Tuesday 16 June 2015

South Gippsland (15/03/15 - 19/04/15)

What a lovely part of the country....a little gem, in fact and on our list for a return visit.

This large rural region is best known for it's farming, primary production such as mining, power generation and for its tourist spots such as Wilsons Promontory (quaintly known as "The Prom" or " Prom Country") the small gold mining township of Walhalla and the Strzelecki Ranges.   We visited all three.

In regards to mining,  today it is about Coal Seam Gas Exploration (CSG) which is of great concern to the residents of the region after discovering (as early as 2012) that there were a growing number of exploration licences being granted to exploration companies which covered local farming properties.

In order to do something about it,  local landowners and business people met with Drew Hutton, the Queensland founder of the environment group called "Lock the Gate".  As a consequence many local business and properties display the "Lock the Gate" sign today as an indication of their stand on CSG.

Not sure of the legalities of the sign, whether it actually means anything in a court of law.   You can view the mission and principles of The Lock the Gate Alliance by clicking here.  I am not advocating anything here, I just think it would be awful to destroy people's properties and livelihoods in this beautiful part of the world by CSG exploration which is done by a method called "fracking".....doesn't seem right.  Anyway, enough said on that subject, will get off my soap box now.



There is so much to write about South Gippsland I will be here for a month of Sundays so that instead of that, I thought I would do a highlight photo trail of our time here.

Warragul Market

Warragul - a small town about 100kms from Melbourne.  When having coffee at the Warragul markets, a local we were talking with asked if we knew what WWW stands for and then jokingly told us it stands for Wet Windy Warragul.  But the day we were there we had beautiful weather and came away with lots of goodies...all edible of course.

Warragul are the best markets I have ever been to, even better than the Eumundi Markets in Queensland.




The boys are off for a ride
We stayed at Moe for 11 days, using it as a base to explore the area.  It was a good choice because not only did we get a good daily rate because the place was just about empty but we were allowed to use four sites which meant that we could "top and tail" the vans.

Not only did we explore the area from here but went on many lovely walks around the place.  A local told us that Moe is going through a downturn as many employers have closed and there are not many jobs now.


Cat Mural


On one of our drives we went to Mirboo North, a small farming town on the main highway between Morwell and Leongatha.  Situated in the Strzelecki ranges, Mirboo North is an agriculture area with beautiful scenery.

It is close to Thorpdale which supplies up to 80% of the states brushed potatoes.  It also has the Grand Ridge Brewery...a bit early for beer but John bought a mixed six pack and Nick bought some stout for him and some wheat beer for me.

The town has some faded murals....nothing as spectacular as the murals in Sheffield, Tasmania.

We also went for a drive on the Grand Ridge Road in the Strzelecki Ranges which had stunning views of farmlands and forests.  Have a video of the drive...it was narrow with lots of bends and I think we were driving a little too fast .....I have some of it on video, which I can't post here unfortunately.

The colours of Autumn
The girls...living the dream in their caravans















We found these lovely free range eggs called...... " Glorious Goodies".  The advert says that 'the chickens are green grass fed, feed naturally, are free to run, flap, squawk, sit, play or dust baths in the beautiful Korumburra Hills'   

It is true...they are lovely eggs with very hard shells.

Well, on our travels we actually came across the farm....and yes folks, there they are... the chickens and their caravan homes.  We met the farmer, Emma Brown before this and when we met her again at the Coal Creek Market and told her we found her chicken and caravans and she said that we should have called in, that she loves having visitors.  I tell you, everyone we met in South Gippsland were very friendly, helpful and likeable.

Sunset at Leongatha

We went for lunch in Morwell and found this restaurant....rich red walls, tapestries, lovely crockery...and what did you have....pies. Actually choose it because it had a fireplace and it was in the front room, not in the restaurant and it wasn't lit anyway.


On the Station at Korumburra
The view out the window of the train. 

Well... there is much more to tell you, but that will be the next post.



Tuesday 9 June 2015

Victorian High Country (26/02/15 - 04/03/15)

After Gundagai we headed to Rutherglen via Corowa.  Rutherglen is a small Victorian town just 10 kilometres from the Murray River border with New South Wales.  It was named after the Scottish town of Rutherglen which is near Glasgow.  Originally a gold-mining town, it is now a major wine producing area with some 17 wineries.

We stayed at Rutherglen for two nights, had a walk around…..it is a charming little place with lovely old shops and houses with beautiful gardens.  Rutherglen is also known for its port and we sampled some and bought some, of course.  Haven't drunk it yet, it is going to be opened in Tassie.


The information centre was run by very passionate people, passionate about their region and its history.  We have found this generally to be the case at any information centre that we have pulled into. They love sharing information about their town and region and are very helpful as well as being genuinely interested in you, where you have been and where you are going.

Went for a drive.. as we normally do…..The place is also known for its olive groves and we came across a place called 'The Wicked Virgin' which is a small family owned winery and olive grove. They sell “wicked olives” so we bought some of those to eat warm, which is a fantastic way to eat olives and a whole new taste experience.  Well, it was new to us anyway.  We discovered warm olives when we were in Brisbane when we met up with friends at a Turkish Restaurant.  We also bought some cheese, of course.

The owner who was serving had a very dry sense of humour which I am sure could be off putting for some people...but we had a good time bantering with her. ...gave her a run for her money!!  They also have  a cafe which was full of people so they were doing alright inspite of her humour.    We stopped and talked to one group of people at a table…. they were from overseas and were interested in our travels so we had a lovely chat.  

One thing we have noticed is that the majority of people we have met know of,  or have heard of, the Atherton Tablelands or Atherton itself.  Outside of the building there was an odd collection of bicycles up in the trees….maybe a reflection of the humour of the owners. Sorry I didn't take a photo, you would have loved it.

A pub in Rutherglen

Lake and Locals at the Rutherglen Van Park
The van park at Rutherglen is a small one and is run by a lovely welcoming young couple, Lisa and Dennis.  They are nice country people and had set up tables and benches by the little man made lake that fronts the park along with a bell that they rang at 5pm each day for happy hour.  Lisa and Dennis attended happy hour as well as providing some nibbles each evening.  We went both evenings, taking our chairs and wine and met some very interesting people.  As it turns out there was a ballroom competition on just up the road and a number of the people in the van park had come from far and wide just  to attend it.  Friday was the informal dance night and Saturday was the formal night with ballgowns and tuxedo’s.  Would have liked to have seen them all dressed up but we left on Saturday morning so we missed seeing them in all their finery.

Parkers Pies...a must if you are inn Rutherglen
Lots of these Victorian Towns have Golliwogs - guess it is not politically correct to call them that these days...still cute though
Beautiful ironwork on the balcony of this old building
From Rutherglen we went to Beechworth some 45 kms away.  One thing we have had to get used to is not having to drive hundreds of clicks to get from A to B….everything is so close in Victoria, unlike Queensland or Western Australia.

If the name Beechworth sound familiar to you, it is because of its honey which is aptly called Beechworth and is available in most supermarkets in Australia.    The Beechworth honey shop is amazing with everything honey… including beverages, beauty products, crockery, gifts, candles and more plus a cafe that was absolutely packed.

Beechworth Honey and Cafe..it was packed with people and all things honey. 
Pretty tearoom....all the charm of yesteryear.
Gold was discovered at Spring Creek, Beechworth in 1852 and Beechworth is now recognised as an historic gold mining town. The legacy of those days is preserved in the many historic buildings and heritage streetscapes, including the Historic and Cultural Precinct in the centre of town which is a collection of nationally significant buildings.  In fact, Beechworth is only one of two towns in Victoria classified by the National Trust with over 30 local buildings on the Trust’s register.
On the road to Bright
                                                                                                                                                                            




Whilst at Beechworth we went for a scenic drive on the Great Alpine Road through Myrtleford to Bright where we stopped for coffee and then on to the Milawa Gourmet Region on the way back.  

Field of hops
Not sure but I think these are Oasthouses for drying hops, many farms had them.

Oven River at Bright
MGTF car meet in Bright 

We discovered the Milawa Cheese Factory which was, dare I say it….AWESOME.

The Milawa Cheese Factory was started by David and Anne Brown in 1988 in the old butter factory.  The restaurant was packed with people, the cheeses which are all handmade, preservative free and made with non-animal rennet, were to die for and so after buying a number of cheeses (King River Gold x 2, Milawa Aged Blue and some Milawa Chèvre) we also stayed for lunch….and why not,  it was a logical thing to so and tasty as well.


Our Victorian High Country haul...Milawa Cheeses, Wicked Virgin Olives, Port and Olive oil
We met a lovely couple at Beechworth who recommended a caravan park in Seymour so we decided to head there and stayed for three days before going into Melbourne to meet up with Deb and John.  Our site at Seymour overlooked the mighty Goulburn River and the people staying around us were a great bunch …..we ended up with a couple of chatty happy hours.  Seymour is situated in scenic countryside at the base of the Tallarook Ranges and is surrounded by fertile agricultural, pastoral and wine growing areas.

The Goulburn River, Seymour, Victoria



We then headed to Melbourne, staying at Dingley Village for 10 days before going east, exploring the Gippsland region of Victoria.  We delayed our crossing to Tassie due to us not being able to get accommodation there.  I am glad we did or else we might have missed out on a  fabulous area of Victoria which is definitely on our “to go back to” list when we return to the mainland, or as the Tasmania’s like to call it….the big island.