"No matter where you go, there you are."

WARRNAMBOOL

Wednesday 10^th January:
We got away early from Maryborough and drove through to Ararat then on to Warrnambool arriving early afternoon. We are staying with friends who live in Allansford which is a small village just outside of Warrnambool. We set up camp in the middle of their front paddock. It was a very hot day (39 degrees) so Marion and Jon took us down to a local swimming beach, Childers Cove. Wow, what a spectacular coastline. The cove was extremely pretty with giant orange cliffs towering over a sheltered bay. We all had a swim in the icy water. We had dinner with Marion and Jon (Elephant) in the evening.

Thursday 11^th January:
Marion and Elephant left for Melbourne this morning. Ferg and I took a walk and explored Allansford. In the afternoon we drove down to Hopkins River and had a walk along the beach where the river meets the ocean. We drove down to the Warrnambool breakwater then on to Thunder Point. Stingray Bay near the breakwater is very pretty and had lots of people enjoying the early evening on the beach.

Friday 12^th January:
Did a bit of shopping today. We bought ourselves a TV so we can now use the laptop and watch telly at the same time. We spent the afternoon trying to set the new TV up!

Saturday 13^th January:

We played bowls today at the City Memorial Bowls Club. Ferg wasn’t happy as it was fours and a bit boring. After bowls we dashed home for a quick dinner then
headed of to the local speedway for an evening’s entertainment.
We watched the V8 Dirt Car championships. It was extremely
cold but we thoroughly enjoyed the night.

Sunday 14^th January:
Happy Birthday Jess! Ferg and I checked out the Warrnambool markets today, there was lots of second hand gear, not much craft. We stayed home and watched the cricket in the afternoon.

Monday 15^th January:

We took off early this morning to Port Fairy. It’s a pretty little fishing village with lovely old stone cottages and beautiful cottage gardens. We parked at the old marina and took a walk past the fishing boats, across the footbridge and down the other side to Battery Point. We were surprised to see a seal swimming around tossing a half eaten fish in the air and chasing it. The seal kept us amused for quite awhile. We visited a couple of galleries and bookshops before heading home for lunch. After a brief rest we headed east along the Great Ocean Road. What a spectacular coastline, every bend of the road brought another incredible view. We stopped at the Bay of Islands, Loch Ard Gorge, The Arch, London Bridge and of course, The 12 Apostles. The Apostles are very touristy and not (my opinion) as spectacular as some of the other spots we had seen.

Tuesday 16^th January:
We awoke to an extremely hot day, 40 degrees. We had a rest day today and just hung around the van. Ferg packed for his Townsville trip.

Wednesday 17^th January:
Ferg left early this morning with Elephant to drive up to Melbourne. His flight to Townsville left at midday. I spent a quiet day reading and enjoying the solitude.

Thursday 18^th January:
Another quiet day for me. Ferg got to his doctors appointments and all is well.

Friday 19^th January:
I took Twistie in for a haircut today and went to the movies while she was being done. I saw the Will Smith movie, “In the Pursuit of Happyness”.

Saturday 20^th January:
Ferg’s on his way back to Victoria today, Paul picked him up at the Melbourne airport. Ferg stayed the night with Paul and Marilyn and will get the train home tomorrow. It is absolutely pelting down rain here today. Nothing to do but stay inside the van and read.

Sunday 21^st January:
It’s still raining with gusty winds. I picked Ferg up from the train station at lunchtime. It was good to have him home.

Monday 22^nd January:
The weather is still miserable. The laptop is playing up so we took it into Warrnambool for some warranty work.

Tuesday 23^rd January:
Went shopping today, Ferg bought some new boots for detecting. I spent the afternoon sewing while Ferg watched the tennis.

Wednesday 24^th January:
My birthday today, 48 years young! We decided to pack a picnic lunch and drive up to Ararat to do some gold detecting. We spent the morning at various places around the town but didn’t find any gold. We got lots of bullets and musket balls. We did a bit of 4wd driving up a steep mountain track, a bit scary but the views were great from the top. We stopped for our lunch then did a bit more detecting. We gave it away mid afternoon and headed back into town. I had a quick look in the Ararat Regional Art Gallery before we headed home. I cooked my favourite dinner (Lamb Roast) for dinner and we enjoyed a good bottle of wine.

Thursday 25^th January:
We spent the morning at the van. Ferg washed all the dust and mud of the Pajero and we also gave Twistie a wash. We collected the laptop in the afternoon but the part hadn’t arrived so it’s still sick. Hopefully the part will arrive next Monday before we leave. Jon and Marion arrived back from Tassie today. We'd been looking after their alpacas, ducks and chooks.

Friday 26^th January:
Had a typical Australia Day, hanging around the van watching the tennis and cricket.

Saturday 27^th January:
Ferg and I played bowls again today. It was very cold but we enjoyed the game of triples at the City Memorial Bowls Club.

Sunday 28^th January:
It’s our last full day here in Warrnambool. We spent most of the day cleaning up the van, defrosting the freezer etc. We’ll head off lunchtime tomorrow for Melbourne to board the Spirit of Tasmania.

GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS...... SO THEY SAY
MARYBOROUGH (VIC)

Friday 5^th January:
We made it through Melbourne without a hiccup and arrived in Maryborough early afternoon. Maryborough is in central Victoria and is in an area known as the “Golden Triangle”. It was very hot, (35 degrees), so we decided to leave the detecting until tomorrow. We bought ourselves a pick to go with the 2^nd hand detector we bought in Wonthaggi, so now we are set to find that big "nugget" (not).

Saturday 6^th January:
Our first full day of gold detecting in the goldfields. We left early and headed off towards Avoca. The countryside all around Maryborough is covered in diggings, there are large mounds and holes everywhere. We worked an area all morning, getting good signals, digging holes and finding BULLETS! There is an incredible amount of metal rubbish in the bush. It’s gets very frustrating after you’ve dug a large hole only to find a bottle top or bullet casing. We returned to the van for lunch and a rest then headed out again to another spot in the afternoon. No gold but we did enjoy walking around the bush.

Sunday 7^th January:
We put in another full day today in various areas around Maryborough. At least we are getting a lot of exercise. The muscles were a bit sore this morning from swinging the pick.

Monday 8^th January:
We drove out past Avoca and up into the Pyrenees State Forest to try our luck again. There was some spectacular views across the countryside from the top of the mountains. There was a lot of leaf litter which made detecting a little harder. After getting a bit lost on the many tracks in the forest we finally found our way back to Avoca for some lunch. We tried some old diggings on the road back to Maryborough but still no gold. We had a chat with our neighbours in the van park and they showed us the gold they had found (bugger!). So now we have proof it's out there we've just got to find it.

Tuesday 9^th January:
We teamed up with our neighbours, Phil and Chris and they showed us where they had found their gold the previous day. We all worked together in the area for a few hours but none of us had any luck. We headed back to the van for an early lunch then did some sightseeing out past Dunolly. We visited the historic township of Waanyarra. There wasn’t much left to distinguish the settlement except for the cemetery and one old building that used to be the pub.

GIPPSLAND – VICTORIA

WONTHAGGI

WEEK ONE 7^th December – 13^th December:

We settled into Kim & Phil’s backyard with the van. It’s a good spot to stay over the Christmas period away from the crowds of holiday makers and a good chance to catch up with family.

It was John’s Mum’s (Joan) birthday on Friday 8^th so we took a drive over to Phillip Island. Kim drove us around and showed us some of the interesting spots on the island. We stopped at “The Nobbies” to view the spectacular coastline. The surf was up and there were lots of surfers catching waves. We passed the Phillip Island Racetrack and stopped to watch the V8 Supercars doing there laps. It just happened to be the first day of the final round of the year for the supercars so we got a real taste of the sights and sounds. We had lunch at San Remo overlooking the water before heading home.

On the Saturday night we went out to the Wonthaggi Workers Club to catch a live show, “Walkin’ the Line – A Johnny Cash Tribute”. It was a great night out.

Sunday saw high 30’s temperature and smoked filled air from the fires in north Gippsland. We ventured out to the local Wonthaggi Market but didn’t stay long as the heat was unbearable (even for us north Queenslanders!). We were suppose to play bowls in the afternoon but even that was cancelled so we headed to the beach at Inverloch. Kim and I went in for a swim, the water was freezing but worth it. Ferg dipped his toes in!

We can’t get used to the Victorian weather, Monday dawned to a cold and windy day. It was way too cold to do anything.

Tuesday 12^th, Jess arrived down from Townsville today. Ferg and I drove up to Melbourne to collect her. We left early and called into the Queen Victoria Markets before heading out to the airport. Great markets we spent 3 hours wandering around them. It was fantastic to see Jess again.

WEEK TWO 14^th December – 21^st December:

We decided to head up to Dandenong Markets on Friday 15^th to get our last minute Christmas presents. It was bitterly cold, after wandering around the markets we headed over to the shopping plaza for a further shopping fix.

On Saturday, Ferg planted a new front garden at his mum’s unit in the morning then played bowls in the afternoon. Jess and I watched a DVD then I went of to bingo with Joan. Kim, Phil and Ferg went fishing in the evening and caught a couple of whiting. It was too cold for Jess and I, we stayed snuggled up in the van.

Sunday 17^th, I drove Jess up to her friends place in Narrewarren to stay overnight. I spotted a couple of markets on the way home which I just had to stop at. Meanwhile, Kim and Ferg drove over to Kongwak markets so we all got our fix.

Tuesday 19^th, we took a drive over to the Mornington Peninsula. We drove to Frankston then followed the coast down to Sorrento. There are cute little beach huts on most of the beaches down this way. We picked up Jess on the way home.

Wednesday 20th, Jess and I are off to Melbourne to stay overnight. Ferg dropped us at the bus in Wonthaggi at 6am and 3 hours later we pulled into Spencer Street Station. We dropped our bags at the motel then headed downtown to the shops. We spent the next 6 hours shopping. It’s amazing how the time flies when you’re having fun. Footsore and very weary we got back to motel late in the afternoon for a rest. Later we walked down to the Suzuki Night Markets to grab some dinner and take in the atmosphere of the live African band. We finally dragged ourselves home at 9pm. We decided to try out the rooftop spa, wow, it was fantastic. We had the spa to ourselves and the view over Melbourne was spectacular.

Thursday, we were up and away by 8.30am. We visited the Queen Victoria Markets then walked downtown to catch the free bus out to Chadstone Shopping Centre. It is a massive complex with DJ’s, Myers, Cinemas and 100’s of boutique shops. We spent several hours checking them all out. We were completely shopped out by the time the bus returned to the city. I was glad to be on the bus heading home to Wonthaggi. It had been a long day but we had both had a lot of fun.

WEEK THREE 22^nd December – 28^th December:

Too tired Friday! We did absolutely nothing for most of the day. It was good to be back with Ferg. He had spent the last two days bowling. Ferg, Jess and I drove down to Inverloch via Cape Paterson for a walk along the beach. The scenery is quite spectacular along the road to Inverloch. Twistie enjoyed the romp along the beach.

Saturday was another quiet day, Ferg went bowling. Jess and I mooched around the van. Sunday was more interesting. We went gold prospecting for the first time. Kim and Phil took us to a place near Foster and showed us the ropes. We had a great time even though we didn’t actually find any gold. We dug up lots of metal trash and learnt a lot along the way. We’re hooked!

Monday, Christmas Day! It was quite cold, a unique experience for north queenslanders. Kim had Christmas lunch organized and cooked throughout the morning. We all sat around eating chocolates and nibbling nuts. Joan arrived and we opened all the pressies. It was nice to enjoy a hot Christmas lunch on a cold day. We were all stuffed afterwards and found the nearest place for a snooze.

Tuesday, Boxing Day Test! Sydney to Hobart Race! What else but to sit around eating leftovers and watching the Cricket. Doesn’t everybody?

Wednesday 27^th, time to do something, the sun is shining. We set off early for a sightseeing tour of Phillip Island. Our first stop was the Vietnam Vets Museum on the island. Unfortunately it has just moved to the new premises and was not quite set up. It was still very interesting. We drove on to “The Nobbies” and took a stroll along the boardwalk. It is nesting season at the moment and we saw lots of nesting seagulls and the odd penquin. Most of the little fairy penquins were hiding under the boardwalks. The scenery is spectacular and it was worth braving the icy cold wind blowing of the water. We moved onto Cowes and stopped there for lunch and a walk along the main street. There were lots of Melbournians down for their summer holiday.

Thursday 28^th, we took Joan and Jess to the movies at Leongatha. We saw “Happy Feet” and thoroughly enjoyed it.

WEEK FOUR 29^th December 2006 – 4^th January 2007:

Friday 29^th, Ferg bowled in a pairs tournament at Wonthaggi Bowls Club. Jess and I headed up to Cranbourne to ….. (you’ll never guess)….. Shop!! I’m a bit over shopping now after Christmas. Ferg did well in the comp and only just missed out in winning overall.

Saturday 30^th, packing day for Jess as she heads home tomorrow. I went to bingo with Joan in the afternoon. Ferg cooked up his special spaghetti bol for dinner. It was early to bed for all of us as we had to be up by 3am to drive up to Melbourne.

Sunday 31^st, bleary eyed, we drove through Melbourne and out to the airport. The freeways were deserted so we had a good run through. I said my farewells to Jess and she boarded her plane to Townsville at 5.30am. Ferg and I then drove back through Melbourne and stopped at the St Kilda Markets on the way home. We didn’t stay up for the New Year.

Monday 1^st January 2007, Happy New Year! Ferg and I were up early and we were on the road to Foster by 7.30am. We were off on our first solo prospecting trip with great expectations. We spent the morning detecting and digging up metal trash. Great fun! We continued on after lunch until a rain storm came over. We got home late afternoon, very tired but we had enjoyed the day.

Tuesday 2^nd, my arms are very sore this morning from wielding the pick. I will have to develop some muscles. Ferg’s watching the fifth cricket test and I’m finally catching up with this blog.

Wednesday 3^rd, Ferg’s bowling again today. I dropped the Pajero off for it’s 22500km service. It’s amazing we have clocked up that many k’s already.

Thursday 4^th, Ferg and I both played bowls today in 35 degree heat. We just can’t get used this weather. As it was our last day in Wonthaggi we took Kim, Phil and Joan out to dinner at the Inverloch Chinese Restaurant. It was very crowded and noisy but the food was good.

Friday 5^th, on the road again, yippee! It took three attempts to get the van out of the backyard without taking out the house or the shed. Finally we were away and heading for the goldfields in Central Victoria.