Lake Eppalock

38km east of Bendigo. A pretty lake in an open valley. Saw plenty of Roos lying in roadsides paddocks on the way and at the Lake itself is a yacht club, a boat club, a kiosk, and lots of picnic areas with tables etc spread over this large park. Myriads of tracks lead off in all directions to boat ramps and launching spots. I drove down to one of the sheltered arms and started fishing near a big stump at the waters edge just off the wind line. Didn't take long before a feisty little rainbow trout grabbed the red woolly bugger (real name). I was using Grandad's flyrod reel and wet line, with one of my homemade lures. Not long after that another one slightly bigger took the lure and I landed her also. With a fishy tea assured, I moved around further to a rocky point but no more takes. The wind had started to come up and I changed rods to a threadline and veltic spinner. 3 retrieves later I hit a snag, only this one started to move away and I was attached to a strong fish. It was stubborn and refused to give up but I kept the pressure on and to my surpise a good-sized Redfin Perch came to the bank. It was just on a kilo in weight. The Rainbows were 500gms and 700gms respectively. They look different to the kiwi Rainbows, being hatchery bred and stocked into the lake as fingerlings.
There were several small boats out on the lake, and these started to trickle back in as the wind came up - time for me to leave. The fish are there, and I hope to get back and have some more fun - at least I've broken the duck and tonight I'll have the little 'uns on the BBQ with their tummies stuffed with butter, fresh mint, and wrapped in tin foil to keep the juices in. (SORRY GRANDAD)

The Jacaranda trees are out in flower - that lovely pale lilac colour - I'll post some pics during the week.

Petrol is $1.11 per litre at Caltex

TV: A new series of Red Dwarf starts on Monday ...... hooray
Supernatural also returns on Monday ......... spooky

All Blacks defeated France at Le Stade Velodrome Marseille 39 to 12 on Sunday morning. It wasn't just a defeat for the French, it was a rout on their home field. I listened to it on the internet via NZ Radio Sports feed.

BENDIGO Monday 30th
Raining and cool again. No complaints, it's good for the lovely state of Victoria. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) will be glad of the temporary respite.
Just a mention that the BBQ'd trout were very tasty done in tin foil, along with homemade potato wedges on the side. Porterhouse with vegs is on the menu for tonight.

Wednesday 2nd Dec
Did a tiki tour of the reservoirs around Bendigo. Primed the GPS for all the locations and let it take me there. First off was Crusoe reservoir, an amazing 7 mins drive from the caravan park. An attractive place with tree planting, tracks and seats, the water very low but not muddy so I threw a line in for half an hour. Nothing came to the hook but the water was low and warm. From there I went into town and then east to the suburb of Kennington. The lake there is quite lovely surrounded by native trees and well formed tracks. Rather than fish I went for a walk around the tracks. Lara the GPS then took me back to a small reservoir near Crusoe, called simply "No.7". This is a national park area with BBQ's, seats and formed tracks. The information board said that there was a colony of black parrots living in the local trees which apparently is quite rare for this part of the country, so we might go back one evening while in Bendigo and see if we can spot them. In the afternoon I joined the crowds at the shopping mall Kangaroo Flat.

Bendigo

Pop of 100,000 on the Calder Highway to Melbourne. It's no small country town.
The van is in a Caravan Park about 10kms south of the CDB at a place called Kangaroo Flat. KF is a large commercial area with banks and K-Mart and The Warehouse, Coles, Safeway, Centro with it's bunch of shops and cafes, and the shopping village where they sell cheap groceries etc. Lots of takeaways too.
Another big thunderstorm heading our way - saw it on the dopler radar and it looks nasty. Got the Van well tied down and braced.
Sunday if the weather is reasonable (want the barometer moving up) I'm off to Lake Eppalock to catch some fish. I have one of Grandad Angus's flyrod's and reel to try out, see if it brings me some luck for a change.

Saturday 26 Nov
Storm arrived 11pm and passed through quickly, dumping some rain and a bit of thunder in the distance. Not as violent as the one at Tongala. Today is cool (17) and overcast. Going into Bunnings (where queuing is just the beginning) to get some hose fittings and some tubing to fix the radio aerial I broke yesterday.

Getting back on track

Grandad is settling into his new abode - there are new faces to get to know and it's quite different from public hospital - not so many staff. He has his good and bad days, but he is still bright and alert.
I am flying back to Melbourne on Wednesday to shift the van down to Bendigo, a little closer to Melbourne on a main highway system. Chris is following in 9-10 days time. We still have Echuca Bendigo and Ballarat to spend some time at, then do a big loop back up north via the Hume highway via Albury to ACT. Won't be going down to Lorne and the great ocean road area, nor the Mornington Peninsula, it's being plagued with bush fires so perhaps a place to avoid, will do that bit another time perhaps. Will also not be going through Gippsland east of Melbourne - another fire prone district. Can't give any dates - have to play it by ear.
Weather in Christchurch is fine and 20's. I heard from Deb in Melbourne that it's been raining .... whoopeeee !

Update from Un Zud

Arrived Christchurch in a blustery norwester - interesting landing.
Saw Grandad, he was weak but awake. No change since we have been here. Tomorrow he is going to an aged care home with hospital facilities near the Avon river here in Christchurch where they have a bed for him. Has to have 24hr care. Sat up on edge of bed a couple of days ago and had his lunch but effort exhausted him. Very alert and looking forward to the change of scene - ward 26 is a working cardiac ward and very noisy.His new room overlooks a rose garden so that will be a nice view for him.
Once he is settled in, we are looking at coming back to Victoria around the 25/26 Nov. With a daily high here of only 13-18, going back to high 30's is going to be a challenge.

Change of plans

Chris has had to fly back to NZ as Grandad is gravely ill in Christchurch Hospital.
I drove her down to Melbourne airport today to catch an evening flight.
Thank heavens for our GPS (Lara) - she took us right to the entrance to the International Departures area, and then took me back to Tongala. If things worsen over in NZ I'll leave the van parked here and fly over myself. Deborah, family friend who lives 15 mins from the airport has offered to park our vehicle (s) while I cross the ditch - thanks Deb). There won't be any updates for a while, but we will come back here and continue our trip thru Echuca, Bendigo, Ballarat etc.

update 13/11/09
I'm heading over to Ch-Ch tomorrow to join Chris for a while. Depending on how long we are away in NZ will prob have to shorten the tour of Victoria by heading north again from here via Albury and the Hume highway, to ACT Thredbo and Sydney. We'll see

Tongala - Kyabram

We are at the caravan park Tongala, a small town 20mins drive south of Echuca.
Nice grassy site and inexpensive. Booked in for 5 nights.
Today drove 10mins to large country town of Kyabram to do some banking. Picked up some cream cakes from the bakery, filled up the Triby's tank and came back. Just waiting on passports to arrive from Brisbane so Chris can go back to Christchurch via Melbourne airport and see Grandad Small who is still in hospital.

Heatwave

Arrived at the camping site Tocumal early afternoon to be greeted by 40 degs in the shade and lots of flies. Got the awning up quick smart. Camp was fairly loaded and many people swimming or sitting in the Murray river. One group had their camp chairs in the water and were sitting back drinking stubbies !. Nothing wrong with that. Unbearable inside the van so we retired to the local pub to cool off outside and inside. Chris met up with a scrapbooking friend and we spent a pleasant arvo around the table in the coolest bar.

Tues 3 Nov (Melbourne Cup day)
Overnight the temp dropped dramatically and is now 21.5 with a firm wind from the southeast - that's a big relief and it has just started to rain. Two weeks ago in this same spot it was freezing. The little wood duck family of chicks that we saw then have all grown up and are flying with their parents. A lot of the campers are moving out this morning making it less crowded. Tomorrow we move on to the Echuca area of the Murray, ie Tongala 30kms south. The camping prices around this popular tourist area (Echuca) over the Cup weekend have skyrocketed (call it gouging) with tent sites costing up to $50 a night, so we are staying well out of it. Motorcycles: there are more of them on the roads than ants. Not hundreds but thousands. After the recent races at Phillip Island, the roads were choked with them returning home for more than a week.

Movin' on

Leave Tallangatta tomorrow for Tocuwal and Echuca.
Eastern Victoria is a beautiful place this time of year, it is so green, and full of history, Ned Kelly, The man from Snowy River and many others. We have met some great people, some live here, others are travellers like us. This is a place we will have to come back to sometime in the future to see more of the alpine area, and fish the lovely streams. Hope the rest of the state is as good as this.
Grandad Small is in hospital at Christchurch and not so good, but he's been through a tough spell and recovery at his age is slow.