25th November 2020–Lake Cargelligo

Distance: 286Km

I hadn’t intended to leave Young before 10am (chucking out time) but after breakfast started to pack things away and it literally took me 15 minutes so set off ridiculously early at 8.30am.

Virtually no traffic on the roads, mostly minor roads cutting across country. First stop was West Wyalong where I had coffee. Was able to park in the main street taking up two spaces. I wonder what happened to make West Wyalong bigger than Wyalong? Wyalong you would blink and miss. (Answer – it was probably gold!)

Continued on after filling up with a flat white and carrot cake.

An otherwise non descript small town of Ungarie provided the next surprise. The town sign said “Ungarie – Home of Australia’s Biggest Football” and sure enough on a street of mostly empty and/or derelict shops was an AFL footie on a pole. (That description of the town is probably unfair it is no worse than many small towns I pass through)

Arrived at Lake Cargelligo just after midday and checked in. The spaces were large but not much shade – I squashed up into some shade but needn’t he bothered because by md afternoon it had all moved to the next site.

After setting up drove to the town centre to do some shopping and have a brief look round.

I suppose November is the end of the “season” for tourism as it is starting to get warm (42’ is forecast for the weekend) but it is quite a nice spot for those interested in boating, fishing and bird watching. I must admit that my only reason for visiting was that I have never been here before. The lady in charge of the park pointed out all the attractions the town has to offer and marked them on a map so I will look at them tomorrow.

Just for a change I set up the awning I had made for my car rather than the gazebo. Embarrassingly it took longer to set up than the gazebo but that was entirely due to my inexperience ie I kept having to retrieve forgotten pegs, hammer etc which virtually set me back to the start. In the end it turned out very well. The only problem with it is that the car is stuck in one position while it is up.

By evening the campground was not even half full.

25th November 2020–Exploring Young

Distance: 12.5Km
Fuel: 39L

Surprisingly misty this morning but pleasantly warm, no rush to do anything so had a leisurely breakfast after my shower.

Was in two minds whether to walk into town but decided to drive to the furthest end of the Heritage Walk – a brochure provided by the Tourist Office in the rain yesterday. I parked appropriately near the Senior Citizens Centre before setting off.

I have been to Young several times before but apart from visiting the Chinese Tribute Gardens haven’t really explored the town. Most of its heritage is centred about the gold rush and the Lambing Flats Riots which eventually led to the White Australia Policy.

After extensively walking about town drove to the Chinese Tribute Gardens a few kilometres outside town.

Drove back to the caravan park to have some lunch and look at the town centre.

Cooked some rice, bacon and potato for dinner before finding that I lost the bottle of Tabasco Sauce that I was sure I had – pepper had to be a poor substitute. It’s a cruel world.

After dinner dismantled and packed away the gazebo, then a trip to the petrol station for fuel because I am leaving tomorrow.

23rd November 2020–Back on the Road!

Distance: 346 Km

It has been a year since I last used the camper! All the trips planned for earlier in the year had to be cancelled because of the pandemic and travel restrictions.

Have absolutely no idea where I am going but it is just so good to be moving again. Limited to NSW as the Queensland border is still closed, not sure what the status of SA is but I think the Victorian border has just been opened however this is just a try out to see what the Covid restrictions are like.

This morning set off from home at about 9.20am in wet and miserable conditions with the possibility of thunderstorms along the way. I suppose I could have waited another day but I just wanted to get moving.

Not an exciting first day, up Mount Ousley then down the Hume Highway until the Boorowa turn off then headed for Young. The weather was too miserable to stop so I did only make one stop to stretch my legs.

Young

Have been to Young many times before but it is a nice place to stop and the weather tomorrow looks promising.

Arrived just after 1pm, even set up the gazebo to provide shelter. One of the things that is immediately obvious is the absence of working holiday backpackers, the park is full of grey nomads with the notable exception of one family with a three kids that arrived later in the afternoon.

After a cup of tea, and despite the threatening clouds, decided to go for a walk into Young more for the exercise than anything else. The town centre isn’t far away.

But I didn’t make it that far

Only got as far as the tourist office situated in the old railway station. As I arrived the heavens opened with thunder accompaniment it so I had no choice but to sit on one of the railway benches until it passed which it did after about ten minutes.

Decided the wisest thing was to stroll back to the caravan park.

When I returned to my camp I found that the gazebo had collected a lot of water in the roof (easily fixed) however from then on the weather started to clear up, later the sun actually appeared and stayed until it disappeared behind the trees.

Not the best day to start a trip but I didn’t care, at least I wasn’t stuck at home and it should only get better.

24th October 2019–A Long Drive

Distance: 978 km
Fuel: 99 L

A lovely morning but time to go home. The original intention was to make two overnight stops on the way home at Benalla and Gundagai, then it was decided to make only one stop at Holbrook. The drive through Melbourne’s motorway network had proved uneventful, even the short stretch of normal roads to get onto the Hume Highway had been pretty easy (only took a couple of wrong turns).

We had stopped every couple of hours to stretch our legs so that when we got near Holbrook I felt quite alright to drive on to see how far we got and by the time we passed the Canberra turn offs it seemed silly not to continue on to Wollongong.

Arrived home at 8.30pm, in fact the worst bit of the journey was the night roadworks on the F6 near Northcliffe Drive. I haven’t driven that far in one day since I drove from Brisbane to Sydney in one day in the 1960s (no multilane roads then).

Statistics

Distance Travelled: 3795 km
Fuel Used: 384 L
Average Fuel Price: $1.48/L
Accommodation Cost: $440

Not a bad holiday and we eventually saw everything that we set out to see. Some of the travelling was avoiding the cold weather which set in over SE Victoria hence the rather strange route.

23rd October 2019–San Remo & About

Distance: 37 km
Fuel: 31 L

Quite thick fog and very heavy dew this morning – great for getting bugs off the windscreen but cold and wet.

Even after 10am the fog persisted as a sea mist.

it cleared as the day got warmer.

Did some shopping and looking around San Remo before going to see the advertised Pelican Feeding at noon.

Not very excited about this as there are plenty of pelicans in Wollongong. Anyway there were a few hanging about waiting for a feed though in the event they didn’t seem that hungry.

Drove onto Phillip Island for one last time to see Pyramid Rock it has a good lookout at the end of a dirt road.

But first a quick stop to look at the Big Wave.

Then on to Pyramid Rock…

Back at the caravan park spent the late afternoon enjoying the sunshine. Dismantled the gazebo at about 6pm before walking back to the shopping centre to look for dinner. Strolled across to a sculpture by the bridge before deciding on Thai food again.

The holiday is nearly over, the next couple of days are going to be taken up with driving home.

22nd October 2019–Penguins

Distance: 311 km

A cold Ballarat morning, no rushing to get away only 230(ish)Km to travel today. Staying at San Remo on the mainland rather than Phillip Island itself where the camping fees are ridiculous.

From Ballarat it was expressway right into Melbourne however that might have been a mistake because as we neared Melbourne the traffic got heavier and slowed to a crawl until past the West Gate Bridge. Might try to detour round Melbourne when we head north rather than use the expressways.

Despite these holdups arrived at San Remo just after midday and settled in on a very nice grassy site in an almost empty park.

Because it was so early and a lovely sunny day investigated going to Penguin Parade today rather than waiting until tomorrow and booked a general viewing ticket on line. The penguins don’t return to land until after sunset so there was plenty of time for other things.

Washed a couple of T shirts and undies to give me enough clean clothes to get back home without further washing before setting off for Phillip Island. The bridge to the island is a few hundred metres from the caravan park but you forget how big the island actually is, after about a 20 minute drive found where Penguin Parade is located then drove on to The Nobbies. Spectacular scenery as usual even saw a whale in the distance which surprised me as I thought they would all be much further north by now.

After spending quite some time there drove to Cowes for dinner. Decided on a Thai restaurant near the pier, it turned out to be an excellent Thai meal. By the time our meal was over it was just after 7pm and time to make our way back to see the penguins.

Managed to get a girl at the ticket counter to print out the bar codes of the tickets from the receipt emails because I was not sure that I would be able to find them for scanning at the turnstiles. Smile

The Penguin Parade building was massive with food, souvenirs, information, rest areas, the lot – just before sunset made our way out to the viewing platforms. A fellow gave a talk about the penguins which was repeated in Chinese (I would guess that 90% of the visitors were Chinese tourists). I learned that of all the 18 species of penguins the Australian Fairy Penguins are the only ones that spend all day at sea and only come ashore en masse after sunset. It keeps them safe(r) from predators like raptors (Fairy Penguins are only about 33cm tall – ie snack sized), apparently the other 17 species come and go between the land and the sea as they please.

It was cold and got colder. At about 8.15pm the first penguins appeared at the waters edge and thereafter more and more came ashore. They all gathered at the waters edge before rushing across the sand to the undergrowth. To be honest at first I couldn’t see them at all but eventually made them out – should have taken my binoculars. Watched them arriving for half an hour or so before the cold decided that we would leave. Walking back along the boardwalks we saw dozens of them making their way back to their burrows.

Visitors are not allowed to take photographs but they let you download theirs, here are a couple.

Personally I thought the penguin tours in Tasmania were better, far less crowded – ten people instead of hundreds, you seemed much closer to the birds and you could take photos (without flash). I am glad I went but it is added to my “Do Not Bother Going Again” list which includes – Scenic World, Great Ocean Road, The Stockman Hall of Fame, Waltzing Matilda Museum and now Penguin Parade.

Arrived back at the caravan park at nearly 10pm, overall another good day out.

21st October 2019–Sovereign Hill

Distance: 17 km
Fuel: 19 L

Woke to a cold, foggy morning…

…which turned into a beautiful sunny day.

After breakfasting, showering etc we set off for a visit to Sovereign Hill. We have been to Ballarat before and seen the lavish city buildings, the Remembrance Arch, Lake Windermere and the 1956 Olympics site but we missed Sovereign Hill.

It was not cheap – $99 for the two of us just to get in. The reality is that we had a really good time, think Old Sydney Town with a gold rush. It was very well done, we ate in a bakery advertising 3d pies (ha ha) $27 for fish and chips, $23 for salt and pepper squid, $7.50 for a bottle of Tooheys Dry but it was very nicely cooked and presented with all the staff young, cheery and in costume.

We also took a mine tour where we descended 90m on a rail cable car to view sections of the old workings.

From the top of the mine gantry was a great view over Ballarat.

Finally a ride in the carriage pulled by four carthorses (three Clydesdales and a Percheron).

Also included in the ticket was entry to the nearby Gold Museum which we visited. Personally I was not that interested in it which might have been because I was tired after walking about for 5 hours.

Outside the museum was a statue of Henry Bolte who I thought was the Victorian equivalent of Bob Askin and corrupt as hell.

20th October 2019–To Ballarat

Distance: 461 km
Fuel: 38 L

Packing up was easy this morning – took a quick trip to the local shops for milk but once the TV aerial had been dismantled and breakfast eaten there was not much to do apart from stowing the chairs, cleaning the mats and preparing some food for the journey. We were on the road just after 9am.

According to the weather forecast warmer weather will arrive for South East Victoria by the middle of the week so instead of heading north to a very warm, dry Broken Hill we were driving south along the Calder and Sunraysia Highways to Ballarat.

Not a lot to report today as there was a long distance to cover so we only made brief stops to stretch our legs or for toilet breaks – rest stops were pretty inhospitable being generally bare dirt without even a table or rubbish bin. What started off as a cloudless, sunny day in Red Cliffs became an overcast, cold day in Ballarat – I think it was 12’C when we arrived but the forecast is for warmer days to come and that gusty wind has been left behind.

Arrived at a caravan park mid afternoon, paid for two nights and settled in. The park is a bit run down but quite adequate There is a covered BBQ area behind our site so no need for the gazebo, not that there is any sun anyway.

Dinner tonight was the rice, potato, tomato and bacon prepared before setting out this morning. Too cold for an evening shower!

19th October 2019–Rural Mildura

Distance: 147 km
Fuel: 46 L

Woke this morning to a beautiful sunrise, still air and clear skies yet within an hour or so it was completely overcast and the gusty wind had returned. Decided to take down the gazebo because, even though it was not as windy as yesterday, with the cloudy skies its shade was not needed and the wind had certainly stressed it.

Decided to go for a drive west of Mildura and just explore the countryside. Headed to the small town of Werrimull where there is a National Trust listed Church called Our Lady of Lourdes.

As well as the church the town had a interesting pub, houses and post office, Werrimull might have a population of 100 (perhaps? – my guess).

On the route, and shown on the map are “towns” like Merrinee with their own sign board but the place consists of a silo and absolutely nothing else (though one did have a Telstra hut).

That is every building in Merrinee in one picture While the following pictures show Karawinna and Pirita.

After yesterday’s dust it was no surprise to see more picked up from neighbouring paddocks as we drove.

Anyway on to Mildura for fuel and lunch the latter taken at a cafe next to Mildura Wharf where there is a walking/cycling track along the bank of the River Murray. We ate our lunch looking across the river at NSW where we are heading tomorrow. The weather had improved markedly from early morning to sunshine with the occasional cloud. After eating lunch we walked along the river track in both directions before returning to Red Cliffs mid/late afternoon.

Late News – Change of Plan

There is a break in the weather down south so instead of heading north to Broken Hill we are going to Ballarat and aiming for Phillip Island mid week.

18th October 2019–Mildura

Distance: 52 km

It was cool last night I woke up at one stage and thought my thermometer was reading 0’C (in fact it was 8’C). After my shower I got a load of washing done – That might last me until I get home.

There was no wind early on but that changed during the day. Drove to Mildura to do some shopping and visit the Tourist Information Office, the latter was in a terrific council facility which housed the library, cafe, tourist bureau and an aquatic centre.

Drove across the Murray river into NSW to visit a Holden Museum, it was probably smaller than the Motorlife Museum at Kembla Grange but the cars gleamed and they were Holdens. Not every model was represented, for example they didn’t have an HK or HJ Kingswood but they had an FB – those are the Holdens I have owned – but I did enjoy the museum and it was only $10 entry. Stayed for a coffee afterwards.

Returned to the caravan park for a late lunch then went off to re explore the sights of Red Cliffs – found the lookout which looked out on virtually nothing unless you ignored the, ‘Unstable Cliffs” sign and climbed the fence. also found a dirt track which led to the cliff edge but the views from that were disappointing too.

Near the Red Cliffs shopping centre found and walked along the Peace Walk which was not particularly exciting but it did have some interesting information about the town. The area was originally settled after WWI when the land was cleared to provide soldier/settler blocks for returned servicemen and the town only really got going by 1925 when the post office was built.

Returned again to the caravan park about 3.30pm to find the wind gusting and brown dust clouds on the horizon. The dust arrived shortly after 4pm – not a thick dust storm, just enough to cover everything with a thin layer of red soil.