Weather wise it was a terrible day! Rainy and windy. As the gallery wasn’t open yesterday i came this morning . There are several pretty cool pieces- smallish but enjoyable.
I didn’t stop too much before having had enough driving and stopping in Melton.
Though 1 great stop was Tahbilk Winery. it is the oldest commercially producing winery in Australia and has some great old buildings and a cellar .
Very much appreciated being able to stay at Lisa’s place in Beechworth, but it was time to get going west after by big diversion! The first stop was Wangaratta , a lovely little town with a beautiful cathedral and some good street art too.
After a short walk around I headed into the infamous Glenrowan- where Ned Kelly’s last stand occurred. I went to the museum and then walked around the info boarded sites of events that occurred.
After a few hours spent in Glenrowan i drove to Shepparton to meet up with Andrew (from Antarctica) and Linda. I met at their place after which Andrew and I went out for lunch , then to the MOVE museum and then to check out the painted cows . HOW NOW painted on a brown cow was my favourite.
The MOVE museum has a very extensive display of cars (old and new), motorbikes, bicycles, Furphy tanks and a superb personal fashion collection. Then in an other hall there are huge trucks , primer movers and old buses! There is also another personal , donated collection of radios and telephones!
As also – it was great to catch up with Andrew and Linda and even meet some of the grandkids and check out Andrews SPC bulk sale businesses.
The drive to Bright was rather misty- which always sets a cool atmosphere. I didn’t find the town as amazing as I had heard from many people that it was. Even though I was there pretty early, it still only appears as a ski service town for Mt Buffalo. So I didn’t waste more time after my walk around and headed to the national park, where my first short walk was to Ladies Baths and the lower and upper view points of Eurobin Falls.
The Gorge Lookout & walk was a great one to do- the views over the valley and waterfall are breath-taking! The loop walk went to several lookouts. From many of these the chalet overlooks the whole valley and is a real pity that it hasn’t been operational for several years now. No one that takes over it can run it economically.
Le Souef Plateau has several walks that radiate out of the parking area. I decided to see how far I would get up the steep, uphill Sentinel and Castle hikes. I got to these rock formations fine- however couldn’t make it to Mahomet’s Tomb & Corral Peak as the ground/wetland was boggy and soft underfoot and I didn’t want to test the limits there.
Lady Luck was on my side and just that morning, the road to The Horn was opened up. This is the highest point in the park and is generally a downhill ski run in the winter. The walk up to the top is well formed but uphill all the way. It is also very busy with school holidays happening.
I was hoping to be able to stop and get some photos of the tobacco kilns around Myrtleford but unfortunately there wasn’t really a place to stop and always had traffic behind me. This old example speaks to the large tobacco industry in this area pre conversion to other crops such as vines.
The design remains the same, but steel rather than wood is used.
I hadn’t seen Gert for years and years- since Greymouth in New Zealand. So it was surprising when i noticed that Gert was travelling around the same wine region as me 🙂 I made contact to see if he wanted to catch up -so we made plans to do the Beechworth Goal tour.
The goal is famous as it housed Ned Kelly a few times and executed a few prisoners too – by hanging.
Some of the earlier prisoners were there for legitimately bad crimes but some are really questionable.
The goal was operational all the way from 1864 – 2004. The need for a goal arose after the population in the area exploded due to the gold rush…
Eldorado was my first stop- and was actually named prior to the areas gold rush. There is currently a dredge that remains parked up in the lake where gold and tin were excavated and processed.
It is a very impressive structure- even now. Operational from 1936 until 1954 when it was no longer profitable to operate.
After this stop I did the Silo Art loop- a long loop from Beechworth !
Katamatite – Tungamah- St James- Devenish – Goorambat. They are all pretty amazing !!
From Katamatite I did a 30min detour up north to see Sheral & Steve in Tocumal- just across NSW border. We last caught up when they were near western Brisbane a couple of years ago. Got the bus tour , had a coffee and chat and headed on the road again!
I also dropped by Benalla and checked out their Street Art
I wasn’t feeling great -so I did a walk around town and then went to the Beechworth Historic Reserve and did a very slow walk here. All of the orchids I spotted helped to slow me down!
I tried to have an afternoon nap to help sleep off the flu.
The plan for today was a fairly small loop around the surrounding points of interest. The first stop was at Woolshed Falls. Fairly small waterfalls and included a granite water course from gold mining days.
Mt Pilot has a superb 360 degree view of the area. The walk is uphill but not long 300m or so. I was very excited to spot orchids (including my first leopard orchids) and the wild flowers that grew on the giant granite boulders were superb!
Rutherglen is a very small village -with not much open when I got there. Just on my way out though I spotted that the Lisa Bishop shop was open and I actually bought and original artwork of hers. It is A2 size, and I hope it makes it back to Brisbane without destruction!!
My first winery stop in the area is Campbells -known for its Shiraz in the area. I bought two bottles for Lisa as a thank you!
Lake Moodermere Estate is right on the Murray River, with a tasting that was done just between myself and the winemaker. I enjoyed some of their varieties and also liked their Sparkling Shiraz (which is served cold)
Corowa – with its whiskey distillery was next – and just over the border in NSW. I didn’t actually do any tastings -just had a look around.
The final stop for the day was All Saints Winery -no tasting just checked it out. I noted a helicopter of someone who had popped in for lunch – how nice !!
I was feeling pretty knackered after what turned out to be a long day and my throat was sore!!
The visit to Chrismont Winery was great. Just a one-on-one tasting and chat with Linda. I enjoyed many of their wines and bought a couple. Their restaurant was closed but I enjoyed having a look at their sparkly charcoal drawings on the walls and the good view from the balcony.
Linda also recommended the German place down the road for lunch and I had some yummy traditional goulash!
Stopped by at the old mill to take photos of the pretty tree blossoms and the fabulous flour mill building.
Today was to be a road trip and walks day. The weather should be better …here is hoping !
The route was Healesville – Marysville- Warburton -Woori Yallock – Yarra Glen back to Toolangi.
It is a long route, especially considering that the roads are nearly all narrow and winding!
I only stopped in Healesville to grab a few groceries and a coffee and did a quick walk around. Quaint little town.
The drive between Healesville and Marysville is pretty epic ! And what took my breath away was the fact that there was still a bit of snow lying around in quiet a few spots. It’s a landscape that I’m not used to here in Aus and it looked great. Mind you, it was very cold, but looked superb !!!
The first place I spotted with snow I wanted to stop to take a photo and parked up next to a whole lot of cars. I only noticed, once I had parked, that they were all street racing cars …pick the odd Hilux out !! Hahahahaha. The youngsters driving them were all huddled together checking out each others wheels.
I was lucky in that the whole day there was only 2 people who drove behind me and who i let pass and then had the road myself.
I did stop by Steavonson Falls. A very quick walk to nice cascading waterfall. Lots of people though.
I wanted to stop by Camberville Historical Settlement and did. However, there were just a few info boards and nothing left of the settlement, which was disappointing. There was still snow on the ground which was cool…but then again no toilets …they were closed and I needed some bad !!
I also wanted to go and check out Victoria’s largest tree …just 1km track one way…but the track was very overgrown, muddy and dripping wet ! So I turned around and gave up on that !
With an urge to go to the toilet I high tailed it to Warburton …well…not quiet …but yeah.
It was packed with Melbournians , so I just used the toilet and went on my way !
On the way back home I stopped by Many Hands Winery which was very full, and so I made my way across the road to Levantine Hill Estate to check out their outdoor art sculptures , no wine tasting and then saw that Rochford did pizza and went over to have a pizza for late lunch / early dinner.
I thought I’d squeeze in one more winery …and picked the Italian themed Tokar.
Nice to be the only one in and rather than do I tasting I had a glass of mulled wine . That went down well! Also turned out that Mandy , the hostess , will be in Europe , in the same countries as me during the same time frame …so we might bump into one another again !
Back in camp, another cold night ahead I hopped into the tent to keep warm.
I must say it was probably this evening that I started not to feel great.
Woke up to an expected rainy morning …and patchy rainy day actually!
Packed up and headed towards the Yarra Valley, another of Australia’s well known wine regions. Unfortunately, it’s close to Melbourne…and it’s the weekend!
I pick my wineries at random, and my first stop was Yering Station. I got drawn to the beautiful architecture of their events and restaurant hall.
Just as I got out the car it started pouring, but luckily stopped after less than 15min. I walked down to the red brick building where the tastings are and decided to hand over my $15 and have a taste of their mid-range wines. The whites were soft on the palate while the reds just didn’t have to same bang taste that I’m used to. The reason being that these are cooler climate reds …so the tastes don’t quiet develop as richly as the hot climate wines as in the Barrosa Valley, South Australia. The lady who was doing my tasting for me found a wine that I did like… lucky me in was a reserve Shiraz for $190 per bottle … a little over budget I reckon!!! 2014 Vintage. Hahahaha. The 2016 had a similar taste and was 50 per bottle.
I then had a look around a few places online on what their lunch offerings were like…bound to be tasty but also many places were pretty expensive! I landed on De Bortoli. It wasn’t busy yet and they let my scruffy ass in …so that’s a good start!!
There was fresh focaccia and olive oil which was super! I ordered the crusty skinned barramundi with a side dish of cauliflower with pear and walnut. It was very tasty, the flavours all worked great together. It was $50 for the meal. Which is pricey but once very blue moon is fine.
To change up the mood entirely I headed further north to find my free camp site for the next two nights in Toolangi Rec Reserve. I couldn’t set up my tent though as it was raining so hard …I needed to wait for a gap. The temperature was due to plumet as yet another cold front approached. I waited 20min or so in the car until the rain stopped. Luckily my gap in weather was long enough to pitch the tent and so I was ready for the night. As I still had a few hours of light left I decided to explore a couple of waterfalls in Kingslake NP, near me.
First stop was Mason Falls. Driving through Kingslake Village though I was stopped in my tracks by a huge hailstorm that seemed to have come after blue skies showed up. The streets were covered white. It was 2C. Luckily the hail was small so the car didn’t get damaged!
After it stopped I drove slowly to the falls. Somehow …by sheer luck I managed to walk down to see them as well as get a beautiful show by a lyrebird all without getting rained or hailed upon. As a matter of fact it was blue skies and sunshine!
I was a few minutes down the road, heading to Wombelano Falls when the weather turned again, and the hail was sent down!! Only this time as it stopped hailing it started to snow!!!! My first Aussie snow experience!
I was talking to my mom on the phone as it was happening.
Once it was done, I again drove slowly to the next Falls so as not to slide on any ice build-up. It was only me and another car parked up. The weather had cleared miraculously yet again, and I set off on the 1.5km loop.
Unfortunately, the loop was mainly downhill, fairly muddy and got cold wet feet pretty quick! The rain waters were running down the track like a stream.
The falls were also pretty far away from the viewing platform and not too fantastic. Oh well got some exercise in , in some freaking cold temps .
I was glad that I didn’t get caught in more rain… until the return trip from the falls where I got soaked from the whole track being overgrown with very wet bushes !!! Aaarrrgghhh!!! Got in the car, heater on and headed back to camp with way too much excitement and cold for one day!!
Got changed into dry and hopped in the sleeping bag! Stayed there the night as rain passed by every few hours! The temps had remained so low that there was still frozen hail around my tent on my return.
What a misty day- and as I rose into the hills- the mist was even thicker! It was cold but luckily didn’t rain more.
I decided to do the Mathias Walking track and then spent the afternoon in the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Gardens with my date from last night. The gardens are again so beautiful and in full blossom. They are different from Cranbourne but stunning! Loads of cherry blossoms, azaleas and even proteas!!
We spent hours walking around and chatting.
