Parked at Bacchus

Well yes we are still on the trip - sorry for the no posts. We have been hankered down in Bacchus Marsh on a friends property,not moving to far and so not many photos to share. I suppose I should take some photos of the beautiful show cows that are aggisted here that my friends young girls care for. Maybe tomorrow before we leave.

But never fear we are on the move again tomorrow so I hope most of you have not given up on me the journey continues! Jim has been very busy while we have been here - new filters and new oil for Midi Bus she is going to purr like a kitten down the highway.

Bacchus Marsh is about 50km out of Melbourne with several trips into Melbourne to catch up with some old friends and my nephew Warwick we are getting to know the highway nearly as well as we know the Ipswich Motorway. Some of the journeys have been in the peak hours and I will never never complain about the Brisbane traffic again! Trying to get across Melbourne is just unbelievable.

Photos from Swan Hill and Benalla that I missed yesterday

Swan Hill to Benalla

Yes we are still on the planet. Sorry been a little distracted and have been visiting with friends. We are now in my old stomping ground from my other life. The one before Parliament House that is. North Eastern Victoria and just a bit over the border in Mathoura where a good friend has a sheep farm. I did take some photos of the baby lambs to show you all but then I got all sentimental about the fact that I could be eating them next year and just couldn't post them. So you get some loverly photos of the area. Since leaving Mathoura we have been in Benalla for a few days visiting with my friend Mary-Lou and doing some day trips.

I have also included a photo of the dryer that nearly got me. I was a little pissed off because the Caravan Park managers have not been at all apologetic or thankful for me saving the building from burning down. Well at least letting someone know it was going to burn down if they didn't do something quick.

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.