GULGONG

Wow it is the end of the month already and the last time I was on here we were in Temora, we spent Australia day in Cowra and went to the local celebrations, then to the Japanese memorial gardens, the old prison camp site and the war cemetary.
Moved on to Bathurst and drove around the Mt. Panorama race track towing our caravans (it was a hoot) the slowest lap in history, then off to Lithgow where we

stayed a few days to look at the blue mountains and Jenolan caves (both magnificent) skyrail, scenic railway and all the good stuff.
At Lithgow we went through the small arms museum (unbelievable)and the local lookout (breathtaking.
As of now we are in Gulgong near Mudgee visiting family and tomorrow we are going up into the hills to an old gold mining town called Hill End as my great grandfather owned mines there in the 1800s so I am taking the time to do a bit of family research.
Wednesday will see us moving on towards the coast aiming for North Haven near Port Macquarie by mid Feb.

MOVING ON

Have left Shepparton and now in Temora NSW we stayed a night at Lakeside caravan park in Finley (yuk) give it a miss bloody awful we are staying at a little council park in Temora $20.00 a nite grassed sites nice barbie and excellent amenities, visited Junee and went to Monte Cristo a restored mansion, the railway roundhouse (great for the fellas) and the licorice factore (bloody ripoff), tomorrow going to the Temora air museum and the colonial museum in town and the girls are going to do all the crafty things.
On wednesday we are moving on to Young for a look and then to Cowra for the war cemetary and Japanese gardens.
Will add some more pics when I get more data on the 27th.

SHEPPARTON

Spent the day at the factory outlets in Shepp. SPC,Campbell soup and country soaps, I never much believed in factory outlets before but the ones we went to today were fantastic, worked out we got nearly $300.00 worth of stuff at least, for under $100.00, also Aldi here sell booze, got a carton of lite beer for under twenty bucks

TIME OUT

Still at Mooroopna just out of Shepparton, took some time off from our travels to spend some time with my brother, would you believe that I haven't seen him for fourty one years (too long) but at least we have caught up and I hope it is not for the last time, at least he seems to be in good health for his age (he is 83)
We spent the days reminising about our childhood and all our family memories, it was a very emotional time.
Tomorrow our friends should arrive here from Swan Hill we will probably stay until the weekend and then decide where we will go from then.
It is a particularly beautiful part of Victoria here so we are happy to stick around, I cant recommend

Finborough Place in Mooroopna enough.

OOOPS

Did I say Sunday night in the last post, ooops! a little premature but it is Sunday night now and we are in Mooroopna on the outskirts of Shepparton we found a great caravan park just for seniors just 20 dollars a night with a further discount for a week, it is really great very clean, beautiful lawns and very modern facilities it is a must for any oldies passing through this area it is the in the over fifties village just as you come in to Mooroopna from Elmore.
Couldn't believe the amount of water across the paddocks as we drove over from Stawell and the mess in the towns we drove through that had been flooded, we can only imagine the damage back home.

LEAVING STAWELL

Well it is sunday night here in Stawell and our last night, we didn't get to see much beacuse of the rain but we will be back.
Going over to Shepparton tomorrow if we can get through as I want to see my brother for the first time in fourty years then we are meeting up with friends on wednesday to continue our travels.

PICS

Hooray for Telstra, pics with posts from now on

TELSTRA

Thank God, I have Telstra at last I managed to get 1G on my mobile for a reasonable cost so I will be able to ditch Vodaphone.
A word of warning for anyone travelling who wants mobile broadband USE ONLY TELSTRA anything else is bloody useless.
Sitting in the rain here in Stawell with bugger all to do but wait, maybe tomowwow will be fine.

AT STAWELL

Well the rally is over (thank God) it will be our last one and now we are at Stawell in the Grampions and have done some wet mountain bushwalking and more when the weather fines up.
I cant get over how welcoming and friendly the locals here are and the care and concern they have expressed over the Queensland floods.
The people of Victoria really want to repay Queensland for the help and support we gave to the bushfires and there is a major drive here for donations to the appeal and money is pouring in from all over, thank you Victoria.
As for us we are high and dry and are staying here until Sunday as there is lots to see and do.
I cant stress enough that any one intending to travel, this part of australia is a must.
I dont have good enough service on my computer to put pics up but when I do I will post some but as for now I am doing this on a library computer.

MUST DO'S

If you ever come to this part of Victoria there are some must do's that are worth the visit
Sail on the old paddle wheelers out of Euchuca
Explore the old Euchuca port
Take the steam train ride from Castlemaine to Maldon
Visit the old Castlemaine jail
Have a beer and a meal at the Railway hotel in Elmore
Visit historic Rushworth and go out to the old mine
There is so much to see around here we will probably come back after we go to the Grampions

FINALLY AT ELMORE

Gosh it is January 3rd already and the new year has came and gone, rain chased us all the way down to Dubbo but since then we have had fine weather, new years eve was 42.7c at Elmore and it is fine sunny and about 18c this morning but that's Victoria for you.
Stayed at the Rochester caravan park for two days before coming on to Elmore, you wouldn't believe that two weeks ago it was one and a half metres under water.
There are over 400 caravans at the rally from clubs all over Australia and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, we have done some of the tourist things like paddle wheel trip, Euchuca port tour etc. we also visited an old gold mine at Rushworth which is inside a hollowed out hill amazing sight we are going on a steam train tour to historic Maldon Wednesday but more importantly off to Bendigo tomorrow to swap the Vodaphone Inet connection to Telstra.