Well what a start we have had to this update. The dreaded “Kaye Virus” had hit us and we have had all kinds of IT issues trying to get started. Don’t really know why the western nations are worried about all these foreign hackers and all the cyber attacks, just let Kaye loose on the internet and we will have those buggers licked well and good. We have finally got it all sorted and will now give it a go.
After a nice stay in Maryborough we hit the road again and headed off towards Smythesdale. Smythesdale has a great almost free camping spot, ($5.00 per night) that has plenty of room and showers if you run out of water. We have stayed here before and thought it would be good to come back for a revisit. We actually arranged to do the final inspection on Anika’s new house just out of Melbourne, so it was a matter of filling in time til then. While at Smythesdale we did a bit of extra touring around the area that we hadn’t done the first time there. Smythesdale is only about 20 kilometres from Ballarat as well, so nice and close for a visit. Ballarat also had White Night on the Saturday which is where they light up some of the historic buildings in the city at night. It was a great event and attracted absolutely thousands of people into the town. Also in Ballarat was where they held the rowing events for the Melbourne Olympics and we did the walk around the lake which is well worth the time if your ever there. We also did a couple of day trips around the area and saw some quite different country side to the last time we were here.
From Smythesdale we headed towards the coast and Werribee. We told Anika that we would do the final inspection on her new house for her. We had a lot of trouble finding a place to stay around this area and were quite lucky to get in where we did. The caravan park was right on the beach and very windy. We weren’t sure what was around Werribee when we first got here and what a great little area it turned out to be. We filled in our time here easily with all there was to see. You can also get into Melbourne easily from here on the train and there was a bus from the caravan park to the station. Unfortunately Anika’s house wasn’t anywhere near ready for a final inspection but we didn’t let that deter us from having a good time.
The Point Cook RAAF Museum is close by and well worth a visit. They have a great collection of planes and memorabilia on display and its free to get in. A fantastic display that covers three large buildings Point Cook was also the birthplace of the Australian Flying Corps as well as the Royal Australian Air Force. There is also another Aviation Museum where they have on display a B-24 Liberator that is still being restored. You can walk around this aircraft and get up inside the underbelly for as very close look. Its also a great story on how they came into possession of the aircraft and other parts as well.
Werribee also has an Open range Zoo that was also a full day out. The day we choose to go was Toddlers and Strollers Day which we didn’t know about until we got there. Hence to say that there were a few toddlers and strollers around would be putting it mildly. Still there was plenty of room and we still managed to see most animals and enjoy the safari ride around the park. Pity the one that was talked about in WA didn’t get off the ground. This one and the park in South Australia have both been excellent and seem to draw great crowds. Nearby the zoo is the Victoria State Rose Garden and Werribee Mansion that were both worth walking around as well.
After a great time in Werribee we drove off towards Beaufort for a couple of nights. It wasn’t until we got here and drove into town that we realised we had stayed here before. That’s the trouble with all this travel, towns just all merge into together. The big difference this time was that the lake had water in it. On our last visit here the lake was bone dry. It was a nice change. On our drive from Werribee to Beaufort we had rain all the way with some of it very heavy that reduced visibility to around 50 metres or less. After the rain actually stopped we had a nice couple of days back in Beaufort.
From Beaufort we headed off towards Stawell for Easter. Every Easter they run the Stawell Gift running races so we decided that we would go along for the event. We stayed about 20 kilometres out of Stawell at a place called Lake Lonsdale Camping Area. This is a large free camping area right on the lakes edge. There were lots of areas to choose from and as we were there a few days before Easter we got to have a pick of the best spots. We had a great spot above the water with the Grampians in the background. Absolutely spoilt. We ended up camping here for a week and still had quite a bit of water left in the tanks which was good to know. Besides mainly being here for the races on the Saturday and Monday, we found plenty to do with a few drives around the area and just relaxing looking out over the lake towards the Grampians. The Stawell gift races were a lot of fun to go to. We went to the heats on the Saturday and to the finals on the Monday. They get a lot of people there on the Monday but it also didn’t seem to be to crowded. There were also some races named after the Strickland family, so Kaye suddenly felt a long lost attachment to the event that she kept on telling me about while there. Obviously something has happened to the Strickland gene pool since back then when they seemed to be able to run.
Just down the road from Stawell is the town of Great Western. Some might remember this name being associated with some quite nice wines. The day we went there was for the Great Western Rodeo on Good Friday. This was a great day out and the way they set up the seating was pretty unique. They just had semi trailers parked around the ring and unloaded bales of hay off them to form seating. After the event they just put the hay back in the trucks and take them away. We felt it created a great atmosphere for the event.
While we were at Beaufort we had e-mailed the company that made our chassis and asked them for details on the bearing sizes for the van and also sent them some pictures on some small issues we had found since we had been travelling. We didn’t think to much of them but they asked if it would be possible to inspect the van. We had arranged for the Wednesday after Easter, so this meant back tracking again towards Melbourne. We headed off towards a town called Heathcote which is about 90 kilometres from Melbourne. On the Wednesday we drove into Melbourne where they did an inspection on the chassis and asked if they could do some repairs to it. It only took them couple of hours. We hadn’t expected them to do anything so it was good to see that they showed some concern about what we showed them and wanted to rectify them.
After these repairs we were quite keen to get away from Melbourne as it felt as though we couldn’t get away from the place. There always seemed to be something dragging us back there. Anyway the van is all good now with all things we wanted looked at done so now we can travel knowing that if anything happens from here on it will be something we didn’t know about.