Travelling Australia

We left  Charlton this morning in the fog. It didn’t take long to lift, and then the sun came through. It was a little windy, but luckily we weren’t driving into it.  As we do, we zig zaged and went the long way, stopping at Nandaly for lunch. Ed used to deliver there when he worked for Dons Smallgoods.  They have a pub, and the shop that Ed delivered to had been closed down for what looked like a long time.  Population 30  What they have done, is built a lovely free stop over for campers. There’s showers,  toilets, and two power sockets for caravans to plug into.  There was no one there to take advantage of it all though as they built it so people could drop into the pub for a feed.  So on we went after lunch along the Calder Highway and turned into what Google maps said was the way to Chinkapook.  Well we must have blinked as we couldn’t find it…….but 17 people live there! So we stopped at Sea Lake instead and went for a walk up the Main Street.  It’s not a big town, and there were a

As we walked to the Richardson River in Donald, we came to the local school. We walked along the fence line and came across this extraordinary feat of nature.  Now as you can see… the tree has grown right around the fence….but….I don’t know……once you see something…..you just can’t “unsee” it 😂 Ed was fascinated……I was in fits of laughter….. The other side….. Sorry…….I just can’t 🤣🤣🤣😭  So moving on…… We came to the Richardson River.  This spot has an amazing story attached regarding a Bullock. (A Bullocky is described as a slow moving bloke…..a pioneer of our country…..and his “team” of Bullocks) (So the Bullockys’ prize Bull had been swept away down the river, got stuck in the tree, and lightening had struck the tree, but left the bullocks head behind, and petrified it.)  And…….this is what’s left behind.  My photo….. The newspaper that printed the story’s photo. How amazing is that story!!….. everywhere we go, there’s always a story, a place, a photo, or just a person you get tal

We decided to spend another 3 days at Charlton before we head back to Mildura. It’s a great place to stay as it’s right in town and you can walk everywhere. Yesterday we went for a drive over to Donald. We cannot remember the last time we were there, so much so, that I couldn’t even remember the place.  We parked the car here at the local park, crossed the bridge and walked into the town along the highway instead of the river walk. We would do that on the way back to the car. Lucky we did as we came across this lovely little Museum. There was an old Jail, it was creepy…looking in there wasn’t nice ….. That face looking back at you was not a pretty sight ….😳 Either his head was on backwards, or his feet 😳😳🤔 … This drinking trough had a lovely story attached to it….. Lovely story. When this place is open….( which it wasn’t 😟) you are asked for a gold coin donation. Would have loved to have seen inside all the exhibits.  Further along, you come into the town itself. It’s a pretty tow

We’ve just spent 8 lovely days at Wedderburn. It’s such a lovely little town and so friendly. I suppose when you go to the same shops and see the same people, they get to know you 😂😂 It’s such a friendly place.  We found one more walk to do, and it just happened to start from the back of the caravan park that we’d only just found.  A steep climb, through the bush and following the red arrows….. Lovely Autumn colours…. We came to the local Skinners Flat Reservoir, which is located about 9km out of town.  The reservoir provides water to the Wedderburn sports grounds when there is water available, as it relies on the catchment run off from the surrounding area. Fortunately for Wedderburn, the reservoir has been included in the pipeline project and will be constantly filled, which will provide a beautiful recreation area for the locals and visitors. It offers, great bush walks, camping, swimming, fishing & yabbying, Pit toilet 😖and picnic areas.  The reservoir is located in the Wych

Initially we were going to stay here, but we found it to be too uneven for the caravan. (Caravans need to be very level when parked, as our fridge runs on Gel, when we are not plugged in to power, so must  be level to keep cool) so instead we came to the caravan park where we are now at Wedderburn.  Hard Hill was such an interesting place.  It says here that European diggers would dig square holes for gold, but the Chinese would dig round holes because evil spirits could not hide in rounds holes. 😳 You can camp here…..and if you go to the tourist info centre, they charge you $20 for a key to the toilets and hot showers. When you are leaving, you take the key back to the info centre, and they will refund your $20. How nice is that! As well as gold fossicking, you can watch them distill eucalyptus oil.  They do lots of tours to Hard Hill , from school kids to people from out of the area.  This operates on the principle of evaporation and distillation. Leaves are boiled, steam rises, is