Well blow me down with a feather!
Here we are miles away from any known friends or family and we get a knock on the door this afternoon and in walks Himself's brother and sister in law from Bendigo. Big surprise.
Apparently they have been to visit friends in NSW and decided to come home a different way and realised from this blog that they would be going past us, so they came to see if we would like to join them for dinner at the local club. We are both still buzzing from the surprise and know we will have a great night out. Thank you, you certainly went the extra mile and it is very much appreciated.
The interesting thing is that we left camp this morning to take a 6 hour trip up the mountains to follow the Snowy River to its source, but when we checked in at the local Information Centre we found out that with a bit more planning we could cover a whole lot more ground and see so much more than we originally thought, so we cancelled today's trip and came back to camp to plan a bigger and better trip for tomorrow. If we had gone today we would have missed our very pleasant surprise visitors.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Monday...16 February 2015
We are making progress people. I am with it enough to be able to say.......
Today, we travelled to Orbost. Loved the caravan park at Bairnsdale and ditto for Orbost. Nice big grassy parks, lots of room for us. Makes life so much easier.
The caravan park is across the road from the famous Snowy River. Now that is special.
After lunch at the local bakery we travelled 15 km down the road to Marlo to see the Snowy reach the ocean.
We came back to base via Cape Conran (sorry no lighthouse!) and Cabbage Tree. Here they have the only naturally occurring patch of Cabbage Tree Palms in Victoria. It was a bit of a trek down a dirt road and over a basic rail free bridge on Cabbage Tree Creek to get there.
Today, we travelled to Orbost. Loved the caravan park at Bairnsdale and ditto for Orbost. Nice big grassy parks, lots of room for us. Makes life so much easier.
The caravan park is across the road from the famous Snowy River. Now that is special.
After lunch at the local bakery we travelled 15 km down the road to Marlo to see the Snowy reach the ocean.
We came back to base via Cape Conran (sorry no lighthouse!) and Cabbage Tree. Here they have the only naturally occurring patch of Cabbage Tree Palms in Victoria. It was a bit of a trek down a dirt road and over a basic rail free bridge on Cabbage Tree Creek to get there.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Saturday...14 February 2015
Valentines Day. No bunches of red roses at the door of my caravan, no breakfast in bed, no chocolates. Oh well I guess that Himself is just not into it!! To be honest neither am I. I think we should be making sure our special someone knows how much they are cherished all the time, not just on one very public occasion. Having said that, I am sure I could always find somewhere to drape an extra diamond or two if they came my way..........
It is raining today, it has been raining off and on all night. Apparently there may even be a thunder storm or two before the day is done. That could ruin a couple of romantic picnics!
Himself found a Dometic dealer in town so decided to order a new cover for our air conditioner. He discovered that the current one was cracked and broken when he went up on the roof to sweep the top of the slides before we left the last stop. The dealer insisted that it would only take a couple of days to have the cover couriered from Melbourne. What a joke!
After waiting all week, Himself drove the three hours each way to Melbourne yesterday and collected the part himself! Now we need to wait for the rain to stop so that he can get up on the roof again and change the cover.
Something is very wrong when we can buy stuff online from overseas and have it delivered in three days and yet the local industries still cannot get their A into G and provide something as basic as good customer service.
It is raining today, it has been raining off and on all night. Apparently there may even be a thunder storm or two before the day is done. That could ruin a couple of romantic picnics!
Himself found a Dometic dealer in town so decided to order a new cover for our air conditioner. He discovered that the current one was cracked and broken when he went up on the roof to sweep the top of the slides before we left the last stop. The dealer insisted that it would only take a couple of days to have the cover couriered from Melbourne. What a joke!
After waiting all week, Himself drove the three hours each way to Melbourne yesterday and collected the part himself! Now we need to wait for the rain to stop so that he can get up on the roof again and change the cover.
Something is very wrong when we can buy stuff online from overseas and have it delivered in three days and yet the local industries still cannot get their A into G and provide something as basic as good customer service.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Monday...9 February 2015
I know I keep saying we did this or that "yesterday", but all this touristing is very tiring and I find that I am often just too weary to write this blog at the end of a long day of travel and energetic site seeing!
So.......yesterday we were up early again to travel to Buchan. That is Buchan with B people although Himself has been having some fun with how he says it. I have yet to tell him that one particular arm of my extended family may take it on themselves to seek him out and give him a jolly good thrashing with their sporrans for his disrespect!
Anyway way back when there was still dinosaurs in our back paddocks, and Australian stuff was still taught in our schools, we learnt about the Buchan (Vic) and Jenolan (NSW) caves.
Having arrived in Bairnsdale and looked at the local signposts it quickly became clear that we were somewhere near Buchan. Turns out it is just about an hour away so of course we had to have a look.
There are four caves in this particular system but only two are currently open to the general public, access to the others is only for members of caving clubs as they require some experience to negotiate.
We toured both caves, and really how many times can you say "wow" or gasp in delight as each new section of the cave is revealed when the guide turns on the lighting as we reach different sections of the system.
Caves are awesome stuff. Mother Nature makes great things with her "playdough". She is a bit slow, often taking thousands or millions of years to finish a project but we all love her work. This shot is in Royal Cave.
The second cave is called Fairy Cave. Both were spectacular. Fairy cave had some low level areas that required a bit of waddling like a duck to negotiate but I think this cave was more interesting than the Royal cave.
After lunch at the Buchan Roadhouse we headed back to base but took the scenic route and came back via the town of Lakes Entrance. Although there are 19 caravan parks listed for this beach side town, a quick look yesterday had us crossing most of them off as too small for our big rig!
When we got back to Bairnsdale we visited again with our North West neighbours and bless them, we had afternoon tea with home made scones and home made jams. Wonderful. I drank the teapot dry. I find tourist stuff thirsty work! Sad to leave them but no doubt we will catch up again, hopefully it will not be so long this time.
We have added extra time to our stay here to rest and recover from all our recent activity. I felt OK when I got up this morning but the more I move the more my legs protest. There are an awful lot of stairs and steps in caves!!
So.......yesterday we were up early again to travel to Buchan. That is Buchan with B people although Himself has been having some fun with how he says it. I have yet to tell him that one particular arm of my extended family may take it on themselves to seek him out and give him a jolly good thrashing with their sporrans for his disrespect!
Anyway way back when there was still dinosaurs in our back paddocks, and Australian stuff was still taught in our schools, we learnt about the Buchan (Vic) and Jenolan (NSW) caves.
Having arrived in Bairnsdale and looked at the local signposts it quickly became clear that we were somewhere near Buchan. Turns out it is just about an hour away so of course we had to have a look.
There are four caves in this particular system but only two are currently open to the general public, access to the others is only for members of caving clubs as they require some experience to negotiate.
We toured both caves, and really how many times can you say "wow" or gasp in delight as each new section of the cave is revealed when the guide turns on the lighting as we reach different sections of the system.
Caves are awesome stuff. Mother Nature makes great things with her "playdough". She is a bit slow, often taking thousands or millions of years to finish a project but we all love her work. This shot is in Royal Cave.
The second cave is called Fairy Cave. Both were spectacular. Fairy cave had some low level areas that required a bit of waddling like a duck to negotiate but I think this cave was more interesting than the Royal cave.
After lunch at the Buchan Roadhouse we headed back to base but took the scenic route and came back via the town of Lakes Entrance. Although there are 19 caravan parks listed for this beach side town, a quick look yesterday had us crossing most of them off as too small for our big rig!
When we got back to Bairnsdale we visited again with our North West neighbours and bless them, we had afternoon tea with home made scones and home made jams. Wonderful. I drank the teapot dry. I find tourist stuff thirsty work! Sad to leave them but no doubt we will catch up again, hopefully it will not be so long this time.
We have added extra time to our stay here to rest and recover from all our recent activity. I felt OK when I got up this morning but the more I move the more my legs protest. There are an awful lot of stairs and steps in caves!!
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Sunday...8 February 2015
Well our quick hello to friends in Sale turned into a chatfest of more than two hours. How wonderful to see these people. We made a cuppa in their caravan and sat at a table outside the local Information Centre and talked our heads off. We both reluctantly hit the road again at lunch time instead of morning tea time! I took away fond memories of our time together AND.....a badly sunburnt face and neck. I do hope no one else got burnt too. Two days later I still cannot touch my nose. Serves me right for being such a chatterbox!
When we got to Bairnsdale we made camp and headed out to the local RSL club to catch up with neighbours from our time in the North West. To quote someone else, Mr D was a top supervisor and Mrs D was the "ants pants" at the kindergarten. She was the Pied Piper of Para. Children followed her where ever she went and mine still have fond memories of their time with her at kindy and Brownies.
We had a wonderful dinner with them and talked and talked! The meals and service at the club were very good.
Yesterday they collected us from our caravan park and took us up into Victoria's high country. What a drive. We travelled on the Great Alpine Road all the way to the other side of Mt Hotham. We turned around at a place called Mt Blowhard. My comment when I got out of the car was to say that I was on top of the world. What a stunning view.
The mountains go back layer on layer, we counted seven but could see the faint outline of more ranges after that. Hotham is not the highest mountain in Australia but it sure made me feel like it was. At varying places along the way you can also see Mt Feathertop, Mt Bogong, Mt Buffalo and Mt Kosiosko if it is a clear day and you are in just the right place on the Great Dividing Range which these mountains form part of.
We passed lots of push bike riders up there. The lot of them are mad. The roads are steep and winding and the wind blows like a hurricane. Maybe Blowhard is very descriptive of their lungs when they reach the top of Mt Hotham!
The Great Alpine Road is an iconic ride for the motorbike mob. We saw plenty of motorbikes too. Apparently the road is good enough to take a caravan over the mountains but thankfully not too many try it!
At the Mt Hotham village, they have built a rather expensive bridge over the road so that the local mountain pygmy possum can cross the road safely. I would love to have seen the experts teaching them possums to only cross the road there! It would also double as a great place to seek shelter if you were caught outside in a viscous snow storm. I rather likes this bridge. It looks like a work of art.
The markers on the side of the roads up there are over two metres high and are bright red/orange so that they can be seen when it snows. This is a very good idea as the other side of those poles in a very steep drop, broken only by the trees growing on the sides of the mountain. The views are alternate stunning or scary depending on which angle you view them from.
.jpg)
We had a simple lunch at Dinner Plain and watched more push bike riders coming and going, it seems to be a bit of a staging post for them and their support crews. I did not get a photo but was very pleased to see that for now the cattle are back free ranging in the high country. I for one believe they do more good than harm up there in the summer months keeping the undergrowth under control in extremely hard to reach places. The locals were saying that since the government has been shutting the cattle out of the high country, the brumbies and kangaroos have been breeding up and are wrecking the pastures and bush.
We also passed the Alpine School. It provides an intensive leadership program for teams of Year 9 students from around the state. Lucky kids to go to school way up there with all that gorgeous scenery and flora and fauna.
We had the time of our lives and think ourselves very lucky to have been taken out for the day by such wonderful people who are a walking encyclopaedia of this area. You always learn more when travelling with a born and bred local. They know all the stuff that is not in the tourist literature.
When we got to Bairnsdale we made camp and headed out to the local RSL club to catch up with neighbours from our time in the North West. To quote someone else, Mr D was a top supervisor and Mrs D was the "ants pants" at the kindergarten. She was the Pied Piper of Para. Children followed her where ever she went and mine still have fond memories of their time with her at kindy and Brownies.
We had a wonderful dinner with them and talked and talked! The meals and service at the club were very good.
Yesterday they collected us from our caravan park and took us up into Victoria's high country. What a drive. We travelled on the Great Alpine Road all the way to the other side of Mt Hotham. We turned around at a place called Mt Blowhard. My comment when I got out of the car was to say that I was on top of the world. What a stunning view.
The mountains go back layer on layer, we counted seven but could see the faint outline of more ranges after that. Hotham is not the highest mountain in Australia but it sure made me feel like it was. At varying places along the way you can also see Mt Feathertop, Mt Bogong, Mt Buffalo and Mt Kosiosko if it is a clear day and you are in just the right place on the Great Dividing Range which these mountains form part of.
We passed lots of push bike riders up there. The lot of them are mad. The roads are steep and winding and the wind blows like a hurricane. Maybe Blowhard is very descriptive of their lungs when they reach the top of Mt Hotham!
The Great Alpine Road is an iconic ride for the motorbike mob. We saw plenty of motorbikes too. Apparently the road is good enough to take a caravan over the mountains but thankfully not too many try it!
At the Mt Hotham village, they have built a rather expensive bridge over the road so that the local mountain pygmy possum can cross the road safely. I would love to have seen the experts teaching them possums to only cross the road there! It would also double as a great place to seek shelter if you were caught outside in a viscous snow storm. I rather likes this bridge. It looks like a work of art.
The markers on the side of the roads up there are over two metres high and are bright red/orange so that they can be seen when it snows. This is a very good idea as the other side of those poles in a very steep drop, broken only by the trees growing on the sides of the mountain. The views are alternate stunning or scary depending on which angle you view them from.
We had a simple lunch at Dinner Plain and watched more push bike riders coming and going, it seems to be a bit of a staging post for them and their support crews. I did not get a photo but was very pleased to see that for now the cattle are back free ranging in the high country. I for one believe they do more good than harm up there in the summer months keeping the undergrowth under control in extremely hard to reach places. The locals were saying that since the government has been shutting the cattle out of the high country, the brumbies and kangaroos have been breeding up and are wrecking the pastures and bush.
We also passed the Alpine School. It provides an intensive leadership program for teams of Year 9 students from around the state. Lucky kids to go to school way up there with all that gorgeous scenery and flora and fauna.
We had the time of our lives and think ourselves very lucky to have been taken out for the day by such wonderful people who are a walking encyclopaedia of this area. You always learn more when travelling with a born and bred local. They know all the stuff that is not in the tourist literature.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Thursday...5 February 2015
On the road again.
Today, after many fond farewells of our companions in the caravan park we started our travels again.
The folk at that park are really nice and we are especially fond of a couple who have one of those own your own park homes just behind our caravan site. Their little dog, Sam, is such a sweet natured animal, he loves everyone he meets but is not the noisy attention seeker. He accepts as his right all the pats and compliments that come his way without it affecting his sunny disposition.
The people who own the park are fine and their ground staff is second to none. They are tireless workers and are always happy to help the campers. Yesterday I watched them help load two motor bikes onto a trailer for a guest who has a prosthetic leg. Nobody asked, they just saw the need and did the job. Fantastic fellows.
Last night we had a last supper with the daughter and her partner and of course the new grandchild as well as their older furbaby. We already miss our cuddles with the baby and no doubt in time we will miss the daughter too! They are managing their new parent status very well so we are happy to let them get on with it.
This years travel plan is Melbourne to Brisbane up the actual coast roads as much as possible, it is an area we have not travelled yet and there is much we would like to see.
Today's trip was a rocking chair ride from one side of dear old Melbourne town to the other without a single set of traffic lights. Brilliant freeway/motorway system as long as you know where you want to be going early enough for lane changes. Oh and of course so long as your bank account can afford the many road tolls along that particular stretch of road. For the technically inclined it is roughly 75 km from one side of Melbourne to the other, measuring it from the Calder Hwy entry at Keilor to the end of the South East Link at Pakenham.
We have passed through Warragul, Moe and Morwell and tonight we are in Traralgon. Tomorrow we will meet with friends from Melbourne, in Sale! They have been out this way having a small break and are going home tomorrow so we will meet them in Sale as we continue our trek east.
Next stop after that is Bairnsdale.
Today, after many fond farewells of our companions in the caravan park we started our travels again.
The folk at that park are really nice and we are especially fond of a couple who have one of those own your own park homes just behind our caravan site. Their little dog, Sam, is such a sweet natured animal, he loves everyone he meets but is not the noisy attention seeker. He accepts as his right all the pats and compliments that come his way without it affecting his sunny disposition.
The people who own the park are fine and their ground staff is second to none. They are tireless workers and are always happy to help the campers. Yesterday I watched them help load two motor bikes onto a trailer for a guest who has a prosthetic leg. Nobody asked, they just saw the need and did the job. Fantastic fellows.
Last night we had a last supper with the daughter and her partner and of course the new grandchild as well as their older furbaby. We already miss our cuddles with the baby and no doubt in time we will miss the daughter too! They are managing their new parent status very well so we are happy to let them get on with it.
This years travel plan is Melbourne to Brisbane up the actual coast roads as much as possible, it is an area we have not travelled yet and there is much we would like to see.
Today's trip was a rocking chair ride from one side of dear old Melbourne town to the other without a single set of traffic lights. Brilliant freeway/motorway system as long as you know where you want to be going early enough for lane changes. Oh and of course so long as your bank account can afford the many road tolls along that particular stretch of road. For the technically inclined it is roughly 75 km from one side of Melbourne to the other, measuring it from the Calder Hwy entry at Keilor to the end of the South East Link at Pakenham.
We have passed through Warragul, Moe and Morwell and tonight we are in Traralgon. Tomorrow we will meet with friends from Melbourne, in Sale! They have been out this way having a small break and are going home tomorrow so we will meet them in Sale as we continue our trek east.
Next stop after that is Bairnsdale.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
1 February 2015
Goodness, February already! Nearly time for us to leave and continue our journey.
The new grand child is making remarkable progress and is just the sweetest little thing. We will miss her as we travel north again, away from the approaching winter.
Yesterday we drove to Horsham to visit another of our children and her family. Her husband is a very tall man and her two sons are both well over six foot already. Long day but we did enjoy the visit.
Today we have a lunch time BBQ with friends who will meet the grandchild for the first time, followed in the evening with dinner at the Club with Himself's family. Quite the party people for now.
Tomorrow we start the sorting, packing and organising to get us on the road again in the middle of the week. Sad to leave but excited to travel again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)