27 May 2009

Griffith 24-27 May

We arrived in Griffith mid afternoon on Sunday and went to the Griffith Caravan Village just out of town, very nice park, grassy sites, nice amenities. The 0ther site in Griffith is in town and near the industrial area so we are glad we picked this one.


This is a dark park at night, the lighting is in pockets with the power inlets. Very peaceful and quiet. Monday was washing day and it had blown dry by noon. In the afternoon we visited wineries. Beelgara first, tasted some nice white and red and bought 1 Doz, then onto de Bortoli and tried some more and bought them of course. Last one Yarran, the guy there was very informative and told us they had left the grapes on the vines now to see if they could get a botrytis this year. Bought another dozen.


It rained all night and showers most of the morning. So what do you do when you cant stay outside - visit another winery of course. This tme it was Westend wineries, 1 dozen later we left. Not buying any more wines. Into town for lunch then drove around looking for houses built on drug money and think we found some on way to Lake Wynagan. Nice Lake numerous facilities for picnickers and very well kept.

Our next stop off was the Pioneer Park, Italian culture centre also included in park. Great stuff, they even had a school room with the old desks. They have rebuilt a village out of donated buildings from the past eras and incorporated the italian heritage in the displays.


In the evening we went to La Scala for dinner on Mathew’s recommendation. It was excellent; we had 3 courses and a local wine - 3 Bridges Cab sav. The place was very busy even for a Tuesday night.


On Wednesday we woke to a thick fog. Later in the morning we had an early lunch then visited Catania fruit salad farm. Wonderful place, Sharon took us on a tour of their farm in a small bus, with a short video in the shed, full of lots of information about farming their property, how it started, all about the different fruit. Then back to their house for jam, mustard (all hand made by Sharon) and wine tasting. Sharon and Joe are an interesting couple and have a great sense of humour. We bought some jams and mustards, including Ian's favourite - quince jelly.

22 May 2009

18 - 23 May 09

Aussie Wide are sending the part for our hose to our home, so we will fix it when we get home. It isnt causing us any problems so far.

On Tuesday, off we went to the Holden Museum and Ian was in awe. Cars sure have changed over the years. Lots of memories of days gone by.












In the afternoon we went to the Historical Museum. The paddle steamer era certainly made Echuca; there was lots of information and examples of olden times in Echuca. Well worth the visit.

There are lots of ducks in this CP. Swimming in the pool, walking around the park and sitting under cars. The man hunts them from the pool by throwing large plastic water bottles at them as they land in the pool, and he hoses all the #$%*#* off the tiles every couple of days. A duck stole Shirley’s croc in the evening and Ian found it under the van. Well we assume it was a duck as something had been on our roof and Ian chased it off by banging on the ceiling.
Wednesday - Went on the Echuca Port walk and tour today. Echuca was a bustling town in the late 1800s, 78 pubs, 1200ft wharf and hundreds of paddle steamers coming in each day. The town has thrived since 1973 when someone decided to go the tourist route and it has worked.

















In the afternoon, we did a cruise on the paddle steamer Pevensey. This was the actual vessel used in the 1984 TV mini series "All the Rivers Run" (they renamed it "Philadelphia" for the show). Many houseboats moored along the river, both luxurious and small.
Of great interest to us were the trees that just hang onto the banks by the thinnest root. Mighty Red Gums clinging on by the barest margins.
On Thursday we went to Barmah on a Kingfisher cruise. The mighty Murray is very different here, low banks but huge river red gums off to the side and fallen into the water. The red gums need flooding to keep them alive, so they do it artifically by releasing a flush of water from Hume Dam every three years. They couldnt do it in 2008 as there wasnt enough water, so now not till 2011. The river here is full of birdlife, we need a book on birds to work what they are.














Friday we started on the wineries and went to Chanter Wines, St Annes and the Old School Winery. Mostly wines of the sweeter types. We bought some, of course. The Old School Winery makes mead wine, ie with honey; very nice and we had some mulled (warmed with spices).

Saturday it was off to the Great Aussie Beer Shed. What a fascinating place. He gives everyone a tour and he has cans, bottles, glasses, syphons, barrels and anything and everything about beer in Australia. Old ice chests, plus petrol pumps, telephones and signs everywhere. He has over 34000 cans and is expanding into accommodation this year.


















Tomorrow we are off to Griffith.

17 May 2009

17 May

Checked out the caravan place for the part for the hose, but they only had a bigger one and it was $85 so we left it there. and we will call Aussie Wide on Monday and find out where to get the part or have them send it to us.

The birds had a party on the roof of the TARDIS so we took him for a wash. Shepparton has lots of fibreglass cows in their parks, and we took lots of photos for the kids of the various cows around town before leaving for our trip around the region.

First stop, Tatura to the museum but it doesn’t open until 2pm, so onto Murchison to the cemetery and to the Italian Ossario mausoleum, Italian war graves. Then onto the Murchison Heritage Centre and learnt about the POW camps located in the Tatura/Murchison area – fascinating stuff. From there we went to Rushworth but the heritage centre was shut, the town has been heritage listed so the building are little ones not changed from then.

Over to Kyabram, total surprise to why it exists, 6900 people in the middle of nowhere, although orchards everywhere so they do that now, but what did they do before. Then on the way to Tatura we skipped thru Byrneside and had to go back to take a photo of the sign, couldn’t find anything else. On the way to Tatura called in at the German War cemetery, the only one in Australia. German civilians and soldiers from both World Wars. Back to Tatura and into the museum, more information on POW camps, huge camps 4000 in one of them (Murchison). Plus info on irrigation, weirs, Rosella cannery, and snow milk (previously called Tatura milk).

On Sunday we moved from Shepparton to Echuca (a whole 77kms). Called into Tongala Golden Cow on the way which was condensed milk in Australia but 3 three years ago Nestle sold it to Fontana. It is very confusing try to keep track of who owns what and what brand is true now. We expected to pick up cans and cans of condensed milk for the boys but no luck.

After settling into the Echuca Caravan PArk we went into the town. It was very busy, cafes and pubs with outdoors seating and entertainment. We visited the information centre and Ian picked up maps for all sorts of places in Victoria and NSW. Never know when you might need a map. The next week looks busy as there is lots to do in Echuca.

15 May 2009

15 May

Ian spent the morning under the van, talking to himself about hoses and connections. Finally worked out the filter/regulator was the culprit for the lack of pressure so off we went to Bunnings, plumbing supplies, caravan service places all to no avail. No one has a replacement. We are going to try another one tomorrow. We tried calling Aussie Wide but they must have had the afternoon off.

We then visited the SPC factory outlet and filled up on soup, fruits and lollies. We would have saved a fortune when the boys were young if we lived here, the prices were really cheap.

Showers and rain this afternoon and tonight, so we stayed snuggled in our van.

14 May 2009

14 May

Monday morning and we almost met our expected departure time. Over to friends place on the way out of Canberra and what was supposed to be a 10 minute stopover ended up one hour later and coffee and cake. Eventually we got rolling down the Hume Highway and stopped for lunch at the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox. What a disappointment! There is a service station and food outlet but not attached to the location of the dog on the tuckerbox. All the buildings surrounding the dog appear to be vacant and the dog sits furlornly there begging for a few coins. However, this disappointment was soon replaced by Frank Rosconi's masterpiece at the Gundagai tourist centre. Hand crafted marble 20988 pieces, marvelous workmanship. We arrived at Junee mid afternoon and the caravan park was excellent. Lush green grass everywhere. Cold nights though, we have to turn the air con on to warm up the van. In the morning the air con wont work because it is too cold, so out comes the little fan heater to warm us up before we get out of bed.

During the next few days we visited the historic house Monte Cristo, Broadway historical museum, out to Bethungra rail loop (where the railway line does a 360 loop to go up the hill). We also visited the railway Roundhouse where they used to provide maintenance on the trains and after we wandered around the magnificent railway precinct, where there are a number of grand old hotels plus the railway station, we then went to the liquorice and chocolate factory. Yum, ginger chocolate, nuts, liquorice and a ploughmans lunch which was the best we have ever had. Did you know that liquorice is made from flour and molasses?

Thursday morning we left Junee and headed south, stopping briefly at The Rock, where Ian relived childhood memories of the huge pub which no longer exists as a pub but is now a down at heel B & B. Lunch at Henty and then onto Shepparton. We dont have any water pressure into the van and Ian is going to check it out tomorrow morning.

01 May 2009

Hello

Hi, this is the blog of Cob and Oma (ie Ian and Shirley). We are a retired couple who are just starting out as grey nomads. This is our rig - a Land Cruiser 100 series turbo diesel and an Aussie Wide 21.6' caravan which we call Tom (for Tom Cruise) and Tardis (because there is so much room inside).