Almost to Melbourne, and it is time to turn north toward the B towns, Ballarat and Bendigo.
They are the biggest of the towns built on the gold rush of the mid 1800's.
On the rather short drive north to Ballarat, we managed to destroy a tyre and get a rather large stone chip in the windscreen, the first of each in quite while.
Along that same drive we also stopped at a couple of waterfalls. Hopetoun Falls is "protected" in a 2 hectare conservation reserve, totally surrounded by plantation forests. What a joke! It doesn't even manage to protect the visual surrounds, let alone anything else. Beauchamp Falls is similarly "protected", and both are strangled by large woody debris - waste from the surrounding plantations. As we progressed north out of the forests and into the farmland, we were (only slightly) surprised by the hawthorn and gorse. It's just like being in Tasmania all over again.
At Ballarat we enjoyed the luxury of a couple of days in a house, thanks to Jill and Russell for making us so welcome. Aside from restocking and repairs, that gave us the chance to see a little of the town, which has managed to retain many of its heritage buildings. Ballarat also has a nice botanical gardens on the edge of a lake. In addition to its new "crystal" inspired conservatorium, it has an avenue of Prime Ministers - a bronze head for each one we've had, a mini history lesson.
On our tight schedule, we only had time for one of the local tourist traps. We visited the gold museum which has an excellent depiction of the town's rapid growth, but fails to show how Ballarat's gold production fits into the overall Australian picture. We realised later that we had missed what is perhaps the most significant historic site in town, the Eureka Stockade Centre. Perhaps next time we'll find out more about the slaughter of the miners who attempted to stand up to the oppressive colonial government.
Turning west, we stopped long enough in Ararat to stretch our legs at Gum San, a museum that records the Chinese history of the area. Ararat is the only town in Australia founded by the Chinese. In a typically racist colonial policy, the Victorian government levied a number of extra taxes on the Chinese, including an "arriving by ship" levy. The practical upshot was that they landed in South Australia instead, then walked into Victoria. Along the way they stumbled upon the richest alluvial gold deposit in the world, and the town of Ararat was born.
Our real goal in turning briefly westward, was actually Grampians National Park.
It's one of Victoria's most popular parks, with good reason.
Here we spent several days, making the time for several long hikes (just a fraction of what's available).
The views are excellent, and there are plenty of stunning rock formations.
We've spotted more eastern birds, including the golden whistler and the spotted pardolate.
Continuing north, we turned our attention to one of our regular tasks, servicing the cruiser. Although there are plenty of Toyota Dealers in this area, finding one that can do a service at short notice and a convenient time forced us to adjust our schedule. Consequently, our second B town visit was even more abridged than the last. One day we'll have to return the Victorian goldfields to explore these and other towns properly.
With the service out of the way, our next quest was to find out more about The Jerilderie Letter. Stopping in the town of the same name (which produces 25% of Australia's tomatoes), we discovered that the famed Ned Kelly made only one foray into NSW. His quest was to publish his account of his story, decrying the persecution by the establishment. Like most things he turned his hand to, it did not turn out as he had planned (but he did rob the bank while he was there).
Having solved another historical mystery (well, mystery to us at least), we continued east. Climbing into the NSW high country, we stopped into Yarrangobilly Caves for a tour of the Jersey Cave. Although its formations are fantastic, the variety of colours including the black from bushfire ash are a specific highlight. The cave was named after the Earl in honour of his whirlwind tour. Apparently he kept a journal on that adventure, in which he recorded collecting five wagonloads of souvenirs along the way.
From there we turned north onto the Long Plain Track into the heart of Kosciuszko National Park, and spent a night at Blue Rockholes.
Cooler nights of around 7 to 9 degrees in the Grampians did not prepare us for the minus 2 that awaited us.
The chilly night however, brought forth a spectacular mountain sunrise in a white world of mist and frost.
Once the day finally warmed up, we explored the nearby limestone gorges and caves that fringe the high plains.
Murray Cave is the largest of the caves and has always been open to an unsupervised public. Sadly, the only real challenge in exploring it is finding a formation that has not been vandalised for souvenirs. The Earl set the standard, and every moron that followed lived up the standards set by their colonial masters. Beauty is quite wasted on humanity.
We had been advised by the Tumut tourist information office that the road through to Brindabella was 2WD standard, and a ranger we met in the park confirmed this to be the case. Alas, both were woefully incorrect. The Broken Cart Track was aptly named, and took all of our four wheeling skills to negotiate the badly rutted descents and deep mud holes. Well behind our planned schedule, we finally crossed Brindabella Mountain and descended through the fire ravaged valleys into Canberra.
After a couple of days catching up with Bill's brother, we headed over to the southern coast of our home state. That gave us a chance to catch up with Steve and Kim, and do a hard disk replacement for a nearby customer. Finally back in the tent after the luxury of two consecutive house stays, the weather began to close in on us. Instead of walking on sunny beaches and taking advantage of the many kayaking opportunities the coast offers, we drove slowly north to the sound of the windscreen wipers. There are many places here that warrant further exploration, but that will have to wait until next time.
Turning inland before Sydney we skirted around the edge of the urban sprawl to stop at our favourite mountain village, Wollar. A few dinners with friends, a couple of computer jobs, a few nights at Nacooma, and all too soon it was time to head down the Hunter Valley. The Hunter is an interesting mix of vineyards, coal mines and power stations - piles of black rock scattered amongst the greenery covered by a steel spiderweb. After a quick customer visit, it's just a quick run down the freeway into the mess that is Sydney traffic.