Day 2: Cunnamulla

We got away from Hillston at around 8.30 am  and settled in for a long day in the car. We travelled along the Kidman Way and stopped for smoko at Gulgunnia and experienced the first long drop toilet of the trip. Looked for a cache that was supposed to be hidden nearby, but couldn't find it. Only time for a quick pit stop in Cobar, and Jim had the nearby cache in hand. Cobar looked like a nice place to spend bit more time, but we were off to Bourke. Lunch was in Bourke by the banks of the Darling River, and we explored the old wharf. Luckily, we only had soft drinks for lunch because we got breathalyzed on the way out of town.

The road to Cunnamulla was long and had a few little hills to keep us entertained. There was a lot of wildlife, including wild pigs, goats and the expected emu and kangaroos. We pulled into Cunnamulla at around 5pm, just on dusk, and found a bed in the fourth place we called. I thought we might have to put up the camper, but it is still a bit cold overnight, and it was starting to rain, so we opted for a motel bed. The Corella Motel was an interesting place, and could have done with a thorough spring clean. We found the Cunnamulla fella, but didn't realize how bronzed he was! We got internet range and could skype Ellen at home, and it was great to see the puppies vis skype. I think they were a bit confused about how they could hear me, but not smell me! We travelled 664km on day 2.

Cape York Adventure

Welcome to Helen and Jim's Cape York adventure:

 Day 1. We had a slow start after a late night at the Kasey chambers and Shane Nicholson concert. The concert was excellent by the way. We left home at about 11am, excited and a bit sad about leaving our puppies behind. We know that Ellen will take great care of them, and we will miss them.

We had lunch at Maccas in Echuca  (last fast food for 2000 kms) and headed north and travelled through Deniliquin - maybe we should come back for the Ute muster in October? We met Dad in Hay, then continued north to Hillston. There is a mouse plague in the district and we could see mice running across the road in front of us. The country side is very flat, with wide open grasslands, and we saw emus, kangaroos and lots of hawks eating the roadkill.

Our first night was as at the Hillston motel, and we had tea at the Club House Hotel. This was the sign on the door of the hotel - great!   Toured the township and bounced on the suspension bridge over the Lachlan River. The Lachlan is a green, slow moving river, not at all appealing. Completed 524 km on day 1.

The rains are here

Last weekend we had a thunderstorm in Bendigo and we had over 5 inches of rain over the weekend. We have never had this much rain at once and as it was so dry the water soon ran across the paddock. The good news is the house stayed dry, the tank and the dams are full and now, one week later, the green grass is everywhere. It looks so green and fresh.  This picture is from my front verandah - this is where my front garden used to be!

This is the back of my house - don't need to water the lawn today!

This is across the back yard to the orchardThis is the water that is flowing out of the dam.

This is looking across the paddock and the neighbours paddock (out the front) - there is water as far as you can see.

Bushfire Mosaic in Kyneton

On Februrary 7th 2010, this mosaic was unveiled on the wall of the Kyneton Town Hall, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires. This mural is an artistic expression  of the thoughts and memories of the people who were affected by these devastating bushfires. We visited the mural last weekend and it is  truly magnificent.  Each tile represents a fire affected sight, with black tiles signifying loss and grey tiles indicating a threatened home that was saved.  Every tile tells a story and many tiles are made up of treasured finds amongst the ashes.

If you find yourself in the area, it's worth calling in to Kyneton to check out the mosaic on the wall of the Town Hall.  I'd love to know what you think of it.

Wimmera Machinery Field Days

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days at the Wimmera Field Days in Horsham, Victoria. It was a great experience to see that part of Victoria, and I really enjoyed the Field Days.  For those of you who haven't been to a Field Days before it's a bit like an agricultural show that features tractors and farming equipment, seeds, silos and anything and everything farming.  I don't know what you would even use some of these tractors for! 

It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed wandering through the exhibition sheds and exploring the demonstrations and produce.  There was interesting stuff that I just wished I had the money to buy - like this cool crock pot that cooks dinner by itself  - it sounds like such a great idea!

  

I was near an animal nursery and I enjoyed the cute little animals. The little pig was so cute, but made this horrendous squealing noise every time a poor little kid tried to pick him up. Check out the cool dude goat!

Geocaching Flashmob Event

We attended Bendigo's first flashmob event  held at the Bendigo Mall.  Don't know what a flashmob event is? - neither did we.    At exactly 1pm, a geocacher will appear at the specified co-ordinates with a geocaching container.   Geocachers will have exactly 15 mins to grab a piece of paper, sign their name, and place the sheet of paper back into the container.     Before 1pm, all Geocachers must act like normal shoppers, looking in shop windows and walking around the mall. After the 15 minutes the cache owner  will leave and people must then depart and return to the activities they were doing before.

It was so funny to watch the other people in the mall who were wondering what the crowd had gathered for.  Was there free stuff?  is someone injured?  what are you protesting about? I had to giggle at the number of people who were drawn to join the crowd without really knowing why.  And by the time people in the Mall worked out something was going on, the crowd started wandering away. 

The Bendigo Advertiser took a couple of photos and the geocachers met up later at a local hotel for a cool refreshment!

Bushfire Anniversary

 It is hard to believe that it has been a year since the devastating Black Saturday bushfires.  We are remembering the day at a memorial service in Bendigo and catching up with people again.  It was nice to catch up with Mel, my friend who came from Brisbane for the memorial service - she stayed with us and it was fantastic to chat about how much things have changed over the past year.