walked to several of the lookouts which gave tremendous views of the Buckland Valley, The Alpine National Park and the adjoining Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, which we travel to in the next few days.Early evening we descended Mount Buffalo and drove to the Big4 campsite at Bright, Jenny went to the reception which should have still been open, the door was locked, she rang the bell, she rang the intercom, no answer, she rattled the door, rang the bell, again, rang the intercom, again, still no one arrived.She banged the door, shouted at the top of her voice “open this bloody door”, stuffed a firecracker through the letterbox, threw a stone at the window and kicked their cat, nobody came, we drove 6 kilometres down the road to another campsite, I’m exaggerating again she didn’t say bloody!
Wednesday 17th December 2008
Beechworth36 21 49 S, 146 42 03 E (160Km).The lady at reception suggested a drive today and because it is raining we agreed, especially as the title of the drive is “Wine and Food Gourmet Drive” and it is in the direction we are travelling towards Wangarrata.We did drive along the Buckland Valley for 15 kilometres, but because of the low cloud didn’t see anything of interest so we returned along the same road, we did have 3 dogs trying to bite lumps out of the tyres, but they soon gave up after I accelerated to 50 Kph, one blighter was persistent and almost kept up though.Our first “gourmet” stop was at the Milawa Cheese Factory, Jenny as usual tried most of the free tasting, I as usual (boring) would only try the Cheddar and after a long time deliberating (10 seconds) we bought some of the 3 year old Cheddar, the bakehouse was also open so we bought an Italian Sour Baguette, that didn’t last long we had it for lunch, with Woolworth’s Tasty Cheddar at about a ¼ of the price of the 3 year old, tasted great too, the massive “bug” that arrived on the outside window wanted some too.Next stop would have been the handmade chocolate shop but the notice said closed on Thursdays, hang on, it’s Wednesday and they are closed, I had to restrain Jenny from a repeat performance of last night!Milawa Mustards was our next destination and we started with a tasting of the mild and progressed along the table to the hot, extremely hot, 2 pints of drinking water afterwards, hot.We bought 2 different types, we would have bought the selection pack, but we thought of the constraints of our baggage allowance, Jenny already having to do without underwear, so I can bring back “Woolworth’s Dark Rich Fruit Cake”, I don’t know what else I can throw out of her bag, she’ll have to wear something. Anna Bienvenu (Mrs Mustard) is also an accomplished photographer and has a photographic gallery in another part of “The Old Emu Inn”, so we had a look there as well, most of her work is concentrated on photos on the aftermath of bush fires at Mount Buffalo National Park, which have occurred in the last few years, an unusual subject, the photographs are most impressive, taken with a Nikon D70 the model previous to mine.Brown Brothers was next, the famous wine grower, however as before at other wine cellar doors we feel they are grossly overpriced and prefer to buy from the supermarket, it was interesting looking around and reading the history of the Brown family and their vineyards.Remember me suggesting that with this VW 3.5 turbo diesel perhaps I could give a 4 litre Ford Falcon police car a run for its money.Well I chickened out today when I had blue and red lights flashing in my rear view mirror, an unmarked (or as I say plain- clothed) Holden police car was on my tail, I decided (or did he decide for me) that I should pull over.Another random breathalyser test, (what a good job I didn’t try any of the free tasting at Brown Brothers).It obviously showed negative, “licence please” was the next request, not that easy, its kept in the floor safe and weJenny has to kneel on the floor in a most uncomfortable position to put in the combination and unlock it. he was very patient and I gave him a “potted” history of our travels, funny thing he said “you’re grey nomads, but you haven’t got grey hair” (nice of him to notice I thought) I showed him our A4 size window sign (a union jack with www.ukgreynomads.co.uk on it) we had a good laugh a bit more of a yarn and off he went, why do they pick on me?After a quick replenish of food and a refill of diesel we continued to our over night stop at Beechworth, great, right on the side of the lake and the nearest site to the water.We have changed our itinerary quite substantially in the last couple of days and for the next few days, instead of driving “The Great Alpine Highway” and returning the same way to the coast and then doing a similar drive when we go to the Kosciuszko National Park in NSW, we are driving along the top of both (they are effectively joined, but in different states) then driving back through Kosciuszko National Park to the coast.The plus to this is that we are not far from the town of Wagga Wagga (not mis-typed) and are calling in to see Keith and Pat our friends from our great trip on the “Billy Tea Safari “ to Cape York, we are looking forward to seeing them again and they have kindly invited us for lunch tomorrow.Lunch, it might be stew and damper (see guest page) next stop, New South Wales, hope I don’t get stopped for speeding!
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