Following a week in Melbourne during which time
Mita flew to Hobart for a “girls” get together with our daughter we departed on
a wet Wednesday morning for Daylesford, but not without incident. Unfortunately the rain had made Melbourne roads
quite slippery roads as we discovered approaching the underpass of the
Melbourne ring road sliding through the intersection; thankfully the green
light hadn’t activated for the cross traffic.
Following our unexpected adrenalin rush the
remainder of the trip to Daylesford passed without further incident although we
did witness several other vehicles in “skid mode”. Eventually arriving slightly after lunch we booked
into a Caravan Park on the outskirts of the town and prepared our agenda for
the next two days whilst consuming on a pizza purchased from a local hotel.
As the Daylesford region is renown for its
spa’s and being such a miserable wet and cold day we both though how nice it
would be to luxuriate in a nice spa – that idea was cancelled when visiting the
nearby Hepburn Springs spa complex and discovered the costs per person was in
the order of $40 just to sit in hot artesian water. Returning to Daylesford we strolled the
streets viewing various shops plying their wares including the most amazing second
hand book store, probably the best we’ve ever come across anywhere in our
travels, indeed I became so engrossed wandering through the two story
establishment I lost track of time with Mita eventually phoning to locate where
I was.
First port of call Thursday morning was the Wombat
Hills Botanical Gardens. Arriving at
the Pioneer Memorial Tower lookout in the centre of the park Mita just had to
scale the internal spiral stairways of the infernal thing with yours truly
begrudgingly in tow
Leaving the tower
we meandered through the gardens viewing various trees and plants from
different parts of the world however the highlight was definitely the glass
house housing the Begonias.
Next at Leigh’s insistence was Chocolate Mill with
its one hundred varieties of Belgium Chocolates located at Mount Franklin five
kilometres away his excuse being that since I had just subjected him to an unnecessary
level of physical stress he needed an elixir to assist his recovery. And of course he just had to do a taste test
resulting in the purchase of some of the product – am I surprised!!!
With Leigh now rejuvenated it was over to
Trentham, a town that has embraced the Wombat as its emblem. Other than being a rather unique little
village it also housed the Red Beard Bakery renown for cooking bread in the
traditional manner utilizing a 19th century Scotch oven – OK so the
bakery is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
From Trentham we returned to Daylesford via the
Trentham Falls, the highest single drop waterfalls in Victoria; unfortunately
the dry summer had taken its toll as it was barely a trickle.
We left Daylesford Friday morning prior to the
arrival of swarms of fanatical roller-skaters for the inaugural National Junior
Roller Derby making our way to Maryborough via Creswick and Clunes. First stop was nearby Creswick and while the
tourism paraphernalia was rather glowing it was from our perspective a
disappointment with numerous shops permanently shut or business’s not open for
business and while it may have been an old mining town of historical importance
there was no apparent provision made for RV parking which is odd for a tourism
oriented town.
From Creswick we continued to Clunes; now this
was an interesting town. Clunes is still
very much as it was in the late 1800’s with wide streets reminiscent of the
period, historic buildings housing government offices and various enterprises,
plus a smattering of coffee shops, delicatessens and bakeries. Clunes was the site of Victoria’s first gold
strike in 1851 and today is one of the most intact 19th century
towns still boasting original shopfronts and buildings.
As it was early afternoon it was time to
located the Paddy Ranges State Park near Maryborough where we planned to bush
camp for the next few days. Eventually
arriving mid-afternoon and much to our surprise discovering there were only
four other vans in a very spacious camping area quite capable of catering for
ten or more vans alone; we were somewhat betwixt as to why it wasn’t being
patronized.
After setting up in lovely secluded section of
the camping area we drove into nearby Maryborough making the usual visit to the
local tourism office followed by a wander around the town viewing some of the
historical buildings still in use including the Bull and Mouth Hotel, the Court
House, Post Office, Town Hall and the magnificent railway station, all of which
are still in use.
On our second day in the Maryborough region we
went an exploratory drive visiting various outlying villages steeped in
gold mining history. This
area was subject to intense gold mining in the mid 1800’s by large numbers of
prospectors which is very evident by a landscape pitted with abandoned shafts and
warning signs everywhere advising all of the dangers.
The first village we visited was Carisbrook and
its "lock up" built in 1852. Carisbrook
was also the birthplace of Tilly Aston born in 1873 who lost her vision at an
early age but despite the handicap became an accomplished writer, poet,
musician and teacher. Tilly was
instrumental in initiating the Braille Library in Victoria.
From Carisbrook it was over to Dunolly an old
gold mining town of yesteryear located in an area referred to as the Golden
Triangle where during the 1850’s and 60’s more gold nuggets were discovered
than anywhere else in Australia including the world’s largest gold nugget at 69
kilograms. While the buildings reflect
a period of prosperity in bygone years, today it is struggling. Still that didn’t stop us wandering the
streets, inspecting the gold mining shop, the gold nugget display, plus
visiting the local bakery for morning tea.
Leaving Dunolly we meandered through the
countryside via various localities eventually returned to our campsite late
afternoon
Our departure from Maryborough on
day three was delayed due to a failed 7 pin plug necessitating a visit to an
auto electrical to acquire and fit a new heavy duty fitting resulting in our
plans for visiting several locations having to be abandoned as we needed to be
in Mansfield where we’d
prearranged to collect our mail. The
trip to Mansfield was uneventful although somewhat rushed in lieu of our
planned meandering route enabling us to visit several points of interest but
unfortunately time was of the essence hence it was necessary to utilize a
combination of freeways and arterial roads.
One of our options after visiting Mansfield was
to either backtrack and camp on the shores of Lake Eildon however or continue
into the Alps and camp in the Tolmie Recreational Reserve however as we crossed
a bridge just out of Bonnie Doon spanning Lake Eildon there wasn’t a drop of
water to be seen albeit signage everywhere advertising waterfront accommodation
and camping.
Arriving Mansfield just prior to the Post
Office closing we learnt much to our annoyance our mail hadn’t arrived
necessitation once again a change of plans opting to stay the night in
Mansfield particularly not relishing the thought of having to return the
following day via the Alpine Roads. With
very little option we booked into a local caravan park that could only be
described at substandard and overpriced; it’s quite amazing how caravan parks
Australia wide seem to be immune to health and safety requirement.
After vacating the van park the following
morning and parking in the main street we re-visited the post office but alas
our mail still hadn’t arrived much to our chagrin. Resigned to the fact we’d be returning to
Mansfield the following week we departed for Pizzini winery at Whitfield where
we’d arranged to meet friends and would be staying for the next four or five
days.
The next few days saw us eating at various
localities including the Whitfield Hotel, lunching at the Cristmont Winery, partaking
in food and wine tasting at various locations including the Whitfield Epicentre
and King Valley Fine Foods, a most amazing delicatessen whose products are “to
die for” and which incidentally they export to Singapore and selected outlets
in Melbourne region.
Prior to wine and grape King Valley was a major
tobacco producing region with many of the old Oast’s still standing but now
being utilized by the various vineyards for other purposes.
Come the following Monday we returned to
Mansfield to collect our mail which thankfully had arrived. Our return trip to Whitfield was at a more
leisurely pace with our first visit to a housing estate on the banks of Lake
Eildon, well it should have been on the banks of Lake Eildon. We estimate that the waters have.
From Lake Eildon we re-joined the road leading
back to Whitfield visiting Tolmie where we’d intended staying, followed by
Power Lookout with its great views of the King Valley, and of course we just
had to take a photo of Moonshadow Ridge for our granddaughter whose cat goes by
the same name.
Interestingly Power Lookout is named after 19th
Century bushranger Harry Power who at one stage of his career coached Ned
Kelly. Harry wasn’t a very successful
bushranger which probably accounts for Ned Kelly demise at the gallows.
Whilst camped at Pizzini Vineyards our worst suspicions
regarding the health of our van batteries came to fruition with our battery
bank which we suspected may be on the verge of failing, actually gave up the
ghost forcing us to utilize the generator to provide power for the water pumps
and other essentials.
After some research on the internet we located
a supplier in Albury who stocked a brand of battery we’d read good report about
from others who had installed them. After
saying our farewells to the owners of Pizzini it was an early morning dash to
Albury to purchase four new 120 amh deep cycle batteries.
Arriving an hour prior to closing time on
Saturday after getting hopelessly lost, the new batteries were installed by the
supplier (who for some delusional idea thought I was going to install them). While this was happening Mita went in search
of coffee – Macca’s was it.
Leaving Albury early afternoon and in no mood
for further travel a quick reference to Wikicamps saw us heading for the sports
ground at Walbundrie forty kilometres north where much to Mita’s delight we had
unlimited access to water meaning of course she could shampoo her hair.
Our plans prior to leaving Pizzini were to
travel from King Valley to Bright, then over to Corryong allowing us to explore
that section of the Alpine National Park, followed by Khancoban where we’d have
access to the western side of the Kosciuszko National Park, and then turn north
for home however with ongoing intermittent problems with the electrics for the
vans braking system and the subsequent failure of the batteries we had lost
interest.
With our
plans having been disrupted we decided it was time to head home via the
Goulburn River National Park. That
evening over a glass of wine and a cheese platter we plotting a course, ensured
our water tanks were full and set sail the following morning, next stop
Grenfell overnighting beside a small dam just outside the town.
Awakening bright and early the next morning we
slipped into town as the shops opened to collect some odds and ends, posted mail
and departed thinking we would make it to Goulburn River National Park that
evening. Unfortunately we’d been
encountering electrical problems with the BT’s brakes since leaving home and although
having visited several auto electricians who assured all was well, entering
Cudal they failed in their entirety. To
aggravate matters just as we entered Cudal while discussing our options, namely
head to Orange in search of a reputable auto electrician, we were greeted by a
police RBT roadblock.
Having “blown
into the bag” we eventually arrived in Orange, located an auto electrical
workshop who obviously specialized in heavy transport, explained the problem
and without even examining the vehicle surmised the fault. 30 minutes later after he had totally
dismantled and reassembled both 7 pin plugs and installed a new heavy duty
earth cable we were on our way with the brakes fully functional.
With our schedule once again in tatters we overnighting
at Stuart Town in the local sports ground.
Following a good night’s sleep and in a far
better frame of mind next stop was Wellington getting scripts filled, topping
up water tanks and collecting a few essentials. Unfortunately Wellington seems to be
suffering from vandalism and racial issue with numerous businesses having
either closed their doors or resorted to installing amplimesh on windows for
protection. All in all, very disappointing.
Leaving Wellington we made a “bee line” for the
Goulburn River National Park opting to travel via Mudgee on bitumen roads thus leaving
only seventeen kilometres of dirt within the park boundary. Many would have you believe the park isn’t van
friendly however information provided by a park ranger we spoke to several months
prior debunked those theories however he did stress larger 4WD vehicle should
be used when towing vans as some inclines and descents were steep as we later
discovered.
We’d planned
staying several nights in the park and after arriving, inspected the two available
camping areas located at Big River and Spring Gully settled on the latter as
the sites were clearly defined, some had fire pits, most were level, nearly all
had views, and the big plus, it was totally deserted; we eventually deciding on
a site overlooking the river with views along the gorge.
Unfortunately our tranquillity was shattered
late afternoon with the arrival of another couple who decided National Park
rules didn’t apply or consideration for others wasn’t a criteria with music
blaring, chain saw operating, and constant yelling at children – fun, fun, fun.
Next morning decided on tackling some walks up
the gorge where according to the brochure was Aboriginal art, relics, an
abundance of wildlife, and scenery. The
only problem was while all the preceding sounded inviting there were no tracks
or trails and after about an hour of trying to negotiate up the gorge while
dodging a multitude of massive Wombat burrows, gave up and returned to the van
somewhat disappointed.
Relaxing under the awning, coffee in hand and
reading a novel while listening to blaring music and a chain saw emanating from
the nearby site, we suddenly got the whiff of smoke closely followed by the
sounds of helicopters and light aircraft not too far away. It wasn’t too long before sighting smoke
billowing up from behind a not too distant ridgeline. Not at all comfortable with the scenario of
a nearby fire we opted for safety, packed up and left.
The drive home to Warwick was a “no fuss no
bother” affair overnighting near Cassilis the first night after our unscheduled
departure from the Goulburn River National Park. From Cassilis it was cross country to
Tamworth utilizing back roads crossing the Great Dividing Ranges near the
locality of Jacks Creek which incidentally provided great views of the
Liverpool Plains.
Thursday we overnighted beside
a stream at Bendamear, arriving home on Friday afternoon.
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