Warrnumbool Thursday

We are now halfway through our holiday. It was an easy drive from Hall's Gap to Warrnumbool; mostly through open country.



Our last sighting of the Grampians area was Mt Sturgeon and Mt Abrupt on the right. We have been told that it is mustard growing in the yellow fields.



Here is our unit in Warrnumbool, it seems to be very good value, maybe the fire station next door has something to do with the rates!

We had a quick drive around the breakwater when we first arrived. This afternoon we walked to town and wandered around the shops.

Hall's Gap Wednesday

On our way back yesterday from a shopping trip to Stawell, we noticed this monument in a large flat field. It marks the location of 'The Treasury' on one of the streets of a town called Pleasant Creek, population 56,000 in 1856 gold rush days. It has been renamed Stawell.



More surprising, we found we were near Illawarra, which was an area connected to Doug's Waldron Family, and detailed in a book 'The Waldrons of Illawarra' that Doug has transcribed to the Internet. We will go back and have a better look around.



Here is where we were yesterday. Quite a climb! Both of us have a few sore muscles - we're reasonably fit, but not used to the step gradients.



Today we checked out Jimmy's Creek and Mt William, which had a couple of nice views. Light sleet and small hail shortened the visit.

Grampians-Pinnacles Tuesday

All attempts to get a proper internet link failed, so we set off to explore the first of the Grampians walks.



We drove to the Wonderland carpark and walked through the Grand Canyon on the way up to The Pinnacles. It was fairly steep and rocky but with well formed paths and arrows.



Wonderful views at the top looked over Hall's gap and Lake Bellfield that we visited yesterday. Some rain dampened the trip down.

Bendigo to Hall's Gap, Monday

After a supermarket & petrol top-up, we left Bendigo, and headed for Hall's Gap in the Grampians National Park.

Passing through Avoca we were amused by a couple of sights. We have been to Avoca, County Wicklow, on our first visit to Ireland but this one was not the same at all.


Hall's Gap is a popular tourist destination for trampers and walkers to view the mountains. We dropped in and walked across Lake Bellfield, an earth dam 3/4 of a kilometer long used for water storage and built in 1966.


This is a view down the valley from the dam, you can see why it is called Hall's Gap.



Back in Hall's Gap we saw our first kangaroos (apart from road kill) in the sports field!



This our comfortable little unit in Hall's Gap, the left half of this building. We were met by 3 emus that wander around freely.

Unfortunately mobile phone coverage has not really arrived here and the internet stick will not connect on the Vodafone network. This has been posted from Stawell, VIC, 22 km away.

Bendigo Sunday

Today we had a trip out to Lake Eppalock for a picnic with Kristina and the kids. Last time Kristina was there, it was a cracked mud wasteland with just a tiny amount of water out in the middle.

It was beautiful today. We had a picnic under the gum trees, then took a walk so the kids could paddle.



Such fun - little by splash, the clothes became drenched - we eventually lured the children out with the promise of an ice-cream.



We then drove back into Bendigo to look at the colony of Flying Foxes in the gardens.





There were at least eight tall trees, full of these bats - they have settled into the gardens and decided to remain there. It was a bit smelly, but neat to see them.

Bendigo Saturday

Wayne and Kristina hired some detecting equipment so that Doug could try his hand at gold prospecting. They set off with walkie-talkies to keep in touch; K and I hit the shops. (Spending the gold!)



The 'Findings' a nail, rivits, bullets! Fun though.

Bendigo Friday

A cold morning - 6 degrees - like NZ used to have sometimes. Kristina emailed about 8 o'clock to say that the kids were ready and waiting for us.

We spent the morning just enjoying each other's company; Doug and Rhys had fun playing trains while the girls practised their knitting. After lunch we set out for some shopping and a walk.



Spotting birdlife around Lake Weeroona.







And the kid-life....



We finished the day with a visit to the 'Bendigo Pottery', then back to Kristina and Wayne's for dinner.

In Bendigo

We had a very early start Thursday morning - David delayed going to bed so he could take us to the airport at 4.30 a.m.
Here is our Air NZ Boeing 777 waiting patiently for us.
We had a great flight - the cloudy skies were soon left behind.



After collecting our rental car, we re-aquainted ourselves with 'Gertrude' the GPS and set off for Bendigo. Gertrude hadn't caught up with the latest motorway developments so we had a bit of a stressful time getting under way. Commonsense over ruled her strident, "Off route! Off route!", and soon we were speeding towards our destination.

It is lovely being with Kristina, Wayne, Natasha, Emily and Rhys again after 18 months. They have sprouted since we last seen them; moved house and gained a cute kitten and another turtle.



Learning to knit with Nana. It takes patience but they were up for it!



Our motel - has toaster, but no knife or plates - kiwi ingenuity called for .