Hello to Emma's Class

Hello to everyone,

We have been travelling in Australia for 7 weeks now and have driven about 4000 kilometres.

We have been in some big cities like Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra (the Capital,) Melbourne. We skipped Adelaide and came to Port Augusta via Broken Hill . Can you find all these places on the map? Also do you know the States that go with all the cities? See if you can find out what is mined in Broken Hill?

Some of the animals and birds we have seen are Camels, Emus, Kangeroos Kookaburas, Cockatoos, Galahs. Australia is much bigger than New Zealand and I am sending the class a postcard that shows you the difference of the sizes of the 2 countries.

Westward Ho!

After a week of luxury living with as soft bed at Steve’s flat and Wendy’s wonderful roast dinner and real chicken soup, we decided that if we didn’t move on soon, we never would. So we drove on up to the Dandenong Ranges for a couple of days and struck more of the same from Joan and Mick. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality folks.

In Melbourne, Maureen had a chance to catch up on all the goss from her friends and we had a meal or two out with Wendy at Asian restaurants, while I did the old family tree stuff and checked out a couple of trams. In the Dandenongs, we went to the market day in one of the local villages and walked down to the Puffing Billy rail line. For most of the time, the weather was foggy in the morning and cloudy during the day and rather cool.

When we finally departed for Bendigo on Queens Birthday Monday (a week later than in NZ), we were quite happy to be back in our own home again. We got the front springs done on the van as it was sagging a bit to the left and now we seem to be bouncing round a bit on the back roads. It was quite a climb up to Bendigo and the weather got colder and wetter. That aside, we went for a ride on the old tram and I checked out the tram depot – for the articles I am doing while on holiday for the Ferrymead trammies newsletter. They have some nice old buildings including a grand church which you see as you come into the town.

Next day it was off Sheparton to meet up with a long lost relly and then on to a little place called Invergordon, which my new navigator couldn’t find, to see another relly who lives on a dairy farm. We passed a big Fontera factory on the way – watch out Aussies, the takeover is underway. After that it was on to Euchuca in the heart of paddle steamer and houseboat country on the upper Murray River. It took us two and a half days to get there from Melbourne and so it was quite amusing to see a sign saying it was only two and a half hours from Melbourne. We had to drop off all our fruit in Kerang at the Quarantine Bin. Kerang is the start of the Fruit Fly exclusion zone.

We followed the Murray through to Mildura, passing thousands of acres of Orange Groves and vineyards. Two names we recognized were McWilliams and Lindemans. At Wentworth we saw the joining of the Murray and Darling Rivers and then it was on the Silver Highway towards Broken Hill. It was pretty desolate country and we stopped the night at a rest area beside a huge dry lake. Met up with a couple of New Zealanders from Clyde who were making damper bread over a nice warm fire, so we were happy to join them.

Saturday morning saw us in Broken Hill and the town was very quiet. Took a trip up to Silverton which is a bit of a ghost town, but is often used for films like Mad Max and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Saw some outback camels, emus, kangaroos and wild goats enroute. The vastness and desolation of this area gave us a preview of what we might expect on the road to Alice. We stayed again at a free rest area beside the main road and were woken early by the road trains, so got off to an early start towards Port Augusta. Not only did we get passed by these huge trucks, but the Indian Pacific train that goes from Sydney to Perth came roaring through on the rail line alongside us and left us way behind. Today was our biggest day with 460 km’s on the clock and that at $1.83 per litre for the diesel (incl. the tax).

As you know, Aussies claim to have the biggest everything – the big pineapple, big banana, prawn, etc. and now we also see that they have the biggest seat (see picture). So here we are at Port Augusta ready to tackle the real outback.

For Emma's class : Melbourne Classmates

Here is a picture of Aidan (middle), my friend's grandson and his two friends Tyler and Jarrod. They are in the same school year as you at Ringwood Heights in Melbourne and Aidan will be 8 soon.
We took our campervan round to Aidan's school and waited outside until school finished. There was a 'lollypop' lady with the stop sign by the crossing to ensure that the children could cross safely and she waved to us. next thing, the hooter went and all the kids came rushing out of school to meet their mothers in cars. Aidan saw us waiting and came up with his two friends. They had a go on the CB radio, calling us up from down the road and his friends had a look over the camper. After that, we went off and got some KFC for tea and went round to the park in the van to eat it. We also had to pick up Aidan's younger brother Sean, who is just about 4.

At the park, there was a play area with a slide, monkey bars and a flying fox and there was also a lake with ducks on it. Quackety quack. So we ate our tea and the boys went off to play. We all had a great time but had to take the boys back when it got dark. Of course they had to try out the bed up above the cab in the campervan...little rascals. So there we are Emma (and class) that was our evening out with the young boys.

Gippsland and on to Melbourne

It was quite a long downhill ride from Canberra to the coast through very dry country. We passed close by the Snowy Mountains and, on reaching Princes Highway, we camped the night in a rest area adjacent to the Bellbird Hotel over the border in Victoria. Not bad – three States in one day. Quite a good idea having a rest area next to a pub. After parking up, we went in for a beer – Tooheys here in Victoria. The management told us they were having a Euchure night with the locals and so Maureen and I had a meal and then joined the party. I did all right, getting first equal with one of the local ladies – thanks to skills obtained from my Christchurch Euchure nights with my card playing mates. However, I lost the two-handed playoff and the major prize – a six pack. While we were playing the cards, it started to pour down and then we heard sounds of thunder. We must be a good omen to this part of the land, I think. It was nice to meet up with some locals and join in with them with the cards. There were also a couple of cyclists from England staying at the rest area. They had already toured New Zealand and were heading towards Melbourne also.

In the morning we drove on towards Melbourne, taking a glimpse at the Gippsland Rail Trail. We might come back later in the year and do that??? We stopped for lunch at Orbost and met up with the cyclists again, so we treated them to lunch with tuna fish and cheese sandwiches plus a cup of tea which they appreciated after their morning ride. Then, for us it was on to Lakes Entrance.

after a night there, we went inland to an old gold mining town up in the hills called Walhalla. What was the attraction there, for goodness sake? Well, in my family history there was a guy named Henry Dendy who purchased land in Melbourne and as such, was allowed to bring out a number of immigrants to work his estates in Brighton. So he was the man responsible for my family coming to Melbourne. Some time later, Henry Dendy went after the gold in walhella and ended up dying there. Also at Walhalla, there is an old railway which operated on weekends and Wednesdays - the day that we were there. Unfortunately, there had been a rockfall on the track and so the 3pm train didn't run. So we camped up in the mountains at Walhalla and suffered the cold frost that night.

After that, it was onward to Melbourne and we arrived in at about 3pm then spent the next 2 hours trying to find Wendy's house. After getting lost once too many time, I had to fire the navigator (to save a divorce) and went over the road to OfficeWork and bought a real navwoman for $255. Subsequent travels in Melbourne City has shown it to be a really good investment. It works fine except that sometimes I turn off before she tells me to and I get a robotic command to 'turn back....if you can' or 'recalculate'.

We have had a wonderful time with Wendy and staying in the flat is bad for 'Her Indoors' because she is getting out of the art of camping. I'm going to have to drag her back on to the road again next week. Before that, we will spend the weekend with friends up in the Dandenong Ranges - thats different to Dandenong City. So from there we'll head west towards Adelaide but we might skip the big city and shortcut up to Port Augusta and then towards Coober Pedy.