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We have been preparing for this trip for months now, it was important because we were going for so long that we had everything secured around our home and we had organised services that we needed to keep it maintained. Yesterday we finished off the last minute jobs that needed doing so that we could just get up in the morning and take off. Of course as is the way nothing goes to plan and we were ready to take off and hopped into the car but when Robb started the motor the battery was completely flat. We called a friend of ours and he said he would bring his jumper leads around to get us started. When he tried his leads he found they were too rusted to do the job so then he drove down to the CFA shed to pick up their leads, both Mick our friend and Robb are members of the CFA. We finally started the car and drove down to our local coffee shop for a traveller, it is the Labour day weekend and there is a market in town so when we arrived there were heaps of people at the cafe. We couldn't turn the car off so Robb stayed with the car and I walked over to get the coffees, fortunately I didn't have to wait too long and we were soon on our way about 11/2 hours later than we intended. There wasn't really any rush and once we had our coffee we sat back, turned the radio on and enjoyed the trip. We were on the South Gippy highway and when we were about 15 kms from where this highway and the Bass highway meet we were stopped by the bank up of traffic and it took us another 3/4 hour to move that 15kms but from there on the run of the traffic was fairly good. We could not believe the number of cars on the road mainly going the other way and we passed so many traffic jambs. It is a good drive to Yea and we have taken this route many times so before long we were pulling into the caravan park. It was drizzling when we arrived but we didn't need to unhook the van so before long we were set up for the night. We couldn't sit outside because of the rain but that's ok it is only one night and tomorrow we will be moving on to Myrtleford.
It didn't take us long to pack up the next day because we didn't unhook the van so after a quick chat to our next door neighbour we were on our way to Myrtleford. It is too difficult to stop for coffee in Yea so we drove on and stopped the first opportunity we had, unfortunately this was not a good choice for coffee. We arrive at Myrtleford early afternoon and after booking in at the office we set up in our normal spot. Our next door neighbours Mick and Gail pulled in soon after us, we were both busy setting up for the afternoon but managed a quick chat and then we met up with everyone again around the fire at 4.00pm. It was really good to catch up with so many familiar faces again and after the usual greetings we rehashed previous meets. There were a few newbies here so we went around the circle and introduced ourselves and then settled in for a bit of a chat. We went back to the van for dinner around 6.00pm and a few people were going back to the fires after dinner but we were a bit tired so decided not to go.
Wednesday we decided to stay around camp, we had some items to pick up at the shops and we had a couple of running repairs to take care of on the van, we also wandered around the park chatting with friends, it was a nice easy day. We also took the opportunity to book the car into the Mitsubishi Dealership in Wangaratta to see what the problem is with the air con, they were fairly booked out but managed to get us in next Monday. I made creamy garlic prawns with rice for dinner and this turned out to be a very tasty recipe we will certainly have this again. Another early night to bed.
Thursday we decided to take a drive to Benalla, I made our coffees for the trip, still trying to perfect it, this was my third attempt and they are getting closer to perfection. The drive was not overly long and we still hadn’t finished our coffee when we arrived, the cups were supposed to keep it warm for five hours so I suppose we will find out if they work. We drove to the Information Centre and asked for their advice on what to see in Benalla if we only had a few hours. They suggested we follow the street art trail and gave us a book with a map of where to find the paintings and there was also a list of the artists names. The work only covered four blocks so we took off with camera in hand, we originally found it a bit difficult to find the paintings but once we found the first one the rest were easy to find. We also called into a few shops looking mainly for pads for my Tens machine but alas nobody stocked them. We walked back to the car and when seated tried our coffee and we were pleased to find it was still piping hot. We drove over the bridge in Benalla to the Botanic Gardens, we parked out the front and walked to the main entry. We took a gentle stroll around these very pretty gardens taking a few photos, we ended our walk at the very beautiful rose gardens before walking back to the car to drive back to the caravan park. Good news was our coffee was still hot. We were back in time for the 4.00pm session and we also went back after dinner to join in because one of the couples were performing for us, David plays guitar and both David and Ann sing. David has written quite a few songs himself and while it is country music they were quite good. We returned to our van around 9.30pm after a very enjoyable night.
Friday we thought we would have an easier day and decided to visit the cheese factory in Milawa. We had been here before and particularly liked their cheeses, last time here we did a cheese tasting but you have to prebook for these now. We had a look around at the local produce they had on display but we had brought a few jars of Robb’s homemade sauces with us and didn’t really need any more. We bought three cheeses a blue, a Brie and a cheddar planning to have an easy dinner one night. From Milawa we drove to Whorouly Historic Hotel to have a look and take a few photos. We drove home from here and arrived just before lunch time, after lunch I took my laptop outside and loaded up my photos and wrote in my blog. After dinner David and Ann performed for us again, they had to leave in the morning because they had a fund raiser to perform at on Saturday night in Tallangatta where they lived. The fund raiser was for a monument for the War Horse that came from Tallangatta that was the only horse to return from Gallipoli out of the 6,000 horses that were taken over there. The horse Sandy means a lot to the town and they have $260,000 to raise for the monument, we passed a hat around and raised $530 to go towards the fund. The next day they sent us a note from the town thanking us for our donation. Erin, Connor and Ollie arrived just as it was getting dark, they have booked a cabin in the park for the next two nights, we are looking forward to spending a couple of days with them. After we broke up from the group the five of us returned to our van for a chat before bed, Ollie had already made friends with a couple of boys and went off to play with them and we made plans for the next day.
Saturday morning we drove into Bright and parked at the Information Centre where we hoped to have Brunch, we couldn’t get in straight away so we walked down to the park for the boys to have a play while we waited to be called. We didn’t have to wait long and were soon seated inside the cafe. Erin chose smashed avo, Robb and Connor had eggs Benny with salmon, I had eggs Benny with ham and Ollie had pancakes, we all enjoyed our brekky. When we finished we walked around the shops having a look through a few. We made our way up to the old lolly shop where Erin bought some chocolates and I bought some lollies for the boys. We walked back to the car and drove once again to Milawa where Erin purchased quite a few items and a cheese or two. From Milawa we drove to Gapsted Winery where Robb, Erin and I had a wine tasting, this came with a plate of cheese each and a taste of about 12 wines, we were very happy when we left. We drove from here back to our van and cabin for a rest before we went for dinner. We had made a booking at The Happy Valley Hotel for dinner, not really what Erin wanted, she was hoping to find somewhere showcasing the local produce but there wasn’t anywhere like this to go for dinner. Ollie had fish and chips, Robb, Connor and I had steak and Erin had salmon which she wasn’t very happy with, it was overcooked and dry and the vegetables it came with were most uninteresting. The rest of us were happy with our meals. After dinner we returned to the van and sat around talking until bedtime.
Sunday we took our time getting up, our idea was to do something for the boys then have lunch and Erin would drive home from there, the boys had school on Monday. Erin was very tired and texted to say she wanted to get a bit more sleep that was ok we had a couple of things to do at the van. We decided to go to Glenrowan, Ned Kelly’s last stand, there is a museum there and there is also an animatronic show we thought might be fun. It was getting late by the time we arrived in Glenrowan so we went in search of somewhere for lunch, the only place we could get a table was The Old Tea Room so we chose a table and sat while we had a look at the menu which wasn’t very extensive. Once we ordered we checked how long it was going to take Erin and the boys to get home and it was still 3 hours so we thought after lunch we would have a quick look around and then they would take off. We all enjoyed our lunch, Erin and Robb had Devonshire teas, Ollie had nuggets and chips, Connor had a hot meat roll and I had a pie floater. After lunch we walked next door to the providore where they had a great selection of local produce, Erin bought another few items we wandered around and then Erin and the boys left. After waving them off Robb and I walked to the animatronic theatre, we had been wanting to go for a while now but had always missed it for one reason or another. When we walked to get tickets we were told the show had started and the next one was half an hour away, we didn’t want to wait so because the current one had only been going for 5 minutes we decided to join that show and the young guy on reception kindly let us in. We both enjoyed it and we were glad we finally managed to see it.
Monday we had our car booked into Mitsubishi in Wangaratta for them to look at our air conditioner which hadn't worked from the start of our journey, not sure if it had something to do with having to jump start the battery. Because we were going into Wangaratta we organised to have lunch with friends from there and we decided to meet at the same place we met them last time we were in town. Our car was booked in for 1.00pm but we decided to go in a bit earlier and have the battery to our car fridge tested as we didn't think it was working properly and then maybe do a bit of shopping for essential supplies. Just as we thought the fridge battery was buggered so we purchased a new one and had it replaced and then drove onto Aldi for our shopping. We didn't have much to get but by this time it was getting later and we had organised to meet our friends at 12.30pm at Intermezzo so we dropped our car off at Mitsubishi and we had a driver to drop us at the cafe. We were there a few minutes before Katie and Evie so we ordered a sauvignon blanc each while we waited. When they arrived we all sat and studied the menu and when the waitress returned we put in our orders. Katie and Evie had toasties and Robb and I had a Filthy Animal Burger each which were excellent. We don't catch up often and before we knew it 3 hours had passed and we had a call from Mitsubishi to tell us what the problem was with the car and asked if we wanted to proceed with the work, we are travelling up north so there is no way we could do that without an operating air conditioner so we asked them to proceed and organised for someone to pick us up. It was a great catch up and we covered many important subjects and said we would do it again next year when we are back in Myrtleford. The driver picked us up and we waited in the lounge at the service centre until the car was ready. We didn't have to wait long and then we were on our way back to the van. By the time we returned everyone was leaving the afternoon get together to go back for dinner so we just returned to our van and I prepared dinner.
Tuesday we just wanted to hang around the park, I had a few jobs to do and I was hoping to get onto my computer to catch up on my blog but we had a few visitors to the van so I didn't get very far and before long it was time to meet up for the afternoon session, we didn't want to miss this because we were moving on to our next stop on Wednesday. We didn't go back after dinner but we sat around with Gail and Mick and Allen and Gwen chatting until bedtime.
Wednesday we were up a bit earlier packing up to leave, Robb was just about to drive the car around to hook up and once again the battery was flat, we will need to have this checked because we can't take any chances later when we may be in remote areas. Geoff helped us out with starting the car and then we walked around saying our farewells. This is a fantastic group of people and we will look forward to catching up with them at the next meet, particularly Gail and Mick and Allen and Gwen.
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