On the Banks of Lake Hume

We've extended our stay at Tallangatta because we're having such a good time here on the banks of Lake Hume.

The Tallangatta Lookout has commanding views of the area. Unfortunately Lake Hume is getting lower by the day as water is released downstream into the River Murray.  We haven't been able to take many photos of the mountains as we've been driving around.  There's a lot of bushfire prevention burning off at the moment so we've had a lot of smoke haze.  One thing the smoke ensures is some spectacular sunsets.

The twin towns of Albury (NSW) and Wodonga (Vic) are about 40km away and are the main commercial centres for this border community.  We drove through the mountain foothills through Granya to Bellbridge (Vic) and drove across the impressive bridge over the Murray River into NSW and on to Albury where we visited the Museum.  The Museum has a great exhibit of Egyptian Tentmakers.  These highly decorative, hand sewn, appliqué panels are made by men.

On our way back from Albury, we called into the Bonegilla Migrant Experience.  We were lucky enough to get a tour of Block 19.  Bonegilla was a WWII army camp which was used from 1947-1971 as the first Australian home for about 320,000 post-war refugees and immigrants.  Cherryl and her family lived here from 1954-1957 when her father worked here as an employment officer.  We found a photo of him, aged about 30, in one of the books on Bonegilla.

The migrant hostel reverted to the Army in 1971 and all except Block 19 was sold off.  Block 19 received National Heritage status due to its importance in building the multicultural Australia we know today.  Migrants lived in cubicles in the ex-army huts, with large extended families sometimes taking up a whole hut or more.  Each block had communal facilities - laundry, toilets, bath & showers and a communal mess, with steam powered kitchen, for meals.  All basic requirements were provided because the migrants only had what they were wearing and could carry.




Cherryl always thought she started school at Mitta Mitta, about 60km away.  The visit to Bonegilla provided the information that she would have attended Mitta Junction State School about 10km from Bonegilla.  The school isn't there any more, but there is a sign.  (The 5 year old's experience is no less traumatic!)  Memories of Bonegilla State School are happy.

There's been plenty to see around Lake Hume.  The Dam was built in 1936 and is 195m deep when it's full.  Water is released annually to help keep the Murray River healthy, to provide water for crop irrigation and to provide water for Adelaide.  Although the lake around Tallangatta is pretty empty at the moment, it usually fills up again after the winter and spring rains and snows in the mountains.  We saw where this mighty river meets the sea a few weeks ago when we visited Goolwa, now we're seeing where it begins.

We're not far from the Victorian Alps, with Mount Beauty only about 85km away.  Mount Beauty, at 343m altitude, is one of the kick off points for the Victorian snowfields.  After a drive along the Keiwa River Valley, through dairy country for about an hour we arrived at Mount Beauty where we stopped off for coffee and a look at the small Museum at the Information Centre.  The Museum has a Winter Olympics Hall of Fame with photos of winter olympians from the area.

About 30km west, along a windy mountain road, we had lunch at Bright overlooking the Ovens River before making our way along the Great Alpine Road through the Ovens River Valley and then back to Tallangatta.




We're leaving here tomorrow, making our way towards Canberra where we plan to arrive on Thursday.

An Update On Our Travels

Here's an update on where we've been in 2014 and where we're going in 2015.

2014 saw us almost completely circumnavigate mainland Australia.  We did do it in a 12 month period from Gawler in South Australia in December 2013, to Gawler again in December 2014.  We began 2014 in Canberra and will be back there in a couple of weeks.  As you can see from the map we like to detour a bit and take "the Scenic Route".  Our caravan travelled 19,500km during 2014 with the Landcruiser travelling about 40,000km.

2015 will see us spending our time on the eastern side of the country.  As much as we plan ahead, the dots on the map show places we're planning to be during the year.  Watch this space for more tales of our travels.

Tallangatta in the Murray Valley

We're still in Victoria - but only just.  We're staying in Tallangatta on Lake Hume for a week or so.  Lake Hume is on the Murray River in eastern Victoria.  It a big lake, but at the moment is only about 40% full as water is being fed into the Murray River.  We had planned to stay at the showgrounds while here.  This was thwarted by the Tallangatta Show being held this weekend.  Country shows are great entertainment and we spend several hours wandering around, looking at the exhibits.  There are certainly some talented people in this land of ours.






We watched some show jumping and woodchopping too.






After the show we went for a drive to Mitta Mitta, about 60km away.  Cherryl started school here almost 60 years ago.  Her memories are more traumatic than pleasant and she was only there for 1 year before moving to the school at the Bonegilla Migrant Camp, where her father was working.  We'll be visiting there later in the week.

This is a very friendly town and we'll enjoy our stay here.

Victoria's Western District and The Grampians

Our week at Cavendish just west of Victoria's Grampians has gone in a flash.  There's been plenty to see with some great drives and beautiful scenery.  The campground caretaker recommended two drives - one to the south-west and the other to the south-east - with the words "if you do nothing else, you should do these".  He was right!  Both were well worth the effort.

On Saturday, we ventured forth on the "Beauty Drive" to the west and south of Cavendish.  We stopped for a picnic lunch near the small town of Balmoral before making our way to Harrow (plenty of English names in Victoria).

Harrow's claim to fame is that it is the home of the Harrow Cultural Centre which is a cricketing museum - with a difference.  It celebrates the first Australian Cricket Team to tour England.  An Aboriginal team which toured successfully in 1868, many years before a white team made the same journey.  The tour was very successful over several months, with many wins, some draws and a few losses against the home teams.  One of the highlights was a match against the MCC at Lords.  The Australians were very popular and often played to packed grounds.  The museum was excellent with exhibits about the players, their sea voyage and the tour and we watched a short DVD.  There was also a room dedicated to Sir Donald Bradman with plenty of photos and memorabilia.

From Harrow we made our way south and east through the Western Districts farmland.  The area is prime wool producing country, although we didn't see a lot of stock.  There are plenty of koalas in the area and although we didn't see any, we did see evidence of them climbing trees.

On Monday, we ventured out on the other drive, along the "Volcanic Trail".  This drive first took us south to the town of Penshurst.  The Volcanic Discovery Centre is here, but is only open Friday/Saturday/Sunday.  A pity we hadn't done this trip on Saturday because there was a big open day with a number of universities providing experts giving talks about the volcanic activity of the area.  Many buildings in the area are built of basalt blocks with white mortar pointing.

We followed the signs in town to The Bagdad Cafe, a retro delight.  There were plenty of things on display, and for sale, from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, to take us back to earlier days.  A blaze of colour and laminex topped tables.  Mount Rouse overlooks Pensurst and provides panoramic views of the area.

Lunch was a picnic in the Mount Eccles National Park with its crater lakes and many bushwalks.  We admired the views and bush and walked a short distance along some of the tracks.

We followed some signs along the road to see some of the volcanic features in the park.  The Natural Bridge and the Lava Canals are formed from collapsed lava tubes.  We could see the flowlines of the lava preserved for posterity in the rocks.

On our way back we stopped off at Byaduk to see the Tamuli Lava Blisters.  These are piles of round laval rocks mostly around 10m-20m high.  This is the only evidence of these rock formations in the southern hemisphere.

Back on the main road was a photo opportunity to see Mount Napier, Victoria's youngest volcano.  It last erupted only 6,000 years ago.  Our final stop was just north of Byaduk where we did the short walk to see the laval caves.  Again worth stopping for.

The City of Hamilton is the regional centre.  Our last day in the area was spent exploring the town we'd been into a couple of times during the week.  The Botanic Gardens  gave us an excuse to stretch our legs.  The gardens aren't very big but they're beautifully laid out with fountains, statues, a rotunda and a walk through aviary.  Many trees are well over 100 years old and some have National Trust status.  The original gardener's cottage is still in use, these days as home to the Friends of the Botanic Gardens community group.  It's a very popular place for the local residents and visitors to relax.

Also in Hamilton is the Sir Reginal Ansett Museum.  Reg Ansett came from Hamilton and began his transport empire with a Studebaker car he used as a taxi.  We visited the museum and saw an informative DVD and plenty of Ansett memorabilia which was saved when the airline went broke and closed in 2002.

We farewelled Cavendish and motored through the Grampians as we began to make our way north and east through Victoria.  There are plenty of lookouts along the way to see the mountain scenery.  It's been good to see some mountains as much of the past year has been spent in flat country.

We had a couple of overnight stops at free camps on our way to the Murray Valley.