Bendigo

Well we headed off to Bendigo and decided to stay at Bendigo Showground, it is a cheaper version of a caravan park.  When we got here there were heaps of vans already here, the toilets and showers are OK, just.  Today Sunday they have a large market here at the showgrounds all day, boy it was a different outlook than the one we were spoilt with at Lake Hume, and the markets were pretty junky. We took the "Talking Tram" ride around the city which was a good way of explaining the history behind the old buildings.  They have some beautiful old buildings here, the Sacred Heart Cathedral is believed to be the only Gothic Cathedral to be constructed in the southern hemisphere in the 19th century.  Construction started in 1897 but then work ceased due to a lack of funds. After World War 11 work restarted. Very few craftsmen could be found who were skilled in this type of work and stone masons were brought from Italy and England to complete the Cathedral.  It was completed in the mid 1970's.  I have tried to capture the cathedral in some photos but it is that huge it takes up an enormous block of land with beautiful views from each corner.  So please excuse my poor attempt.
I have also included a photo of the Shamrock Hotel which is a beautiful building - The hotel was restored by the State Government as one of Victoria's most important buildings. The original hotel was built in the 1850's with the present building being erected in 1897.
So after spending most of the day site seeing and walking around the town it was back to the van to relax.  Tomorrow we head off to Bendigo Wool Mills to hopefully get some bargains and then we have decided to head off the Ballarat as there really is no more that we can explore from here.  So hopefully Ballarat will be a little more interesting, but if you do not pursue different parts of the state you are in you will never know.  (How does that saying go - "If you never never go, you will never never know").

So enough for now, we hope all is well with all our readers/followers, so until next time - Good bye x

Rutherglen - Corowa - Howlong

Well we set off on a shorter journey today, first we went to Rutherglen where there are lots of wineries. Our first stop was to the Tourist Information which is usually our first stop in most places, but we have found the Victorian assistance very stand offish, they need some hospitality lessons, so we didn't get a lot of information out of them. John wanted a coffee stop so I suggested that we go to Cofield wineries as they had a lovely coffee shop called the "Pickled Sisters" we ordered our coffees and shared a Orange Dram Buie and Pistachio cheese cake to share. It was absolutely delicious.
We then headed off to Corowa where we walked around the town, it was very old and really not a lot there lots of junky shops. We went down to the Park for lunch which was quite nice and had a walk under this oneway bridge that was half new and made out of steel and the other half was really old and wooden as you can see by the photo. One side of the bridge was in NSW (wooden) and the other half in Victoria. We talked to an old guy who was fishing and took some photos of the Murray River which was really high and flowing quite fast.
Then is was time to go into Howlong, well there wasn't a lot there either, but we can say we have seen these places. We decided to go down the road to Morris Brothers winery and try a couple of ports and muscats. We ended up buying a couple of bottles, I am not sure how long they will last, especially if any of the other caravan parks are like this one, it just lends itself to sitting and chilling out looking over the beautiful water of an afternoon. So after a swim it was wine o'clock time again, (I know, I know it is a really hard life). Oooh well, do we really have to move on? I guess so or we will never find out what all the other places are like.
Well best sign off and get an early night for tomorrow we are heading off to Bendigo where we are staying at the showgrounds, not quite this place but you never know, that is what an adventure is all about.

Mt Beauty - Bright - Myrtleford - Beechworth - Yackandandah

Well what a full day today lots of kilometres but a lot of beautiful scenery. Our first stop was Mt Beauty which is on the Alpine Valley with lots of ski places to stay and lots of beautiful mountains, it is very impressive. After a walk around the township and a cup of coffee it was off to Bright.
Bright was fairly spread out with lots of old style shops. I went into a fabric shop that sold lots of little nic nacs and as the photo will show they had a special spot for husbands to sit, I thought it was unreal "Husbands Parking, but only between 10 and 5" so funny. We had lunch by "Ovens River"

which was flowing like crazy. They had two water slides going into the weir but they were closed due to the rapid currents running through there due to the heavy rainfall they have had. The park was pretty with lots of shady trees. It was a pretty town.
Myrtleford we just drove through, there was one main road in and a fairly small town.
Beechworth had the largest cake shop but we both resisted the temptation, well sort of, we succumbed to an iced coffee and I have never tasted cream like it before, it was so thick and creamy. We walked around the old township and talked to this old fellow in the Telegraph Office and we sent off a telegram to each of our grandkids, they probably won't know what they are. The buildings were very old and very quaint.
Yackandandah had lots of old buildings but no real need to stop and view anything, so we headed back to Lake Hume and got some photos of the other side of the dam which was still letting out a lot of water as it is over 95% full and only had 10% capacity last year, so all the residents are quite excited about the variations.
Tomorrow we are off to Corowa and Rutherglen where apparently they have lots of wineries. Not that I need anymore at the moment as every afternoon is spent sipping wine having cheese and biscuits and if where lucky eating dinner after 7pm.

Lake Hume

Well it's Tuesday and we are at Lake Hume which is a beautiful dam with magnificent views, we have our caravan parked right near the water and it is so relaxing looking out across the water. What a place to de-stress.
In the afternoons the boats come out to fish or there is the occassional water skier, it is just great.
There is a large swimming pool with a massive water slide the slide is out of action at the moment.
We headed into Albury Wednesday and walked around the township then visited the Botanical Garden.
We called into the Albury Tourist Information building which is such a great old building as you can see in the picture and across the road was the Albury Railway Station which is huge and the building was so old and so well kept, it had old fire places in all the waiting rooms and the longest platform that went forever.
We then headed across the other side of Lake Hume to view the weir from the
other side, it is such a pretty place.
Tomorrow we head off for a fairly long round trip to capture a few townships.

War Museum Canberra

Well off we went to the War Museum today, we got there right on opening time. It has changed quite a bit since our last visit around 30 years ago. Tonight they are having the dedication of "The Wall of Valour", there was three of the Victoria Cross recipients walking around getting ready for the presentation, they had the bomb squad there with their dogs checking it all out for tonight.
After watching a couple of the movies and personal comments made by the return diggers, it made you want to run over the first japanese person you saw, the atrosities were unbelievable. I certainly understand why my father had such a hatred for them.
We decided to have a cup of coffee around 11.30 and continued on. We were in the Hall of Remembrance when one of the assistants asked were we staying for the closing ceremony where they play the last post and we looked at our watch and realised it was already closing time. Where did the day go. It was a very interesting and enjoyable day.
Tomorrow we head off to Albury, so on the road again yahoo!

Canberra

Well John and I are now in Canberra, the first Caravan park we pulled into and paid for three nights turned out to be a disaster, it was like being in a time warp like going back to Cooma in the 1980's. I know my girls will know what I mean, it was disgusting. I told John I wanted a refund as I wasn't prepared to stay there, as it was we got a refund without a problem. We are now in a much better one closer to the town and it costs $1 per night more.
No photos as yet, we had torrential down to Bulahdelah where we camped at the showground which was fine, that morning we headed into more bad rain and travelled to Corrimal Campground which was a big surprise as the campsites were really great, I would recommend it to anyone.
Then Friday we headed off to Taralga where we caught up with Thelma and Harry, it was a lovely stopover.
Today we are chilling a bit as it is raining. Tomorrow we are off to the markets and then to the war museum. Hopefully photos to follow soon.