Journey of Exploration 2014

The year of 2014 has started off well for Bruce & Marg with New years at Waranga Basin. Catching up with all the family over the Christmas period, North of the divide.We then moved back to Macedon for a few days, Echuca via Lockington and then found Werribee South. This park is council owned and is situated right at the mouth of the Werribee river.Our site was against the brush of the native plants put up against the front fence that offers some protection from the prevailing Southerlys. But why Werribee South? Well for a while now, we have known other Scenic Vega owners, Cal and Jean who sold up at Werribee and moved into their van and move around a fair bit as well. Without talking to them about our destinations or parks we were going to stay in, we would go our seperate ways, perhaps a week or so apart and end up in the SAME park. They have used Werribee South as a base for a while now and return there for family reasons, so we thought why not? we will go and see why Cal & Jean stay here. Well, it was a great little park. A fairly high turnover of people who were going to or returning from Tassie as well as your casual travellers looking for a nice place to prop. We travelled into the city by train from Werribee station, we went to the cinema when it was forecast to be 43C, we shopped we caught up with friends, we toured around. All in all, a good little park, well maintained and a park we will no doubt return to.

Werribee South to Port Fairy. Port Fairy was previously called Belfast, is a historic 1840's fishing village that is full of bluestone buildings including quaint little fishermans cottages. Port Fairy also has a historic connection with our family as my great great grandparents landed there on 25th January 1857 after leaving Plymouth, England about six weeks earlier aboard the sailing vessel "William." They brought with them their first born child Frederick Lucius Brien who would have been crawling around the decks of the boat. Mary Jane was born in Belfast (Port Fairy) and died from diarrhoea within 12 months of her birth. They then walked from Port Fairy to Creswick in the Ballarat area for gold. and that is where their next child Henry Matthew Brien was born in 1859. The railway didn't get to Port Fairy until 1890, so there was no public transport and Port Fairy was a busy bustling port.Nothing much has changed there except the buildings have been now restored and look smart with their shining white paint and the real estate prices have reflected the renewed  popularity of the place. I worked there in the early 1970's for a relief in the National bank and stayed in the Victoria Hotel, now restored and re-vamped by the people that built the Dunkeld Hotel precinct. Nearby, the extinct huge volcano crater of Tower Hill is a wildlife reserve, Koroit is the potato capital of Victoria and Warrnambool, the closest large shopping centre. The rich volcanic soils of the area make it great for not only potatoes but also fat cattle. They look pretty healthy after seeing the drought effected cattle of western Queensland last year. Port Fairy has a lot to offer and earlier in our married life we considered spending the best six months of the year there and the other six months travelling.You would have to pick the RIGHT six months because of the chill winds there. Sounds pretty good still.

Port Fairy to Portland. Just a short hop really from what we would normally do, but Portland has attractions for us as well. We return to Henty Bay caravan park that is under new management and seem to be doing a good job. We stayed here about twenty five years ago, purely by accident. We had arranged a holiday with my sister and brother in law and his two girls and our kids in onsite vans for two weeks at another park in town. Upon our arrival after driving through what I remember a very hot January day, we were told that there was no record of deposits paid, no reservations as the previous managers had "skipped" with everything. These managers were really helpful in ringing around the other parks to find TWO onsite vans for us, and Henty Beach were able to help us.  What started out as a disaster, finished up really well with a great holiday, so why wouldn't we return? The park is a little out of town, only has bore water and the amenities do need doing up but the new team are slowly getting things done. The view out of our door of the sea and the waiting ships was fantastic and so we settled in for a few extra nights. Luckily we did as the Easterly winds came up and blew up to 28knots, so we were glad we had stayed the extra time. We ate out, we explored, we visited friends old places, they have all moved on now and I fished for a day.. Great.

Portland to Beachport. Yesterday, we packed up nice and early and were on the road by 9.30am.Portland to Nelson along the coast road is an interesting drive through grazing land and then acres and acres of pine forests. We cross over the Glenelg River at Nelson and cross the border into South Australia. Following the coast further we turn towards Port Macdonnell and hit there about lunch time. Visitor Information centre is a newish building that also houses the community library, meeting room, bank, museum and gallery.A great spot. The information we were after was about crayfish processing and that was no longer happening but a seafood shop was still open there and so a couple of freshly cooked crays are on the menu for dinner tonight. We are heading to Beachport and decide to shop in Mount Gambier before once again head to the coast. the drive through Millicent to Beachport was different again. Several road warning signs of rough road abound and we have already noticed the change in road conditions from state to state. The speed limit is still 110 on these roads, but remember that is the MAXIMUM.Once again, we have a magnificent view between the norfolk pines dotted along the shore, of the bay and the sound of the waves gently breaking on the shore can be heard as we settle down for the night..........

An observation- Divining Rods

Over the last couple of years, I have been giving Divining Rods a try. Now, I don't know why or how, but I have been able to use them to locate underground pipes or perhaps its the water inside the pipe. Last year on the gem fields, we heard how people there, use divining rods to find sapphire. This year we heard how people use them to find the depth of the wash, where sapphires are located. The guy who owns the drilling rig that digs the 900ml shaft, brings another guy with him with the rods. Now get this... The diviner walks around the property with the rods pointing away from him, to the front. When he finds where the wash is, the rods cross over. To find the depth of how far the driller has to go down, the diviner stamps one foot, again and again until the rods uncross and the number of stamps equals the feet of depth, and it works. The stamping, apparently breaks the magnetic signal from the wash to the rods. The wash is where water used to flow.
I spoke to another digger who has a claim at Sapphire while we were both waiting for water at a stand pipe. I asked if he was from around here and he said yes, I have a claim over the hill. How far are you down? oh, the wash is at 42feet but we're finding enough on the surface at the moment. How do you know it's 42 feet? Divining rods...
Last year, during our tour of the Old Timers Mine at Coober Pedy, there were divining rods hanging in reception. When I asked about there use, it was to find opal. This year we found out how people use divining rods to find opal in and around Quilpie and Winton. Opal is chrystalised water droplets held in seams between layers of rock. Apparently, out Quilpie way, the bearded guys have more success divining than those without beards.All very interesting.

WUDU two week shoot

What a great two weeks! What an exhausting two weeks! All of that and exciting at the same time. Having been put in charge of leading the convoy over the Bolte bridge and over the Westgate bridge and knowing that some of the people following would not yet understand the critical issues of this first day, we set off from CIA (caravan Industry Association) headquarters in West Melbourne, bound for Warrnambool. Helicopters are very expensive to hire for aereal shots and this is one of the reasons that it is important to keep the convoy continuous and without anyone else butting in to spoil the flow/look of the team in line. Apparently it worked well and so we pushed on, headlights blaring(low beam) and a stop at Avalon BP for lunch. Lunch and the start of the catering by the "Sweet Seduction" ladies that had served us well last year, were back on board and was something else to look forward to. The next thirteen days would prove to be uneventful as far as my job of caravan liaison officer was concerned. It did mean though, that I had to attend the production meetings each morning and then pass on the relevant information to convoy drivers including weather, final destination and follow up on any of there questions or problems. The latter being very few.

The convoy went from Warrnambool, splitting after more chopper shots out around the twelve apostles with some going to Hamilton and the balance to Port Campbell and then Timboon. Lake Fyans in the grampians for the next two nights.

We finished the duties of the convoy by the time we had reached Wodonga on the following Wednesday week. Mini concerts every second night and drive back to Melbourne with a day off on Saturday then early start to get into the city by public transport Sunday morning for final concert in Fed Square.

Raising funds for the McGrath foundation to fund breast care nurses is a great charity and the people of Victoria have once again shown their generosity by digging deep whenever and wherever we asked. Final results not to hand as yet.

Back in Victoria

The lush green countryside is a fair indication to us of what its been like here over the last few months. From the photos I have put up on this and other sites, you would get a fair idea on how the drought is effecting 60% of Queensland. As we sit in our van with the heater on, rugged up with rain on the roof, we ask ourselves "why are we here?"
Been back in Victoria for just over a week and caught up with our kids and grandchildren. Wow. Is it time to stop yet? No, not yet. Friday was a big day at the RV Leisurefest at Sandown Park. Our first time there and we were really impressed. Great to catch up with the crew from WUDU, Vista RV's and Elite caravans. We had a look at the Jurgens range on display and liked the Tooradin, 23'6" and quite luxurious. We met Ivan and Sally for lunch, Brian and Willy from the Rec club at the Willows and Rob Lucas from CIA. All great to see and chat with. A tired two headed home by train and got back at about 6.00pm.
Yesterday the Woodend farmers market was on and not having found any markets for a while, managed to head that way as Marg was having a girls day with dau and gr dau.I was pleasantly surprised by the range and quality of the foods there. I bought, beetroot, pumpkin, parsley, grain sourdough, home made crumpets and two different cheeses. I also bought mussels from a guy there and cooked up some magnificent chili mussels for lunch. Today we have been looking after two of our grandys while parents had a day out. Is it time to stop yet? No, the Khumo tyres need rotating, yes we've done another 5000klms since Mount Isa. Meetings, appointments, here and there, life is like that.

Natural sciences loop road

Starting at Charleville, the natural sciences loop road takes in Cooladdi, Quilpie, Eromanga, Noccundra Thargomindah, Eulo, Cunnamulla Wyandra and returns to Charleville. The loop is just under 1,000 klms long and we chose not to do the remaining 200 odd from Cunnamulla through Wyandra to Charleville because our plan is to head south. We have veered off the road from Eulo for a couple of days exploring Yowah and the opal fields there.
Natural sciences because it takes in astronomy through the cosmos centre at charleville, birdwatching at the many wetlands throughout the area, dinosaurs at Eromanga where Titanosaurus (Cooper) was found and they are working on others as well. Geology through the oil, gas and opal fields. History and heritage, we were only 180klms away from the Burke and Wills "dig tree". One thing not mentioned is the Magic.. The magic of the red soils out here. The colour is just as rich as that of the deep centre of Australia and the magic appears to be that hold that the coloured sands get over you. If you have been to this type of country, you will know what I mean.
The people out here are friendly as well. Something that  is synonymous with the remote style of community here. We met Eddie again, the Opal Hunter from Quilpie. We first met Eddie at Winton where he was fitting out an old butchers shop as a new opal business for him. Just by chatting with him, he suggested we drop in at Quilpie and have a look around and we did. Eddie explained the areas that opal is found and strangely follows the shoreline pattern of the ancient Eromanga sea that stretched from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the great Australian bight.On the map you can see how these areas are linked. At quilpie, the altar in St.Finbarrs catholic church is opal, as is the pulpit and the font. All beautiful stone. Today is the first continuous rain that we have seen since leaving the sunshine coast in June and the sound of rolling thunder, the odd strike of lightning and this area are all magic as well.
Yesterday we saw a couple of "new" parrots and upon consulting the book were able to name them as ring necked parrots, the same sort we had seen in the Flinders ranges two years ago.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Every Picture Tells a Story