LEODESTRAVELOZZ

20180325 After being booted out of Lake Colac we thought we check out Colac, much of the landscape is volcanic in origin, with a mixture of fertile soils and stony rises. It is thought that the name ‘Colac’ was derived from an Aboriginal word meaning sand or fresh water, a reference to the lake. Murray Street, Colac, in the lat e 1850s, for much of the year a muddy quagmire. The now modern main street of Colac. The grand old Regent Theatre in Colac was opened in 1925 and seating is provided in orchestra and balcony levels unfortunately it closed in 1968 and is now a RSL. The Austral Hotel 1904 The War Memorial erected for World War 1 and was unveiled in 1924 and it contains the name of 1665 men who had enlisted during the war, the cost of the memorial was  £3600.00 We walked the town had a shower and left for Red Rock Lookout to check out the craters which I googled, now that sounds interesting Des.   Red Rock was the s...

20180325 Stopping at Haddon but it's a bit full so onto the next camp area 10ks on, Smythesdale is supposed to be a good camp, hopefully for a few days. How great is this place they have hot showers, a sink for the backpackers with all the necessary appliances, table and chairs and to top it off a huge fire place to cook on or to warn your bones on these bloody cold Victorian nights. 26-03-2018 There’s not much to do in towns like this apart from walking the streets, and again it was once a very active mining town with the only evidence now are the old buildings left standing, but we did find a community garden so I helped myself to some herbs and a couple of vegies. The Court House Hotel is the main building overlooking the town. Smythesdale was established during the gold rush in 1853 and was known as Smythe’s creek until 1864 after John Smythe, The historical gaol that was used during the goldfields period. 27-03-2018 Time to try out ou...

20180323 There’s certainly not much to tell about Girgarre, Des and I went in search of a pub and there wasn’t one, now that’s a first, a town with no pub. The supermarket is closed down but there is a Post Office that sells the basic needs. The Giant Theremin How to Play the Giant Theremin Step inside the activation Zone in front of the Theremin and listen to your movements create a sound.  Experiment with moving in different direction, at different speeds and in different shapes.  It can be played by up to 8 people at any one time with each player having their own unique instrument, sound or effect, pity it didn’t work. The batteries in the van don’t seem to be holding there charge so we stop just before Bendigo to have them checked and the news isn’t good so we are sent to a battery joint for a further diagnosis and yep there stuffed. Des talked up a storm waiting for the new batteries to be installed while I checked out the spunk and h...

20180322 Driving into Shepparton in search of the painted cows I read about and this bloody Nav is taking us all over the place, stuff this I’m getting out of here said Des and bugger me dead there they were. It’s called the Moooving Art Cows and is a unique event designed to promote the Greater Shepparton region as the dairy capital of Australia.  "Brown Cow" 😊 The cow's were scatted through the park but  most of the cows had some of their tits missing,  weird. That’s it for Shepparton, stay tuned for some more little towns full of history to bore you with.   Well I found it, Tature a small town on the edge of Shepparton but what you didn’t know was this town was home to several Internment and P.O.W camps in  World War 11.  Before the war, Britain was home to around 73,000 Germans, who left Germany due to the rise of the Nazi regime, many were young male who had been schooled in Britain before the outbre...

20180318 I must admit it’s great to be back on the road once again except the wind had picked up and was blown the van over the road then to top it off we enter into a dust storm as others were coming out of it, it just goes to show how dry it is here. Wind up the windows and close the vents, we're driving right into it. Driving through Narrandera, Town of Trees  Passed Jerilderie to reach Finley but not before hitting some more dust storms. The main street of Finley bridges Mulwala Canal at 155 km is the largest irrigation channel in Australia. The wheel of Prosperity is a symbol of water’s importance to the town and district. We decided to stay at Finley Caravan Park, to catch up on our washing only I’m not sure about hanging it out in this bloody dust storm, I swear it’s following us. With the wind finally calming down we grab a beer and walk the canal,  Got Ya! 😉     ...