Alice Springs to Milawa

There's not a lot to see or do between Alice Springs and Port Augusta, so we did some big kms on leaving Alice, clocking up over 600kms one day! Now that's a lot for us. 

We only stopped in Port Augusta to do some shopping, and to pick up our next batch of Nespresso pods which had been lost in transit on their way to Alice Springs Post Office.  Nespresso are great to deal with, and they had sent a fresh batch to Port Augusta.  It took hours to track these down and after a visit to the Post Office (not there) and many phone calls, we finally found them at the Toll Depot just out of town.  We eventually got on our way and spent the night at a free camp at Indulkana.

Lake Hart, a large salt lake on our way to Port Augusta.

Lake Hart - Many vans here overnight.

We'd seen a great video on the work Peterborough community have done to encourage tourists to stop in the town for a while.  It's a lovely little place and we stayed at the free RV camp in a huge green grassy paddock.  Next morning we spent some money having a coffee in town.  It's a great example of how a dying town can bring itself back to life.

The free train museum at Peterborough, complete with an electronic ride experience

Bright green and gold fields, true Aussie colours.  Canola and oats side by side

We had to take the car to Murray Bridge (SA) so the Torque Converter lockup could have the latest updates. This visit determined our direction home, but we wish we could have gone back north where it's nice and warm.  These updates have made a big improvement to the running of the LandCruiser.

Hahndorf

After Murray Bridge it was off to Hahndorf - a German town with lots of history and great old buildings.  It's part of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, but we were there for the German food and beer.

Jayne wanted a typical Bavarian Pork Knuckle, while I settled for a traditional Chicken Schnitzel!

The schnitty was excellent and the pork knuckle not as good as it should have been, and too much for Jayne to eat.

A 1 Litre German beer which cost $28. (About Euro 17.50) Now that's expensive!

But it was very good, so much so I had to have another

The inside of this cafe was full of old memorabilia - beer steins, grandfather clocks, plates etc

Lots of Spring blossoms in Hahndorf

The Big4 Caravan Park even had free mini-golf

The hinges had broken on our oven door, so our next destination was Melbourne to visit Swift Appliances to have it repaired.  To get to Melbourne, we decided to follow the Victorian "Silo Art Trail" on our way down.

The "Silo Art Trail" - Patchewollock

The start of the Silo Art Trail was Patchewollock, so we stayed overnight in the old school grounds, with power and water for $15.

We had dinner at the pub and talked to the friendly locals.  One was the artist doing the artwork on the outside of the pub.  He was busy the next morning when we walked past.  We also talked to 2 older ladies doing the art trail who insisted on showing us their rooms at the pub for the night.  One was $25 and the other (with a bathroom) was $50.  Cheap accommodation!

We'll look for the completed artworks on the internet

We're in "Mallee Country" and these are Mallee Fowls

The door to the ladies toilet in the pub looked like it needed some work!

During our morning walk, Jayne was attacked by a dog.  We'd noticed a woman in her yard on our way down the street, and that there were 3 dogs behind a wire fence with her.  On the other side of the road was a house with stacks of dogs barking and carrying on behind a fence.

By the time we walked back, the 3 dogs were out and all 3 came tearing towards us, with one of them biting into Bailey's rear leg.  He has bad arthritis and his legs collapsed under him.  Thankfully the dogs teeth didn't pierce his skin, but when Jayne picked Bailey up to stop a further attack, the dog laid into her, biting her calf.  The owner came racing out calling the dogs back, but she had no control over them.

Jayne lodged an email complaint with the local Council, and the next day, Craig the Animal Welfare Officer, drove 112 kms to visit the owner.  She wasn't there, but the guy that was home said they only had 1 dog, and it didn't look like anything we described.  He suggested that Craig visit the house across the road with all the barking dogs as he claimed it was one of these that attacked.  After we left Patchewollock we called into the Shire Council Offices in Warracknabeal (crazy names in this part of the country) to make a Statement.  Craig showed us photos of various dogs, asking if we recognised any.  We didn't of course, because they weren't the dogs that attacked us.  So it was their word against ours, and nothing will come of the attack.

Craig told us that the 20 dogs across the road were malnourished and the owner has agreed to let the Council remove them from his responsibility.  Our guess is that the dogs will be euthanized, and perhaps some puppies may go to a good home.  Something good can come from a bad experience.

The Silo Art Trail

Patchewollock

Lascelles

Rosebery

Brim

Sheep Hills (my favourite)

The detail on them all is amazing

Rupanyup

Morning coffee at Rupanyup at a tiny cafe in the middle of the street

Swan Hill (on the banks of the Murray River)

We've been trying to find warm weather so we decided to go to Swan Hill for the long weekend.  Both the AFL and NRL grand finals were on and we had a lively afternoon at the Swan Hill Club watching the AFL and cheering for the West Coast Eagles. They certainly are crazy about their Aussie Rules in Victoria!

Jayne eventually found a doctor open once the long weekend had passed and managed to get a tetanus injection for the dog bite.

They have large Murray Cod there!

The local water slide - unfortunately photos don't do the colour of this water justice, it was disgusting

A detour to Bridgewater Bakehouse - winner of the 2018 Vanilla Slice competition. Delicious and the best we've had

Kyneton

Another detour - Kyneton's Country Cob Bakery won 5 of the 2018 Australia's Best Pie Competition.

Their winning Seafood Sate Pie and Mince Pie were superb.

Kyneton had a mosaic wall in tribute to the Black Saturday fires on 7th February 2009 when 173 people lost their lives in the surrounding areas.  

This mosaic wall is made from items found left behind from the fires , each trinket set into a gum leaf

Each tile is made using actual burnt or broken items found at the different properties

After Kyneton is was a drive to Benalla via Campbellfield in Melbourne where Swift fixed our oven door and lid.

Another really good free camp at Benalla, Jaycee Lake. Right in the middle of town

Milawa, Brown Brothers Winery free camp

Brown Brothers Winery at Milawa has the best free camp of all time. Just across the road is free wine. The food there is very good and not expensive. What more could you want? No wonder we keep coming back here.

The area is full of gourmet food places for cheese, bread, olives, mead etc.

The camping has water to fill your tanks. Green grass for sitting on.

Everyone always gives us a hard time when we pull into a campsite, as the van has to be in the perfect position and straight. However here at Brown Brothers we excelled ourselves and unfortunately there wasn't anyone here to watch us. We even had to get a tape measure out to make sure the van was in-line with the gutter! The discussions during this positioning were extreme, to say the least.

Finally something with Chestnuts that I like!

Complete with hot air balloons taking off just behind the van!

Wake-up call of the burning roar while they fill the balloon

There we are just across the field of barley

Dog Bite Update

It's been a week since Jayne was bitten in Patchewollock.  The puncture holes were deep but they're healing, although her leg is still bruised and sore.