After a fantastic week exploring the Surf Coast it was time to pack up and move onto our next town to explore.
We took a scenic route due north from the Coast up through farmland and rural towns with no traffic, reasonable roads and lots to look at.
We took a minor detour to check out Daylesford the location of the most recent series of the TV renovation show “The Block”. The houses were still secured behind security fences so we couldn’t get a decent look at the properties, the township is just adorable.
Apparently Melbournites use Daylesford as a weekend escape, flocking to the excellent restaurants and spa resorts.
Onward with no delay towards Ballarat which was settled in 1838 and has grown to be the third largest city in Victoria.
In the early 1850’s Gold was discovered in and around Ballarat and a gold rush ensued with people flocking to the area to cash in on their financial dreams.
The buildings in and around Ballarat are perfect examples of the architecture of the mid 1800s and show the level of money in the town at the time.
The glorious thing is they have been preserved and/or restored to show them off in their ultimate beauty.
We continued a bit up the road to Bendigo where we made camp for the next couple of days.
And the sun came out !
Bendigo similarly was founded on the back of the 1850s Gold Rush and it became a satellite of Ballarat for many years. It is now the fourth largest in terms of population in Victoria and is another beautiful town.
Tourism is a huge part of today’s economy and being in the middle of Victoria’s main wine belts many visitors come for the weekend – or longer to explore, eat, drink.
Just like we did 😬
We took a beautiful drive to Heathcote and visited the bakery (highly highly recommended) and a winery – can’t remember what order but both experiences were fantastic.
After a couple of days just relaxing and wandering about we set off again and headed north to our last stopover before heading home.
But first we took a little detour to the awesome little village of Glenrowan the scene of Ned Kelly’s last stand and capture of he and his gang in 1880.
I think Redgum wrote the best summary of what went on in this day – listen to their song at this link
Yeah he was a baddy – but it’s a great Australian Story.
We continued north through the Murray Region towards to border towns of Albury/Wodonga spanning the Victoria and NSW border which is extremely pretty.
Back into NSW and the roads changed (for the worse) and the weather changed (for the better).
Another hour or so up the Olympic Highway we arrived at the thriving Riverina town of Wagga Wagga.
We’d been to Wagga a few times previously and it never disappoints. Such a lovely town that’s large in size but still has a lovely small town vibe.
We have a favourite pub in Wagga, so it would have been wrong not to visit.
It’s a terrific craft brewery called The Thirsty Crow that has some of the best locally crafted beers I’ve had.
The property itself has been really well designed – not sure what might have been here previously but it is fantastic. Food options are brilliant – especially their “Dumpling Roulette” which offers 12 different flavoured dumplings and a board with a spinning arrow – spin the arrow and you have to eat the corresponding dumpling.
There is ONE super spicy/hot dumpling and you don’t know which one it is haha. It’s good fun and I don’t mind the spicy anyway.
Tonight was just a stopover night to break up the long drive home from Bendigo but the van park just out of town was fantastic- grassy, clean. Ideal for a night or two.
It was hot. High 30s and such a difference to the first couple of weeks of the trip.
Finally our road trip was coming to an end. Packing up in the morning was a slow process as the last day blues hit.
We took a lovely scenic route around Canberra, which brought us out in Braidwood sort of un expectedly.
Then the straightest run down the Kings Highway toward the Coast at Batemans Bay – down the frighteningly steep Clyde Mountain Road with serious switch backs and hairpins. Towing a van for the first time down here was a sweaty palm experience.
Onto the well travelled Princes Highway for the final 40 minutes to home.
Overall we drove over 3,000 kms across the duration of the road trip but never any more than 6 hours in a day.
The van served us well all along the trip, held up really well in all of the dubious weather and gave us a great place to escape that weather in comfort – and old mate Kayle the Dog was the perfect passenger and tourist – he didn’t complain once.
A great road trip that rocked a lot of boxes for us – and made us realise how much fun can he had exploring our own Australian backyard.
We will be doing a lot more of this ….
Ralph and Karen's Tours 