Tailem Bend, South Australia

 From Green Lake campsite we drove west towards the South Australian border.  We passed through many small wheat belt towns in the Mallee but only stopped at Patchewollock where we saw the last of the Silo Art in Victoria.  I loved "The Giant Mallee Fowl" statues at the local Lions Park......

Our next and final stop in Victoria is Murrayville before we cross into South Australia.  

I chopped up all the remaining fruit, that we couldn't eat, before we crossed the border, thinking fruit salad would be okay to take across the border.  Wrong.  Fruit Salad is inadmissible and it goes into the bin.  What a waste. It really beggars belief that fruit fly could be in a fruit salad, but them's the rules and who are we to argue.....

Pinnaroo is our destination for Sunday night and the caravan park here is another gem with huge grassed sites to chose from.  The owner comes around to collect the $35 fee around 4pm and also hands us a voucher that gives us free drinks, with a meal purchase, at the local hotel.  Win for us as it is pizza night!  We are home before the sun goes down and surprised to find onions and potatoes waiting on the caravan doorstep.  Apparently the owners hand them out to those that chose to eat at the pub.  Another win for us.

Monday morning we wake to another cold morning - around 4 degrees.  We are slow to pack up the van but we don't have far to drive to our next destination - Tailem Bend.  We skipped breakfast as neither of us was feeling very hungry after our pizza feast the night before but we stop around 10.30 for a brunch of ham and eggs, and gee it went down a treat.  

Checking into the Riverside Caravan park at Tailem Bend is completely computerised.  I was a bit hesitant about this idea but as it turned out it is probably the fastest and most efficient check in we have experienced thus far.  When I made the online reservation we had to choose a site that was actually the hardest part of the whole reservation.  On arrival you walk into a small portable office and there is a very large touch screen right in front of you.  As we have already been allocated a reservation number the whole process is dead simple and we are more than happy with the caravan park and site we chose.  The whole caravan park has had a make-over and everything is sparkling new.  The showers and toilets are better than the ones I have at home!  The sites are huge and green with lots of shady trees. 

The park is right on the banks of the Murray River and we take a nice long walk in the afternoon but we don't get far along the river and have to stay on the main road that takes us into the town centre.  

Today we woke to an overcast and windy day.  **Sigh**. My friend Kate said that we must have annoyed the weather gods and it certainly seems that way. But we have a drive planned for today and the weather won't stop that.  First though, we have to cross over the Murray River towards the dairy town of Jervois.  This dairy country is very low lying and we are surprised that we don't see any flood damage.  We stop for coffee and fresh eggs ($5/dozen!) and the lovely lady there tells us that all the farmers banded together and built an enormous levy bank to hold back the floodwaters.  They were lucky that they had plenty of notice of the flood so had time to erect the levy.  We follow along the banks of the Murray River to Wellington where we cross back over the Murray River on another ferry and head towards Menangie.

Menangie sits on Lake Albert and is an attractive town with some lovely walks along the lakeside.  We only walk a short distance though as it is very windy and cold outside the car.  The Ostrich represents the "Birdman of the Corrong" who was a diminutive Irishman who had learnt to ride an ostrich when he was living in South Africa.  He stole jewellery and apparently used to run around half naked, draped in his stolen jewellery.  In 1899 he was chased down and shot by a would-be victim of the Birdman, who did not take kindly to being held to ransom by such a small man......or so the story goes...

After we leave Meningie we head to Coonalpyn where I read that there is yet another Silo Art.  The drive is along a quiet country road that runs through some pretty good grazing country but we see very few animals, just a few sheep in the distance.  It is only 30kms to Coonalpyn and I am pleased we came this way, as the Silo Art depicting three young kids is very good.

Back in the car and we follow Duke's Highway back to Tailem Bend.  Around ten kilometres from the town we see "The Bend" Motorsport Park.  It is a massive set-up with a Hotel, Caravan Park, huge amount of parking space and race-tracks that seem to go on forever.  It is all relatively new, only opening in 2018.  The latest edition to the park is a Drag Racing track that only opened this year.  I look online at the racing calendar and see that there are events all year round.  Tailem Bend is just 100km from Adelaide and is an easy drive, so it is the perfect spot to build such a significant motorsport park.

Inside the foyer of the main building that houses restaurants, bars and viewing platforms is a display of just a few of the racing cars.  Some are behind glass as they are priceless pieces.  We also see some are for sale.  Anyone got a spare Mil or two??

Tomorrow we head east to Robe that is on the Limestone Coast of South Australia.  We have booked in for four nights as there is quite a bit to see and do in and around Robe.  I have also booked a well needed cut and colour for my hair so that will be a little bit of self love. We now say goodbye to the Murray River that we have been travelling alongside the past month or so. It truly is a magnificent river system and we treasure the memories that it has left us with.

Green Lake Campsite, Victoria

It was our good fortune that our friend Micheal gave us the "heads up" on the Green Lake Campsite where his friend Ken is the caretaker.  It is close to the township of Sea Lake where the pink lake - Lake Tyrell - is situated and it has been high on our list of places to visit.   Green Lake is a very busy campsite with campers and caravaners arriving all afternoon so we left Ken to check everyone in and we took a walk around Green Lake.

Green Lake was dry for almost 15 years after the millennium drought, but a hard working committee was formed to lobby the Victorian Government for funds to re-surface the lake that was not holding any water.  They won the battle, receiving a $2million grant and now the lake is constantly filled with water piped from the Murray River.  It is not a deep lake but while we were here we saw plenty of fisherman out in their boats so there must be fish to be caught.  It is a lovely campsite and both mornings we were woken by a cacophony of birds chirping away just on daybreak.

On our second day at Green Lake we drove around exploring the area. I found as many back roads as possible and we worked our way north to Ouyen.  (I originally thought we might stay in the van park here.  We really dodged a bullet as it probably the most uninviting caravan park I have ever laid eyes on!). This area of the Mallee is a grain producing area.  Philip and I have never, in all our travels, seen so much broad acre farming as there is in this area.  Ken told us that it is nothing for a farmer to have 80,000 acres under cropping and it is easy to imagine.  The machinery sheds that we see are massive and we are talking serious money in this area.  The crops are being harvested at this time of the year and we pass large bales waiting to be trucked.  The crops in this area are wheat, barley, canola, lentils and chickpeas.

Lake Tyrell is our next stop and we are very fortunate that it is quite pink on this cold and windy day.  There has been a significant amount of money spent in setting up an information centre, boardwalks and viewing platforms for people to enjoy the pink lake. There is even a "sky lounge" for people to enjoy the night skies that I imagine would be endless in this area on a cloud free night.

Our friend Jane has told us that we should have lunch at the Royal Hotel in Sea Lake while we are there.  Two Melbournian chefs left the "rat race" and moved to Sea Lake to set up a restaurant inside the Hotel that they named Juke.  We were quite hungry after our walk around Lake Tyrell so I ordered the crumbed cutlets and Philip the grass fed steak.  The meal, although simple, was very good with my crumbed cutlets being cooked to perfection and Philips steak was also perfect medium rare.

After lunch we were invited to go upstairs to have a look around.  This hotel is community owned and restored and once again, we both comment that the town of Sea Lake has some progressive and visionary residents to be able to tackle something as big as this.  The hotel is beautiful and upstairs all the rooms have been renovated to a very high standard.  The upstairs balcony, running along the length of the building, affords some beautiful views over the township.  There are also many murals decorating the walls of businesses that I particularly enjoy looking at.  Funny thing.  There are four coffee shops within two blocks in the town centre and each one looks very inviting.  We joke that they must have a community of coffee lovers.

Silo Art Trail, Victoria

When we left Horsham we loosely followed the Silo Art Trail to Green Lake.  I am quite in love with these gigantic works of art and find it unimaginable to be able to paint something on such a large scale and to keep it in proportion. Last year, when we were travelling through Western Australia, we were fortunate enough to watch an artist painting a mural on a wall and that was pretty special, but a silo is another thing all together.

 The first place that we stopped on our way to Green Lake was the lovely little township of Murtoa.  It is here that you will find the Stick Shed.  The timber grain storage "Stick Shed" was built over a period of four months between September 1941 and January 1942 and filled with grain within six months of its construction.  Murtoa was an ideal location as it was located in the wheat growing area and close to rail leading to Melbourne and Adelaide with links to the Mallee Region. It is a huge shed measuring 265 metres in length, 60 metres in width and 20 metres high.  

Next stop is Rupanyup where we are surprised and delighted to find a "Chainsaw Art" path right in the centre of the very wide Main Street.  These wooden statues, completed carved by chainsaw, are a work of art and we are amazed at the intricate and delicate work involved with using nothing more than a chainsaw.

We arrived at Green Lake mid afternoon and were met by our friend of a friend, Ken.  He had saved us the perfect campsite and I will tell you more about it in my next post.

Horsham, Victoria

I really like Horsham.  It is the largest city in the Wimmera region and has all the services.  The streets are wide and beautifully landscaped and you can tell that the people who live here enjoy it as they are all so very friendly.  The Wimmera River is a favourite place for the residents and the council have done a mighty good job on building many pathways along both sides of the river.  Magnificent houses are built right along the riverbank and I can imagine they would be worth a lot of money.

There was not much on the agenda today.  Just a small grocery shop and I also wanted to find the Silo Art. We found it easily enough as it is just a few kilometres away from us.  It is by far and away the best silo art I have seen, and it is not just the silo as the adjacent buildings have also been painted to further extend the artwork.  The painting tells the story of an aboriginal warrior born in 1834 by the name of Yanggendyinanyuk (and if you can pronounce that you are better than me).  He was brought to fame as being the tracker that found the Cooper-Duff children who were lost in the scrub, surrounding Horsham, for nine days.  He then went on to be a cricket play of renown who competed against England in the first indigenous cricket team.  Next to the silo is the old flour mill where a black cockatoo has been painted.

Late this afternoon, after we had our rest, we walked around 6kms along the Wimmera River.  The pathway is wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians and is mostly paved.  There are numerous river crossings with lots of pedestrian bridges.  The first one we come to is a really quite magnificent swing bridge.  It must have cost a fortune for the council to build and all I can think is that this area is very wealthy....

Continuing our walk the houses stop and the wheat fields begin.  The paddocks of wheat run almost all the way to the river bank.  On our drive yesterday we were quite amazed at how much wheat is grown in this area.  The trail meanders along the bank of the river and before long we come to the weir were we cross to the other side of the river for our return walk.  The old timber weir is looking a bit worse for wear as it is leaking everywhere!  I don't think I would like to be walking where we walked when it finally lets go as it certainly will!

Halloween seems to be on the mind of many people in Horsham as we walk past houses decked out with all the odd things that halloween brings.  

As I mentioned there are many pedestrian bridges across the Wimmera River but these two wooden bridges to a little island, are almost past their used by date but they are very photographic.

Tomorrow we move on to Green Lake where we will catch up with a friend of a friend who is caretaker at the camping ground on the lake.  Green Lake is very close to the pink lake, Lake Tyrell, that we will undoubtedly get to see and I just pray that it is pink.  We have really enjoyed our somewhat relaxing time here in Horsham but it has been cold.....very cold, so we would like to have some warmer weather.  Somehow I don't think that is going to happen any time soon.