Family

Christmas 2023

Well, Christmas is over and we now move on to Phase Two – eating left overs from the fridge, enjoying the quiet days between Christmas and New Year (except for the frenzy of the Post Christmas sales) and getting ready to welcome in the New Year. Our Christmas, this year, was a wonderful set of […]

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Local Getaways

Scenic South Gippsland and its ‘Artistic’ Towns

The South Gippsland Region of Victoria is a fertile dairy farming area that is noted for its lush green grass and rolling hills. We spent four days exploring this region last week with our Probus Club, staying in the town of Foster. It was an exceptionally wet time with rain, every day and areas of […]

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Every Day Life

We’ve Had a Very Active Four-Day Weekend

Today is Melbourne Cup Day on which the ‘Race That Stops a Nation’ is run. This horse race is always held on the first Tuesday in November and is a public holiday. Many people here take the Monday off work as well  to make a four day weekend. Our weekend actually began last Friday when […]

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Local Getaways

Camping at Troopers Creek.

The northern section of the Grampian Ranges in Victoria has some stunning scenery but is less visited than the areas to the south near Halls Gap and Dunkeld. I spent four days of this week camping at the Troopers Creek Campground with my good mate Rob Neal.. This area is dominated by Mt Difficult (Mt […]

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New South Wales

We’re Finally Home

The final leg of our journey from Shepparton to home was about 185 kilometres. We were packed up to leave by about 9.00 am and we headed south down the Goulburn Valley Highway. We were spoilt by the quality of outback roads and by comparison, this Victorian road is a shocker! There has been sustained […]

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New South Wales

We are Back in Victoria at Shepparton.

Our day began with breakfast at the bakery in the main street of Griffith. We had a warm  egg and bacon roll that was very nice but as I looked into the gelato cabinet I wished it was later in  the day. I think that i could have eaten every flavour, working from left to […]

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New South Wales

A Day in Griffith

Griffith is a little piece of Italy in the heart of the Riverina. It still has the extraordinary statistic that 60% of the city’s population have Italian ancestors and it still celebrates Italian culture with extensive vineyards in the region, providores in the town selling local produce, and excellent cafes and restaurants where the pasta […]

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New South Wales

South to Cobar and Griffith

Over the last two days, we have driven a short way from Bourke to Cobar (160 km) and then today 360 kilometres from Cobar to Griffith There was nothing whatsover between Bourke and Griffith, so we arrived at lunchtime and had the afternoon to look around the town. In my early planning, I had thought […]

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New South Wales

Exploring the Town of Bourke

Today was a leisurely rest day from driving and an opportunity to explore this significnat outback town. We started late with a breakfast roll at the local bakery, but the weather was too hot (37C) for a lot of walking around. However, we explored a number of historic sites and retreated to our motel room […]

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Queensland

South to Bourke

Before leaving Charleville we had a look around the town. It is a rural service centre on the Warrego River. With a population of over 3,000, it is the largest town in South West Queensland and became an important transportation stopover between the vast properties of western Queensland and the vital railhead at Roma. Today […]

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Queensland

Charleville

Today, we drove 515 kilometres from Longreach to Charleville. It was a longer day than we would have liked , but there really wasn’t anywhere else to stop.This route took us through a number of historic towns that are imprtant in Australia’s history. Not far from Longreach, we came to to the town of Ilfracombe. […]

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Queensland

Longreach

Hughenden, our previous stop is a nondescript and uninspiring town. It has a small main street with a newsagent and a few other shops, many are vacant. One of the stores had a faded sign in the window which read ”Gone to an appointment and will be back as soon as possible”. The bakery is […]

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