Melbourne and Home

 Time to say goodbye to Kerrie and Bendigo and head to Melbourne. Called in to Melton and caught up with my brother Gary at his warehouse . Gary gets excess stock and returns from various places including excess stock from Canberra Costco, so I brought some items to bring back to Canberra!

Headed to Boronia, where Amy and I were staying with friends- Louise and Ron Vinck, they spoil us!

Over the next 5 days we caught up with my brothers Kim and Michael and families which was nice. 

Louise and I enjoyed a lovely walk in the Dandenongs, one of my favourite places. Rainforest is good for the soul.

We finished our 5km walk with lunch at the Kallista Tea Rooms

Another day Amy and I popped up to Olinda and Sassafras in the Dandenongs, had a look around Juet, a lovely sculpture shop- would love a bridge like this for my dry river bed!

Managed to get a few walks in, including this park in an old quarry at Upper Ferntree Gully

Went for a walk at the 1001 Steps near Berwick, mum used to take me here.

Then called in at the Berwick Cemetery for a quick hello to mum and Simon, love that this place overlooks Berwick, is just up the road from where we used to live, and you can hear tennis balls being hit on the tennis courts near by.

Louise and I caught up with Brigit at the Hatter and the Hare for brunch one morning

Quite a magical place

The food was delicious

And so were the cakes

Then it was time to head back to Canberra. We headed home via Lakes Entrance where we stayed the night. We stopped for a lovely lunch at the small town of Rosedale. This cafe is now on our must stop list.

Home made hearty vegetable and barely soup with a very yummy warm cheese scone!

Enjoyed a walk across the lake at Lakes Entrance

and a walk along a tiny section of 90 mile beach

One of the statues along the foreshore

The next morning we drove to Orbost, then instead of heading to Cann River then up to Nimatabel, we took the Bonang Highway from Orborst to Delegate. Not sure you would call it a highway but it was 110km of winding road. ( We did know what we were getting ourselves in for)

It was a lovely drive, up through National Parks, Old Growth Forests and not much in the way of civilization so quite remote. It was a lovely drive. Stopped a few times to smell the forest and listen to the birdlife and check out the pink wildflowers.

We came across a sign warning us to slow down and watch out for the emu! Fortunatley we did and he was just around the corner. We stopped to take a photo, we didn't get out the car as he was coming over to check us out too!

Nice to finally arrive home after lunch in Nimatabel. We had very enjoyable adventure.

Bendigo Part 3

 Last day in Bendigo for Kerrie and I, Amy and Ada had abandoned us and were heading to Geelong in Ada's car to catch up for lunch with friends in Geelong and then onto Melbourne to catch up with gaming friends there. We first caught up with the girls and a very cosy and small  Food and Fibre market at local bowling club, said goodbye to the girls who were heading south and Kerrie and I headed east to Heathcote where we thought we would check out the Pink Cliffs of Heathcote.

The Pink Cliffs were the aftermath of the gold digging in this area. The area was first panned for gold, trees removed, then the soil was eroded away by the water sluicing that was done in the search for gold, leaving behind this landscape.

Kerrie and I

We then went in search of a swing bridge and a walk the other side of Heathcote

I love a good swing bridge!

We headed up the track to the Viewing Rock

Where the view was across Heathcote looking towards Melbourne

We drove home via Harcourt, calling in at the Little Red Apple Store, where we picked up some local produce including Harcourt Apple Cider Vinegar and Pear Cider Vinegar

Bendigo Part 2

 Our purpose for coming to Bendigo was for Amy and Ada to attend the Australian Sheep and Wool Show. It was huge, people and cars everywhere. Once we made it inside it was a fibre lover's dream. It was held at the Bendigo Show Grounds. There were about 8 sheds to go through that were selling wool, yard, all sorts of fibres, spinning wheels, looms, felting equipment, anything fibre related it was probably there somewhere. Many people were wearing their own creations and people would stop and admire each others garments, it was a friendly atmosphere. We left the girls to wander on their own and Kerrie and I set off to check out things at our own pace.

There were also a number of exhibitions on display - people are so talented.

This was Amy's stash, she has plenty to keep her occupied now!

We never made it to the sheep- so now Amy tells me she needs to go back next year to see the sheep .

The next day the girls went off on their own to explore Bendigo, and Kerrie and I did the same.

We headed to the Visitors Centre, located in on of Bendigo's many beautiful buildings. There was a big Lego Exhibition in the Science and Technology Centre, as part of this they had Lego versions of Bendigo's heritage buildings, many of which we later walked past.

Bendigo Town Hall

Sacred Heart Cathedral

We then headed out of town to the Grand Stuppa, the largest Buddhist Temple in the western hemisphere. It was very interesting and well set out with a self guided tour that took you past different statues and monuments and symbols from various faiths around the world. My mum would have loved this!

This was the statue of the 4 harmonious friends

Some of the many prayer wheels around the Grand Stuppa

One of the Gods inside the Stuppa

The roof was very impressive, with individual fibreglass panels each individually hand painted

One of the statues in the gardens

We headed back to our accommodation for a bit of a rest, caught up with Amy and Ada, then later that night headed out to the Moonlight Markets in the centre of town.