October 11th, 2024
So it’s a Friday morning and the plan is to leave Adelaide AGAIN and make our way south first (so as not to go too far if there’s any issues with the work that has just been done on the rig) to Victor Harbor on the south coast. From May to October here, southern right whales come here before heading back to Antarctica and we have never seen this type of whale. We knew it was a slim chance but off Granite Island (which is reached by a causeway) we’d read that some had been spotted last weekend.
It’s about 95 km / 60 mi away and we arrived around 9:30 without any issues. Phew! We parked on the street and walked through this cute little touristy town to the park where we encountered quite a cool fountain:
We walked through the park to the causeway and made our way over to Granite Island. We spotted a few Australian pelicans on the shore:
and then a solitary bird on a big rock which we later figured out was a Little Pied Cormorant (or little shag):
We continued to the other side of this small island looking out to sea but no luck. This island also has a colony of Little Penguins (aka blue or fairy penguins which we’d seen in New Zealand 25 years ago – OMG was it that long ago?!) but no sign of them today – probably out at sea right now.
We turned around and saw that same bird on the same rock:
As we had arrived at the causeway before 10am we were unable to take the Clydesdale pulled tram to the island but we saw it heading out to the island as we walked back:
While walking in town we saw a sports store having a sidewalk sale on sneakers and Doug actually found a pair that fit. His old Hoka’s have seen better days and are being held together with duct tape. He uses his good newer ones for running but it was time to replace his everyday shoes.
Upon returning to the rig, we began the drive to the Victoria state line – it was about 300 km / 200 mi but it was still early and we feel we are a little behind on our itinerary with the week we just sat in Adelaide.
We filled up the tank at $1.579 a litre and drove up to the main highway heading east. We topped up again in Bordertown at $1.657 as the price goes up across the “border”.
We saw vineyards then it was a lot of farm land with grazing sheep.
We spotted a kangaroo in a field munching the grass:
Fran found us a free camp just inside Victoria at a reservoir and there were already a half a dozen campers there so we’re glad we didn’t come much later. It was off the highway enough so as to only hear it faintly and we found a spot to park. We got out our chairs and enjoyed reading in the warm but not hot sunshine for an hour or so. As we crossed into the eastern part of Australia, the time has changed by going forward a half hour.
After sleeping at a garage on a busy street for a week, sleeping at this reservoir was most pleasant and pretty quiet. We both slept quite well. So well, that we almost missed making a call to our financial guy in Canada that we’d set up the afternoon before. But Lawrence was available and we sorted out the things he wanted to go through. It was a cold night – almost down to freezing but we awoke to mostly sunny skies and, of course, it warmed up as the day went on.
We continued eastward stopping in the city of Horsham on the Western Highway at the Woollie’s to stock up and then one quick stop to see the 14 m / 46’ tall Giant Koala:
Here’s a link to the full album of photos of the above segment.
We began the drive to Halls Gap where we wanted to do two hikes in the Grampians National Park but the GPS took us a different route than expected so instead of hiking today, we went to the free campground in the Grampians National Park and we’ll hike tomorrow so we don’t have to backtrack.
Fran saw that some of the sites had picnic tables and so we chose one that we could back right up to so she could access the back window from the outside to do this:
As you probably gathered, we named our second Australian rig Matilda as it seemed very Australian and no, “Waltzing Matilda” is not the national anthem of the country but here are the lyrics:
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagging and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Down came the squatter mounted on his thorough-bred
Up came the troopers one, two, three
“Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker bag?
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
“Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag?
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Up cut the swagging and jumped into the billabong
“You’ll never catch me alive” said he
And his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong
“Who’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?”
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”.
Doug decided to do his weekend long run this afternoon and off he want after we got parked; cell signal is not strong here so we had left the first spot and drove around the campground looking for a stronger signal but ended up back where we started. Doug saw a field with about a dozen kangaroos on his run and that evening while making dinner, two were behind the fence where we were parked!:
Kangaroos are marsupials and there are several kinds: red kangaroo (the largest), the antilopine kangaroo, the eastern grey kangaroo and the western kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea and it is estimated that 42.8 million kangaroos live within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019.
“Wallabies” are the smaller members of the kangaroo family and “wallaroos” are the intermediate sized members. There are also the tree-kangaroos which inhabit the tropical rain forests of New Guinea and the far northeastern regions of Queensland and some of the islands in the region. This kind of kangaroo lives in the upper branches of trees. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be:
Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.
Because of its grazing habits, the kangaroo has developed specialized teeth that are rare among mammals. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined or fused together, the lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars are ground down and they actually move forward in the mouth before they eventually fall out, and are replaced by new teeth that grow in the back. This process is known as polyphyodonty and, amoungst other mammals, only occurs in elephants and manatees.
Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land. Kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.
We had a quiet dark night and hit the road after doing dishes and having tea. Today we did two hikes in Grampians National Park. There are plenty of them ranging from two kilometres to long multi day ones. We picked the two most popular:
1. The Balconies – a two kilometre round trip hike to some wonderful vistas of the mountains and surrounds and we were very surprised by the number of trees for as far as the eye could see.
This is a very nice hiking path with a slight incline but and at the end you reach the end of the cliffs and can see this:
Even at the parking lot you get nice views on both sides:
2. The Pinnacles – this is THE hike to do in this park and you can do it from in town where it is 9.5 km round trip hike or from the Wonderland Loop parking area where it’s only 5.5 km round trip – can you guess which one Fran wanted to do?
This hike first takes you through the “Grand Canyon” on large stepping stones:
and you exit the canyon on a tall staircase (you can just make out the corner of it in the header photo above behind the arch we had to walk through – but this is the not the end of the stairs by any means!
You pass the “Cool Chamber”:
Then Bridal Veils Falls with its trickle of water:
You pass the “Lady’s Hat”:
Then the coolest part, you walk through the “Silent Street”; this is a stretch of about 300 m / 984′ with more stepping stones and a narrow passage way, stairs and a squeeze at the top:
Finally you reach the Pinnacle at the end with a view down the valley to Halls Gap – it was very windy up here and Fran appreciated the cool breeze after the warm temps on the walk.
Her right knee hurt a lot on the way up and the left one was quite bad on the way back even using her handy collapsible walking stick.
We returned to Matilda the slightly shorter way and then went into the town of Halls Gap to check out the park’s visitors centre and the highly recommended Brambuk Cultural Centre. While the first was open and we had a boo around (Fran bought a nice hat too!),
the second was closed with no signage until you reach it. 
Click here to see more pics of the above.
We drove for a bit to get diesel in Stawell before stopping to eat a late brunch. The plan was to go to a free campground in St. Arnaud but about 10 km / 6 mi before getting there Fran double checked the app and someone had checked in yesterday and said it was temporarily closed for a “planned burn”. Darn! – oh well we found a rest area on the road before town to pull over at where others had stayed and got settled. We showered and tomorrow we’ll go to into the town and use the dump and water services offered. We find there are many “RV Friendly” towns in this country – often with a sign as you come in saying so.
We had a quiet, warmer night on Sunday night with the only downside was we ran out of water before bed! We had a few bottles in the fridge so we managed till morning. It was weird cause the last tank full lasted a week although we did not shower in Matilda during that week but when we showered yesterday, we were able to figure out by the bucket we’d put under the rig that we couldn’t have used more than 15 litres so we must not have actually filled the tank all the way last time.
Upon getting up, we had enough water for tea, washing faces and brushing teeth. We headed straight away into the town thinking if we saw a car wash, we’d do that and lo and behold right at the main traffic circle was a self-serve car wash so we pulled right it and took care of that for a whopping $5. We then found the dump and water site and took care of that as well. The toilet cassette on this rig has its own reservoir for flushing and we filled that as well; it is quite large and lasts quite a while.
So we left St. Arnaud and made our way northeast to do part of the “Silo Art Trail”. We say part because we had four sites pinged on our map but we found out enroute there are six sites but two were much further north so we’ll miss those. Each of these is free to visit and park and each had a donation box – here in OZ they call one and two dollar coins “gold coins” due to their colour and often you’ll see signs for “gold coin donation”.
The Silo Art Movement is more than a visual spectacle; it is a dynamic force of transformation and rejuvenation. It’s not just art; it is a resurrection, a new dawn that ushers in hope, economic vitality and social resurgence. Every mural, every painted silo is a testament to the unwavering spirit of Regional Australia. The movement transcends the boundaries of art, becoming a robust engine that drives tourism, invigorates the local economies and rekindles the social fabric of communities.
So first it was the tiny town of Tungamah which has a pretty silo with birds including the kookaburra:
Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishes native to Australia and New Guinea. They grow to between 28-47 cm / 11-9“ in length and weigh around 300 g / 11 oz. The name is a borrowed from the Aboriginals, being an onomatopoeic of its call. The loud, distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies.
They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savannah, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. Though they belong to the larger group known as “kingfishers“, kookaburras are not closely associated with water.
We have seen these in the past few weeks but have not been successful in catching one on film! Here’s a “borrowed” pic from Wikipedia:
Then in the village of St. James the silo was about its local history including a tribute to George Coles, the man who started the Coles grocery store chain here in Australia (second only to Woolworth’s it seems):
Third site was in Devonish where it was dedicated to war time personnel both human and canine especially honouring the nurses of WW2:
The fourth and final site at Goorambat, was split it two: one was about four Clydesdale horses and the other two silos were about the Australian barking owl:
For more silo art pics, check this out.
We’d now driven nearly 300 km / 200 mi and that was enough for one day. Fran found us a free campground in nearby Benalla and we drove there. Turns out when we arrived there was a sign that said “only THREE vehicles were allowed” to overnight here. So we were lucky that there was only one other motorhome in the lot beside the camping area and a trailer (caravan) in the actual lot. About 30 minutes later another motorhome arrived so we are glad we did not get there much later and then later 5 others who obviously were disregarding the sign and parking anyway.
If you recall, we had a speaker that didn’t work, so today since we had the afternoon here, Doug took the doors apart and yes, the driver’s side speaker was shot. He swapped them out and then went into the small city of Benalla on the hunt for a new one. Well, of course, they only come in pairs so he bought a set and put a new one on the passenger side. (Next day the one he’d put in the driver’s side also konked out!)
It continues to be sunny and it’s warming up again as we head north.
Before leaving Canada, we had ordered and having been using a micro SD card for our Garmin. While it has its issues (can’t always find an actual address or a town sometimes), so we tend to use GPS coordinates and it always seems to find those (we grab them from our Organic Maps phone app). Today we encountered our first mapping issue, it could not map us to Benalla via the silo sites without going way out of the way and even enroute, it couldn’t recalculate while driving. Good thing we have more than one mapping source (we sometimes use Google Maps too).
