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.
My first stop today was at the Royal Botanical Gardens -Cranbourne. These were so superb! So many different environments created and also had loads of orchids on display. I took way too many photos – looks amazing with the spring flowers.
Next, I hiked up Trig Point Lookout in Churchill National Park-apparently one of the best views of Melbourne skyline from afar. This is mainly a mountain bike park. So, the maintenance roads are used for walkers. The walk isn’t spectacular really.
As I couldn’t find any campsites within reasonable distance to Dandenong Ranges National Park, I ended up staying in a motel in Ferntree Gully for 2 nights. I headed there as I had a date tonight – dinner and a walk in the park.
Had a walk around town in the morning and spent some more time at tourist info, gaining some valuable info :). I then had lunch & a chat with Stew- he came over from Corinella.
Once we were done I did a short section of Scenic Drive 92- west of Inverloch. Some nice lookout points in this area. The tides were pretty big- despite it not being high tide.
The last walk in the afternoon was from camp- to Townsend Creek and Lookout across the inlet.
The weather was intense during the night- especially the wind! It continued to rain until about 10am and then turned into a pretty good day.
I did a few walks today: started with Norman South Beach , Lilly Pilly Nature walk and the heathlands around to try and spot some orchids and wild flowers – a bit early but I was lucky.
The last walk for today before making my way to Inverloch was Sparkes Lookout. It is a fabulous Granite boulder lookout. I also saw some Greenhoods/ snail orchids on a mossy rock.
At $43 per night at Inverloch Foreshore the facilities were a bit disappointing. No camp kitchen 🙁 . I tried to set up camp in a sheltered spot…and it worked until about 1am… when the winds really picked up. So i decided to pack up the tent and all in in, into the car and sleep in the passenger seat. Not a comfortable night at all… I didn’t bother setting up the tent for the 2nd night…
There are a few small towns along the coast. I stopped at Port Albert and noted how large the swells were and very choppy waters! Then moved to Port Welshpool. This has among the longest jetties in the southern hemisphere. It is over 900m long. The piles were driven in with a pile driver. It is wooden and built with a long arch as to allow trains to get all the way to the end. Though it never had a train line constructed on it.
A fire damaged a large portion of the jetty in 2010 before many fund raising efforts were made to get it to the restored state it is today.
The drive to Agnes Falls winds through dairy farms. With the rain the grass is all luscious and green and the dark skies made it very dramatic. Agnes Falls has a drop of 59m .
Driving down to Wilson Promontory (the Prom) I stopped by for a walk to Whisky Bay and the lookout. The views to the wild seas were great but coming on to the beach I got beaten and sandblasted so I got out quick!
I was excited that I’d get a non-rainy window to set up my tent !
I booked a powered site for 3 nights.
After setting up I went to go read up the info at the visitor’s centre. I was there for a little while and ending up running o the car because it had started raining. The wind picked up a lot and I moved the car to try and block the wind from the tent a bit. It seemed to come from all directions however!
As I sat in the car I thought to myself Ï don’t think this tent is going to make it through the night. I was recording how damaging the winds were when the whole tent lifted and got blown in to a nearby pole. I threw the phone down and ran after it in the driving rain and gale winds!
I dragged the tent back to the car and also caught the tarp which flew up. As i kept fighting the winds i unzipped the tent to get the mattress, sleeping back and pillow bags out. I’m very glad that I hadn’t made my bed or everything would be covered in mud and wet!!
The lady next to me had pity on me and got out of her caravan to help when I was about 70% done. I was laughing, she said she would have been crying if it was her!
All was thrown into the car, i locked it and ran to the visitors centre before they closed to see if any accommodation options were available.
I got a hikers hut (4 bunks) for 120 per night but shared camp amenities. At least there was a heather and kitchenette. So I spent the evening cleaning my tent and checking for damage.
It wasn’t bad actually. some of the poles had been bent but actually I could still pitch the tent.
The wind howled the whole night! As a matter of fact the highest gust was measured here at 154km/h and steady winds of over 100km/h were measured during today!!
With a forecast that was patchy at best but storm activity supposed to be completed , I headed down south. I hit the scenic road to Turra Bulga National Park. It is not a very frequented NP but the tall trees in this area and especially the beech trees made it pretty epic!
As I hit the very narrow and windy sections and noticed the massive swaying trees I was somewhat apprehensive but the wind did calm a little and nothing fell across the road …or car!
I did a few walks to experience this small section of rainforest that is still left in Victoria.
I wasn’t sure where I would spend the night, but upon arriving in Yarrum and it being around 3pm I decided this would be it.
I booked in, in the small caravan park and got a sheltered spot very close to the undercover pool and amenities.
I did a walk around town to spot the street art and then hit the heated pool for a lovely swim. Another fella also joined me and we ended up chatting for an hour in the hot tub. He is also doing life on the road. The tub was nice and warm and bubbly too!!
The weather was still uncertain, so stayed at Jan’s again.
Got out a little bit to Yinnar/ Churchill for a drive and short walk in between showers. Yinnar has a few sculptures round town- the most fun probably being the mirror ball Hyuandai Accent with surfboard.
Rose’s gift also arrived by express post from Dalby- Thanks for that Rose & Megs!!
The Morwell Gallery (Latrobe Regional Gallery) had a few exhibitions .
The horse themed Horse Girl Energy; Straight Torque (sisters) & Clinton Hayden.
In the evening a big thunderstorm came in-so was happy to be at Jan’s and not in a tent somewhere!
Walhalla- yes- like the Viking name- is an old gold mining town that has been well preserved. It is also the start/ end of the Great Alps Walking track- 650km long.
Early mine investors got a 10,000 % return on their investment!
Some points of interest : the cemetery has very steep slopes and 1,300known graves.
The cricket ground has a steep 200m vertical climb up to it!! If you hit the ball out the park- well- good luck!!
After spending much of the day walking around the village, I drove down the steep, narrow (single lane) dirt road to Thomson Dam – Melbourne’s main water source.
Unfortunately not many places to stop in terms of lookouts but the views were great !
Luckily I wasn’t carried away by the mosquitoes last night- though there were so many between the mesh of my tent and outer layer that I thought we might lift off!
The drive back up to Sale is pretty relaxing, and through some good farming country. I wanted to spend some time I the wetlands here and do some bird watching.
My best experiences were: seeing an azure kingfisher- it was beautiful ! Moved so quick though! Then I noticed a very large nest, high up in the trees and thought- that must be the white bellied sea eagles’… and just then a I spotted the sea eagle coming towards the nest, landing and starting to eat whatever it had caught. A few minute later its partner flew off- perhaps their turn to hunt?
When I was finished at the wetlands I went in to town and the local gallery. There was an exhibition here of Annemieke Mein. It is incredible how she masters fabrics, sowing, water colours, textures etc to create her artwork. She is a local Sale lady- or has been for a long time- and this is thus her gallery so to speak.
The other displays were also fascinating !! Geoffrey Bartlett created the sculptures and the 3D cardboard patterns are the work of Mandy Gunn .
The main reason to stop at Paynesville is to catch the very quick ferry to Raymond Island, which is a koala reserve.
After 15min of looking up in gum trees and my neck hurting, I was quiet sure this was a scam though!!! Hahaha.
Eventually I spotted the first one, really high up a tree…and then probably some 10-12 more during the day .
Most were just sleeping- as per usual- one moved! Surprise!
After catching the ferry back I drove down to Golden Beach to set up camp at a free camp. I was warned about the mosquitoes – and there were a lot of them!
For sunset I went down to Trinculo shipwreck -which unfortunately was much more covered by sand than I expected and a bit disappointing …as was the sunset .
It’s my birthday- it’s my birthday -whooop-whoop !!
Luckily I didn’t have a lot to pack up, left the car and went for a walk then to get a lovely breakfast! Was also hoping to get some birthday cake for later but nothing tickled my fancy.
Then to the main event of celebration – many hours spent at the Metung Hotsprings!
The hot springs are a fairly commercial affair. $55 entry per person (though pay one get one free-not that I had a plus one?!?) There are many pool options, sauna, large gum barrels and single person wine type barrels that overlook the lake.
Luckily, it being midweek there aren’t too many people and everyone spreads out.
All the pools are available at multiple levels- up and down stairs. There are cold plunge pools (20C) located near the hot springs. Mind you- it was cool enough going from spring to spring. Having said that the sun was out, it was about 22C, and generally not too windy.
The day was really nice and relaxing and when I had soaked enough I hit the road through to Bairnsdale to see the frescos in St Mary’s Catholic Church. Most churches in Australia are def not renowned for any frescos but here we are… painted in the 1930s by Franceso Floreani .
I hopped in to the next door tourist info to grab maps and info and then headed SE towards Paynesville, where I set up camp in the caravan park for the night.
I whipped out my chair and got into the fridge to get out my sparkling wine (now that I didn’t have to drive anywhere) and some cheese and to my horror I realised that I forgot my big plastic container with my cheeses and tomatoes in the fridge in the apartment in Metung that morning!! I should explain that I bought some great cheddar in Bodalla, NSW a few weeks back and did not wanna let it go. I called the accommodation, and they hadn’t cleaned the room yet and got the container out the fridge. I said to the fella that I’d call and let him know when I’d get it. Then a thought came to me…in that my new farmer friend might be coming through to Bairnsdale. Sent him a message to share my cheese crisis and low and behold he had an appointment the next afternoon and was super kind enough to get my cheese and drop it off for me!! Yeah!!!
I was excited to get onto a cruise around the lakes today and lunch at the Metung Pub, then back to Lakes Entrance. Unfortunately, the lady told me that I was the only one booked for the day- but I waited 30min to see if anyone else turned up and they didn’t. So that was that plan in shambles.
New plan: go to Nyerimilang Homestead and check out the area here. The homestead has been there since the late 1800s and has amazing views and 250 hectares of farmland attached. The Stuarts owned it as a holiday place and would travel all the way from Melbourne , along the waterways and all the lake systems to come and relax and hunt etc.
I did the walks around the property and then headed to Metung, where I had made a booking for a nice apartment so that I can wake up in a bed on my birthday 😊 .
I unpacked and had a shower then went for a walk around the small township. It was getting nearer sunset so I found a log to sit on by the water and was delighted by the magic that would be my last sunset of my 30s !!! The colours, the reflections on the water, the birds – it was incredible!!!!
I loved it – didn’t want to leave but I had a pub date with a local farmer (been dabbling in the online dating). We had a great fat chat and good laughs!
Two relaxing days spent at Lakes Entrance. Luck was on my side when I booked a non powered site and got upgraded to the powered sites for free. The other section of the park was closed for winter maintenance .
Spent time doing several walks- the best probably being to the Entrance (5km return) to watch the seals fish and play as well as a few dolphins -but from afar.
