Dear family and friends
Scotts beach turned out to be a relaxed and pleasant weekend. The heavy rain that occured on our first night continued throughout the next day so we were house bound all day. The next day started off cloudy but got better as the day went on, in the finish it was sunny and very pleasant outside. The people from West Aus, who lived in the same street as us were here also though we didn't get a chance to talk to them again as they left the morning of the heavy rain.
Shepparton is a city of thirty thousand people or thereabouts and during the fruit picking season it must escalate to much much more. Ken spoke to some people who come to Scotts beach on and off throughout the year and they said that Scotts Beach, being only just a couple of klm from the centre of town, becomes a tent city so avoid coming here during fruit picking season.
Shepparton seems to be in a good position as it is very central to a number of lovely places. Euchuca isn't far, Cobram is just over 80 klms, Benalla and Nagambie are also close by. Bendigo and Melbourne are also close enough that you can go and comeback all in the one day if you have to.
Ken has to go back to Sale for a Docter's appointment on Friday, so we have decided to leave the van here at the Top Tourist Park we are at now and just drive back to Sale and Bairnsdale. The caravan park are charging us just $2 per night to store the van and that includes electricity to run the fridge in the van. We will save the money to tow it all that way. I've just spoken to Sharon and we'll stop over and stay with them for a couple of nights. We had a phone call from Roman just a couple of days ago to tell us that he now has a Big Boy's bed and his cot has been all packed up. So he was very excited about that. then after Sale we will go back to Bairnsdale for a couple of days before heading back to here
These towns surrounding Shepp are all smaller places with smaller shopping centres making Shepparton the hub of shopping centres. Thus Shepp has a great range of shopping outlets including a huge Coles and KMart, There are 2 large Safeways (they haven't changed their signs to Woolworths yet), 2 IGA's including a Super IGA. there are also 2 KFC's and 2 Macdonalds plus a red Roooster, (that doesn't mean they haven't got a second one it just means we haven't seen one as yet) Ken commented yesterday and said "it's like a suburb of Melbourne there's that much traffic around all the time"
We have a lot yet to do before we set off this afternoon so stay well and we might see you again soon.
Love to all.
Ken and Lyn
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Scotts Beach
Greetings once again from Scotts Beach
We have returned to Scotts Beach to camp over the Anzac long weekend. We arrived about 3pm yesterday and set up once again on the edge of the river along with another five or six people. There are people still camped here from when we were last here. They had a camp fire going last night. This time we have rain and lots of it during the night. We had a camp trailer set up close to us last night and they left early this morning. They must have been soaked by the time they got on there way.
Nothing else to say till later.
Ken and Lyn
We have returned to Scotts Beach to camp over the Anzac long weekend. We arrived about 3pm yesterday and set up once again on the edge of the river along with another five or six people. There are people still camped here from when we were last here. They had a camp fire going last night. This time we have rain and lots of it during the night. We had a camp trailer set up close to us last night and they left early this morning. They must have been soaked by the time they got on there way.
Nothing else to say till later.
Ken and Lyn
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Uncle Toby's
Dear Family and Friends
Following our overnight stay at Porpunkah we made our way to Wangaratta before going on to Rutherglen, where we intended to buy a pie for lunch. We had seen an add on T V for award winning Parker Pies at a local bakery. They were not as good as we anticipated. The pastry was very thin but nice and plenty of mince but a bit too rich for me. Give me a good Patties pie anyday. We had a bit of a walk around town before heading off. We crossed over the Murray to go to Corowa but decided to come back into Vic to follow the Murray. We went through a little town called Wahgunyah where we discovered was the home of Uncle Toby's Wheat Bix. Wahgunyah was a small but attractive country town with some lovely old houses.The whole time we were there we could smell Wheat Bix when you put hot milk on them on a cold winters morning. It actually became a bit sickening after a while although I'm sure the locals are used to it and don't even notice it.
That night we picked a spot to stop for the night called Pioneer bridges and it required us to take a dirt road and follow it for 5 or 6 klms. there were a few options of turning left or right and eventually we found a spot that was secluded and settles down for the night. This spot was the first spot that we both agreed that we will NEVER come back to. Car and van both needed a good wash after that little cross country diversion,
We are on our way to Sheparton to get work done on the car which wasn't done properly and wasn't done at all. This time we are looking to have it serviced at the Ssangyung dealer. We are booked in for Thursday morning. In the mean time Cobram was our next stop. We found a free spot at Scotts Beach which is a spot on the Murray very close to Cobram. You can stop here for up to 14 days. We were thinking of going back there once the car is done and staying over the long weekend. The grass was a bit long in places but there was a clean toilet block.
Tonight we are settled into the Lake Victoria Caraven Park, washing is all up to date. The weather is mild and the Temp tomorrow is predicted to be 14 to 27 degrees, so it will be another pleasant day.
Once again I am amazed at who you meet and how paths can be crossed. There are some people parked behind us with an Evernew van, like ours, and beside them is another van called a Trackmaster. While I was getting washing done, Ken wandered over to have a chat. We had seen a Trackmaster van when we had a look around Cobram Caravan Sales yard. They, Pam and Ray, had WA plates on their van and lo and behold he tells Ken they live in Warwick (which is where we first lived when we moved to WA) AND it turns out we lived in the same st, Ackworth Cres. We lived about five houses in from one entry and they live about 5 houses in on the other entry of Ackworth Cres. We knew many of the same neighbours. Small world. The local Primary School where the boys went to for a couple of years has disappeared and is now a housing estate.
That's it for now.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Bright
Hello to all
We have spent some time with Justin, Lee and the kids while we sorted some caravan things out. We now have two batteries in sequence in the van which should provide us with much longer battery live when we are free camping, which , by the way is what we are doing tonight.
We left Justin and Lee's just on lunchtime today driving for a while before we stopped for a bite to eat. We had decided to go over Mt Hotham and stop somewhere near Bright or Wangaratta for our first night. We are parked just outside of Bright and before Porepunkah. There is one other van here also, and though we are quite close to the road we are secluded from the road by trees.
What magnificant changes of scenary we have seen in just the 4 hours of travel we have done so far. As always the drive out of Bairnsdale, through Sarsfield and Bruthen is just beautiful. At the moment it is lush and green and the scenary is stunning. Swifts Creek and Omeo too are looking lush and green, but then the closer you get to Mt Hotham the more the scenary changes. The mountains are large and steep sometimes barren, sometimes covered in dead trees, looking almost like you could be on another planet.
Generally it looked pretty quiet through the ski resorts all but for work that was being done in the various ski resourts preparing for the upcoming snow season. New Buildings being constructed and I imagine with a very tight deadline. It's hard to imagine the difference the scenary will undergo in the next couple of months. A fall of snow could happen at any time now, and once it does it is impassable for cars and caravans, so we were fortunate not to have to go the long way round.
Harrietville and Bright were picturesque to say the least. The autumn colours of orange, red, and yellows were stunning, such a pretty time of the year.
The weather has been changeable also. The day was lovely and warm when we set off and though I didn't check exactly what it was it would have been around 23 degrees. At omeo the ambient temp was 19.5. By the time we got to Hotham the temp had dropped to 12.5 and again by the time we had reached Bright the temp had risen to 18.5. And whilst I thought it would be a freezing cold night it 's not, in fact it's quite mild. Tomorrow morning might be something else though.
Remember back when I said there was something I had wanted to say but I couldn't remember what it was. well now I do remember.
When we bought the new Van our existing generator was not big enough to run the air conditioner. So Ken started looking for a second hand Honda 3 KVA on EBay. He found one ,Placed the bid and won it. The Generator was at Drouin, which is a couple of hours from Bairnsdale on the way to Melbourne. Ken called to make arrangements to pick it up. The owners were away but their mother would be there when we called to collect it.
I stayed in the car and Ken went in. When the door was opened Ken realised that we had met the women before on one of our visits to Genoa. She and her husband were very impressed with our Ssang Yung and intended to look into getting one as they were not happy with their own vehicle. What a coincidence to run into her this way. Her life had changed rather dramatically since we had met her. She and her husband had separated, he had gone back to New Zealand where they had come from and she had stayed here in Vic. Their caravan was on the market and when it was sold she intended to get a motor home and continue on her holiday. By the sounds of it there was no chance of reconcilliation. She wanted to continue travelling and he did not so he went home and she stayed.
The other coincidence was that she gave us the receipt from its original purchase and guess what it was purchased in Orange where I grew up and where my parents still live.
No more news for now. The battery is getting low.
Love ken and Lyn
We have spent some time with Justin, Lee and the kids while we sorted some caravan things out. We now have two batteries in sequence in the van which should provide us with much longer battery live when we are free camping, which , by the way is what we are doing tonight.
We left Justin and Lee's just on lunchtime today driving for a while before we stopped for a bite to eat. We had decided to go over Mt Hotham and stop somewhere near Bright or Wangaratta for our first night. We are parked just outside of Bright and before Porepunkah. There is one other van here also, and though we are quite close to the road we are secluded from the road by trees.
What magnificant changes of scenary we have seen in just the 4 hours of travel we have done so far. As always the drive out of Bairnsdale, through Sarsfield and Bruthen is just beautiful. At the moment it is lush and green and the scenary is stunning. Swifts Creek and Omeo too are looking lush and green, but then the closer you get to Mt Hotham the more the scenary changes. The mountains are large and steep sometimes barren, sometimes covered in dead trees, looking almost like you could be on another planet.
Generally it looked pretty quiet through the ski resorts all but for work that was being done in the various ski resourts preparing for the upcoming snow season. New Buildings being constructed and I imagine with a very tight deadline. It's hard to imagine the difference the scenary will undergo in the next couple of months. A fall of snow could happen at any time now, and once it does it is impassable for cars and caravans, so we were fortunate not to have to go the long way round.
Harrietville and Bright were picturesque to say the least. The autumn colours of orange, red, and yellows were stunning, such a pretty time of the year.
The weather has been changeable also. The day was lovely and warm when we set off and though I didn't check exactly what it was it would have been around 23 degrees. At omeo the ambient temp was 19.5. By the time we got to Hotham the temp had dropped to 12.5 and again by the time we had reached Bright the temp had risen to 18.5. And whilst I thought it would be a freezing cold night it 's not, in fact it's quite mild. Tomorrow morning might be something else though.
Remember back when I said there was something I had wanted to say but I couldn't remember what it was. well now I do remember.
When we bought the new Van our existing generator was not big enough to run the air conditioner. So Ken started looking for a second hand Honda 3 KVA on EBay. He found one ,Placed the bid and won it. The Generator was at Drouin, which is a couple of hours from Bairnsdale on the way to Melbourne. Ken called to make arrangements to pick it up. The owners were away but their mother would be there when we called to collect it.
I stayed in the car and Ken went in. When the door was opened Ken realised that we had met the women before on one of our visits to Genoa. She and her husband were very impressed with our Ssang Yung and intended to look into getting one as they were not happy with their own vehicle. What a coincidence to run into her this way. Her life had changed rather dramatically since we had met her. She and her husband had separated, he had gone back to New Zealand where they had come from and she had stayed here in Vic. Their caravan was on the market and when it was sold she intended to get a motor home and continue on her holiday. By the sounds of it there was no chance of reconcilliation. She wanted to continue travelling and he did not so he went home and she stayed.
The other coincidence was that she gave us the receipt from its original purchase and guess what it was purchased in Orange where I grew up and where my parents still live.
No more news for now. The battery is getting low.
Love ken and Lyn
Monday, April 12, 2010
Genoa
Hi all
Surprise, surprise we are back at Genoa with Pam and Colin, though not for long. We came down after Church yesterday. It rained quite heavily for the best part of the journey and it was cooler rather than hotter. We arrived with plenty of time to set up vans and awnings. It wasn't long before we had nearly a half bucket of water off the awning. As we drove up near the turn off Ken asked how many vans did I think would be here and we both thought 5 and sure enough there were 5, and with us that made 7. It is now exactly 5pm and we have twelve other outfits here with us and 3 left this morning. We have a large bus called the Beast, (they have a cat travelling with them), A couple of Motor homes including the smaller ones that make a racket every time the door is opened and closed, a few pop tops and the rest normal size vans( including another Evernew, Jayco, Regent Grant Tourer and a Kedron which is a Queensland off Road van that we have not seen inside of so we hope to get a look in before they go.
There was something else I wanted to say but it has gone from my mind at the moment. Hope I remember. We have to be back in Bairnsdale by 3pm Wed so that Vic Roads can sight the van as we purchased it out of the state. Then we think we will head off till the end of the month when we have to be back for a doctors appointment in Sale. just where we will go is as yet undecided but it won't be far.we still think it might be up and over the mountains if there has been no snowfalls otherwise we will take the long way round.
Surprise, surprise we are back at Genoa with Pam and Colin, though not for long. We came down after Church yesterday. It rained quite heavily for the best part of the journey and it was cooler rather than hotter. We arrived with plenty of time to set up vans and awnings. It wasn't long before we had nearly a half bucket of water off the awning. As we drove up near the turn off Ken asked how many vans did I think would be here and we both thought 5 and sure enough there were 5, and with us that made 7. It is now exactly 5pm and we have twelve other outfits here with us and 3 left this morning. We have a large bus called the Beast, (they have a cat travelling with them), A couple of Motor homes including the smaller ones that make a racket every time the door is opened and closed, a few pop tops and the rest normal size vans( including another Evernew, Jayco, Regent Grant Tourer and a Kedron which is a Queensland off Road van that we have not seen inside of so we hope to get a look in before they go.
There was something else I wanted to say but it has gone from my mind at the moment. Hope I remember. We have to be back in Bairnsdale by 3pm Wed so that Vic Roads can sight the van as we purchased it out of the state. Then we think we will head off till the end of the month when we have to be back for a doctors appointment in Sale. just where we will go is as yet undecided but it won't be far.we still think it might be up and over the mountains if there has been no snowfalls otherwise we will take the long way round.
We have visitors tonight (Pam and Colin) coming to play cards so its's time to go
speak again soon
Lyn
Friday, April 9, 2010
Easter
Hi everyone
It's been a while since I logged on. We have had a lovely Easter with family as Leanne, Tim and Dallas were able to come up for the weekend. We are camped out on Justin and Lee's front lawn seeing we have no home to actually go to. It continues to ba a strange sort of feeling especially when we have driven past the house and see someone else living there. From Justin and Lee's front lawn we have a superb view of the neighbouring countryside and apart from the house beside them (which has only recently been built and occupied) we could be anywhere.
Ken has organised a few things that has needed to be done to the car and the van.
We have caught up with a few friends and still have a few more to see.
We have slept in, went to bed early and got up late and generally have had a relaxed few days.
We had a family day on Good Friday and on Sunday enjoyed the service at Church which was led by Sam.
Not much else to say till we hit the road again
Love to all Lyn and Ken
It's been a while since I logged on. We have had a lovely Easter with family as Leanne, Tim and Dallas were able to come up for the weekend. We are camped out on Justin and Lee's front lawn seeing we have no home to actually go to. It continues to ba a strange sort of feeling especially when we have driven past the house and see someone else living there. From Justin and Lee's front lawn we have a superb view of the neighbouring countryside and apart from the house beside them (which has only recently been built and occupied) we could be anywhere.
Ken has organised a few things that has needed to be done to the car and the van.
We have caught up with a few friends and still have a few more to see.
We have slept in, went to bed early and got up late and generally have had a relaxed few days.
We had a family day on Good Friday and on Sunday enjoyed the service at Church which was led by Sam.
Not much else to say till we hit the road again
Love to all Lyn and Ken
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