Thursday 24th November 2011

Hi Everyone, we are staying at Pauls BFF (best friend forever) in the North of Victoria and it is nice to have company!

Even though Paul & Glenn have their own 'sense of humor' it must be a bloke thing! Like when I get with the Girls... so it is quite amusing

Here is where we have been since the last post:

Day 96  Inverleigh
Days 97 to 98  Bendigo
Days 99 to 102  Stanley

We are still continuing South towards the Great Ocean Road and decided to stop at Warrnambool, which is a nice town then started the trip across. It is lovely but the weather has changed and is starting to rain in patches, but it just slows down the drive a bit.  It seems that the Great Ocean Road is the world's biggest memorial to our soliders that fought at war. When we got to the 12 Apostles there were buses and tourists everywhere it is a very popular spot.

 I can see why it is a very popular drive, it changes all the time, from bush to forests, to beautiful little towns and the magnificent coastline. As it was Friday afternoon, we lost count of the Ferarris, Porsches & Audis going in the other direction!

I found a free campsite at Inverleigh and of course the GPS decided to take us on the back roads, which was fun as it then gets to a point that it doesn't like/recognise the road anymore. Paul is getting experienced in doing a 27 point turn on country roads with the caravan, but we eventually got there!

We spent the next 2 nights at Bendigo which was a lovely town. The buildings are so majestic and have so much history to them.  Most of the houses are made of bricks or sandstone to keep the warmth in and I was very surprised to see this house with 3 chimneys

We met an interesting character called Dan at the Caravan Park. He was always interested in a chat and he told me that he was on the disability pension, because he had a nervous breakdown and couldn't work, but he was a full time prospector and that we should get into prospecting as there is a lot of gold around Bendigo.  I asked if we could see some of his findings which we was too happy to show..

This was his biggest piece at approximately 13grams. I am sure that he must sleep on these to make sure they are safe!

Only a couple of hours through Shepparton, Wangaratta, Beechworth then to a little place called Stanley where Glenn lives. The actual township has a school, pub and a very small post office but it is in a beautiful spot. Of course we have to celebrate seeing each other with a few drinks that night as no one had to drive anywhere!

The dogs are having a fun time at Glenn's place, he has 2 cats and lots of chooks which are roaming around the garden.  We thought that the boys would chase them, you could see the gleam in their eyes, but we slowly got them used to them and now they all mingle together, it is quite funny!

Next day Paul and I drove to Albury Wodonga as poor Glenn was a bit worse for wear. We had a good drive around it was quite surprising to see the traffic, but it was manageable and it allowed for a relaxing scenic drive. It was quite strange driving across the river to the neighbouring city and also going for a quick visit into NSW.

As it was our 100th day on the road & 25,000 kms later, we thought it right to celebrate and drove the 10km into Beechworth and had dinner at the local Pub.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Bright and Mt Hotham. We left the dogs with Glenn for the day and it was most enjoyable looking around Bright (I even managed to drag Paul into a couple of Op Shops) but of course it was mandatory to try out the local bakery.  It was very strange to see shops selling ski gear and to think that the town would be surrounded by snow, even though we were there on a beautiful sunny day

The drive to Mt Hotham was very windy and the signs on the side of the road were giving warnings about black ice. It was strange as there was lovely flowers along the side of the road, but the trees were white and stark and looked like they were dead

When we started to get to the top of the mountain I started to get a bit anxious. The road kept disappearing! it was like the road, then the sky, I kept asking Paul to slow down as I was hanging on to the grip handle on the car.  I don't know how people drive up there in the snow due to the ice and there were poles that stick out of the snow to show you where the road is, but the scenery was just beautiful.

When we got to the top to the resort, it was a bit of a ghost town as it is out of season, but there was a few people around as they were there to hike the tracks. We didn't stay for too long as it was freezing, it was 13 degrees and with a bit of a wind, it felt like 5 degrees, I had to have my camping ugg boots on to keep my feet warm (I wasn't going to show you them)

Today I went into Beechworth for a bit of a treat, I thought it was time to get a haircut, it had been over 3 months. I left the Paul and Glenn to do 'blokey'stuff and took the car and headed into Beechworth. Wow, it was very strange to drive again, so I took it nice and slow. It was a weird feeling to be walking around by myself without a hubby and 2 small dogs, but I enjoyed looking in the shops, having some lunch & having my haircut and now I feel a million dollars!

Beechworth is a beautiful town, it has been kept to its original standards and has quaint little shops which mainly accomodate the booming tourism trade (expensive). Not to mention the famous Beechworth Bakery and did get 'scolded'from the boys as I didn't bring anything back for them!

We took a drive around the local foresty area which is full of pine trees, in one respect it is amazing to see rows and rows of pine trees, but on the other hand you know that the beautiful bush had to be ripped out for them to grow. You get a different perspective for the bush to see how it must be managed correctly after you can still see the devastation from the bushfires from 2 years ago

 And here is a photo of our first Echidna that we have seen on the road (isn't he cute?)