I wrote this on Monday and it is now Tuesday afternoon.

Today, Monday,we have woken to the sound of rain falling on the van. We are at one of the lovelist places we have ever stayed at. Yes, for those who hear us say how nice Genoa is this is even better. Genoa is the place we take the van to when we want to rest and relax for a while.

We discovered Genoa some time back when we were staying in the Caravan Park in Malacoota.

We had seen a couple of vans parked there on the way up to Eden one day and thought we would call in on the way back to see if it was just a picnic stop. It turns out it is a freebie. It was located on the Princes Highway at the intersection where you turn to go to Malacoota that is until a new bridge was built which cut them off from passing traffic.

It is an old caravan park site which still has its amenities block. No hot water but if you are brave you can have a cold shower. Toilets and showers are cleaned twice a week, garbages are emptied twice a week also.

We've been their when there have been about 20 vans overnight and we've been there when there's only been a couple. The little community of Genoa welcome R.V's.

Last night, Sunday night we had pulled into Rosedale. Rosedale is a free parking area that we've wanted to stay at for a while, except it is so close to hoe that we normally say 'lets just keep going and get home' as it's just over the hour away from Bairnsdale. we've stopped to have lunch there and we always count the number of vans as we whiz past. It's just a 48hour stop over and has lovely green laws, open fire places and decent toilets and there is water available if you need it.

As you do, we got chatting to one person about taking pets with you. Many, many people have dogs with them but this couple had a cat. They came in not long after us. We had finished setting up and were having a cuppa. As we watched we could see the cats tail flapping under the van and we thought it unusual to have a cat knowing that most cats don't necessarily like to travel.

She told us that their kids had given it to them and so when vacation time came around they put it in a cattery and went away thinking everything would be OK. Until they got a phone call from the cattery a week later saying the cat had barely eaten anything and would they come and get it. The woman comically told us about her husband going nuts about it messing up their holiday. So he decided if the cat wouldn't stay with anyone they would just have to take it with them. So now.one putty cat goes every where with them.. It eats and sleeps in the annex and travels quite well.

As the conversation progressed we started talking about good spots we've been to. She told us about a place nearby that they'd just come from which she said was just heaven. Lovely big european style trees providing lovely shade.

Next morning when we were preparing to leave we decided to go and sus out the spot to see what the spot was really like. It wasn't far out of the way.

As it turns out heaven was a pretty good description. The site turns out to be Cowwar Weir which we never knew even existed. Our maps show no water in the area other than Lake Glenmaggie and we've never been there either. the lawns were a bit long but clearly get mowed quite frequently.

We were on our own last night but a steady flow of people came in and went out in the day. some picnicing, some swimming, some jogging. Last night, though wet, was mild and we sat outside under the awning listening to the sounds of the night and the music we had playing quietly on the radio. They played one song, Surley the Presence of the Lord is in this place, and He was.

Morning tea finished, we're all packed up and ready to go home for Easter.

Love to all Ken and Lyn.

on the road again

Hello everyone.

Well we are on the road again. And since writing the other day we have travelled way to many kilometers for my liking. We took the old van (a Roma) to Melbourne as arranged. We got up at four and planned to leave at five till Ken realised that we would have to move the clock forward a half hour for the time difference. So that made us hurry and we got out the door right on half past four.

Ken had doubts as to whether the sale would go through or not but all went well. The puchaser was as happy as could be when he saw it. Evidently he hadn't been happy with previous purchases and he was being cautious. He and his wife are planning a holiday for next year and they intended to do a few things like add an airconditioner. His name was Angelo (we didn't tell him we had a cat (alright used to have a cat) by the name of Angelo. He had a really cool job. He looked after any animals that came into the country and had to be quarantined. He lived on site or at least close by because there were a few unhappy dogs we could hear barking close by.

As soon as the paperwork was done we said our goodbyes and headed straight back to Mt Gambier. Thankfully it was a straight run and without the caravan on the back a much faster trip than going.

We have been staying at the Mt Gambier Central Caravan Park and it is located close to the main streets. It was a Family Parks site and cost was only $20.70 a night. Great facilities (old but clean, spotless actually) Definitely worth coming back to again. Not a lot happened on Thursday other than a bit of shopping as we knew we would be back in the car again on Friday.

Having been backwards to and fro from Melbourne we decided to take the coastal route, at least as far as Warrnambool. The Great Ocean Road will be for another trip. We were told Nelson is a nice little holiday place and I'm sure in the summer it is packed but it didn't appeal to me.

On the other hand we thought Portland (which no one had said anything about) was lovely. Much bigger and busier than we had imagined and we will definitely return and stay for a while. We had our lunch near the information place and where we parked gave us water views from three sides of the van.

Friday was our first day of rain and it poured all day. We travelled much further than we had planned and we don't intend to do that again. Warrnambool is also a nice place and we will have a better look next time we go through. We did another free camp as we are tonight. We are now at Rosedale in the area over the bridge. there are already three or four other vans. There has also been a couple of horse floats stop to give the horses a walk and a stretch

Tomorrow we will head home to Justin's for Easter. Strange sort of feeling, coming home but not having a home to go to.

We stopped off quickly at Leanne and Tims to say hello and were lucky to see Ros and Kevin there too. There house continues to amaze us at all they have achieved in their reno.

More next time.... Time to go and relax

sight seeing

Hello, hello,hello

Well it's now the other end of the day and we have had a lovely day all round.

We set off this morning first of all to go and see Port MacDonnell which turned out to be a lovely coastal port where a large fleet of fishing boats were moored in the quiet waters of the man made bay. Lobsters are predominantly what gets caught but even so we are told that if you try to buy them fresh from the boats they charge $30.00 per kilo. We didn't buy any, not that there were any boats around to buy them from. We did though walk along a manmade rock wall that sweeped around to create a large quiet bay. It was probably 1Klm in length and wide enough for a vehicle to be driven along it. We walked half of it only stopping because of a rock wall that we weren't prepared to tackle blocked our way.

From there we took a short drive along the coast, coming upon a couple of lookout places which we stopped at. One of them was quite steep, no very steep but we decided the view would be worth the effort of climbing back up the steep slope. And it was. We were actually at South Australia's southern most point. There was also a colony of fairy penguins but we didn't see any. They probably don't come out till night time as do the ones on Phillip Island.

From there I convinced Ken to take me to the home of Adam Lindsay Gordon. It was a quaint little sand stone place with an English country garden. When we returned to Mt Gambier we also stopped off at a monument to him that overlooks the Blue Lake.

On the road to the Blue Lake there is a large rock wall with turrets set in it at intervals. It overlooks the Blue Lake in one direction and mutton leg lake in the other direction. It was all built in one go. Some 1,000 men and 300 women worked till it was finished. The women made refreshments as the men toiled away at the building. Quite a mammoth task.

Finally this afternoon we picked up the old van and we are hooked up and ready to leave early in the morning. So it will be a couple of days before I post another blog.

Enjoy the pics

Love Ken and Lyn

back to Mt Gambier

G'day to all

We are back in Mt Gambier to finish off the sale of our old van. It sold on Ebay so we didn't have to put it on consignmeant somewhere. we have said we will take it to Melbourne for fuel cost for the new owner. We are pretty sure that this will be the first caravan for the owner. He asked questions that he should have known the answers for before he purchased the van for instance "Will my Highlux tow it" and "Do I need special brakes for it" We plan to leave early tomorrow and come straight back as by then we will need to leave and make our way back home to Bairnsdale for Easter.

Returning to Bairnsdale and not have a home to actually go to is quite strange. Every now and then I get this strange feeling that brings with it the thought 'this is the way life will be for a long time, so get used to it' then I think to myself 'Yep, this is OK' and I move on. I hope I feel that way after Easter when it's time to head off again.

We do need to have a few things done to the van so that packing up is made easier for instance at one stop over we got talking to another couple who had their satellite dish mounted on a bent arm and as a result he didn't have to take it off and set it up somewhere near the van. Ken took pictures of it and will see if he can have one made in Bairnsdale. It takes up a lot of room in the back of the car and is quite awkward to move it around especially if what you want is right under it.

last time we were in Mt Gambier we didn't get to see all the local sites and attractions so today we are heading out to have a really good look around. We are going first to Pt MacDonnell which is just 20klms south and is said to be nice. There are a couple of lookout touristy spots that we wish to see also.

Time is away and Ken is keen to be on our way.

So shall speak to you again hopefully tonight if not when we get back from Melbourne.

Heaps of Love to one and all

Ken and Lyn

Walleroo

Hi to everyone

Following our five days spent at Pt Broughton we headed a little further down the Yorke Peninsuala to another coastal site at Walleroo. A number of people have said it was a nice place to go to. It was true coastal with the ocean at your feet. When ever the tide was out people took their cars out as it went back so far that it was quite a way to get to the water for fishing. Not a lot happening as far as fish go. We stayed only two nights. At this point Pam and Colin have left us to return to Melbourne as Colin's Mum has had unexpected surgery and they felt they needed to go. We pray all will be well.

We intend to come back to the Yorke Peninsula next year and explore the whole area. We now have another travel auction site that we have won and this time it is at Pt Victoria on the west coast of the Peninsula. It will be a ten night stop so we will have plenty of time and plenty of places to explore.

We also have another S.A. travel auction site at Victor Harbour that we need to use up within twelve months. Victor harbour we know quite well as when we lived in Adelaide Victor Harbour was a place we went to on many occassions. During that time we had our boat on Hindmarsh island so we went between Goolwa and Victor Harbour many times.

Yesterday saw us travelling back towards Mt Gambier. Our old van sold on EBay and it looks like we are taking it back to Melbourne for the new owner. We will leave ours here and return straight away to get it and than back to Bairnsdale for Easter

Today is Saturday the 20th and S.A. State Election is on and it will be interesting to see if the current Labour Party and leader Mike Wran stays in. The outcome will be interesting. I think it will be a close call.

That's it for now

Love to all Ken & Lyn

Pt Broughton

Greetings to one and all

When we were told at Meredith Park about someone here in Pt Broughton who allowed campers to spend a few days at his home with a charge of $10.00 and allowed you to connect up to power and water we phoned through and booked our two vans in for 3 nights. The chap indicated that there was no one there currently and gave us the directions to get to his place.

So after arriving we followed his directions and kept our eyes open for the two story red roof house just on the outskirts of town. There was only one two story place so we drove in half expecting it to be the wrong place because we could see nowhere suitable for our vans. We had a picture in our minds of a nice grassy area where we could set up and relax. And this was not that. With no one home we decided to head back into town and make some enquiries as to exactly where this place was. Pt Broughton is a small place with about 1,200 people so we figured someone in town had to know if this was the place we were looking for. So Ken and Colin headed into a local store to enquire and when they came back they said we did have the right place BUT it had just been closed down because he didn't have the facilities that were required by law.

It must have just happened because when we rang to book in he was very happy for us to come.

That changed things because we were now three days early for our Travel Auction 5 nights stay at the Pt Broughton Caravan Park. Only one thing to do and that was go in and see if they had any vacancies for us. It seemed quite crowded when we drove up to the entrance so we half expected to be told no sites available.

Wrong again, they did have vacancies so we were put up at the back of the Park where we were virtually on our own. it was great. We were literally on our own and it was like having an ensuite of our own because I never saw anyone else but Pam and I only saw her once. The facilities were great, they were cleaned every day and the laundry washing machines were spotless.

Late yesterday a couple of vans and one tent came into our section so we lost our privacy.

It meant we have to be quieter when we are playing cards. John, if your reading this we mostly spend our evenings playing Golf and Schnouwzer ( no idea how you spell it) and Ken is definitely the champion of golf. We are desperately trying to catch him with a Queen and a Jack on the top.

Sunday morning we went to church at a little Uniting Church which I think was more a Community Church than any particular denomination.

The only other option was Catholic. It was led by locals. We were warmly greeted at the door and when we entered it would have been about 80% full if not more. There was a wonderful spirit of friendship with plenty of chatter happening. Bar two other people we were definitely the youngerst and women greatly outnumbered the men. It was probably an indication of the local community.

The scripture reading was of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The speaker, Kath focussed her message on the elder son rather than the younger son. she said it was so easy to let negative thoughts such as jealousy, bitterness, envy and anger creep into our minds and before you know it we have severred our relationshp with God. She said she had a saying which had helped her when she had bad thoughts. She said whenever bad thoughts happen Satan has an open doorway in which to enter our lives. So whennever we have those thoughts then quickly say "Abort the thought" She also said this is the one time God condones abortion. "Abort the thought" and in doing that we shut the door on Satan. She closed her address by giving us 5 points to ask God about. They were

1. Have I been truthful and honest

2. Have I been impure

3. Have I allowed bitterness to take root in my heart

4. Has love been my motive in everything

5. Have I sought God's glory - or my own glory.

I tend to think that we should be asking God these questions daily rather than weekly.

Pt Broughton has a small local school, presumably primary rather than secondary. The shopping centre includes the essentials. Small grocery, chemist .butcher, baker. One petrol station, one pub, small hospital which seemed to have an few independant living units and a nursing home as well. Also a footy club, a bowls club and golf club.

We drove around town checking out what was available before going for a drive to Fishermans Bay which was quiter than here in the off season. Fishermans Bay was mostly little holiday shacks that were closed up waiting for the next long weekend or school holidays when it must swell with holiday makers. The same would happen here at Pt Broughton as Paynesville and more than double its everyday population in peak season.

The water that our vans face onto is tidal but not sufficient to swim in. Crabbing again seems to be the draw card as there are people at night cooking up their crabs in the open air kitchen designed for that purpose.

bye for now

Lyn and Ken

Mannum

Mannum turned out to be a two night layover. Camping was for 24 hours only and it seemed to be policed as the same vehicle came around morning and night drove around and then left. Small sticky flies were out and also the mozzies were quite bad. It had been very windy all day and was quite cool. We would most definitely return and spend some more time even though they only allow a 24 hr stop. First night there were 20 or so vans, buses and fifth wheelers and about half that the second night. No doubt it would be packed in the summer.

Left Mannum just after 9am and with Tommy leading the way we wandered through some small backroads finally getting us back on the A1.

We had decided to check yet another freebie so we travelled north towwards Pt Broughton till we came to a little place called Dublin where we turned off the highway and headed 10 klms towards the coast and a small place by the name of Parham. Parham is situated on St Vincents gulf and is a tiny town but friendly to RV's as they let you stay as long as 2 weeks. There is plenty of good drinking water available. About 12 vans stayed overnight, 3 or 4 leaving early. We decided to have a lazy start as we didn't have far to travel. It's evidently a good spot for catching crabs though those we spoke to said they were mainly small ones they were getting and they had to go back in. We've been told Pt Broughton is better for crabs so we shall see.

This leg of the journey is a short stretch of 110 klms so we will be in and set up early. We plan to check out the town first and see what is available. Lunch stop was at a little town called Bute. Bute had bute rest room facilities, it had a bute park and play area for kids and it had a bute shop and bute staff who gave us information about where Colin could get his gas bottle filled.
It was a bute little place all round.

Tell you more next time

Love to all lyn

Mt Gambier

We have had a very interesting time here at Mt Gambier. Sometimes you can go to a place and say I could live here well this is true of Mt Gambier. It is an attractive city with some awesome scenery and surrounds. We are staying at the Big 4 Blue Lake Caravan Park which is very near to the Blue Lake and we get to see it whenever we leave the park. The day we arrived it was strickingly blue, hard to even describe the colour blue other than to say it was a deep and bright at the same time. The Lake changes colour from March till November to a grey colour. We are really pleased to have seen it as blue as we did and just in the few days we have been here it seems to have begun the change to grey.

The Lake is where Mt Gambier gets its water supply from. They say that the surface area of the Lake is 70 hectares, the circumference is 5 klms and you can do a 7klm walk around it if you like. It is 70 mtrs deep and has a volume of 36,000 million litres and the towns consumption is

3,600 million litres annually.

Mt Gambier is part of the Limestone Coast so its no surprise that many of the houses are constructed with limestone and are magnificent with the clever combination of the different colours.

Mt Gambier is also the centre of Australia's most developed softwood forestry region and as early as 1876 the first Pinus Radiata trees were planted near here. They continue to plant young trees so the industry will continue for many years.

It is a long weekend here, same as Victoria, though the one here is for the Adelaide Cup. The Caravan Park is busy but not full and as usual people are friendly and always ready for a chat.

We, Ken and I(Pam and Colin had not yet arrived) went to go for an evening walk around the Park as it is quite a big park but we got no further than three vans away when we stopped to have a chat. In the process we got chatting and found that Trish and Jim were from Bundaberg. I have a brother who lives there as does Pam and Colin. As we talked we soon realised that Jim and Trish (Alison) had lived in Orange for many years which is where I (Lyn ) grew up.

We spent the next little while talking about people we both knew. Small world.

Before we left home we knew that the possibility of us getting another van along the way was pretty much certain. We talked about getting a van with a shower and toilet so we are always on the lookout for what's around. Ken found a van that sounded really good. No shower or toilet but everything else that we had wanted seemed to be in this van. It was at Narracorte, a small town some 100klms away so we decided to go have a look at it. We set off with Pam and Colin in their car (ours has no back seats as we've taken them out for the trip away) at 8.15am. It was a pleasant drive which took us through Penola where the wine industry flourishes and took us just on the hour to get there. The van had all the things we had talked about like airconditioning, security door, oven and more cupboards than our other van. It was immaculate both inside and out and was very well priced. We decided it was a bargain not to be missed and agreed that we would both be happy to continue with using the shower tent and the porta potti. so right at this moment we have two vans, one of which we will have to put on consignment on Tuesday. Hopefully that will all go smoothly and be sold ASAP.

Our next stop will be at Mannum and we hope to free camp on the Murray.

Today is Sunday the 7th and we worshipped this morning with the Salvos. It was a lively service and we had the pleasure of listening to the Band and the Timbels being played through the service.

Included this time are some photos we have taken along the way.

Catch up with you soon

Lyn

9

Meredith Park

28th Feb, 2010

We left Meredith park at 10.15am for Church at 10.30. We were warmly welcomed both at the door and during the service. Colac is similar to Bairnsdale Baptist Church in that they are in the process of searching for a new Pastor. the interim Pastors message was titled "Whats on your mind" He spoke clearly and it was easy to follow his message. After the service we stocked up on a few grocery items and then headed on our way.

Our intention had been to go to Wannon Falls but two people at Meredith Park had suggested we also cheque out Nigretta Falls as well. There was about 9km between the two so we stopped first at Nigretta and then went on to Wannan Falls. Wannon was a heavily treed area with most being gum trees. It was also quite dusty underfoot so we went back to Nigretta Falls and set ourselves up on a lovely grassed area free of Gum trees. Nigretta was also somewhat secluded so we had a little protection from the strong winds. half a dozen cars came in and promptly drove out so we were pretty much on our own the whole time. We spent our evenings playing cards and laughing a lot. the rest of the time we relaxed and went for a walk along the river and then across the rocks to get various views of a waterfall that has no water.

On our way here we passed through some very lovely little towns, Camperdown, Mortlake and one other little place called Tarrington that all had some lovely old homes.

I remember on our one and only drive along the Great Ocean Road we saw miles and miles of stone walls. This drive was very much the same.... miles and miles of rock fences all perfectly straight. Clearly a lot of hard work to prepare the land for pasture. There is a large dairy industry here and at the moment the animals all seem to be in prime condition.

Today the 2nd March

Ken and I have come to Mt. Gambia ahead of Pam and Colin as we needed to have some scripts filled. It turns out we have to go to a Doctor as the Chemist is telling us the script cannot be filled as the particular tablet Ken has is no longer available. The Chemist kindly made an appointment for us so we are pleased we came ahead.

We have driven past The Blue Lake on the way to the Caravan park and it is distinctive in its colour. I will write more on it and the surrounding area next time.