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We had been away for 4-5 weeks around Victoria because that was all that was available to us with the borders being closed down due to Covid-19. However, on returning from this holiday we heard that the border to NSW was opening up and we knew there was an Olympic Caravan meet happening in Coolac NSW from 26 November, three days after the borders were opening up so on our return we booked here for 9 nights. We worked hard before leaving to bring our house and yards up to date and prepare for Christmas so that we didn't have a lot to do on returning. We left home on the 25 November to have an overnight stay in Wangaratta and we had a lovely park, Painters Island Caravan Park, recommended to us by a friend living in Wangaratta and we were pretty pleased we took Katie's advice as it will be listed as one of our favourites, we will certainly return here. We had a great drive through site on the end of a row which was easy to get in and out of and allowed us to stay hitched up for the night.
We were up the next day and it didn't take us long to pack up ready to move on. We decided to just drive towards our destination hoping we could find a coffee shop on the way rather than driving through Wangaratta with the van on the back looking for somewhere to pick one up. We came to a freeway stop about 20 minutes into our trip and picked a coffee up there. So back on the road heading towards Coolac. We had a good run along the Hume Freeway and it seemed to take no time at all until we were at our destination. We have an excellent large site and after a lovely chat with the park manager we set up our home for the next nine nights. We had just had lunch when our neighbours from our Myrtleford stay Mick and Gail arrived and called over to say hello. We sat and chatted nearly until time for the 4.00 o'clock meet which was being held in the camp kitchen. Mick and Gail went for a swim and I think we will join them in this tomorrow night because it is going to be quite hot. We packed a cooler bag with our drinks and then walked over to catch up with club members we had not seen since Myrtleford earlier this year. We had a good catch up and then we all returned to our vans to prepare our dinners. We had marinated BBQ chops and vegetables for dinner which was very tasty and then I finally had some time to catch up on my blog. One of the dogs belonging to the park owner has taken a fancy to sleeping on my feet. A beautiful dog but it is very hot and the last thing I need is my feet warmed up. Anyway I have included a photo of Billy the dog here just because he is very cute.
Friday we decided to drive into Gundagai which is only 20 minutes away. Instead of stopping for a coffee we thought we would pick one up there. We stopped at the bakery for our coffee but we weren't very happy with it, Robb threw his out, I drank mine but only because I was desperate and couldn't be bothered looking for somewhere else to get one. We had a quick look around this very historic town that has many beautiful buildings. The highlights for us were the Prince Alfred Bridge and the railway station. The bridge is in really bad repair and because of the cost to repair it unfortunately it looks like it may be pulled down. The railway station looks like it has had some maintenance but is also showing signs of wear. We also enjoyed the sculptures on Dad, Ma, Dave and Mabel that is in the park opposite the information centre. From here we drove to the Dog on the Tuckerbox which is a few kilometres outside of town, I swear this dog has shrunk over the years but I am assured it is the same one.
We drove back to camp for lunch and we had intended to stay home for the afternoon but Robb needed to replace his clip on sun glasses because he had lost his other pair when we started our trip and he was struggling with the glare. He found an optometrist in Cootamundra so we decided to do a quick trip here to see if they could help him out, luckily they could. Cootamundra is much bigger than we thought it would be with a population of six and a half thousand people and once again it is a very historic town with many old buildings. A quick look around here with plans to return for a longer stay one day. We returned to our van but did not have time for a swim as we had planned to do before afternoon catch up with the rest of the club. We were having steak for dinner and I had already prepared the vegies so we packed up our cooler and walked over to the camp kitchen to see what everyone else had been doing for the day.
On Saturday we took a drive to Yass, I had not been there since 1985 and I was interested to have a look around. We found an Aldi store there so picked up a few supplies we needed and then drove up and down the street taking photos of the older buildings before visiting the Information Centre. When I was here in 1985 it was for a 150 year family reunion being held in Dalton which is between Yass and Canberra. Our ancestors the Bush brothers traveled from England to settle in Jerawa in 1835, Jerawa is between Yass and Dalton and there isn't much left there and only one building still in good repair which is the church but it was of interest to me to visit here just because of the connection. We drove onto Dalton and there wasn't much there either but it looks like it has a small population and there are a few newer looking homes here. We hopped out of the car at the church as there were a couple of graves in the churchyard and I was interested to see if the names were familiar, they weren't but the church was very pretty.
Sunday we picked up our coffee at the Mobil shop and set the GPS for Junee. We had visited Junee a couple of years ago but we didn't make it to the Licorice and Chocolate Factory so thought we would pay it a visit this time. This is a large complex with a good sized restaurant and lots of outside seating in courtyards and arbors that looked very enticing today after the heat we have had but we didn't stop here. The restaurant has a great display of pickles, sauces, pastas and dressings. We chose three pickles and a jar of pickled onions and took these into the licorice and chocolate shop to pay for them. We had a look around at the goodies and Robb chose a chocolate gift pack so we paid for these and then asked one of the girls for directions to our next stop. She was very helpful and I don't think we would have found it without her help.
After Junee with drove to Bethungra to have a look at the spiral railway. Luckily we had asked for directions because this would have been really easy to miss off the road. Anyway we were watching carefully and found the correct turn off and drove for about 4 kms to the lookout over this amazing tunnel and rail line. The spiral takes the train from one level to another and it is hard to fathom how all this rock was cut out to allow for this track to go through. It is only one of two of these spiral railways in the world. We stood for awhile waiting for a train but of course one didn't come through until after we had given up and were back in the car driving away. Never mind it was impressive to see and we were glad we made the effort. What we normally call a little gem. From here we drove onto Cootamundra and then back to Coolac.
We drove through the mountains today to Tumut and lovely little town sitting on the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. This has been our favourite town so far. I called it little but it was much bigger than we expected, it has a really good shopping centre and the streets are generally tree lined. There is a lovely park running along the Tumut River with lots of shaded areas for parking and enjoying the scenery and quite a few people were taking advantage of that today as it is really quite warm. There is also undercover seating and BBQ areas throughout the park, we were going to take a bit of a walk until I spotted the geese, that was enough reason for me to return to the car. The prices of houses here were quite reasonable and it is certainly a town that you could retire to. We drove to the lookout where we could look right over the town and see how it is settled in the valley between the hills.
Our caravan group had decided to have a meal together at The Happy Truckers in the Mobil Centre on the highway. We arranged to meet there between 5.30 and 6.00pm and because of Covid we had to set up two tables for us all. This is a truckies diner and the menu reflected this but there was plenty to choose from. We had a variety of meals chosen and Robb and I chose the T-bone steak which came with chips and salad. Our steak was cooked beautifully and surprisingly the chips were good. Everybody enjoyed their meals with a few doggy bags going home with people. The prices are excellent especially considering the quality of the food and the size of the meals. The staff were all very friendly and happy and couldn't do enough for us, all up a great experience.
Tuesday we have decided to drive to Young and Temora for a look around, people who know the area often mention these two towns so I thought we would take a look around. Firstly we drove to Young where the cherry festival is currently running, all along the road to Young are farm gates selling all things cherry. We didn't purchase anything today because we want to take some home with us and thought it better to buy them fresh on Thursday. Young has many beautiful buildings and particularly lots of churches and a fascinating old Court House which is now used as part of the school. The courthouse is set in a small park and gardens which is very well maintained. Young looks to be a very thriving community and as usual in these small towns there is a pub on every corner.
Next stop Temora which is a further 90kms on from Young but it is another hot day so we thought we may as well continue on. Temora isn't quite as big as Young but a very similar aged town. We found the Temora Railway Station which is quite a sight, we don't think this is used for passenger trains anymore but the tracks still look like they are being used as they are in good condition. The station has limited hours when it is open to the public and it wasn't open today but we were able to wander the platform which was good.
We set off for home from Temora and went the back way through Cootamundra which was lucky because we discovered the train station here. Another great building and this station is still operational, we could catch a train here to take us back to Melbourne. Much the same design as the other stations we have come across in our travels here with a very long platform covered by verandahs with lots of doors leading off to 'Refreshments', 'Ladies', 'Gentlemen', 'Tickets' etc. It seems to be quite a busy station as there were passengers sitting around and buses waiting out the front.
We didn't go anywhere today we just stayed home and did a few jobs we wanted to do and had a bit of a rest because we had been doing quite a bit of driving, however, we were both bored by 2.00pm. I walked around the park and took a few photos to share. It is a lovely park at Coolac and the owners are fantastic and great company. While the park is out in the middle of nowhere there are many interesting places to drive to around the area. I would highly recommend a visit here.
We headed off in another direction today to travel to Adelong. We had heard about the gold mine ruins just outside town and we were interested to visit here. We were most suitably impressed when we came across the ruins. There is a viewing platform where I took these photos and you can also walk down to the ruins to inspect them more closely. We didn't take the walk because it was a long way back up.
From Adelong we drove onto Batlow another lovely little town but our main objective for visiting here was to pick up some fresh cherries. We stopped at the first farm gate we came to and purchased a 2Kg pack, we have plans for cherry pies and cherry jam. They look really good. We had a long talk to the owner of the orchard about the impact of the fires in the area and you have to admire the farmers here for picking themselves up and getting on with the job.
Our next stop was Turrumburra a very scenic town still in the Snowy Mountain valley. We visited a lovely park with a creek running through it.
Our last day at Coolac and we wanted to have an easy day and then go for lunch. Jugiong looked good for lunch and had been recommended to us so after coffee we headed off in that direction. We noticed Harden not that much further on so thought we would drive here for a bit of a look around. Harden was much bigger than we expected with lots of hotels and an operating railway station. We had a good look around and did a bit of shopping in the IGA before moving back to Jugiong. When we arrived at Jugiong we had a look through the pantry and then the wine cellar before walking to the Sir George Hotel for lunch. We had noticed earlier the number of cars parked around the hotel but even so we didn't imagine the number or people we would find inside.
We both chose to have a black angus steak hamburger for lunch, we both had chips on the side and Robb chose an aioli and I chose ketchup to accompany our meals. The hamburger was excellent and the chips were pretty good. The prices were good and the service excellent. We both chose a Sauvignon Blanc to accompany our meal and because they were so busy I chose the 250ml glass each. It was a nice wine but it would have needed to be at $15 per glass.
On our way home and we like to just travel from 2-3 hours each day so we have chosen to drive to Rutherglen for our first night travelling. We easily found the caravan park and booked in for on night. We wanted a drive through site so that we didn't need to unhitch but they only had one site left and it wasn't a drive through site. We had no sooner set up than a storm went through the area with high winds and lots of rain. We were thankful we hadn't put our awning down we have spent the afternoon in the van.
Setting off the next day and heading towards Yea. We were going to spend one night here and then drive home. We arrived around 12.30pm and drove to the Peppercorn Hotel where we had tried to get into last time we were in Yea but it wasn't open. We hadn't booked here but were lucky enough to get a table and we ordered a shared seafood platter. This is a beautiful old hotel with lots of interesting brickwork inside, because of social distancing we had a lovely table well away from everyone else. When our platter came out it looked a bit small but turned out to be plenty for the two of us, however, probably a bit too much deep fried items than we would have preferred but everything was well cooked and the sauces and salads were good too. During lunch Robb decided that he was ok to drive home from here, I was a bit concerned about driving after eating a big lunch and Robb had half a glass of wine. He was still determined after lunch so we made plans that if he was tired along the track we would find somewhere else to stay. We stopped at Caldemeade for a coffee on the way and arrived home in good time. This has been a great holiday and we will look forward to catching up with the club in Myrtleford in March next year.
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