Ulysses,Wonderful Cheeries and Melbourne.

 

We have recently found a grower that sells lovely cherries here in Shepparton.  They grow 6 varieties . The one that we found the most tasty is called Sam. A rather large cherry with a sweet taste. At $5.00 a kilo we have enjoyed them very much. Just down the road we found apricot growers selling apricots for 50 cents a kilo. These were graded as seconds (because the skin was a little marked), however they still tasted the same .  Unmarked apricots were being sold for $1.00 a kilo.

I have just completed my induction for a job  at SPC cannery and are now waiting for a call to start work there. Yah. This I am looking forward to . John is still taking it carefully as his ankle is giving him a bit of jip and finds that walking to much can cause a lot of pain. It is going to be a slow process of healing the specialist told us at Shepparton Hospital where we had to visit one day due to the pain.

I made contact with the Ulysses Motorcycle club here in Shepparton. We were invited to go and meet some of the members at a pub in a small town called Dookie which was about 35kms away. What a wonderful evening we had and many thanks to Georgina (secretary) for arranging it. Both John and I are members of the club in NZ and have been missing the rides.



A few of the members of the Ulysses Shepparton at  Dookie Pub

                                                                                 
Christmas day was very low key. We had a few drinks and some food  with other people who  were staying at the Lake Victoria Holiday camp.
                                                                           

                                                        Barbs original hand written invitation                
         

                                                                       
                                      Street drinks for Christmas, at Vic Lake Caravan Park

 

Santa checking his list for delivery's

                                                          Bradley (Santa) and Peter his helper

Bradley is staying at the camping ground at Shepparton with his parents and brother . He put his suit on and went out and gave lollies to people who walked around the lake and visited every van in the park wishing them merry Christmas. A great job both them did.


Boxing day we decided to make our way down to Melbourne for a few days. Ross and Sara were arriving from NZ on the  night of the 28th for a few days holiday.
From Shepparton we went through many towns, Miepoll, Violet Town (Mining Town) , Glenrowan,
then to Everton.

                                                      

                                               Car and Van on a beautiful country road

                                                  Country road as far as the eyes can see
                                                               
We visited our friend Roger Jones at Lima South at his son's place and had lunch with him. Roger used to be a tour Guide at Mount Buffalo and he has promised us a tour there in the new year sometime. This we are looking forward to because he has so much knowledge of the area.
From here we went to Wangaratta, then turned onto the Great Alpine highway.
Our first night from Shepparton to Melbourne we camped beside the Ovens river at Everton. A camp site that we had stay before at.  (Camp site 135 Victoria in the Australian Camps 6 book ) Lovely and quiet with the ovens river beside it. Great for catching different sorts of fish we have been told.

                                                                      Oven River

From Everton we drove through to Bright. This is a lovely town with tress down each side of the road. In the early 1850's gold was discovered in the Buckland Valley area bringing people from as far as China, America and Europe. Then  to Myrtleford where we stopped for lunch and had a walk around the town. Here we saw a old tobacco curing barn . The tobacco grown has now ceased in the area due to the demand of it not being wanted.

Growing hops seem to be popular around this region at present . We passed many rows of these beside the highway. I came across a brochure regarding Australian sleddog tours in the winter. The dogs are Siberian Huskies.  John and I both said that would be fun to do.  www.sleddogtours.com.au

 

                                                                 
                                                    Rex & Akita their two leading dogs

 
 


We noticed on the side of the road a rail trail track for cyclists. This was being used a lot today and it was very well maintained.  Both John and I said that we would love to come back and have a ride on it. Whether is happens time will tell.

                                               Rail track rest area at Eurobin
Driving through the Alpine highway was wonderful with the colours of the hills and trees. (photos below)
We came across a salmon and trout fishing farm at Harrietville. The public are allowed to go and try and catch a fish and you only pay for what you catch. Trout cost $14.00 kilo and salmon were $21.00. We watched some children fishing with their new rods they got for Christmas and yes they  caught a fish with a lots of laughter. It was wonderful to see the expression on their faces.
When we visit Roger in the new year, we will come and give it a go. Freshly caught trout and salmon cooked on the BBQ sounds very nice.

 

 

 

 

Trout waiting to be caught by the anglers

 

The drive over the range took us longer than we expected due to the gradient of the road. Many times John was only doing 30kph due to hills around us but the view was spectacular. The top of the range is the ski fields. It seemed a shame the chalets were not being used in the summer . There are a lot of hiking tracks that people to go on.

 

                                                                Skiers take note

 

So you don't drive over the cliff

                                                                        
                                                    Regrowth through the Alpine Range 

                   

                                                                              
                                                           Regrowth after the fire of 2011
                            
                           
                                                             The view into Hotham         
                                                                              

 

                                                           Entrance  to Hotham ski resort

                                                                           

 

Ski sloops at Mt Hotham

                                                                                         
We stayed at Bruthen Caravan park at the base of the range,and only $20.00 for two . A great price we thought . $1.00 for the use of the washing machine which we used. Back at Shepparton camp we are charged $3.00 for washing.
                                                                                

                                                                         

We left Bruthen park at 9.00. It was interesting to see a cow go running through the camp looking for her calf that had been taken from her we think the day before. The farmer was following behind trying to get her back into the paddock. A light bit of entertainment had by all.
The day stated out sunny and by mid afternoon the clouds had come over and it was getting cool.
We decided to follow the coast route towards Orbost, where we stopped to have a walk around the town. There were many of the old buildings still standing from the late 18 century. The information centre used to be the Slab hut  which was a original family dwelling built in 1872  .No nails were used in the structure if was all wired together.

Orbost Bark Hut

We turned around at Orbost and went back down around to Lakes Entrance where we had lunch at the sea. Very cool here. So we did not stay for long as we were wanting to to get closer to Melbourne before dark. Today we travelled 413 k, end up at Poowong Victoria (Camps 97 in camp book 6). If you are on the road early here you may come across milk tankers (beware) the road is very narrow and no room to move except backwards. We were pleased we arrived in the afternoon.

                                                        
                                                             Poowong Camp             

                                                            
                                                         Lake Entrance channels

                                                                
                                                           Lake Entrance Beach
                                                               
We found our way to the Dandenong Big 4 caravan park just half a hour out of Melbourne where we parked up for two nights. Ross and Sara came over for 5 days holiday to Melbourne, so it was a good time to see them.
Visited the Melbourne Zoo. Interesting to see the different spiders and snakes which a lot of Zoos don't have (especially in NZ). John had his first Tram ride . The tram took us for a tour around the central shopping area of Melbourne. You could get off it any time and see the sites.. The good thing was it did not cost anything (free) these we like. Then we got on a bus tour once again it was free and it took us around the outer edges of the Melbourne shopping area. It takes a hour and half for the tour and once again you can get off at any of the stops and see different things.
We went past the Performing Arts museum, Melbourne Cricket ground (MCG) and AAMI Stadium . This we will go back and spend more time there later.  They have tours at the MCG which take you through the complex and to the museum . John is very keen to do this. Chinatown looked interesting, then passed the Carlton gardens,  University of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market's (we were running out of time so I could not go there , but next time I sure am). Then onto the Waterfront  City Dockland . Here you will find many factory stores selling their stock at 50 to 70% off . We had a look for a couple of hours , a great place to shop if you have a few spare dollars and need some clothes.
On the bus again we went past the Shrine of Remembrance for the soldiers who were killed at war.
There is a total of 13 stops that you can get on and off and visit different things. This we are going to do next time we come to Melbourne . Hopefully next month.

                                                          Flinders street station Melbourne                                 

                                                            Melbourne Zoo (Sara & Ross)

Tarantula

                                                                       

                                                             
                                                           Poisonous frogs          

                                                                               

                                                                           

                                                                             
                                                   Anyone for a tour around Melbourne central  

                                                               Yarra Valley winery
                                                          

                                                                           
                                                              Yarra Valley winery

We left Melbourne and got back to Shepparton at at 1.30pm. It was a great trip but too quick . We went out to a BBQ for New years at a Ulysses members home. It was wonderful evening meeting other members. Around 11.30pm we decided to come back to the park as we were invited to another New Years eve party at the camp. This sure was in full swing with dancing out on the street and singing. We don't normally stay up , but it was 1.30am, before the lights were turned off. A great night had by all. Happy New Year Everyone and a Great 2013.