Fitzroy River, Victoria

Everyone knows Victorian weather is unpredictable... or extremely predictable because it is so changeable! After experiencing a number of cycles of mid to high 30s for one or more days and then drops of 10-15 degrees the following day we decided we wanted to escape the heat and get to the coast. We are on our way to South Australia, so headed south east and found what looked to be a great spot on WikiCamps. There are quite a lot of other campers here, but we managed to get a spot right on the water.

Although we have had a few days of strong winds, we've also had other days of dead calm. The river mouth is not open, so it is basically a lake. A short kayak trip takes us to the "mouth" of the river and then there is a lovely empty beach.

Silvereye

Superb Fairy-wren

European Gold Finch

The only down side is the dairy farm next door and the resulting flies!

We drove up to Hamilton to visit a friend the other day and stopped at the Wannon Falls and the Nigretta Falls on the way. They were more 'dribbles' than 'falls'...

Christmas in Sale and starting the New Year in country Victoria

After catching up with friends and family in Melbourne we went east to Sale in hope of finding a quiet spot for Christmas. We succeeded! The caravan park was almost empty! We enjoyed nice walks around the lake and through the botanical gardens.

On Christmas morning we went for a drive out to Golden Beach, went for a walk and had a picnic lunch (in the car because it was a bit breezy down on the beach!).

We then drove down to Seaspray and walked around there. It looks like another great spot to come back to.

On the way home we stopped at the Thompson River Swing Bridge.

After Christmas we went across to Haddon, south west of Ballarat. We visited the botanical gardens in Ballarat and enjoyed a walk by Lake Wendouree.

To Victoria in December

A niece's wedding on the Mornington Peninsula has shaped the next part of our travel journey. In order to get our end of trimester work done we left on 1 December and headed to Corowa for a caravan park on the Murray River for a week.

Bingara

Grenfell

Corowa

Benalla

We had a great long weekend with family and the wedding was lovely. While the family were busy with hair and makeup and wedding preparations on Saturday morning we went for a drive down to Cape Schanck.

On Monday we fitted in a walk in the Sherbrooke Forest between dropping Darren's brother in law at the bus and meeting other family up in the Yarra Valley.

And on Tuesday we went for a walk along the foreshore at Frankston before heading up to Melbourne for a few days.

A few months "at home"

Now that we're officially "homeless" "home" is the general area of our previous homes. During the three months we spent in South East Qld we stayed with various family and friends, occupying ourselves with uni work, helping people with projects and a few Fire Brigade call-outs.

My "office window" in September.

After the appearance of this python we made sure we kept the garage doors closed!

We had some time at Caloundra while we had work done on the caravan.

We spent a few nights on various lovely friends' properties.

We had a day trip to Tamborine Mountain to see friends and fitted in a short walk.

One of our days helping out at a fire west of Warwick.

Not everything went smoothly with the van work. After a trip back to the factory to get the air conditioner replaced (under warranty) we opted to install the warranty replacement fridge ourselves. We now have a non-leaking a/c and a cold fridge!