May 06

5 (afternoon) - 6 May

Strange how quickly situations can change. One minute we were rain-soaked and fairly miserable in the Grampian Mountains, and yet later on that same day and many kilometers further along the road, the sky turned blue, the sun came out and we found ourselves in the delightful resort of Warrnambool, the only city on Australia's historic Shipwreck Coast.

Better still, we found a superb campsite/holiday park situated just a ten-minute walk from the town centre, but only a two-minute walk (over a sand dune) to the beach.

After the Grampians, this was a good opportunity to catch up with the housekeeping (in Sharon's case, the laundry; in mine, writing up this blog).

In the evening, we explored the town and found a good bar with a boisterous Friday-night crowd, and a rather more sedate 'Irish' pub.

6 May

Great morning - bright blue sky and sunshine, but a bit on the chilly side. We spent the morning in town buying cheap winter woollies (hats, scarves and gloves) from the numerous army surplus stores here.

Later we put our new warm gear on, grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses from the campervan and spent a relaxing couple of hours at the beach looking out to sea.

The tea-cosy thieves were still at large in Warrnambool

That evening we threw caution to the wind and ate at Warrnambool's 'Red Rooster'; an Australian chain that specialises in roast chicken - and it was pretty good, too.

Warrnambool sunset. Didn't the Kinks sing about that?

Fully rested and recuperated thanks to the charms of Warrnambool, we were ready to contemplate the beginning of the end to our Australian travels; the start of the Great Ocean Road.

3 (afternoon) - 5 May

We had high hopes for the Grampian Mountains, a huge national park containing both ground-level and mountain walks, great scenery, and numerous convenient campsites at which to base ourselves over the following couple of days.

Leaving Bendigo behind, we arrived at Hall's Gap - the only town in the Northern Grampians at around 4pm and headed straight to the Park Office, ready to arm ourselves with comprehensive walking maps.

This is a tale with a moral. PHONE AHEAD. We learned from the Park Office that the majority of the Grampians region was recovering from a devastating forest fire that had only been brought under control in February, and that access to most areas was denied.

Blackened trunks begin to regenerate after fire

Luckily, Australian trees are pretty resilient and can survive the harshest conditions; some even require the intense heat of a forest fire in order to germinate.

Thus we hastily planned some 'contingency' walks and headed even further North to one of the few still-accessible campsites. The evening was cold and the only other folk around were a large school-party out camping and mountain biking. Despite passing fields literally full of Kangaroos, only one little fella was brave enough to hang around our campsite hoping for a feed:

4 May

The weather did not look promising. The skies were grey and wet, and it was freezing. Of course, the easy option would have been to dive back under the (new) quilt in the campervan and hibernate but we were in the Grampians to get some more walking under our belts and nothing was going to stop us.

We drove approximately 60k to the foot of Mount Abrupt, steeled ourselves, and began the climb. And, to be honest, it was better than we had hoped for. Enjoyable even. We climbed steadily through forest relatively untouched by the fire until we came out upon an exposed rocky plateau leading toward the summit in the distance. Well, we nearly made it. As we headed further and higher along the rocky plateau an increasingly strong (and cold!) crosswind arose, threatening to blow us from our lofty perch. Justifiably pleased with what we had managed in spite of the weather we slowly made our way back down.

That evening, in need of provisions we headed to a little town called Dunkeld just outside the national park. At least the campsite here had proper loos rather than the 'drop dunnys' (deep holes in the ground with a loo seat on top) favoured in the park!

5 May

The previous night had been windy, and neither of us had slept particularly well in the campervan. Looking out on this drab Friday morning, we feared that our time in the Grampians might have been completely wasted. The sky was solid dark grey cloud, and the rain was amusing itself by alternating between drizzle and torrential.

Today was the day we planned to tackle Mount Sturgeon; not an easy walk even in good weather. Wrapped up warm in our waterproofs we had a damn good stab at it, but the weather was unrelenting and the experience was miserable. The tourist literature we had read continually reinforced the spectacular views that we could expect from Mount Sturgeon. And so, dear reader, for your benefit here is the one-and-only photo I took that day in order to capture those views:

Lush green fields stretch away to scenic rolling hills. Behind the fog.

Spirits and clothes thoroughly dampened, we decided to leave the Grampians and head somewhere coastal for a bit of a seaside pick-me-up. And we couldn't have hoped for a better place than Warrnambool.

Wednesday 3 May

Bendigo was a great place to take a 'day off' from travelling, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

Historic Architecture in Bendigo

Coming from Nottingham, England, I vaguely remembered being taught in history lessons about William 'Bendigo' Thompson, Nottingham's celebrated bare-knuckle boxer, and wondered what his connection might be with this Australian city. As it turned out, an early Australian goldminer and settler with a similar boxing style was given the nickname 'Bendigo' and this was then applied to the local area - 'Bendigo's Creek' and the town that grew up around it.

Bendigo is proud of its heritage, and there is plenty for visitors to experience here. We started by taking a narrated tram tour of the city, which gives the opportunity to learn not only the history of the trams themselves, but also to view the many points of interest and different architectural styles which make up the modern-day city.

Ding-ding!

Alighting from the tram, we visited the Central Deborah Goldmine - a genuine working goldmine from 1851 to 1954 - which now offers tours underground to illustrate the kind of conditions in which miners had to work right up until the mine became commercially unviable.

Sharon meets a Bendigo Goldminer

Our guide, an ex-Bendigo miner of some 17 years' experience, gave us a fascinating insight into daily life in the mine and the resultant toll that the constant noise, vibration, and dangerous working conditions took upon the miners. An hour in the pitch dark, damp mine was enough for us, let alone the eight-hour shifts the miners had to put in each day.

Back in the fresh air, a quick climb of the mine's winding gear tower provided panoramic views of Bendigo.

Before leaving Bendigo for our onward journey to the Grampian Mountains, there was just time for a quick look around the beautiful Sacred Heart Cathedral:

1 - 2 May

A couple more heavy travelling days - we were keen to cover a lot of ground to get to the scenic Grampian Mountains across the border in Victoria in order to get out and do some more serious walking.

We stopped for a quick stretch of the legs in quiet Narrandera , and ended up clothes shopping (a smart and warm striped cotton shirt was just too good to resist).

Then onward to Culcairn. The only thing worthy of note about this stage of the journey is that Victoria is positively obsessive about preventing the introduction of fruit flies and other pests into the state, and you are required to ditch any fruit in your possession before crossing the state boundary (roadside fruit disposal bins are provided!) or else face a hefty fine - from $200 up to $11,000 AUD if caught. Thus after stuffing our faces we sadly parted company with a perfectly healthy pair of bananas before continuing...

Tuesday 2 May

From Culcairn, we wanted to make it as far as Bendigo today, but a full day on the road isn't fun for anyone, and so to break the long journey we headed to Milawa to visit the producers of some of our favourite Australian wines. Of course it would be unfair to give the winery in question a free plug by writing their name here.

I shpent a pleashant morning tasting numeroush different wines (Sharon was driving), and we happily came away with six exclusive bottles available only from the Cellar Door. Cheers!

Pressing on, we passed through Glenrowan famous as the site of Ned Kelly (and his gang's) last stand. Although a great deal is made of this Australian icon, we didn't feel inclined to linger here.

Instead we made good progress to Bendigo (see next entry), and our camp site just outside the city centre.