Month: June 2022

June 11th

We stayed 4 days at Willaura footy ground. No photos, it rained each day and the town only has a bakery, butchers, IGA and post office. We walked up town each day and bought vanilla slices, best in the country, we think, and this bakery is renowned far and wide for them. We did do some short day drives from there, one out to Lake Bolac. Cold and windy. Dont think the temperature rose above 8 deg, for a week !.

On the road again we stopped to look through a little church in Glenthompson. All the walls inside are painted with pastel shade murals. Just lovely.

Still raining, the next town was Dunkeld. Even the roos thought It strange to see a woman with an umbrella taking photos in their Arboretum.

Not the best wood sculptures I’ve seen, but better than I could do ..eh!

Lunch was at Lake Hamilton, under a shealter shed, and yes those showers are still hanging around.

Did some shopping in Hamilton, which of cause included a trip to Bunnings.

Then we braved the showers of rain and went walking around some of the waterfalls in the area before settling on a camp spot at Wannon Falls.

There are steps that go down to the bottom of Nigretta Falls. So that was our exercise for the day. Plus I was able to have some fun with photos through the fallen trees.

One of the walks above the Wannon falls takes you along the Wannon River before it drops over the cliff. There is a bit of a scary platform above the falls as well. Not sure if I Stopped long enough for the camera to focus. However the rocks were all covered in beautiful different colourd mosses . Which made for a worthwhile walk.

In all it was quite a big day over not so many miles. The park has its own waterfall as well . We set up camp and went for another walk ,in the rain. Nice buildings scattered around, even stone fireplaces. And a pizza oven!!

The sun had been trying to break through all day so hopefully we’ve seen the last of the rain. Back at the van the magpies were waiting for dinner. Chris feed them while I got our dinner ready . And the mum fed the squarking bub.

June 6th

The day in Ballarat, last Saturday, was rather chilly, but at least it wasn’t raining for most of the day, this guy even looked cold, and aptly named.

It’s not the best time of the year to be visiting Botanical gardens, but we had been told they were very good, and we weren’t disappointed. There is a lot of replanting going on, and not many flowers still in bloom. However the trees and shrubs were worth the visit, as well as everything else, we saw.

There is also quite a few interesting buildings, in the garden grounds, with displays inside.

Hundreds of black swans roam around the park as well as on the roadway, holding up the traffic as they take their time to cross the roads.

There are lots of beautiful statutes, and the ones in this glass house were really lovely

There is also a number of heritage homes, that have been moved onto the grounds and used to display craft.

This tree is a bit like the tree of life, born as two, join together, then branch out into many, they bloom and drop a mess everywhere, for others to clean up. Well that’s my version anyway . haha.

As well as a few ancient ones, here and there, looking grumpy and a bit worse for ware.

We walked around the pathways , taking in the scenery watching the water birds and swans.

Lunch was next in a cosy warm restaurant, we were given a table near the window, where we could watch the yachts out on the Lake.

After lunch, we went for a drive around the city. Cute little buildings on pontoons around the lake edges, but the weather had taken a turn for the worse, so I only took photos from the car.

As for old buildings, Ballarat has so many, it would of been nice to walk around. It was only about 7* and the rain had set in, so a quick drive, just a few photos, then back to the van and aircon.

I really enjoyed our day in Ballarat, its somewhere i would visit again [only, in spring] and spend more time there.

June 3rd

From Colac we headed North, past Lake Colac, which looked miserably cold. Keeping to some of the back roads we came across paddocks of stone fencing . So much work would of gone into building these. I’ve seen rock walls before, but never so many .Miles and miles of them. Just out of Pomborneit

From there we weaved up through lots of lakes and through another town called Lismore. We were trying to get to a another tressel bridge to have a look at. But a few wrong turns and we ended up at Devil’s Kitchen. Not sure why it’s called that but it was well worth the stop. Just out of Happy Valley.

At first it appeared to be just rocky clifts, but when we started wandering around, we found lovely waterholes, camping areas and I was in my element walking the bush tracks, rock hopping to cross streams and taking photos

Wonder who that idiot is waving his arms around trying to get attention .?

The clouds were starting to close in as we made our way back to the van . Now for another go at finding that tressel bridge. After backing out of one laneway, a property owner pulled up beside us. He had been watching us and gathered we were lost. A bit of a chat and some more directions, we were off again . Beautiful green hilly country.

When we got to this bridge, Chris assured me that we were only 4.999t. But I better get out just in case! I assured him I didn’t weigh a 100 kgs, but got out and walked across just the same.

Finally we found the Nimmons bridge at Newtown. It is still in use as part of the bike rail trail, so we could walk over it and then back via a track under it. Apparently the longest built in Victoria and the 4th highest.

On our travells around the hills that day, we came across these unusual mushrooms. Pretty big and heaps of them. I looked up their name, but can’t remember it.

After a big day we pulled into the Lions Park at Haddon. Yes, that cold snap in the weather is here, we are not far from Ballarat. A very cold night of -4° and we woke to one of the biggest frosts we have seen.

If you look closely you can see the ice beginning to crack on the water. I am glad that Chris dragged me out of bed to see it.

Gotta feel sorry for the spiders, their webs all frozen.

Well thats it up to now, we are still here at Haddon, tomorrow I think we will go into Ballarat. We have already been in once, but if its not raining too much ,hope to have a look around the botanical gardens. And there are lots of amazing old buildings as well.

May 29th

After our quiet few days in the bush camp, we moved on down towards Melbourne and looked for a non caravan park to stay at. Not many have TV reception, but we were told, on the river at Winchelsea, we would be sure to get reception, and it wasn’t too far away. We found a nice spot, set up TV, no go !!.We were going to unhook the van for the day and go down the coast, and be back by 3.30 pm to watch Carlton play Collingwood. This is a very important game, you know! Only thing to do was take the caravan with us, sure to get reception down at Point Lonsdale.

From Port Arlington, you could see across to Melbourne, although it was typical Melbourne weather. We walked the jetties and watched the families having a Sunday fish.

From there it was down to Queescliffe, had a cuppa and look around.

Then down to the Point. We just had time to park the van , go for a walk out the Jetty and have a look at the Bunkers dug into the cliff face, during the wars, before going back to the van and watching that all important game of football. From the lighthouse on the point it is only a bit over 3 klms across the bay to Fort Nepean, on the Mornington Peninsular, where we had been a week ago.

Carlton lost.. It was almost dark when we left the headland , called into Woolworths for some groceries, as well as a cooked chook for dinner. A couple of hours later we were back at the Winchelsea river camp for the night. That night it started to rain and the weather forecast was for a cold snap. We settled for a couple of nights at the showground in Colac. Also was able to catch up with a long time friend. A couple of very cold and wet days, so electricity was welcome.

A cold sunset on our first night in Colac