Merelyn Terlich

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

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.!