Month: May 2022

May 28th

Ok well we found our next camp in Powelltown. Provided by the community, behind the local hall. And sawmill. A good level site, where the grass still had due on it at 4pm !! ,Yes very cold here, but the snow isn’t, due for a few weeks yet, so the locals say.

Just down the road is the one stop, P O/ store / pub. We met up with another couple ,travelling and also staying the night here, and decided a meal at the pub was the go.

The outdoor area was nice, but we opted to sit inside. Chatting away with the owners. We were told that we were lucky to arrive on a Wednesday as they have an extreme sports night in the hall at 7 pm, would be worth going to. We had a nice dinner and walked up the hill to the hall.

The hall is over a hundred years old, we opened the heavy wooden door and peeped in. There were about 6 not so young locals playing carpet bowls-their rules.” Come on in and have a game”. , we were welcomed with open arms. So the 4 of us joined in , I beat Chris and we had home cooked scones and tea to finish off, what was a fun night. As we said goodnight, I thanked the publican, who had also turned up to the big event, for our nice meal earlier.

The next morning we left around nine, I had realized during the night that we had not paid for our meals, the wife/cook, had sat with us for a chat at the table before taking our order, so we hadn’t ordered and paid at the bar. the one stop was not open, by 9am, so I rang later and paid. All good, but the funny thing was I had thanked the publican for our meal,[that we hadn’t paid for] as we were leaving the hall the previous night. Obviously he couldn’t remember, but he was happy I rang up.

Trying to avoid the Melbourne traffic, we drove around the outskirts, and headed to the westside of the city. We did take a bit of a detour into Croydon and passed the College that Chris and his brother John attended. All changed since he was there. That night we found a nice bush camp on the Leigh river, just out of Inverleigh.

We will probable move on tomorrow, but this has been a nice spot to listen to the birds, go for walks and gather wood for the fire each night. Only a few others camping further down the track but in all, very peaceful. Oh and did I mention take photos and catch up with the blog. Not sure where to next….

May 25th

We had 4 nice days staying at Korumburra, the sports oval is just a short walk to town, and also handy to Melbourne. The weather although rather chilly ,has been sunny with no wind or rain . Only a couple of vans here. And the sunsets were also nice here.

Having power here I was able to catch up with the washing. Chris also washed the car and van.

One of our walks up town I found some more wall murals. From one or two silo art paintings about 10 years ago, the towns are now having art done everywhere possible, to attract tourists.

We also had a day in St Kilda and met up with a friend for lunch. A nice day but city’s arnt my thing. So only took one photo of a tram as it went bye.

The next day we left Korumburra, and headed back up into the hills. The Loch valley is a nice drive.

We stopped for a cuppa and a walk around a man made wetland, that was created to take the wash from a new subdivision built on the hills. Nothing much to see, just a few water hens and some not so attractive timber carvings.

On our way again, we stopped in the timber town of Noojee. The old railway station is being formed into a heritage attraction It has an old sream engine and some machinery on display, as well as wood carvings .

One for the cat lovers.

Some days you could just howl at the moon

and one for the kids

Then it was time to find a camp spot for the night.

May 24th

The Gippsland area of Victoria is so beautiful. We have done lots of walking and stopped in a number of parks. As you can see by the photos we are really enjoying this area.

We had left the van at the football oval in Korumburra, to do a day trip down to the Mornington Peninsula. First was a stop at Loch, and a walk across the suspension bridge. love the work that goes into these structures.

Then out to the coast and Yaringa boat harbour. Then around to Stony Point where you can catch a ferry over to both French and Phillip Islands.

There is so much to see down this way. The walks are well maintained, with lots of steps that take you out to the rocky coastline. Next stop and lots of walking, was at Cape Schanck, where there is a lighthouse, and is a great place for photography

Steps and more steps !! How beautiful is Diamond Bay, below.

You can’t drive right out to the point now, only walk or catch a shuttle bus for the last 3 klms. Which we did. So worth doing. The remains of Fort Nepean and Fort Pearce, both of which were used in WW1 and WW11. are at the very end of the peninsular.

Amazing feeling looking out of the fort lookouts.

The remains of the quarters and underground tunnels are nestled into the hillside at the end of the peninsula.

Then there was the stairs to get back up to catch the bus. 120 of them!!.

Halfway up I stopped to look back on where we had been, take a couple of photos and think how tough it was on those that kept watch over our country, to keep it safe.

We caught the shuttle bus back to where there is a monument to Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, who was believed to have drowned at Cheviot beach. What a day, we didn’t get back to the van till almost dark.

May 20th

After a slow start and leaving our camp at Yarram, we headed up into the hills, it wasn’t long before we stopped for a cuppa at Minneha ‘ha falls. We had stopped earlier at crossroads, as we weren’t sure which track to take. A nice, very hard to understand, man pulled up, gave us directions , then drove ahead guiding us through some of the difficult areas. He happened to live opposite the falls.

We had our cuppa, then a look around, however it was very wet and slippery under foot. Chris with his Aussie boots on headed up a bit of a hill, I decided to wait for a slip up on his way down. But no, all I got was this rather amusing shot of him holding his tracky pants up as he picked his way back down.

The roads that we travelled were one lane, muddy, slippery and used by log trucks. We had to call up every kilometer to let the truckies know where we were. We used 4 wheel drive most of the day and the Grand Ridge road is not recommended for caravans or vehicles over 8 mtrs. Chris’s thoughts on this ,were if log trucks use them , then we could .!

The valleys and hills are spectacular as we made our way off the ridge .

Our stop for that night was in the small town of Boolara.

May 19th

After staying at Sale showground for a couple of days, we took to the high country and travelled the great ridge road through the Tarra Valley .

There were lots of stops during the day to do bush walks. I have never seen so many healthy and huge tree ferns. One of the walks took us deep into the Forrest and over a swinging bridge

From the bridge you could see just how big the ferns below were. Magnificent !

It was very damp and cool in the Forrest giving the growth on the trees and rocks the ideal place to flourish. As good as any tropical forest walk we’ve done.

Loved this ancient tree, thousands of years old they say.

I could spend all day wandering around places like this, taking photographs, listening to the sounds of nature ,babbling streams and rushing waterfalls. So beautiful ! It took us all day to do a tourist loop and then settle for another night beside the river at Yarram. The town of murals. Next morning I found these two in a coffee shop in town.

May 18th

Yarram Vic. is a small town not far from Sale. They are doing their best to attract visitors with murals painted on walls and in shops. Yes its worth a visit to check them out. Nothing for me to add, the pictures tell the story. We walked around on a cold and wet afternoon to get the photos, so I hope you enjoy

Thats all folks. Love this one.!

MAY 18th

just realized I had put wrong date on this post. It is May not April.

Once we got into Sale, we stayed for a couple of nights at the showground. Was interesting to see and walk across the opening bridge, just out of Sale.

The showground was also a safe place to leave the van and go for day trips. Ok , now for Wilsons promontory . A bloody freezing place to visit, in winter, with gale force winds blowing straight across Bass Straight. We walked the walks , got wet, and ached with pain from the cold. We’ve been here a couple of times now, it hasn’t changed, I don’t need to visit it again.

On the way back, we came across these emus feeding on the edge of the road.

The wind was really shaking this fellows tail feathers. I was able to walk right up to it and ask for a close up pic. Next it turned and posed for me. Im sure it must be used to having it’s photo taken . Love the pose. !

There is also a wind farm up in the hills, not very interesting, but we drove up for a look.

After such a cold miserable day to be out and about, finding this sculpture of a bunch of dogs carved into an old tree trunk, made it all worthwhile. How cleaver is the person who did this.

May 15th

Heading out of the real cold area, and getting further East, near Nowa Nowa , we took time to take a look at the heritage trestle rail bridge. Amazing what they could achieve before the machinery of today

Most nights we manage to find a bush camp that we can have a fire.

Most days we pull up for a cuppa or lunch in parks provided by small towns. Usually they have something of interest to look at, I love olden day timber things. Check this water wheel out.

The Information centre at Orbost is a nice old bush house that was moved into town and rebuilt.

While staying a couple of nights at Genoa, we unhooked the van and took a day trip North, up to Bega . we voted in the Government Elections up there and on the way back called into Tathra and Edens Two Fold Bay. The weather wasn’t all that good, so only a couple of photos.

Taking advantage of a beautiful day as we moved on again, and being on the coast for a few days, we went out to Cape Conran . One of my favourite leisure things to do is to beach comb, rock hop ,(no so much of the hopping these days, haha) and chase crabs !

Next was a stop of at Salmon Rocks

That evening we made camp on the banks of the Snowy River. Chris tried his luck at fishing again , no luck.!

Next day was spent at Lakes Entrance , a beautiful area and a beautiful day . We also had fish and chips, for lunch, in the park with one of Chris’s relatives and her children. I also had a bit of fun with the pelicans. I find them fascinating to photograph.

We camped on a reserve not far out of Sale Vic. that night. A good spot with it’s own warf ! The sunset from the van window that night, and the moon rising over the hill behind us was magic.

May 13th 2022

Once we left Nug Nug reserve we headed back through beautiful Bright, and the winding mountain road to Germantown .

We had a short time at Sullivans lookout . Then on to Bogong Dam, lovely reflections over the water, but a bit scary walking in the tunnel, through the wall.

I was amazed there was no water seeping in through the walls. I even stopped to take a photo out through a cavity, before quickly turning around and coming up to the surface again.

From there it was more hard going for the Triton. Lucky we still have good weather, although rather chilly at night. Wouldn’t like to be on these roads in the wet. The road into Falls Creek was closed due to snow the days before, and had only opened the day before we travelled it. We were starting to see the remains of the snow as we got closer to the top.

Only one very quick stop in Falls Creek, been there done that, we seen snow, now lets get out of there.

As we made our way down it was just starting to rain.

Not sure if these trees on the hills are dead or just frozen stiff !?

That night we camped on the river bank not far from Omeo at a place called Anglers Rest. The group that we met there may as well have rested as they were not catching any fish. A nice camp fire that night, and a pleasant area to wander down by the river the next morning.

Even this far down the river there was still some snow from the previous fall.

The steep decent from the mountains wasn’t as bad as we had been told. And then we were in Omeo. A great little town of nice parks and quirky little wooden figures on push bikes. Or whatever. A bit of fun . I’ll finish this post with some but not all of the pics , don’t want to bore you. Enjoy.

love this family one 😊