Back to New South Wales

Saturday morning of our little adventure saw us having to make a decision, well a couple of decisions actually.

You see, the road we intended to return home on was cut by flood water.

Our grand plan was to visit Hay, which isn't on our direct route anyway, but was even a bit more out of the way due to the road detours.

First decision was made.  We would still continue to Hay.  We like Hay and wanted to visit again.

Second decision.  Would we go via Echuca or via Tocumwal?  We haven't bee through Tocumwal for a while, so lets go that way.  Decisions made.

The Murray, like all other rivers had plenty of water in it.

It was a bit early for morning tea, so we didn't stop in Tocumwal, but continued on to Finley.

Bonus!  Finley had its Farmers Markets on.  However, there wasn't really anything that we wanted to buy.  The bakery and the little fruit and vege shop did OK out of us, though.

There was some nice architecture too.

Our next via point was Deniliquin. Lots of people there, mostly wearing drizabones and gum boots.  You see, the annual ute muster was on.  Apparently it was so muddy that utes were being towed into the site.  Heaven knows what it would have been like by the time they were trying to get them back out of the site.

After Denni, the land really flattened out and you enter the plains.  

I'm never quite sure where the Hay Plains start and finish, but it is all flat and vast.  Certainly "big sky country".  Cloudy sky at this stage.

We stopped for lunch at the Black Stump Rest Area.

There was a great sculpture here.

It is entitled "The Headless Horseman", who is depicted above.  He reportedly taunted drovers in the area.

There is a range of sculptures all along the way from Moama to Wilcannia known as "The Long Paddock".

People say that the Hay Plains are deadly boring.  We never find that.  There are subtle changes all along the way, like a paddock of Patterson's Curse.

Then a paddock of some sort of white flowers.

At one point it was really hazy.  All we could put it down to was a cloud of pollen.  It was certainly too wet for it to be dust.

Eventually, by mid afternoon we arrived at our destination - the town of Hay, on the banks of the Murrumbidgee.  Funnily enough, last time we travelled through here the river was in flood.  That was back in 2012.

We set up camp at the caravan park ready to do a little exploring. 

More soon.

Heading North

On Friday last week we continued to head north after lunch.  Our destination for the day was Mick's doing.  Right from when we arranged to collect our van in Melbourne he announced he wanted to come home via the inland, primarily as the driving was easier for getting used to it all.  

As we headed along we noticed a rather large waterway to the right of the road on the map, so of course we had to make a detour and check it out.  We certainly had time.

Waranga Basin is rather picturesque, and like every other body of water we saw, was rather full.  See the sign at the end of the boat ramp....way out in the water.

As we left I saw this dirt road.  One of those roads you would like to explore.  I wonder where it goes?

Canola started to feature more as we headed into the flat country.  Those rain clouds were building again too.  We had showers on and off most of the day.

The next feature in the landscape was orchards.  This may give you an indication of our destination.

Mick had announced he wanted to visit Shepparton.  No particular reason, but that was good enough for us.

We knew very little about the area.  I had visited once on a holiday as a kid, toured the SPC Cannery and then, after Dad had enquired as to what happened to all the apricot kernels (they were canning apricots at the time) we toured another little factory that made "Perzipan", a product similar to marzipan. (Marzipan is made from almond kernels.) Not all that exciting as a kid. I don't remember anything else.

When I had looked at van parks on the net I had come across "Victoria Lake" near the centre of town and there was a park on its banks.  That was good enough for us.

That's us on the left.  A terrible place to camp don't you think.  Very pretty.

Fortunately, the weather held off for a while and we were able to go for a nice stroll around the lake shoreline in the early evening.  There were well established paths and gardens and loads of birds.

Enjoy some eye candy,

There was even one man fishing off the jetty.

We met quite a lot of people enjoying the surrounds, and the fact that it wasn't raining.

We had fun spotting birds.

Firstly, a flock of corellas took off overhead.  They always seem to signify the south west  area to us.

Naturally, there were plenty of ducks.

A kookaburra kept an eye on us for a while.

There were a few pelicans looking rather settled.

We kept hearing a rather loud bird chirping away.  We knew where it was hiding in the dense bushes and long reeds, but just couldn't get to see it.  Finally, we caught a glimpse.  A local saw us looking for it and informed us that it was a reed warbler.  We hadn't brought our bird book along for the ride, so were pleased to have it identified.  The bird book, certainly will get added to the packing list.

The local we had talked to told us that the Lake area had been spruced up by the council about ten years ago.  Prior to that it was just a wasteland.  They certainly have done a marvelous job and created a delightful place to visit.

By then the daylight was fading, so time to return to our home away for home and prepare dinner.

It was nice to see a sunset, rather than rain.........however it rained quite a lot during the night.  Fancy that.

The following morning was a bit showery, but I was surprised that there were no early walkers or joggers going past.  That all changed at about 8 o'clock.  The Lake is the venue for Park Run.  Lots of people took part.  It is rather a lovely setting for the weekly event.

I'm not sure what else Shepparton has to offer, as we didn't really do much exploring.  It was just nice to wander around the lake.  It certainly is a large regional centre and, like all the places we had visited so far, worth a better look when we have more time.......one day.

Where to next?  We'll soon see.

Our Little Adventure Continues

I'm finally getting back to our travels.,....

On the Friday we continued travelling north through the centre of Bendigo. Fortunately, it was a public holiday, so relatively quiet. 

We noticed a park area with gorgeous tulips so went looking for a car park. Once again, being a public holiday played into our hands.

The colours looked so intense in the low light.

Don't you love these gargoyle lamps in front if the Law Courts.

The architecture is a little grandeous. Nothing like flaunting your wealth in the gold rush era.

A little over the top, but beautiful just the same.

Back to the gardens.  Enjoy the eye candy.

A new computer wallpaper maybe?

We saw a sign to the Poppet Head Lookout.  You can just see it at the top of the hill, so up we went.

Nearly there. 

And that's when it started to rain. Mick went halfway up, but you couldn't see a great deal more than on the ground in the wet, so we headed back down the hill, when, of course, it stopped.

Back to the gardens.

I don't think I've seen a park with so many statues and busts of founding fathers than here.

That weather was building up again.

Let's quickly go through the rainforest garden before the next shower....Too late.  See the rain spots on the plaque.  Isn't it a lovely sentiment.

It was rather lovely seeing it all damp and drippy, but we were starting to get the same way.  Time to get back to the car.

Hang on.  What's that? Let's zoom in with the camera.

No it's not seed pods.  It's bats. Not what I expected to see in Bendigo. I thought they were more tropical.

Anyway, we really must get moving as it is now really raining and we didn't bring our rain jackets with us.

A bit further along, while we were still in Bendigo we came across this lovely lake....with a coffee van, and as you can see, it had stopped raining again.

There were even lots of water hens wandering around.  It was another nice spot to stop.

Back on the road, we travelled through quite a few small towns.  

One we stopped in was Rushworth.  It had a lovely mani street.

The railway no longer goes through, but there is a quirky toilet block.

I also loved the garden beside the museum with all the "rubbish" incorporated in the beds.

Our next stop was our destination for the night, but more on that soon.