dazjet 'n family: Easing on to Everton

After our two enjoyable nights at Euroa, we were bound for Everton - east of Wangaratta. It was only about an hour's drive, so we left the boring Hume Freeway and entered the town of Violet Town. Another of the towns that the highway used to run through the middle of, now often forgotten by travellers keen to get from A to B on the freeway.

We parked in the main street and chose to conquer a multicache which claims to be a challenge. Answering the questions up and down the mainstreet gave us a history lesson. Once we had the answers we had a coffee at the cafe (always good to support these small towns) while we calculated the final place we'd find the cache.

We drove about 700 metres to the final hiding place and were quite puzzled - it probably took us about 15 to 20 minutes to figure it out. A very clever and unique hide, but we proudly signed the log.

Etched into Violet Town's history is the Southern Aurora (SYD to MEL train) crash in 1969 which happened on the outskirts of town. The driver of the passenger train had a heart attack at the controls, died, then missed slowing and pulling into the siding to allow a north bound goods train to pass. There was a head on collision - with the passenger train doing 110 km/h! The death toll was in the single figures surprisingly, with over 100 injured.

In town there is another old Southern Aurora carriage and a memorial garden built 50 years after the tragedy. We found a cache there too.

Them we went to the actual crash site where there is a plaque.

Following that interesting detour through Violet Town we rejoined the freeway and drove on to Everton via Millawa (a popular foodies area). We set up camp in the Everton Caravan Park (where we stayed 2 years ago). This time we are staying a week. That way we can explore more of the area, in particular the bike trails.

The surprising thing is we are the only caravan in! A couple of people in cabins / onsite vans, but all very quiet. The kids enjoyed a dip in the pool later in the afternoon.

The next morning we got on the mountain bikes and rode to the nearby Wangaratta - Bright rail trail. We had previously done the 'Everton Triangle', but there are many more km's of trail we have not done. So in the morning we rode 21 km (return) towards Wangaratta which took us to Everton station, right through to Tarrawingee station. We found 15 caches on the way. Even though the trail is mostly flat (with gentle hills being a former railway) there were some interesting things to see including some lovely old trees, old mile posts, birds, farms... and the constant summer sound - cicadas.

After lunch back at the caravan we drove (20 mins) up to Beechworth - a popular tourist town, full of history connected to the goldrush and Ned Kelly. We walked around the centre of town, partook of delicious home made icecream, explored the old fashioned sweet shoppe and generally enjoyed ourselves.

The following morning (today) we went for a shorter 10 km ride before lunch and after lunch explored the small village of El Dorado - the name conjurs up all sorts of images and ideas! It turned out to be a quaint little place set among the dry hills of northern Victoria.

Gold was found there - and a huge dredge was built in 1936 to dig deep down into the creek. It operated for about 20 years and extracted about 2.2 tonnes of gold. Today it is a rusting hulk - it looks a little like an oversized poor man's paddle steamer, a bit like Noah's Ark possibly... a giant home made houseboat? I've never seen anything like it! It did reflect perfectly in the water it sits in... ably assisted with its visual beauty with the stunning cloud formations.

We met the guardian of the dredge who posed for this photo before scurrying into the bush:

At the other end of town we found the suspension bridge and crossed it. Of course the kids... okay me too, had to jump up and down and shake it! It is right next to a crumbling old bridge which was very photogenic. There is a sign on it saying the council are going to remove it as it is dangerous. A shame really!

Back in the town centre we went to the general store, next to the pub which claims to be Victoria's smallest pub and enjoyed some more icecream. I had a locally made golden syrup flavoured one - something different and very nice. Right up there with yesterday's salted caramel and malteeser icecreams!

In the park was a small soldier's memorial shed and inside, a cupboard that the locals stock with home grown produce, books and other things for swapping and trading - what a great idea!