In and around Ouyen Victoria

I hope no one is watching our journey to closely, I think it could be a little confusing we are doing a bit of a zig zag between the coast and the inland. We moved back north from the Grampions mainly because Midi bus needed a new tyre and we met a bloke and he seemed like a good bloke so we took his advice on where to get the tyre and then we headed 150k up the road to Ouyen where he told us he was going to working on some machinary and he would do a wheel alignment for us. So here we are in Ouyen.
We had a second reason for coming north. Jim left his new hat in a roadside amenities block about 2 weeks ago so we rang the pub (where we had had dinner and some drinks with the local potatoes farmers you may remember the blog on Parilla) anyway the barmen went across the road and retrieved the hat for us and we have been debating about how to get this $4.95 hat back. Well Ouyen is only about 130km east of Parilla so guess what we did today we drove the 260k to pick up the hat.It was great really because a couple of the farmers from our night out were in town and they remembered us and the publican (is that gender specific - Not sure) and her boyfriend also remembered us and well we just had to stay for lunch and a few beers didn't we. I drank coke.
We did do some touring on the way back as you will see from the photos - not sure why I didn't take some photos of the pub at Parilla, to busy having a good time I suppose.

The Grampians

Not to much to say today - we have had a beautiful couple of days in and around the Grampians National Park.  Some very chilly free camping, it is great while you are outside with the fire but then with no power that means no heater in the bus.  The really funny thing is that by morning on the really cold  nights the inside of the bus is colder than the air outside, basically the bus becomes an esky. I have slept with my hat on the last 2 nights.  

Portland - Port Fairy - Penshurst

Thanks for all the comments - we are having a fabulous time.  While selecting today's photos I have been pondering the diverse array of friends we have.  Thank you all for being our friends.  The thoughts have come about because I am picturing in my head who will enjoy the photos of us bush camping with all the creatures and who will be saying what are they doing out there on a freezing cold night with all those creatures crawling around.  You will know which category you fall into.

In and around Mt Gambier South Australia.

We have had a fabulous but cold few days in and around Mt Gambier. Took us a while to come back across the border as we had to cook, consume and consolidate our fruit and vegies stores to come back over the border - Jim was a little peeved when there was not checking station.

This is the Limestone coast - look it up it is very fascinating there is this big self of Limestone that runs way back inland and is peppered with lakes and caves and sinkholes and craters from volcano times.

Add Lobster Capital and the Coonawarra wine district to the mix and this area is truely worth a visit.

The lakes and sinkholes in Mt Gambier itself are great - in the photos there is a place called Umpherston Sinkhole it has had gardens planted in it since the late 1800's.

Mallee - Wimmera district North West Victoria

Wet and windy in around Victor Harbour so we are heading to the dry country in Victoria. We went through a large wine district that I have never heard of - Langhome Creek you will see in the photos the age of the vines in the area. It was hard to leave South Australia we have had such a great time there. But we will be heading back over the border a couple of times to go further North in a week or two. In the mean time the Mallee - Wimmera has been just fantastic, it is a big farming area - wheat and other grains and sheep mainly. Had a great night in the pub in the small town of Parilla with a bunch of potato farmers. They are loosing the general store which they seem ok with but it also has the mail sort and basic post office facilities which they will loose - not happy. Great town for a free camp has they have installed a fabulous shower/toilet facility to try and get people like us and the truckies to stop over. There were a few truckies in the pub for tea also so I think it is working.

Great night last night next to Lake Abacutya we got a little bogged but some very nice farm boys stopped to help us - one of them is looking for a wife he was very nice, I so wanted to help but he said he was ok. Funny thing is the lake has not been full or near full for 30 years and we get bogged - only us. Another free camp tonight a little further south just west of a town called Mitre on the Natimuk Highway.