Hello again from Western Victoria

I left Deniliquin after four nights, very relaxing and man the bakery on the main road made the best pies, I did regulate myself on them but still managed to sneak a couple into the freezer. Travelled up to Hay where I stayed a week at the free camp site, not a great deal in Hay but it has all that you may need. Whilst there summer really kicked in and we had five consecutive days when the temperature went above 40c which by the by 40c is equivalent to 104f, topping out at 45c on a couple of days.The dogs really suffered a bit even with regular trips to the river for a cool down. It even got to the stage where the dogs slept outside which is something they have never done in all the years Ive had them. Anyway we all managed to survive.

From Hay we moved on to Griffith where I had to get the caravan inspected for its annual safety check. It was discovered during the check that only three of the four brakes on the caravan were working, luckily it was a simple fix which was done there and then, the brakes on the caravan are electrically activated and one of the wires had parted. Five minutes later it was all sorted and I got my pass certificate. So all done for another year. I was surprised just how big Griffith was, but its not what you would call a pretty town, and the amount of traffic also caused me to raise an eyebrow. The weather wasnt great while I was there and two of the days it rained and the tempreture dropped from mid to high twenties down to barely 17c. Quite the change after Hay. Nearly had to break out the long trews. While I was in Griffith the border regulations eased a bit and I managed to get a permit to go into Victoria which I was very pleased about, as this would ease my transition to South Australia in preparation to going North for winter.

So it was back to Hay for Monday thru Wednesday nights, a lot cooler this time so dogs showed no interest at all in going into the river, then back to Deniliquin for one night, and then it was down into Victoria on the Friday morning. So I travelled down to Bendigo, through quite a bit of drizzle, to spend four days catching up with my sister, and the dogs caught up with their cousin Molly. Had a great weekend catching up with her, eating some fine home cooking with lots of tea and coffee. We did learn that making Yorkshire puddings with wholemeal flour is not the best.

From Bendigo I travelled South Easterly to a lovely free camping spot called King Parrot Creek, as it says on the tin it was right by the river and had the place to myself for the two nights I spent there. But unbeknownst to me this wasnt to be my only stop at the location. While I was at King Parrot Creek I decided my next stop would be a township called Marysville up in the Yarra ranges. Now the last time I was in Marysville was in 2010 about 18months after the Black Saturday bush fires had swept through a large portion of this area of Victoria, the town was virtually wiped off the map with only 14 of the 400 or so buildings remaining, and even more tragically 45 lives were lost in the town. When we drove through rebuilding had begun but it was a very barren stark place and had a real feeling of emptiness and desolation, and black stumps of trees stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. My plans were scotched when I got there as none of the campsites allowed dogs so it was a matter of just driving through rather than staying. Well I must say I was greatly surprised as it is now a thriving town, much larger that it was originally and very modern looking. All the trees around and in the town have regrown and there wasnt a thing I recognised. I was pleased that the town had rejuvenated and prospered, but sad to see there was nothing of the old town. Ce la vie, so it was onwards to a Lillydale (to a campsite that accepted dogs) for a couple of nights, and to catch up with a lovely lady called Bev who Ive known for a good number of years.

Got myself all sorted at the campsite put coffee pot on and arranged to meet Bev the following day. Popped out of the van to give the dogs a biscuit and when I went to go back in the door handle snapped off in my hand. Luckily I managed to get the door reopened after a lot of fiddling about with pliers and screwdrivers. So it was a hasty drive to Jayco caravans in another suburb to get a new door handle. When I asked how easy it was to fit they said just follow the instructions on YouTube. So armed with my new outside door assembly off I trotted to have a look at You Tube to figure out how its done. Now for some reason none of the instruction videos had any sound on them apart from some very annoying music, so it was overly insightful, but luckily I got the gist, or so I thought. After fiddling around for nearly 2 and a half hours of trying to get the said bits reassembled unsuccessfully, I stumbled on the fact that you had to have the door in the locked position to do so. So consequently after learning this little nugget it all went back together in about 10mins or so. I must say though I was very wary using the door for a couple of hours afterwards in case it all fell apart. Anywho its all still working. Met up with Bev the following day and we went out for lunch during which the Victoria Premier decided to call a snap five day lockdown State wide due to a growing number of Covid cases in Melbourne around one of the quarantine hotels. The lockdown would come into effect at midnight that night. Now I wasnt keen on being caught in the caravan park for the five days for two main reasons, firstly the cost and secondly the last time a snap lockdown was called it lasted the best part of 7 months. So with deep regret I had to cut short my catchup and head back to the caravan and pack it up and get back on the road to somewhere I could stay. The obvious place was King Parrot Creek where I could free camp and it was less than 80kms from where I was. I was back on the road by 1500hrs and parked up again at King Parrot by approx 1700hrs. Once again I had the place to myself.

I was very surprised with the amount of traffic still using the road for the duration of the lockdown, now the trucks were understandable but the amount of cars and caravan/motorhomes was staggering. On the second day of my stay I got a knock on the caravan and the dogs started barking. When I went out there was a lady there who said she had seen me park up the day before and assumed I was isolating and ask if I wanted some fruit she had collected from her property. Certainly I say expecting a couple of apples and maybe pears, well I got nearly a washing basket full of plums, peaches, apples, pears, and some fresh basil and parsley, wow I was pleasantly surprised. I lived very healthily for my lockdown.

The lockdown thankfully, was lifted after the fifth day and I decided to go back to Bendigo again to top up with water and empty the waste and rubbish, and to decide where to head to next. So my sister had to put up with me again, but we did manage to go out for lunch in Castlemaine where we had wood fired pizza helped along by a glass of red. My brother had told me about a small town called Dunkeld on the Western edge of Victoria before it goes into South Australia with a nice caravan park. So I thought why not lets head for there.

Stopped just under halfway to Dunkeld at a place called Woaky Yaloak Creek, a lovely small free camp site about 2kms after a one pony town of Scarsdale. Little bit of water in the creek but not much else around. Stayed for two night then onwards to Dunkeld. Arrived early afternoon at the caravan park in Dunkeld and got a nice deal of $25 a night on with power and water so booked for five nights. Dunkeld is right at the Southern end of the Grampian mountain range and is a very scenic little place. Very popular with walkers and hikers or as we called them in NZ trampers. The campsite is small and old but spotlessly clean and very well looked after. Ive taken a couple of drives out and managed to get some photos which is always an added bonus. I went out to a couple of waterfalls this morning, those of you who have been with me since my NZ travels will know Im partial to a waterfall or two, but both were bone dry, not a drip or drizzle to be had, but the round trip of 100kms wasnt a completely wasted as I managed to get some new towing mirrors for the car as my other ones had come to the end of their days.

Anyway Im here in Dunkeld till Monday and hoping to cross into South Australia sometime next week, so as my jacket spud is ready I will bid you all adieu and bon soir

Just for info if anyone is following on a map, King Parrot Creek is midway between the towns of Seymour and Yea

A few pics to end with