Napperby to Silverton, NSW

“On the road again, we’re on the road again”. That’s right after spending about 9 weeks at Napperby it’s time to set off again. As you will recall from my last entry, we bought another tow vehicle which Colin has spent time in tweaking some of the electrical system, (extra battery). We did eventually sell our other 4x4; sad to see it go as it has been very faithful to us & hasn’t missed a beat all the time we have travelled.

Well lots of things have happened while we’ve been so-called resting. The one & only good fishing day since being back, Colin & Guy managed to pick up a good feed for dinner that night. Well done boys! A bad dust storm hit us & we couldn’t see much in front at all; we did however notice a few caravans travelling back to Adelaide in the awful weather – not a good travelling day. My younger sister, her two boys & mother-in-law (from South Africa) came up for the day. Lots of family birthdays during the last couple of months. A quick visit to Adelaide for a couple of days gave us time to catch up with some shopping & a visit to my dad’s for tea. Another quick trip up to Kingston-On-Murray to visit Nick (Colin’s grandson) for his 6th birthday; (several days later he broke several bones in his foot while entertaining his little mates for his birthday party).
I have been battling a bad back for the last 4 weeks with regular visits to the chiropractor. Slowly it has been improving. Josh, Kendehl & Arthur (Smurf) managed to make a visit on my birthday; it was so good to be able to spend some time with them. Smurf is now 15 months & beginning to walk & exploring anything & everything. Shilo the Labrador loved having him around, wandering all the time what was this thing that moved into her space & wanting to play with her toys. She was good with him though!

Now back to our next stage of our journey. We left Napperby on 21 July heading towards Broken Hill via Silverton. We set off at around 11:20am for our first stop at Jamestown as we had some business to attend to. Morning tea around at the RM Williams Park where we read all about R M Williams, very interesting. Next stop was to be Peterborough; time out for a good stretch & to reminisce of my grandparents/mum’s home town. Overnight stop was to be at Yunta, a small town of a population of around 800 (that’s what the sign says anyway). By the time we arrived at Yunta the cold air was settling in. I wasn’t really in the mood for cooking so a visit to the pub across the road was in order. Our order came & I really didn’t want to leave the warmth of the fire which I was sitting on to go & eat in another room, but what must be, must be. Our site was within 20m of the working railway line. The trains were relatively quiet with the last one passing through at about 6pm ish & no more until after 7am. If any did come through the night we didn’t hear them. This morning (Thursday) was quite chilly with the temperature reading about 4o on the clock & the fog was thick. I couldn’t even see the train track from our van. By about 9:15am the fog had lifted slightly & so we continued on with the next stretch to Silverton. After about 30kms the fog lifted completely & we were once again in the warm winter sun, now we could thaw out!

As we head towards the SA/NSW border the scenery changes to a rugged environment. We begin to wonder what one would do as a living out here – not much more than cattle, sheep & maybe emu producers. At Cockburn, on the NSW side of the border, it was time for another stretch & to our amazement we came across a very large motor yacht being transported to Newcastle. Colin went over to speak to the escort guys only to be told that they had been there for 3 days already. Problems it appeared.

By early afternoon we had reached our destination of Silverton (Penrose Park) after travelling on about 25kms of rather ‘dippy’ road; in fact there are 39 dips in total which allow the water to flow during heavy rains. Silverton is a popular destination for movie makers. It has been the scene for more than 140 films & commercials such as, Bryan Brown’s Dirty Deeds, Mad Max II, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, XXXX beer ads & the Royal Flying Doctor series. This near-ghost is town full of interesting arts and craft shops. Silverton is a fascinating town, once a thriving mining centre of 3000, it is now a virtual ghost town of about 50 residences with a number of historic buildings, several art galleries and museums and a pub. The pub has legendary stories about events and the famous people who have visited, along with a replica of The Interceptor from the Mad Max movies. The new movie was supposed to begin filming shortly, however owing to the landscape being ‘too green’ it has been postponed. The town is surrounded by 4000 hectares of land known as The Silverton Common, in a semi-arid zone.

Penrose Park (which is where we stayed for a few days) was named after John Penrose, born in Yorkshire in 1850. The park was built and maintained by Broken Hill mines as a place of respite for mining families. The park consists of playgrounds, tennis courts, cricket ground and lovely bush gardens; quite a nice bush camp ground. The old Silverton Cemetery located next to Penrose Park. Headstones still standing there date back as early as 1883. Silverton is home to a group of long time artists such as John Dynon, Peter Browne Gallery & Horizon Gallery). Tourists & locals alike congregate at the top of the hill to watch the magnificent sunset across the Mundi Mundi plains where you can see a huge landscape that is as flat as a tack as far as the eye can see. The red barren land of the Mundi Mundi Plains stretches out without a hint of a man made structure. You feel as if you've landed on a new planet.

Our first day at Silverton saw us venturing out on the 2 hour Heritage Walk Trail which took us up & over hills with stunning views that overlooked the township & the breathtaking views of the Mundi Mundi Plains. While taking photos of some fauna back in town, Colin happened to notice the ‘Mad Max’ vehicle on the back of a trailer. We went up to give the owner Adrian some assistance to get it off the trailer which, then led to a half-hour chat. In the evening a few of the locals met up at the pub for a good chinwag. Having done the big walk, it meant that for the rest of our stay we could just meander around town soaking up the atmosphere, exploring the various museums especially the school, which brought back some memories. The locals were very friendly & chatty. If you ever get the chance to visit Broken Hill, why not go that extra mile (25 kms) & visit Silverton, it is worth the trip.

Click on the link below the picture to view some photos.

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Werribee South CP to Napperby

Well, it’s time for us to move on from Werribee. It has been a busy time for us over the last 2 months that we have spent near Melbourne. After viewing numerous makes, models & sizes of 5th Wheelers, we have finally made our decision on the manufacturer that we wish to build our 5ver. We have decided on a Truelux 28ft to be customised on the Opal Series. Truelux are a family business who had infinite patience as we visited three times with the most obscure queries/questions. They simply reiterated that the only dumb question is the one not asked. Have a look at their web site: http://d454457.u23.fasthit.net/home.html.

One would say that that was the easy decision taken care of, now we have to decide on the tow vehicle which is proving to be a testing & stressful time. Nothing is ever straightforward as we originally think. The more we delve into this, the more we come up other issues, a bit like a domino effect.

There are still lots of places to see & things to do that we’ll have to leave for another day. Our last week at Werribee proved to be quite interesting with us having Arthur (Vicki’s grandson – 13mths) come & stay with us for a few days while his mum & dad make a quick trip back to Adelaide to sort a few things out. It was quite strange to have this ‘foreign object’ sleeping between us at night; not an exercise we are accustomed to. The days when he couldn’t go outside to play due to the wild, wet & windy weather proved to be quite testing at times. However, once the sun came out to play so did he. With one leg in front of the other he would do his ‘crab crawl’ over to the neighbour to visit their little Chihuahua. We left Werribee on Monday May 10th & headed to Col’s daughter’s place at Kingston-on-Murray via the Sunraysia Highway (connects Mildura to Ballarat) which we’re looking forward to travelling along.

There must have been a club travelling out of Learmonth as we passed a number of motorhomes & a 5ver. Just outside of Lexton we came across another wind farm information bay overlooking the wind turbines in the distance. The information bay was I feel to be the most informed site we have come across so far. The day had been quite a hard day as the wind wasn’t on our side, so by the time we got to Teddington Reservoir, North West Victoria at Stuart Mill (about 35km from Avoca; midway between St Arnaud & Avoca) we decided to stay overnight. St Arnaud Range National Park has 13,900 hectares of mainly steep, forested terrain and is an ideal place to experience what the forests were like before the gold rushes. The park has one of the largest intact areas of Box-Ironbark vegetation. It encompasses the former Kara Kara State Park and much of the St Arnaud Range State Forest.

It was a lovely freebie spot to stay & wind down. This time gave me a good opportunity to sort out our remaining fruit & vegies so that we can get over the border without having to throw anything away. The next day when we awoke to a very frosty morning & had an overnight temperature of a warm 10.30C, we decided to stay another day as I appeared to have picked up a 24 hour tummy bug & wasn’t feeling too bright at all. While here, we took the opportunity to explore our lovely surroundings of the once very popular reservoir.

Wednesday morning & it was time to move on to K-o-M where we’ll stay a couple of days & catch up with Col’s daughter & family. We thought yesterday was cold, but after taking a look at our thermometer it showed us that yesterday was warm comparatively – a Brrrrr 0.40C. By the time we reached St Arnaud, it was time for a short stop to recharge our batteries with a walk through the township. St Arnaud was named after Marshal Jacques Leroy De St Arnaud, the commander of the French forces (b1796 – d 1854).

A stretch stop at Birchip to take a look around town & to see the Big Red Mallee Bull which stands proudly in the median strip of the main street through town proved quite an excitement. Not far out of town when I felt something on my leg which I thought was just a breeze coming from our car air conditioner & just brushed off. However, I had the same feeling but this time on the other side of my leg, but this time felt something more. My greatest fear was that it was a spider (which I am terrified of). After insisting that Col pull over to the side of the road & stop the car, I rolled up my trouser leg only to find a big locust. What a relief!!!

UPDATE June 2010

After several weeks of looking at the available tow vehicles, we now have purchased a 2007 Landcruiser VHD79R Cab Chassis. This is one of the recommended vehicles that can adequately tow the new van. Currently the vehicle is fitted with a custom built camping canopy that, being useful as we await the fifth wheeler, will have to be removed to have the 5ver hitch fitted when the van is made.
We originally wanted to use an Isuzu D-Max twin cab ute, however, the decision to go to the 28ft fifth wheeler counts this option out. In Victoria, we visited three companies that imported and converted the popular US tow vehicles, Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge RAM. These are beautiful vehicles but at what cost? So we decided to compromise and save by buying the Toyota. Refer to our update picture albums.

We are still at our home base at Napperby where we can relax while setting up our Toyota; additional battery, some minor servicing of the van and to sell our current 4WD, our ever reliable Mitsubishi Pajero, it will be sad to see it go.

The school holidays are nearly upon us once again. We will be here for a while, at least until the end of the school holidays when we’ll continue on with our travels. Testing the new tow vehicle!

To all my past colleagues at OE, have a safe break with your families.

Click on the link below the picture to view some photos.

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Wangaratta & The Great Alpine Road

After a few weeks in and around Melbourne, we decided to play hooky from Werribee and head off for a few days. Actually, the idea was first to visit a caravan manufacturer to see how their 5th wheeler stacked up against others that we had seen. Further, if we did the round trip we could also visit an American Vehicle importer to view Chevrolet Silverado utilities.
We headed off (sans caravan) via the freeways, Western and Northern Ring Roads, nothing free in the flow of traffic around these roads, three lanes chockers with the majority being trucks.
We turned up the Hume Freeway as far as Wallan for morning tea. Travelling along this highway is a breeze once you have left the city suburbs and the traffic spreads out, cruise control rules. Wallan has a major service centre and at 11:00am it was very busy. Trucks, campers, cars, caravans and many a businessman would have been, like us, ready for a short break after the tensions of the city sprawl.
On to Wangaratta, we booked into a motel and went on to our appointment at the manufacturers. It was worth the trip to Wangaratta, a pleasant city we thought where everyone seemed less stressed and cheerful. Hellos and smiles from people in the street, very friendly staff in the Information Centre, they didn’t have to do much to convince us that a trip along the Great Alpine Way would be a memorable experience.
From Wangaratta, the Great Alpine Way heads south to cross the Victorian side of the Australian Alpine Region. As the name suggests, the Alpine region is a winter playground with several popular snow-fields, hiking trails and a photographer’s heaven. The road follows the Ovens River valley and the several small towns along the way look very “liveable”.
The highway runs from Wangaratta to Bairnsdale, near the coast. Then back to Melbourne via the Pacific Highway making for a pleasant round trip with something for everyone at any time of the year.
Original pioneers found this way through the mountains by following the trails that had been used for many thousands of years by the regions Aboriginal groups. White settlers went into the hills in search of gold. Loggers went for the hardwood timber and sometimes, others just went to hide from authority. Famous Bushrangers are historically linked with the old gold-mining settlements that made up the Alpine Region Populace.
The road south is now well made and for the stretch to Bright, flat enough to be a popular cycle track, “River to the Sea Train Trail”. The cycle track has been formed along an old railway track, and on the days that we were there, very busy with family cyclists and enthusiasts alike. Very colourful in their various cycle clobber, dad pulling baby in a small trailer, mum shepherding the rest of the kids from behind. After the hustle and bustle of Melbourne, a great experience to behold. For those who prefer the motorised type of bike, the Great Alpine Way is billed as one of the great motor-cycle rides in the world. They should sell stickers, “I rode the Great Alpine Way”
Mount Buffalo National Park is a side trail climbing up to about 1700+ metres to an old chalet that is celebrating 100 years of accommodating the landed gentry of Melbourne. Though not open that day, I understand that there is some moves to get it operating again. Buffalo is popular not just for the lovely views from the escarpment, but also for Para-Gliding, Abseiling, Hiking and just for the beauty and fresh air. We spotted people filling water containers from pipes driven into the hill-sides above the lovely river; Fresh Mountain Spring Water not from a bottle!
Onto Bright, a most delightful but busy town on the banks of the Ovens River. Flanked by the foothills and the beginning of the Alpine Region, we were very lucky in that the weather prediction was for perfect autumn splendour. The deciduous trees were all in their glory of autumn colours, the air was crisp and clean and the bustle of cyclists, walkers and locals, made for a completely different kind of Australia for us to visit. Vicki took loads of pictures of trees and views.
We stayed over at Bright as it would have been a shame to rush over the mountains in just one day. Stop to smell the roses we thought. The walk along the river to the town centre was sheer delight, spotting fish, (Trout?) a variety of birds and autumn insects flittering across the water, a fly-fishers heaven.
From Bright, we continued on to Harrietville, another town with a gold mining history, named after one of the first white women in the region, there was once along this valley, a large Chinese contingent of miners that, different to the Ballarat gold fields, were reported to have got along well with the other nationalities that panned the creeks to seek their fortune. Harrietville is right on the edge of the Alpine Region, immediately you leave the town, the road does a hard left and the climb to Mount Hotham starts in earnest.
The road well made and sealed, twists and turns around the ridges until you eventually burst through the forests and come out above the snow-line. Again, we were lucky that the air was clear, the views across Mt Feathertop to the Alps of the NSW regions was very spectacular after the dusty plains encountered on our previous trips. Mount Hotham Alpine Village was very busy with travellers. The chalets, chairlifts and trails had workmen everywhere, preparing for the snow, which one said, “could come at anytime now”. It was 15 degrees according to the digital thermometer but also already, had a chill factor of minus 14 I thought. Hotham Village is about 1752 metres above sea level; it was interesting to view the ski-field maps in the information centre, the grading of the ski-trails and the various lifts. Looking over the hills, it was very hard for us to imagine it all covered with snow.
We stayed one more night in a motel, at Omeo, one more night than we were originally expecting but the drive down the mountain was as interesting as the climb up but not as steep. We mused that the several caravanners that we saw at Hotham would have thought that the road was easy. Descending to Harrietville would have been a reality check.
The road from Omeo follows another beautiful river valley that for 35 kilometres snakes its way through the mountains of the Great Dividing Range and we couldn’t help but be awed by the thought of the pioneers that wended their way to the mountains. There are several hamlets along the way to Bruthen from where there are glimpses of the waters of the Lower Gippsland Lakes Region and towards the sea at Lakes Entrance.
The Great Alpine Road ends at Bairnsdale where it joins the Pacific Highway, a couple of hundred or so kilometres from Melbourne, it was just a taster. A most definite “must go back there” as there is much to see and do around this beautiful region of Eastern Victoria.

ps We have ordered our new 5th wheeler & hopefully we'll get it by Christmas.

Click on the link below the picture to view some photos

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K-O-M — Werribee South Caravan Park

After spending a couple of weeks with our family in the Riverland it was time for us to move on with our first stop being Meningie. Though we were there for an overnight stay it still gave us the opportunity to meander through the town & along the lake. We have been hearing on the radio about how low the lake is but until we actually saw it for ourselves it was hard to comprehend how much it has actually deteriorated. We have to wonder where our government’s priority really is; it seems to be with assisting other countries who have experienced a natural disaster, rather than assisting our own people who are experiencing the same phenomenal. Leaving Meningie behind us we continued on to 42 Mile Crossing Campground in the Coorong Conservation Park. The 3km road into the campground was a little bumpy but what was at the end was worth it. In the evening saw us walking for ½ hour along a track to the beach for our usual sunset ritual. We enjoy watching the sun set.

At Robe we stayed 3 nights which gave me the opportunity to catch up on the week’s washing & general domestic duties. It’s amazing how quickly it mounts up when you’re on the road. After a short time in Mt Gambier where we had morning tea at the Blue Lake (which was really bright blue), we made a quick visit to several other places of interest before we continued on to our next stay at Piccaninnie Ponds. Piccaninnie Ponds is well known for the wonderful treasures below the surface of the ponds especially amongst the professional divers. To be able to view the treasures it is necessary to have appropriate cave diving licence, but anyone can snorkel in the ponds. It is necessary however to book & there are strict guidelines by the Conservation Park managers. The fresh water overflow from the ponds flows out to sea and a lovely walk follows its course. At another point along the beach there is another interesting phenomenon; about halfway between high and low water is a series of small geysers, fresh water discharging into the sea. An evening walk up to the beach cliff was mandatory for our usual sunset.

Pritchard’s Conservation Park was another quiet spot along the Little Glenelg River taken in for another two nights stay. Once we had settled in, the remainder of the day was time for Colin to throw a line in to test his chances of catching any fish. What’s frustrating is when you can see the fish swimming around your line & no bites.

The City of Portland is a major Victorian shipping port not far from where we chose to stay at Narrawong. The scenic drives around the area were quite picturesque. One place of interest at Cape Bridgewater was the Petrified Forest which is thought to have developed when a Moonah forest was smothered by a large sand dune, creating unusual sandstone formations around the decaying tree trunks. Geologists have since debunked this theory preferring instead, the idea of calcification of water flows through cracks in the strata. Cape Bridgewater itself was once a volcanic island and became linked to the mainland as a sand spit calcified and turned to limestone.

Our next stop was at Port Campbell along the Great Ocean Road. There are numerous tourist sites which are always quite full with mainly overseas visitors. Our few days at Pt Campbell were full-on; so many places to see & so little time to do it in. No sooner had we settled into our site we were off to The Otway Fly, a 600 metre long 25 metre high elevated tree top walk ascending at a gentle grade through a magnificent stand of cool temperate rainforest featuring Myrtle Beech, Blackwood & Mountain Ash. For those who like a bit more thrill seeking there is a 45 metre high spiral staircase lookout in the centre of the walk which emerges amongst the crowns of the giants of the forest. At one point there is a springboard cantilever which bounces gently high over Young’s Creek. Though I don’t like heights, I will always attempt these feats. It’s always interesting to visit these attractions in each state. Each has been different & unique in its own way. This one has a dinosaur trail for the kids & dinosaur enthusiasts.
The main tourist attraction around this area is of course the 12 Apostles. Tourists from near & a-far travel here to watch the sunset over the Apostles. This was one of those places where it pays to have some height on your side. Everyone is muscling in close to the fence to find just the right spot to get their special photo. I ended up climbing up onto the concrete wall & hanging on the wire fence just to get that ‘once in a life-time’ sunset in the sea mist around the ancient edifices.

When it came time to move on again, the weather map showed that it was still going to be quite windy along the Great Ocean Road, so Col decided to travel inland, but unfortunately, the wind was there waiting for us East of Colac. The next couple of hours, we were not only battling the windy conditions but also the trucks coming in the opposite direction. With the two forces hitting us, at times we would lose our towing mirrors, not very pleasant at all. Finally we arrived at our destination, Werribee South CP & would you believe it, it was windy there too!
Werribee is a satellite township East of Melbourne on the Geelong Highway. Werribee South is a popular fishing, boating and jet-ski area on the shores of Port Phillip Bay. Unfortunately, it is also popular with the local hoons often to the early hours of the morning.

We have been here since 1st March & most of this time we has been spent pursuing our next home & tow vehicle as well as catching up with Josh, Kendehl &baby Arthur who will turn 1 this Easter.
Driving around Melbourne is a chore, one day visiting businesses in the Eastern suburbs, we clocked up over 200Km, then 2 hours to get home, busy all the way. A visit to the Caravan Show at Caulfield was sensibly done by train. At $3.40 each, all day, this is the sensible way to travel to the city.

To view the photos that go with this narrative, visit our BlogSpot and click on the updated Album 1.

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Album 1

View our first album, travels through the Riverland & Coorong districts of South Australia. Western Victoria to Werribee South; outer suburb of Melbourne.
January to mid March 2010.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/108879761974384702036/Album1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDw2N2I4LygyAE&feat=directlink