Last Weekend – A Road Trip – Part 2

When we woke up on Saturday morning we were surprised and delighted to see that the weather was overcast and quite  cool.  It was going to be a much more pleasant day for getting out and about.

We started off with a delicious breakfast at the little “Whitty Cafe”.  You will start to think that this trip is all about eating.

From here on we only had a very vague plan of where we were heading.  Looking at the map, there was an interesting road leading from Whitfield to Lake Buffalo, however it had about 30kms of dirt.  That doesn’t bother us, so off we went.  It was a a lovely drive and we didn’t see another car while on the unsealed section.  It was nice to roll the windows down, as the bush smelt so fresh.  It is not often that you can really smell the gum trees.

With all the bushfires at the time and the bad weather conditions we cringed when we saw where some people have built their homes.  We’d be a nervous wreck.

Eventually, we were on sealed roads again and the countryside opened up a little.

Mount Buffalo made a stunning backdrop as we drove along.

We were really glad we came this was at the scenery was stunning.

Finally, we reached the Lake Buffalo dam wall.

 

From here we met a string of cars towing boats, all headed to the Lake.  There was lovely farmland and vineyards.

There was also the occasional oast house from when the area mainly grew hops.

Before long we were in Myrtleford,  where we had a walk up and down the street.  I found a little green glass shot glass in an op shop. So much more pleasant walking around in the cooler weather.

We have explored the area from here on, around the old goldmining towns, quite a few times, as we used to attend the “Butterball Classic Bike Rally” in the 1990s.  The rally took us on some great little roads and to so many interesting attractions.  We really enjoyed revisiting the area after all this time.

From Myrtleford it was on to Beechworth for lunch and a wander. Of course we had to have a pie and bee sting from the Beechworth Bakery.  We worked it out that it is just over 20 years ago that some friends from the Butterball Rally introduced us to the bakery and bee stings.  This was before there were branches of the bakery all over the place.

While we were having lunch it even started to rain a little bit.  No one was rushing for umbrellas.  Everyone was enjoying it.

After lunch we meandered to Chiltern, another town with lots of character…and lots of characters as well.

It was fun looking in all the little antique shops.  We didn’t buy anything.

Next stop was Rutherglen.  By now many shops had closed, but we did stumble upon one rather tasty antique shop.  There was lots of green glass, but I was strong.  I did however, buy 3 slate pencils.  Don’t ask me why, they were just something that you don’t normally see.  Mick found a piece of Shelley china that my Mum would love, but it was way, way out of our price bracket and had a bit of damage, so it stayed where it was.

By now the afternoon was getting on and we were ready to call it a day, so decided to stay at Corowa, on the New South Wales side of the Murray.  We don’t think we have been there before, or if we have, we can’t remember it.  The town is quite a lot bigger than we expected.  We were warned that there was a rowing regatta on and that accommodation may be a bit thin on the ground.  However, there are lots of motels and we had no trouble getting a room.

We wandered down the street to get dinner.  I loved the old “Rex” cinema sign.  No, the building is no longer used as a cinema.

We had not idea where to eat, but when we saw the wonderful Art Deco “Hotel Australia” we decided to try there.  Apparently the pub was built in 1893 and was remodelled in the 1930’s in the Art Deco style.

Beautiful tiles.

Lots of leadlight windows, which from the inside were green and yellow.  It just doesn’t show in this photo.

And yes, the meal was good.  They do a great steak.

On Sunday we really just had to drive home by the most direct route, being the Olympic Way.  We decided not to have a Maccas breakfast in Corowa, but to get something along the way…………….Two and a half hours later we drove into Wagga and had some breakfast.  There was no where anywhere inn between where you could even get a coffee.  Yes, there were places, but they were all shut on a Sunday morning.

Not to worry, we had a lovely breakfast when we got it.  Worth the wait.

We arrived home late on Sunday afternoon, having had a rather pleasant few days away.  Sometimes a short break is as good as a longer holiday.

We travelled nearly 1,800 kms. 

The canopy on the ute is dust proof.

We only saw a couple of places where there had been bushfires.  Near Tarcutta on the Hume you could see where there’d been a fire earlier in the week and at Woodstock, near Cowra they were mopping up after a fire on Saturday night.

After being cool down south, it was stinking hot on Sunday afternoon at home.

We ate well.

We will have to plan another getaway before too long.