Victoria countryside

After leaving Fulham we criss crossed our way around Victoria, we drove through the Grampians but choose to camp outside the National Park, Cherrypool camp at Brimpaen was a nice spot in the bush, we elected to stay away from the gravel toilet area instead we found a nice spot in a clearing sounded by bush. We were only driving short distances, some camps were only 12klms away from the previous overnight stop. 

We had arranged to meet up with friends Brian & Lis at Laancowrie Reserve which is beside the Loddon River, 20klms from Maldon. We have friends in Maldon and were calling in and staying a night or two on Monday so that gave us two nights to catch up with Brian & Lis. As usual it's always good to meet up and exchange stories, they were returning from Ahnem Land and had a great experience staying with people they knew. Laancowie was reasonably busy, everyone still had plenty of space but if I have a preference it's looking at no one camped nearby. We did meet some interesting people though, a German prospector and his Asian wife and another couple who came in towing a Ultimate Nautilus Camper, I had read about these bit this was my 1st opportunity to see one. We owned a smaller Ultimate camper back in 2002 and loved it, comparing this to that we both agreed that this was to lavish and expensive for something that requires setting up.

Before we knew it the days had passed us by and we were then visiting Mal & Lynne, the last time we visited they were talking about doing some alterations to their cottage, this time we got to see the near end result, what they have done with the help and expertise of a local builder is transform the weatherboard house into a funky home with a beautiful deck.

As usual we had travelled to quickly and still had more than a fortnight to fill in before getting down to Vickies sister's home at Mt Eliza, so we continued to criss cross our way around Victoria. We found some lovely out of the way camp spots, one freaked Vickie out because we were deep in the bush at Langi Girhan State Park and she was concerned about bush fires, not that any where around, also there was a late arrival of a vehicle coming in that also had her on edge. We survived the night, and the birds greeted us with the beautiful sounds of the bush.

We spent a night at Avoca, and another near Ararat, at present we are camped at Lake Elingamite near Cobden, we intend to make our way back down to the coast and travel along the Great Ocean Rd & the Otways.