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The visit to Mungo National Park was hot. 42 degrees and with thousands of flies all trying to cool us down by fanning us with their wings, we were still hot. It was interesting in the park, but we were not game to leave the air conditioning in the Xtrail for long. Pic shows the approach to the visitor centre at Mungo.
We left the park about 2:00pm and got a flat tyre. It went down about 10k short of the bitumen on the way out of Mungo
Then we went back to Pooncarie to pick up the van and stayed in Wentworth. After two showers to get the dirt off, we had dinner in the Crown.
Next morning we went to Willy's Tyres to get the flat fixed then left Wentworth at about 10:30 and got home late in the afternoon.

Pooncarie

We are at Pooncarie. Many people are advised to wear a hat made from a fox when they say they are coming here, but we did not have one. It is near the Mungo National Park, which is where we will be today.
Yesterday there was a fundraising day for the bush fires. The pic shows the cricket game in progress with the sheep fielding.

Robinvale

The picture shows the terrible conditions we have to endure at Robinvale. The river is right behind us, the gum trees are all around us and there are ducks, parrots, pelicans and various other birds flying about. We do not know how we can stand this for much longer, especially at $20 per night.
Huge drive today, about 150Km non stop. It is so stressful being on the road. Tomorrow we may try for Mildura or even Wentworth if we feel up to it.

Swan Hill

Swan Hill for a couple of nights. We went to Paddock Boga, (no water in it so its not a lake), to see the Catalina Flying Boat museum. They had old equipment on show that makes me depressed, because I can remember installing that equipment.
Funny weather over here. Yesterday the car outside temperature gage recorded 44 degrees, to day it rained and the temperature is about 20.
More tourist trips today

Echuca two

We are getting lazy in Echuca. Yesterday we got up just in time to get a shower before they closed them for cleaning, then wandered around to the shops to stock up the pantry, and it was lunch time. Kathy has wanted to put up extra shade at the ends of the awning, so yesterday we bought the materials and rigged them up. We (Kathy) will have to sew them up properly when we get home.
Ducks from the river come into the park, and it was not long before Kathy had one eating out of her hand. See pic.
Ants get everywhere. We have ant traps on the van legs, we spray surface spray on everything that touches the ground, but the little devils manage to find a way in. This time they were crawling up the broom handle that was leaning against the van.
This morning we had a cruise on the river. The paddle steamer Emmylou took us up the river and back. A real steamer, burning wood to boil the water to make the steam that drives the paddles, none of that “diesel engine that puffs steam up the chimney just for the effect” trickery.

Echuca

We left the Great Ocean Tourist Rip-Off Road at Port Campbell, ($1.38 a litre for petrol) and went to Echuca on the Murray River via Ballarat ($1.13 a litre, 100km away). It was an easy drive along relatively quiet roads. The smoke haze from the fires got quite thick and was beginning to irritate our eyes between Ballarat and Bendigo, but after that it cleared up. We had lunch at Lake Wendouree, or perhaps Pond Wendouree or even Puddle Wendouree might be a more accurate description. We were there in September last year when there was still water in the lake, but now it is dry. Click on the picture to see a bigger version, then compare that with the September 26 2008 blog.

Lake Elizabeth

We went bush walking on Saturday to a couple of waterfalls (not much water falling) and finally to Lake Elizabeth. We were hoping to see a platypus but they stayed hidden. We did see a lot of birdlife such as Blue Wrens, Yellow Robins and Azure Kingfishers.

Moving on today, not sure where, just somewhere a bit further up the Great Ocean Road

Tree Tops Walk

The Tree Tops Walk on Friday was really interesting as the views were spectacular and the sight of Kathy on a swaying platform, looking a long way down to the ground was worth a fortune. Video will be available at a reasonable cost. She got her revenge when I was attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex and all she could do was giggle and take this photo.

Apollo Bay

The Werribee Zoo was a bit smaller than we thought it would be; a sort of bijou zoo, but was still a good mornings entertainment. The bus ride took us round the open range enclosures which do allow the animals to live a more natural lifestyle, except for the fact that they are not allowed to eat each other. The picture shows the White Rhino, or would have done if Blogspot was not having problems uploading pictures.
We are in Apollo Bay for a few days. The Otway National Park is nearby with lots of walks, waterfalls and animals so there are plenty of things for us to do.

Werribee

After the fires forced us to change our plans to do a lap of Victoria, we reached Werribee. Tomorrow we will go to the Werribee Zoo then on to the start of the Great Ocean Road and the Otway National Park.
The Victorian State Rose garden at Werribee is looking a bit the worse for high temperatures and low water, despite the fact that it is only 23 degrees centigrade and has been raining today. They always say if you don’t like the Melbourne weather, wait 20 minutes! Kathy took the picture of the rose.

Foster area

We are well away from the fires, the nearest being in Wilson's Promontory across the Corner Inlet, however the fires are still causing havoc in Victoria. Even with the better weather, there are several fires still not controlled and many major roads are closed due to the possible spread of the fires. Wilson’s Promontory is closed, we can not go further east to Lakes Entrance as planned, and the probability of the roads being open to traffic soon is remote, so we will be heading west. The Werribee Zoo looks like a good place to visit on the way back via the Great Ocean Road.
Picture shows Kathy coping with the crowds on the beach at Waratah.

Foster

We got as far as Foster near Wilson’s Promontory thinking we would spend couple of days in the Prom. Unfortunately, a lightning strike set fire to a remote part so the CFS has closed the park until the fire goes out. See Photo. It is not threatening any homes so it is low on their priority list at the minute.
Further east, they have closed the road due to the threat of the fires, so we will not be going that way for a while. It could be that we will have to turn back and have a long look at the Great Ocean Road.
The ABC radio is giving regular updates, and so is Channel 10. It’s the only TV station still operating in this area since the Channel 7 transmitter went on Saturday night.
There are lots of places to see around here. The coast is dotted with little communities, whose main industry seems to be fishing, farming or mending roads, and there are always spectacular views of the coastline.

Venus Bay

We have had several calls and emails about the fires in Victoria. We are not in the danger zone, although there is a serious fire risk with the dry conditions all over the state. The nearest fires are about 80km away and we have been keeping an ear open to the CFS radio reports to ensure we stay away from the fires.
Today we went down the coast to Venus Bay and the Cape Liptrop Coastal Park. Every other house in Venus Bay is for sale, so if you are thinking of buying, now would be a good time.
We called in at just about every bay and beach on the way. A beautiful area well worth the time spent here. Photo shows the historic lighthouse, still operating, at Cape Liptrop.Tomorrow we head for Wilson’s Promontory

Phillip Island

A very hot day on Phillip Island. We did the tourist thing, looking at the beaches, rookeries and rock formations around the Island, but when the north wind came in and the temperature went up like a space shuttle we ran back to the caravan and turned the air conditioner on. We heard on the news that Victoria had 67 fire incidents, but fortunately for us, none of them were near Phillip Island.
We will have to keep an eye on where the fires are and make sure we stay away from them.
Kathy saved an echidna. We saw the echidna start to cross the road in front of us, so we stopped and Kathy rushed out to herd him off the road. A car came over the rise, saw Kathy waving franticly and stopped about a metre from the echidna, who scuttled off to the side of the road and disappeared in the undergrowth.

San Remo

What a journey we had today. We left Warrnambool and went to Queenscliff and got on the ferry to Sorrento. (The one in Vic, not San Francisco). A pleasant cruise across the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, see pic of the approach to Sorrento. Then we headed for Phillip Island, following the directions of the Tom Tom navigator. It sent us down dirt tracks, single track roads, up hills and down dales including having to cross a three lane highway with heavy traffic travelling at 100+ Kph round a blind corner. Brown trouser time!
Anyway, we got to San Remo, at the start of the causeway to Phillip Island, found a nice caravan park on the beach and have set up to suffer the next couple of days of heat. The locals say it should not get above 30 degrees, but the Melbourne forecast is for 44, the hottest February day ever.

Warrnambool

We had a great drive to Warrnambool. We stopped at the Wannon Falls which would have been spectacular, if there was any water flowing, but there were just two stagnant pools, one at the top and one at the bottom of the falls. There does not seem to be a petrol station in Hamilton, apart from a BP on a roundabout that I could not get into with the van on, so we drove further on to some little village that had a credit card operated pump. It did not tell us that it would charge $4.51 as a usage fee.

We got to Warrnambool, set up the van and went touring. Picture shows the Fletcher Jones Gardens. Kathy saw the two floors of the Mill Markets and the Fletcher Jones Shop, so that's where we are going today.

Kaniva

We had an early start on Tuesday, about 1:30pm so we got out of SA on the first day. The Kaniva park is part of the community swimming pool area, which means it is a community owned asset. Drive in, find a spot and the lady calls round later in the evening to collect the money. They had a couple of devices operating that we have not seen for a long time. Sprinklers chucking water about! Beautiful green grass all over the place.
Happy Birthday Maisie. (Kathy's mum)