From Wellington to Bathurst

I have an old nursing friend in Wellington, I trained with back in the 1960s and thought it would be good to contact her before we passed through. We made arrangements to meet with her in town on Sat and when we arrived she insisted we come back to her farm for lunch. She has been in Wellington since 1972 when she married her husband Paul. I last saw Mary 6 years ago at our nurses reunion in Sydney. It was great to see her again and chat about “the good old days” ! We stayed in the beautiful riverside caravan park at Wellington that night. It had been raining heavily for a few days and we passed through Orange the day before (Friday) stopping at the caravan park overnight and visiting the farmers market the next morning . It was still raining heavily but we managed a few purchases and headed on to Gulgong, the lovely old town where Henry Lawson (The poet/ writer) grew up. Most of the old buildings are still in tact or have been renovated or otherwise preserved. It was an old gold mining town, very charming with a crooked and narrow main street, apparently due to the tents in those days, being erected in a disorderly way. It remains a thriving town thanks to the nearby, productive coal mine. The rain kept up, so we waited till the next day before exploring the town. The sun finally decided to shine so we had a look at The Henry Lawson museum, the old opera house, the art gallery and antique shops. We also drove up Flirtation Hill to see the wonderful 360 degree vista. Everything looks so green after the drought affected areas we have been in. After all that rain, we were beginning to experience some of that 98% humidity that the Central Coast & Sydney has enjoyed (not) for the past 3 weeks.
Mudgee was next on our route and we arrived in time to have a good look around yet another historical and charming town. We visited a winery/cheese/gallery, just out of town and, of course, came away with an assortment of cheeses. We were not persuaded to purchase any of their wines….all too dry for our taste.
With long gone memories of Hill End (we had both been there in the early 70’s) we hoped to see a less dusty township this time around and we were not disappointed thanks to the abundance of recent rain. The road was better than expected with only 2 short patches of rough dirt, maybe 10 km in all. We loved the old gold mining town. It was once one of the biggest inland townships in NSW. The mining boom here, in the 1870s, only lasted a few years, though we heard they are still mining gold somewhere nearby. The community camping area was in a wonderful spot in the middle of town and very picturesque, with heaps of Kangaroos appearing on the hill behind us, around dusk followed by a magnificent sunset. There is only one pub left out of the original 28 and some of the old buildings have been immortalized by well known artists, such as Russell Drysdale, Bret Whitely and Margaret Olley. We enjoyed our surrounding so much, we stayed 2 nights, though we missed the internet, which , even with next G, we were unable to connect.
The road to Sofala was worse than expected. In fact, the opposite to the Hill End Rd. It had 2 short patches of tarmac and the rest was very lumpy, corrugated dirt road, not to mention very narrow in parts and quite winding. Thankfully, we didn’t need to pass any busses or large vehicles en route and made it safely to Sofala, taking several hours to drive the 39km. This town is in a beautiful valley and is yet another preserved gold mining town popular with tourists on the weekends. Only a few of the shops were open for week day trading. We did find one cute shop called “Paws a minute” full of animal things. Marnie managed to find an irresistible pair of cat salt and peppers to take home.
Now we are in Bathurst for 2 days, parked in the showgrounds which is really close to the CBD and a much better alternative to the only caravan park 5 km out of town. Just one downside to this convenient spot, which we didn’t discover until 9.30pm when the road works began on the main road just 50 meters from where we were camped. It soon became evident we would get little sleep, as apparently they would be working all night (according to our fellow campers). We hastily packed up (I sat in the back holding on to everything while Marnie gingerly drove over to the other side of the showground, well away from the road and altogether much quieter . I am pleased to report a good nights sleep.

Vicki

Me and Mary at Wellington

Gulgong

View from Flirtation Hill, overlooking Gulgong

Marnie, warming up her tonsils in the old opera theatre Gulgong

Mudgee Vineyard

Many artists have painted this building in Hill End

Another cute house in Hill End

Church in Hill End

Look carefully and you will see TMH parked in the camping ground.

I love the way Kangaroos pose when  their picture is taken (Hill End)

This shack is called The Hill End Hilton

The community camp ground Hill End, very in keeping with the town

Marnie peering into the closed Bald Hill gold mine entrance.

This creek is near the mine, where I guess they once panned for gold

It was beautiful up here on Bald Hill, over looking Hill End. Lots of Kangaroos around during the day.

Sometimes the driver needs some dicipline!

Old Sofala pub

Sofala streetscape

Stray pussy in need of some lovin....Sofala

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

From Cowes to Orange and a trip down memory lane

We drove from Cowes, via Melbourne to East Doncaster, as it was closest caravan park to Eltham where we were headed the next day. Eltham has the amazing artist colony Montsalvat, founded by Justus Jörgensen, it is Australia’s oldest artists’ colony and is home to practising artists. It remains to this day a working not-for-profit arts centre administered by a board. Set in 12 acres of established gardens, the historic buildings include charming mud brick cottages and the impressive Great Hall which hosts a variety of concerts, exhibitions and functions.
It is like stepping back in time. Most of the buildings look centuries old. The main building (the great Hall) has a wonderful collection of hand made furniture. There are several galleries, mostly showing the work of Justus Jorgenson, lots of small buildings and rooms where resident artists live, acres of trees and gardens, a pool and a wonderful cafe selling the best scones and coffee in Victoria. We enjoyed several hours looking around the place.
Heading for Shepparton, we drove towards Wittlesea, thinking we might see some of the fire devastated areas. Most of the damage in that area was at Kingslake, a little too far out of our way, but as we drove along the freeway, we passed vast tracts of burt out bush near Flowerdale and Kilmore. Even down the centre of the expressway was burnt out for many miles.
We stayed 10km the other side of Shepparton and met some Chinese fruit pickers in the van park, who gave us a big bag of assorted, freshly picked fruit which I stewed up as we couldn’t have eaten it all before it went off.
On our way to Griffith, we passed through Jerilderie. The countryside is so flat that the sky gives the impression of being so much bigger.
I had been looking forward to seeing the Riverina area and was expecting much. Griffith was a big disappointment, as was Leeton, probably due to the 9 years of drought. Apparently a large amount of fruit and rice has to be imported to make their products. Rice crops especially, have fallen to minute amounts being grown and it has to be imported from Thailand, so that products such as rice cakes, can continue to be manufactured there.
The highlight of our week was visiting some “long time, no see” friends at West Wyalong. Dick and Bronwyn Myers, who have lived on a farm 30km out of town, for the best part of 40 years, (Bronwyn was actually born and raised there too). We got a wonderful surprise when they opened the door, to see Dick’s sister Tina was also there.
We had a wander round the property (Marnie had stayed there as a 10 yr old) and enjoyed a veritable feast for dinner (typical country hospitality) We left the next morning, weighed down by a large box of Dick’s home grown veggies.
We continued on the next day through to Grenfell, stopping to look around the town where Marnie’s parents (John and Judy) had spent their early teaching years at the local high school. Then it was on to Gooloogong, where my mother was born. Not much there, other than a pub, where the locals looked in their phone book and declared there were no longer any Hogans living in Gooloogong. We drove out to the local cemetery and managed to find uncle Ted and his wife Anne’s graves. That was the closest we got to unearthing some family history.
So, here we are in Orange. The countryside is so lush and green. I gather there has been plenty of rain this summer. It all looks so inviting after the months of browned off countryside we have been through. Tomorrow I am hoping to visit an old nursing friend from Sydney hospital, who lives in Wellington.

Vicki

David, Nicole, Charlie and Lou Lou, who we saw in Melbourne

Monselvat, pool and artists quarters.

Upstairs in the Great Hall

Monselvat

The Great Hall at Monselvat

The lovely old church

Marnie, sermonising, inside the church

Jerilderie also has some claims on Ned Kelly.

In the info centre at Gerliderie,

Fields of sunflowers on the way to Griffith

The pub at Gooloogong

The Big Racquet in Barellen where Evonne Gooloogong was raised.

Marnie with the Myers

Family graves at Gooloogong

The death of a Trusty friend

It is with a heavy heart that we report the sudden and unexpected death of our trusty navigator, James.

It happened yesterday on our way to Griffith. It became obvious that he was getting upset because we were ignoring his seemingly, continuous statement “YOUR OVER THE SPEED LIMIT” when going through a school zone (on Sunday) He suddenly lost the satellite connection and appeared to be completely lost, reciting over and over “re calculating route” turn left, turn right etc….We should have taken it as a sign that things were not quite right but we ignored him and continued on the freeway. We did restart him a few times, but always with the same result….Finally, he emitted an ear piercing buzz, which, looking back now, was his last hurrah. We could not turn it off and so it continued, even with the plug out, until, he was finally laid to rest, when the battery ran out. Saddened, but relieved the noise had ceased, we managed to find our own way to Griffith. It may be, that we just expected too much of him and he died of overwork.
Worried that we might continually get lost for the remainder of the trip, we went straight into Dick Smiths to purchase a new one (poor James, barely passed on more that 5 minutes!) Our new navigator could be Lee (Male,) or Karen. Lee is a cross between English and Australian. Karen is just plain AUSSIE. As we feel comforted by having a male around, I think we will give Lee a go first.
I will report at a later date, on how he is doing.
Vicki

From Melbourne to Phillip Island

We had a few more days in Melbourne, during which time I managed to get 2 excellent seats for the Sat matinee show of “The Jersey Boys” . Before the show, we went to the Queen Victoria markets. The food section is extensive, with a meat and seafood area, a large Deli section and a wonderful fruit and veg area. Then, at the back of those is a vast area selling anything and everything. It would take all day to get around it, I am sure., but I did my best to see as much as possible.
The Jersey Boys proved to be the most entertaining show I have seen in recent years. We both loved it. What a treat and how fortunate to get good seats the day before. We did have to sit in separate rows (Marnie one row behind me) but were only 10 rows from the stage and almost in the middle. To get seats together, we would have to sit upstairs almost in the last row.
I have to say, we really loved Melbourne. It is a huge city, a little overwhelming to me at times, but great shopping, the latest shows, wonderful transport (love the trams) innumerable restaurants, a convenience store on almost every corner, noisy, busy and just a great place to spend some time. We were sorry to leave after 5 days. On our way out, we stopped at Glen Iris to visit my nephew David and his lovely wife Nicole and their 2 gorgeous children Charlie and Lou Lou. We enjoyed lunch with them and left at 3pm heading for Moe. It was stinking hot and we were dead beat by the time we got there. I rang my ex husband to let him know we were in town and the next morning we met for a coffee and catch up. He has been living in Moe for almost a year.
Wilsons Promontory, commonly known to Victorians as The Prom, was our next destination and we arrived after lunch at Tidal River, a large camping area in The National Park, next to the river and a few hundred meters to a beautiful beach. This is a very well set up holiday spot, with cabins, dormitories , a supermarket, café , info centre , well mapped out nature walks and lots of amenity blocks for the campers, not to mention, miles from nowhere. There were only a few (very expensive) powered sites. I think it all comes from solar power. We opted for non powered and managed to survive (only just!) for the next 2 days.
Tidal River has a wonderful backdrop of mountains which seem to be mostly rocky formations, high enough to have the clouds hanging over their tops at times. The walk to the beach, along the tannin stained river, has interesting granite boulders in natural, but attractive groupings. We did one of the nature walks which meandered on a boardwalk, by the river and over wetlands. The weather has been comfortably cool while staying here. We made friends with a cute, tame, Crimson Rosella. He sat in a tree close to the RV watching us. Marnie pulled out her bag of mixed parrot seed and he jumped straight onto her arm , picking out the sunflower seeds and pushing off all the others, so that they fell onto the ground. Another baby rosella joined him , then later we had 3 eating the discarded seeds. We didn’t see any other animals, but there was plenty of nocturnal activity outside the van, judging by the many and varied footprints surrounding us in the mornings. We did see one rabbit!
Onwards, ever onwards, we then drove to Phillip Island, to the main town of Cowes and here we are for 2 days. We are 100M from a lovely beach , which we enjoyed an evening stroll on last night, and today, while Marnie painted, I walked into town to check out the shops and general vibe.
We have not managed to get our awning replaced yet and will have to contact the insurance company, as the Melbourne repairer has not received the replacement and we will be leaving Victoria in a few days time.

Vicki

The beautiful old Princess theatre where we saw the Jersey Boys

Parliament House, Melbourne

The yummy Deli section of the Queen Victoria markets

I should have inserted a family pic of David and co, but completely forgot to take one. Also forgot to take one of ex Bill, so this is in the Prom, tannin stained river and interesting rocks

The beach at Tidal River, the Prom. near our camp site

More of the beach

Rock formations at the Prom

Tidal River, the Prom

More Tidal River

Our friendly rosella watching us.

He comes down for a feed.

This is a baby rosella. He hasnt developed his colours yet.

The mountains surrounding Tidal river. Wilsons Promotory.

The beach next to the caravan park at Cowes, Phillip Island.

Anglesea to Melbourne

Part of the Federation Square Building

The Anglesea caravan park was massive, close to town, by the beach and almost full to overflowing. Somehow, we managed to get a lovely, quiet spot on the frindge of the park, away from the crush of tents and people with just another motorhome beside us.It had been a long hot day, so we welcomed the southerly buster that blew in during the evening. I explored the beach and township the next day while Marnie did some painting. Then it was we off to Geelong for 2 days, where we  found a park close to the CBD, just a short bus ride away. The parks along the Great Ocean Rd are very expensive at this time of the year. Anglesea had charged $65pn and this one in Geelong was $42 (but we had an ensuite included) Most parks average $20 to $25. We were very blessed to get into any park at this time, without booking, so we no complain! We loved Geelong. It has a wonderful waterfront which was abuzz with activity being the Australia day weekend. Further along the waterfront is a beautiful botanical gardens. The CBD is just the right size for my liking,easy to find your way round and not too much traffic. We really enjoyed our stay.
Marnie has a friend in Melbourne she'd met while in Hong Kong, and her advice to us was to drive to Queenscliff and catch the ferry accross to Sorento, then enjoy a leisurely drive into Melbourne along the Mornington Peninsular. Sounded good to us, so thats just what we did. The ferry accross only takes 40 minutes and, yes, there was room for TMH. Sorento is beautiful from the water, lots of waterfront mansions to ogle at. I think this must be a very wealthy area. The drive along the coast was wonderful. Most of the beaches have cute,colourful,timber beach huts along them. We saw one advertised for sale in Rosebud, for $44,000 and they are not even as big as a boat shed! Caravan parks run almost continuously along the foreshores. Unfortunitely we didnt have enough time to stay here before our 5 day booking in Melbourne, but I was glad we had taken this route so we could see the Mornington Peninsular. The last leg into Melbourne was along the East Link freeway and over the course of 24km, we had 6 toll charges, I think around $3 each (I will know when I get the bill) In the last few Km we saw a sign warning  a low bridge was ahead, but most unhelpfully, gave no measurement. After the third warning, it suggested high vehicles get off the expressway NOW. We obey immediately and were thankfull we had. We were only a few km from our hotel. Our Navigator, James, had made an error and was leading us on for another 47 km. We recalculated the route and arrived a few minutes later. Being Australia day, we were unsure of a parking spot near the hotel, but there was a double spot across the road, just waiting our arrival. How awesome was that? The hotel included a 5 day parking permit as this  street was one hour parking otherwise.
We settled in (that means we dragged loads of stuff from the RV up 2 flights of stairs) and took off to see what Melbourne had to offer on Aussie day. We are close to Fitzroy gardens and strolled through them on our way into the CBD. There was much happening...Lots of food stalls, and a loud rock band, people enjoying a day out in the sunshine. On a little further to Federation Square which was also very lively. I love this mad building, though I know lots of people hate it. We caught the free city circle tram, which takes about 50 minutes round, passing Parliment house, the Liabrary, Docklands etc.
On Wednesday, we met up with Camilla and her son,Leonard (Marnies friend from Crossroads) They picked us up and took us out to lunch near where they live in Carnegey and then drove us to St Kilda for a browse around the shops and a stroll along the beach. Lots of colourful sail kites  enjoying the windy weather.
Yesterday we saw the Australian Art Gallery in Federation Square (excellent) and did some shopping in Bourke St Mall and were back at  the hotel at 2pm to meet with the awning man. Alas, when he unpacked the awning, it had been damaged in transit from Sydney. So we are now waiting to hear if another one will arrive before we leave Victoria. After resting our weary bodies, we walked down to the Australian tennis Center. It costs only $19 to get in and that allows you to see any match currently being played, other than on the Center court and the Hisence arena. (but you can watch those on the big screen) We saw some players practicing, a  female doubles wheel chair match, some of the womans quarter finals doubles and the piece de resistance, the whole of semi finals between the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus) versus Renee Stubs (Aussie) and Lisa Ramond (USA) How excitement! It was an excellent match to watch and we gained a better appreciation of just how hard those Williams girls, hit the ball . They won in 2 sets.
We have a few more days here before going to Wilsons Promontory via Moe.
Vicki

The Geelong Waterfront

Tall ship at Geelong Waterfront

The car ferry arriving at Queenscliff

Nice house in Sorento

These beach sheds are common all along the Mornington Peninsular

Captain Cooks cottage in Fitzroy Gardens Melbourne

Busy Fitzroy Gardens on Australia day

Lots of people enjoying the band in the Gardens

Bikers also enjoying the day

Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

Kite sailing at St Kilda

At The Australian tennis center.

Ladies doubles quarter finals match

Ladies doubles wheel chair match.

Balls girls/boys at the start of the match

The all powerful, Venus Williams

Concentrating.

Venus and Serena

The match over. The Willaims sisters victorious.