After looking around the Ballarat area it was off to Melbourne for a week with the Powys’s.  We had decided to put the caravan into storage for a week as John and Maria had offered us to stay at their house.  We found a great place not far from Tullamarine Airport to leave the van so after a quick detour it was off to the Powys’s.

John and Maria have a great house in Nunawading and it was an easy drive to their house through the Melbourne traffic.  One thing we did notice in Melbourne is that drivers are very courteous and let you in on side streets, very different to Perth’s aggressive natured drivers.

We were very lucky to get to know John and Maria while on Nauru over 30 years ago and have kept in touch over this time.  John was the Australian High Commissioner to Nauru and has many interesting insights to tell of different people on the island.  As it was 30 years since being on Nauru we decided that we should also try and catch up with the Westerman’s while in Melbourne who were on the island at the same time.  Michael was a pilot for Air Nauru and Lyn was a school teacher.  After a quick phone call and some texts it was all arranged for a meal at the Blackburn Hotel for a “30 Year Reunion”.  It was great to catch up with Michael and Lyn who don’t seem to have changed at all.  The last time we saw them both was 10 years ago in Canberra for our 20 Year Reunion.  It was great to hear about what we had all been up to and how much all our lives have changed since we were all last together and also what all our children were doing with their lives.

One thing we certainly got into the groove very easily with while in Melbourne was going out for regular coffees and some regular cafes that John and Maria have adopted.  It wasn’t very good for our waist lines but enjoyable all the same.   Around the Nunawading /Blackburn area there were some very good walks that we all embarked on as some form of guilty punishment for all the coffees we were indulging in.  We also managed to catch up with two of John and Maria’s children in David and Julia.  David is a guitarist/banjoist with the band “The Paper Kites” that are becoming very popular and developing quite a following.  They are also doing some regular touring and headlining shows.  In between touring etc David is a pretty good barista and makes a mean cappuccino.  Julia and her husband Ollie have just recently had a baby boy and he seems very much the apple of John’s eye.

As we have been to Melbourne a few times we didn’t really have anything that we felt was on any kind of bucket list to look at.  We decided one day that we would go and look at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Display in the city, so it was off to the station and top up the  Myki cards and a day in the city.

 

 

 

 

The week with John and Maria seemed to go all to quickly so it was with sad hearts that we said our goodbyes to each other then it was back to pick up the van and head off down towards Mornington Peninsular and to stay for a night at Les and Denise Dodd’s.  We hadn’t seen Les and Denise for many years so it was good to catch up and we all had a nice meal out at the local RSL club near Safety Beach.  To Kaye’s shock she didn’t get her usual tea in bed the next morning and I have been paying dearly ever since that day.  After saying goodbye to Les and Denise it was off towards Phillip Island to have a look and stay the night.  We did a tour of the race track which was quite good.  I didn’t realise how wide the actual track was, it always looked a lot narrower to me on TV.

Next we headed to Wilsons Promontory to have a look.  Kaye was keen to have another look at this area as it was where her father Walter Strickland trained with the commando’s during the second world war before going off to New Guinea to fight.  We stayed just out of the National Park at a place called Duck Point where we saw some of the largest groups of black swans we had ever seen, I always thought that they were mostly predominant in WA but they have great mobs of them over here.  This was an easy drive to Wilsons Promontory and we had a big day of walking some beach trails and walking up Mt Bishop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now starting to make our way north and hopefully towards some warmer weather.  Last week has been quite cool and overcast so we are looking forward to some sunshine as we head towards Cape York.   We both felt with all the visiting we had been able to do recently it was a real change from the “normal life” we had been doing for the last eight months and it was a really nice change, we are very fortunate to know such wonderful people over this side of Australia.  Now it will be back to some free camping and life on the road again so until next update keep well………

The drive to Ballarat from Lorne was nice and easy through some farming country and plantations.   We decided to stay in a free camping area about 20k’s out of Ballarat.  It was a small town called Smythesdale that had an great little park area with toilets and showers all supplied for just a donation.   Some of these smaller places do make a big effort to attract us grey nomads so it is good to try and support them.   Smythesdale is well worth a stop over if ever your in the area.  They say your maximum stay is for three days but some had been there for around a week when we arrived with no hassles from the caretaker.  The camping area also had a great boat for kids to play on that was built up from an old tree that had to be cut down.  When you read the story of it apparently the artist “saw” a boat in the tree when they were cutting it down.  Its easy to see I will never become and artist as when I look at a tree all I mostly see is a tree.

 

 

 

From Smythesdale it was an easy drive into Ballarat to have a look around.  Ballarat has some great old buildings and it is a credit to the town how they have maintained these over the years.  Lydiard Street has the main historical buildings in it and is a nice easy walk to do.  A visit to Sovereign Hill was also on the cards to look at the old ways of the miners back in the early days.  We also did the light and sound show at night called “Blood On The Cross”.   I  think we have been a bit spoilt with some of the other shows we have seen as we both left quite disappointed after this.  We both felt they needed to make if a bit more interactive with a few people in the show as all you see is a few lights going on and off and some commentary of the story of the Eureka Stockade.   Some will think its a good show and that is all that matters I suppose.   One thing that did surprise us a bit was how dry it was around Ballarat town.  Compared to a lot of the other towns we have seen there were a lot of very dry ovals and parks in Ballarat.

A couple of things we really did enjoy seeing at Sovereign Hill was the making of the wooden wagon wheels.   The demonstration showed you everything from the making of the hubs and spokes, how they place the wheel sections onto the spokes, the attaching of the steel ring to the wheel and then setting it all together.  One interesting fact was that it can anywhere between 5 years to 16 years for the hubs to dry out and cure after they have been made before they can be used in a wheel.   We also thought the two working boilers were very impressive.  The maintenance on these looked really good as all the parts were nice and clean.  All the machinery in the mining displays is steam driven and still looks as good as it did when it was first installed way back when.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our three days at Smythesdale we thought we would go and stay in Ballarat itself for a few days just to be a bit closer.   What we didn’t realise at the time was that it was a long weekend in Victoria and so there was no accommodation at all left in Ballarat.  After some serious discussion over a few wines we decided on staying at a small town called Beaufort which is a bit further from Ballarat but not to far.  I was surprised when we got there just how big it was as I was expecting another Smythesdale.  Anyhow it allowed to get some washing etc done before heading on to Melbourne to stay with John and Maria Powys for the week.  There was a nice walk at Beaufort through the Mt Buangor State Park and Fern Tree Falls.  Also the amount of coffee shops in the main street also surprised us.  They do seam to rely on tourists to stop and walk around the town witch they certainly did.

 

 

 

After a good week of looking around the Ballarat area it was time to pack up and head towards Melbourne to catch up with John and Maria Powys for a week.  We are putting the caravan into storage for the week so it will be nice to stay in a house for a while.  Until next time keep safe…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well after a week of hill trails and nearly killing ourselves walking some pretty challenging paths around Halls Gap it was of towards Lorne.  We stopped not far up the road at a small place called Terang for a couple of nights and what a nice little town this was.  It has a great main street that is lined with English Oak trees that really make the town centre look quite amazing.  Also round Terang is the small town of Noorat that features some very impressive stone walls that were mostly built in the 1860’s and line the main highway.  Noorat was also the birthplace of author Alan Marshall who I’m sure all history buffs will know had contracted polio at a young age and wrote the book I Can Jump Puddles that was made into a movie of the same name.  Mt Noorat nearby was also worth a climb for the view.  It is a green volcanic cone rising over 300 metres.

 

 

 

 

 

After Noorat it was a short drive into Lorne for a short three day stay.  We were catching up with big sister Jan and hubby Chris who were over this way for a wedding.   Lorne is a real tourist place and the caravan park we stayed in was quite close to the main road and very tight .  This was probably the first park we had been to that was a little bit noisy at night as we scored some young footballers and netballers who stayed opposite us and kept us entertained at nights for a while.  We didn’t feel that there was a great deal to do in Lorne and as the weather was a bit overcast  the beach wasn’t really an option.  We did do a couple of walks around Erskine Falls and Cora Lyn Cascades.  It was good to be able to catch up with Jan and Chris for a while and find out how the family are all going as we have now been away over 8 months.

 

 

 

After a nice three days in Lorne and saying cheers to Jan and Chris we were on the road again towards Ballarat.  It is always good to see and catch up with family and as they were leaving we were also happy to be leaving Lorne.  Its a nice place but if the weather isn’t the best its like all other seaside places.   Until the next time all keep well……………

After a nice few days in Port MacDonnell it was a drive over the border to Victoria.  We planned for a few free camping days on our way to the Grampians and staying at Halls Gap.  Our first  night was at a small place called Dartmoor.  We stayed in a nice area at what could be called the town park where around 12 vans parked for the night.  They had a great set that also provided nice clean toilets and a large amount of space so you weren’t very close to each other.  The main feature of the town were the wood carvings they had done from old trees along the main street.  These had all been done by chainsaw and were pretty special to see.

 

From Dartmoor we headed to a water hole called Cherry Pool which was about 40 kilometres out of Horsham.  We weren’t sure if this would have water in it but it did so that made the decision to stay there easy.  It was only just off the highway but there ended up being very little traffic noise at night which was a bonus.  While at Cherry pool we hooked up the spare 12v water pump we bought in Canberra at Christmas and tried pumping water from the billabong through the van for showers and dish water.  With the water being very clear in the billabong we thought it was time to try it out.  Lucky for us it went first time and so we could have normal showers etc and not have to worry to much about using the van water too quickly.   When we are in an area where we can hook it up again we could probably stay in a free camp area for a few weeks and not have to worry about drinking water running out from the van.

From Cherry Pool we did a day trip to Black Range State Park and did a few walks around the area.  The only down side to this was the 38 degree heat that knocked us around a bit but we survived so all was good.

 

 

From Cherry Pool it was down the road, over the mountain and into Halls Gap to do some walks in the Grampians.  The drive from Cherry Pool was pretty interesting through the farm land and then when we started to go into the Grampian’s National Park we passed a road sign saying the road ahead “may not be suitable for caravans”.  The really smart thing, was nowhere to turn around with your van if you didn’t want to go any further.  Not to be undeterred we just kept going and thought the road was not bad at all.   Any how the drive over the top into the valley where Halls Gap is was pretty spectacular with some great views along the way.  We had planned to stay 5 nights at Halls Gap but when we got there they had a special where you paid for 5 nights and could stay 7 so that was an easy decision for the rest of the week.  Kaye was happy as it meant we could do more walks.

Some of the walks to the lookouts are quite challenging in that you are doing some rock climbing, walking up sides of hills with lots of loose rocks and walking up water courses which were quite steep at times.  Once you got there to the lookout the views were worth the effort that you put in.  One walk we did from the caravan park to Sundial Peak was a real killer.  It was a 9km round trip with half of it up steep slopes and river courses to the top then down the same way to get home.  When we got back to the van I did look at Kaye and just shook my head in a loving way that we men do at times to our loved ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well after a week of nearly walking ourselves into an early grave it is off towards Lorne for a few days to catch up with Jan and Chris.  It will be good to catch up with some family and all the “news” from home.  After Lorne it is hopefully Ballarat for a week then Melbourne for a week.   This is the most forward planning we have done on the trip so far, don’t know if I like working to such a “tight” schedule.