Day One – Sunday 20th April – Melbourne to Warracknabeal .....We depart……eventually!

It’s wise to set a time for departure, and then it’s wise to not worry when you don’t depart at the appointed time! After days of trying to work out if everything can fit, we eventually managed to squeeze everything in (including two kitchen sinks! Liz and I conquered the task of squeezing all the essentials into our plastic tubs, although I do have to inform you that she had a larger tub than mine. There we were, poised to leave, when Ewan announces he needed to shower or we wouldn’t appreciate the close proximity that being in the car requires. So Liz and I did the only sensible thing – straight to Mr Wednesday for coffees and treats. I think our motto is to not waste an opportunity to get good coffee! Fortunately, when we slowly started to progress up Coate Ave the caravan came too and we headed off with great optimism, a full tank of diesel (not petrol Liz!) the essentials of life and lots of chocolate for times when it all went astray. First stop was Newbridge for lunch where a Veterans cycle race was in progress. Ewan wasn’t able to ditch us and go cycling because he didn’t pack his bike! The café provided delicious sandwiches and more importantly steamed dim sims for Liz. Although Ewan and I did benefit as they came in packs of three! It was the first of many small country towns with one of everything – one pub, one general store and maybe one petrol station. In many of these towns we find ourselves scratching our heads and saying “what do people do here?” With some relief we passed the Logan pub as hundreds of motor bikes were gathered there for some sort of celebration. We were happy to continue on our journey and get out of their way! Our first silo art experience for the day was St Arnaud.

The guy who had created the beautiful black and white portraits of two gold rush pioneers had also painted various town members on walls around town. After trying to find one he had painted with a local school we gave up as we seemed to find every school but the right one. Fortunately, there is very little traffic in many of these towns so meandering around slowly towing a caravan seems to be acceptable. His paintings were truly delightful and painted with such skilled technique. Our destination was the Warracknabeal Campground which proved to be quite an experience. Firstly, we had to ring the caretaker to confirm that we had a booking. He told us we could camp on any site we liked, and he’d come along later to collect the fee: $15 for the night. The camping ground was on a creek so after some wandering around we chose a delightful spot well away from the other campers many of whom seemed permanent. Admittedly it was at the back of the toilet block (useful for nighttime calls of nature!) but it also overlooked the picturesque Creek and the sunset. The next excitement was setting up the caravan and Liz’s tent on what SEEMED to be flat ground but turned out to be somewhat more challenging. As Liz and I had received no training in any aspect of setting up the caravan we were basically useless, although we did manage to get her tent up (the tent that takes two minutes to erect according to the advertising!) in only a few minutes, so that was an achievement. Getting the caravan straight was another issue with lots of chocks and lumps of wood used to get it to be level. In the midst of this process the (‘jobsworth’) caretaker arrived to tell us that we weren’t camped in a proper spot and would have to move! Ewan did point out that he had said we could camp anywhere but his response was that he meant camp anywhere within reason. He shook his head and said no one had ever camped at the back of the toilets before and looked at us as if we were completely insane. After some negotiation he decided we could stay there but clearly we had ruined his day completely by disregarding the rules (whatever they were!) Then Liz and I risked life and limb slotting chocks under the wheels whilst Ewan manoeuvred the car and caravan. It did look a little unsteady at one point, and we jumped away quickly but eventually it was completely rock solid and balanced. Phew! Although Ewan did ruefully comment that it would be good if we could manage to set up in less than an hour and half next time! It was very cold but we all managed to stay warm in our different abodes…..and it wasn’t far to the loo in the middle of the night! Your cozy correspondent Dianne