Soggy Melbourne

Sunday, 29th September, 2013

Today is the final day of this year’s caravan journey – we board the Spirit of Tasmania tonight for our return to Tasmania.

The weather we have encountered in Melbourne has been the worst we have experienced on this trip – rain, more rain, gale force winds and chillingly cold.  Not good conditions, considering our winter clothes were packed away many months ago!

Friday was mainly a retail day, with a very important birthday present to find for Jack, a visit to the Jayco factory for a couple of hinges (and to learn that there will probably be a complete new model of Jayco caravans released next year) and then some time at Chadstone Shopping Centre.

Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to visit my cousins, Sue and Gary, at their new property which is only a short distance from the caravan park.  The afternoon was spent in front of a large television (of course!) in the recreation room watching the AFL Grand Final.  Les and Cat were very loyal and wore their red and white scarves, while Barry made an all out effort to support the Hawks.

The wind and rain finally abated overnight, but the ground is very wet and muddy.  Some of us are hoping that the seas have settled down as well.

Until next year …

Windy Melbourne

Thursday, 26^th September, 2013

Yesterday, we travelled from Wodonga to Melbourne, the final leg of our trip before catching the Spirit on Sunday.  The morning’s drive was quite uneventful, really easy travelling on the dual highway.  We had an early lunch stop before tackling Melbourne’s freeways and tollways – and before the wind arrived.  We arrived at the Frankston Holiday Park about 1.30 and after being given a choice of sites, were soon set up.  About 3.00 pm, we were surprised to see Barry and Denise drive in – we hadn’t expected them to arrive until Friday.  Not having seen them since April, there was a bit of catching up to do before we had to depart for a dinner date with Sandra and Trevor.  We had a very enjoyable evening and meal at a Chinese restaurant in Frankston.

Shortly after arriving home, the rain started!  It rained solidly all night (over an inch in the old money) and then the wind started.  Les was out of bed early this morning to roll up the awning and make sure it was secure.  With winds reaching over 80 kms per hour, it has been a very blustery day; with many trees blown across roads; thank goodness we decided to arrive yesterday.  Today was also a chance to catch up with Aunty Pat and the family news.

Beechworth

Tuesday, 24th September

Army Museum

Beechworth Court House

Park opposite Beechworth Gaol

Beechworth Gaol

Lush farm lands

Much warmer this morning, thank goodness.  We have had a lovely day, with the temperature around the 23 degrees mark, just perfect for drying the washing.

This morning we headed to the Army Museum at Bandiana, at one of the large Army bases on the outskirts of Wodonga.  This huge museum is home to displays covering all campaigns from the Boar War to the Afghanistan conflict, as well as dozens of vehicles, not to mention the many weapons.

After spending some time at the museum, we drove through the beautiful green and lush countryside to Beechworth.  This old gold-mining town still has many original shop fronts and verandahs – and the Beechworth Bakery!!!  We joined the other 2,728 tourists in Beechworth trying to buy their lunch at the bakery.  Beechworth is also noted for two well-known persons – Robert O’Hara Bourke (Bourke and Wills fame) was the police superintendent at Beechworth for a number of years, and Ned Kelly.  Ned Kelly was tried in the Court House at Beechworth before being transferred to the Old Melbourne Gaol to meet his fate.  The old Beechworth Gaol looks as though it is still very much in use – evidenced by the bright and shiny razor wire along the tops of the walls.

Dog on the Tuckerbox

Monday, 23rd September

We are definitely not used to (or like) these 0 degree starts to the day!  Fortunately, it did warm up to a very pleasant, cloudless day of 24 degrees.

Somehow, we seemed to be ready much earlier this morning – perhaps we moved quicker because of the temperature – and we hitched up and on the road at 8.00 am.  We had travelled about 75 kms when Himself started thinking (always a good sign) about why he could see down the side of the caravan as good as usual.  Then he realised that the towing mirrors were still in the back of the vehicle!  A quick stop at the next rest area suddenly became a necessity.

The drive today was very pleasant, in fact, it has been really nice countryside all the way south from Tweed Heads.  Today, we travelled through green rolling hills, pastoral countryside (mainly sheep, with some cattle) and a few canola paddocks just coming into flower.  Although serious weeds, the cape week and Paterson’s curse also looked very pretty.  The Hume Highway is now a double lane dual highway all the way between Sydney and Melbourne, which makes driving so much easier.  We had a break at Gundagai, with a photo opportunity (along with 3,219 others) at the Dog on the Tuckerbox.

We have now crossed the border into Victoria and will stay at the Borderland Caravan Park in Wodonga for the next two nights.  This is a very nice park, not busy but quite close to the Hume Highway.

Goulburn

Sunday, 22nd September

Yesterday evening, we discovered that there was a 4WD muster being held on the showgrounds, right next door to the caravan park.  The main entertainment during the evening for the hundreds of enthusiasts camping at the showgrounds?  Seeing who could rev their engine the loudest!  Thank goodness there was obviously a very strictly enforced curfew, as it was very quiet after 10.30 pm.

We had a very cold start to the day, but it quickly warmed up once the sun was well up.  The M1 motorway between Newcastle and Sydney is becoming a little tired and could do with some maintenance.  We also found there was a lack of signage regarding rest areas, with no signs for the final rest area (ie necessary pit stop) before reaching Sydney.  The only indication of the nice rest area on the northern banks of the Hawkesbury River was an exit sign – too late!  We had to trust Doris completely this morning to navigate through Pennant Hills, and for once, she didn’t want to take short cuts.  We had no problems skirting Sydney and getting back onto the M5 (or maybe it was the M7?) before heading south again on the M31 – lots of M numbers around this area.

We turned off the motorway at Mittagong and headed through Bowral to Moss Vale for our lunch stop and a rest.  Nothing much happens in Moss Vale on Sunday.  We continued on to Goulburn for our overnight stop at the Governors Hill Carapark, a small caravan park which, we discovered, is not very far from the Goulburn Training Centre (otherwise known as the Goulburn Gaol).  Fortunately I had made a reservation a couple of days ago, as there is a Chevrolet rally happening in Goulburn and lots of old cars (some even have fox tails on the aerials) in the caravan park.  Cat was very intrigued by the musical ensemble providing the afternoon’s entertainment.

After refuelling, we did a quick tour of this very old town and ended up at the War Memorial, which has been built on the top of a very rocky hill.  I pity the poor veterans who take part in the Anzac Day March!  There were some magnificent views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the tower.  There were also quite a few reptiles around the base of the tower – the ones we saw had legs but we didn’t go looking for the legless variety.

Hunter Valley Wine Tour

Saturday, 21st September

With an exciting football match to watch last night and Cat’s favourite team, the Cats, playing, he climbed into bed with us to watch the last half.  When I woke up this morning, Cat was still snuggled down between us!

A very cold start to the day (the heater was put to good use for a while), which quickly warmed up to a beautiful clear and warm day.  Just right for a tour of the Hunter Valley wineries, and a spot of tasting.  No tantrums today from Cat!

We didn’t have far to go before arriving at Mount Pleasant, the first of a number of stops.  The vines are just starting to shoot in most vineyards, although some are much further advanced.  After doing our bit for the Mount Pleasant shareholders, we moved up the road to Lindeman’s, where we discovered that shiraz and Semillon are the main grape varieties grown in the Hunter region.  The designated driver was very good and even used the spittoon (on two occasions!).  As for the rest of us – why waste good wine?  McGuigan’s was almost next door and also boasted a cheese and gourmet food shop.  The salesman in the cellar door was very obliging with his tastings, even bringing out the top of the range shiraz.  However, it wasn’t loved enough to pay the asking price.

By this time, food was becoming a necessity and with so much choice – most of the wineries have restaurants and there are numerous other restaurants in the area – we couldn’t go past Wandin Valley Winery.  There was even a sign warning of wombats in the area!  We had a lovely “divvy meal” or tasting plates (bit like tapas) – smoked salmon and crab rolls, seared scallops and chicken wrapped in prosciutto, with associated trimmings.  Then we discovered there was a separate dessert menu …  After enjoying their wine with our lunch, a small purchase was added to the number of boxes already in the car.  We concluded our tour with a stop at a specialist sparkling wine winery, complete with chocolate shop.

Cat is still grinning.

Cessnock

Friday, 20th September

We had another cool start to the day, but the temperature soon rose to 20 degrees once the sun came up.  While we were packing up, a kookaburra sat on the top of the caravan and kept an eye on proceedings, not the least bit perturbed as we walked around underneath him.  The highway south continued to be good, although the wind did pick up and swing around to the south before we had travelled very far.  We arrived at the Valley Vineyard Tourist Park in Cessnock well before lunch; this being the only caravan park in the Hunter Valley.  It is quite old and really only worth the three and a half stars awarded, but the receptionist was very nice and helpful.  Our site is plenty wide enough but very tight to reverse into – we also have a dog next door!

We decided to follow the receptionist’s advice and visit the Hunter Valley Gardens this afternoon and this is when Cat threw a wobbly because we weren’t visiting any wineries today.  He took to his bed and refused to come with us!  The gardens were lovely, with lots of lovely photo opportunities and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around them.  There were also a number of quirky displays, as well as a fascinating storybook area.

The Pokolbin area is well known for its vineyards, luxury accommodation, food and wineries.  There are just sooooo many wineries, if one visited them all, there would be no room left in the caravan – if one could find the caravan after all those wine tastings!  As my driver’s licence expired this week (and I can’t renew it until I return home), there is no argument about who will be the designated driver tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the weather today has been rather cooler than we have experienced for some time – the long pants, shoes and windcheaters had to be found.  Himself has even suggested finding the heater – for my benefit tomorrow morning, of course!

Forster

Thursday, 19th September

The days are disappearing fast – only ten days left now!

Although the days continue to be very warm and sunny, we have noticed that the further south we travel, the colder the nights are becoming.  The woolly slippers and dressing gown were retrieved from the depths this morning!

With only two caravans remaining in the park this morning, finding a washing machine free wasn’t really a problem.  It has been very exciting this afternoon with three new arrivals, making a grand total of five (I wouldn’t like to count how many arrive tomorrow afternoon!).  We had a trudge along the beach this morning – so beautiful early in the day – but with the tide still quite high, walking in the soft sand was fairly hard work.  We then drove into Forster (20 minutes over some very rough roads), looked at the pelicans waiting for the fishermen to finishing cleaning their catches, admired the river/lake scenery, looked at a caravan park right in Forster between the river and the ocean (next time!) and then stopped at the main beach for a look at the beach and the sea pool.  Well, one of us looked at the beach and the sea pool, not sure who the other one looked at.  Then it was up to the lookout for some spectacular views of the coast and sandy beaches – and another whale.  We continued on to One Mile Beach, with its enormous sand dune before driving through the suburbs on the way to Woolworths.  Forster does seem to be a very nice place to stay, with lots of beaches (for those who like surfing, swimming, walking, watching, etc) and coffee shops.

When we returned to the caravan park (over the same rough roads), we discovered over a hundred teenagers had taken over the pool area and immediately wondered which cabins they would be staying in!  Turned out to be year 12 students from Taree High School having an end of term/year picnic and they all left promptly at 2.00 pm.  Not having made it to the bowling rink yesterday, we certainly made it there today.  After dragging/carrying our bowls up the hill and across the very nice tennis court, we discovered the one rink synthetic green obviously didn’t get much use – the carpet wasn’t exactly smooth and was quite dirty.  We decided after about five seconds thought, that it wasn’t worth the effort of cleaning up all the sticks and twigs before risking our bowls.  So we dragged/carried our bowls back down the hill – one of us kept an eye out for wriggling things in the grass!