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.