Dunkeld - April 2015

From Casterton, after Easter we continued east and sought out the town of Dunkeld in the Southern Grampians region. Approaching the town, the landscape is dominated by the peaks of Mt Abrupt and Mt Sturgeon.

Not too far from the caravan park in Dunkeld we found the Arboretum which was a great place to ride our bikes.  There is also an old saw mill there.

We spent almost a day climbing up to the top of Mt Sturgeon – a walk of around 7 kilometres. It is rated as a difficult walk, but the three children did it very easily, although there were more snack breaks than we had anticipated! Those breaks often gave us the chance to perch on a rock and take in the superb vistas. At the summit, the view was breathtaking with Dunkeld below us in one direction and Mt Abrupt and the smaller Mt Piccaninny in the other. 

The ascent back down was much quicker. We met an older couple on their way up. They were looking forward to a nice cup of tea at the top. I like that older people always remember to pack a thermos and are prepared to lug all that is required for a nice cuppa!

Back in Dunkeld we enjoyed ice creams and with the kids with some remnants of energy we rode our bikes around the Arboretum again. 

The journey towards home took us through Beaufort where we stopped for lunch by this lovely old fire station. 

We then had a couple of nights back at a caravan park we'd enjoyed in the past, at Creswick where we set up under the golden colour of this autumn tree:

We again rode our bikes - around Lake Calambeen and through the pine forest that is alongside the caravan park.

Not far from Creswick is the historic town of Clunes which we explored one morning. This is where gold was first discovered which sparked the great gold rush of the 1850's. No gold to be found today. In fact, Clunes is better known as a 'book town' with lots of second hand books. 'Widow Twankeys' was a colourful and eclectic lolly shop and cafe and we called in for morning tea. 

Casterton - Easter 2015

We took a leisurely scenic journey inland to Casterton through tiny towns, including the cutely named Bessiebella and the larger more known town of Heywood on the Fitzroy River. Ate lunch at a park in Heywood – complete with nice new playground. 

Encountered a couple of other nice little rural locales, namely Digby and Merino. At Merino we paused at a disused servo and read about the heroic drovers who drove stock across these dry and distant plains.

Set ourselves at the small but adequate caravan park in Casterton which was not even half full – a good escape from the busy-ness of Easter. Casterton claims itself as the ‘birthplace of the kelpie’ and is an attractive town in a valley with the Glenelg River snaking its way through. The view from Mickle Lookout laid the town out before us!

We enjoyed several walks around Casterton, finding the few sculptures that celebrate the famous kelpie dog.  We also rode our bikes along the ‘Kelpie Trail’ while camped there.

During our 5 days in Casterton we partook in the family’s latest hobby of Geocaching. We drove for several km’s in each direction from the town and located many!

On one particular day trip out of town, we explored Bailey’s Rocks, in the Dergholm State Park. Bailey’s Rocks are a series of granite boulders spread randomly in a small valley. Some balance precariously and some we could scramble upon and explore.  They were like a mossy version of the ‘Devil’s Marbles’!

We drove out to see the ‘Bilston Tree’ – thought to have been a wee sapling back in about the year 1200, it’s a River Red Gum with a girth of over 7 metres and a height of around 40  meters. Some large limbs fell off a few years ago and have been carved quite creatively by an artist.

Warrock Homestead is where the sheep station where the kelpie was first bred. We visited the homestead which is still privately owned. We got a personalised tour from the lady owner.  It was an interesting old homestead. We also took a walk around the property checking out some of the out buildings, all built in the same Gothic Revival style of the homestead. 

Warrnambool

After a night at Lake Colac - a peaceful free camp a few km's out of Colac we made our way to Warrnambool where we checked into Surfside Holiday Park in the Lake Pertobe area. Our spot is just a few metres from the steps over the dunes to the beach of Lady Bay. Across the road from the caravan park is the Adventure Playground that the kids have had fun on, from the giant slides, swings, maze and flying fox...

We spent most of Monday at Flagstaff Hill historic area - a lovely little 'village' and Maritime Museum. The kids enjoyed the 'Treasure Chest' hunt where they had to solve puzzles and riddles all the way around, putting the information in their 'passports'. They solved all mysteries! The local ducks were obviously used to the tourists feeding them, and feed them we did as they virtually chased us up the main street, ironically from the Steam Packet Inn... what had those ducks been drinking?

Here are the kids searching some barrels for the next clue in their quest...

We returned to Flagstaff Hill for the night laser and light show 'Shipwrecked' - based on the historical ship wreck of the Loch Ard. The museum part of Flagstaff Hill has many of the items salvaged from the wreck including the remarkable statue of a peacock. The museum bought this a number of years ago for around $4000 and now it is estimated to worth around $4 million! It was on the Loch Ard en route to the Exhibition Buildings but never made it - but survived the shipwreck with just a small bit of damage to its beak. 

The light and laser show was very good - gave us all a scare a couple of times, like when our seats all started moving to emulate being on the ship! Then the music began quite loudly a couple of times. Ethan spent some of the show with his beanie over his eyes! 

Here's our caravan site...

Also at Lake Pertobe we enjoyed a go in one of the noisy motorboats - Zac & Jet in one, with Daz and the other two in another...

The weather was great for an afternoon of boogie boarding - the water was cold but with wet suits, the kids stayed in for a while.

We were treated to a colourful sunset after being awoken early by a group of German tourists trying, unsuccessfully to fold up their motor-home awning in the dark. They had someone on the roof, some muttering all sorts of profanities in German... so Daz set off to look at the sunrise!

Back at the Adventure playground...

There is a terrific bike / walking trail that goes for about 7 km's along the foreshore, from the Breakwater to the mouth of the Hopkins River. We rode it several times, and stopped and found a number of geocaches along the way. Daz also rode from Port Fairy back to Warrnambool (41 km's) while Jet and the kids walked around Griffiths Island.

Tomorrow we leave Warrnambool and head about 165 km's to Casterton - just as the crowds descend on Warrnambool for the Easter break. We have 4 days there too.