Friday, 5th April ~ Melbourne, Vic

It's all in the name. Doesn't Gentle Annie Camping Reserve sound like a place you just have to go to?

Located in Whitfield, Victoria, on the King River. Very nice .. pity about school holidays though. Nah, that's just me being selfish after having our Family Easter camp at Whorouly on the Ovens River totally to ourselves. After having all that space in the bush, now we're feeling a bit hemmed in - can you spot our van?

We stayed two nights before the rising attraction of personal attention at Kate and Adrian's front garden in Melbourne. And of course, their great company and the opportunity to spend more time with James and Ben too.

Our scenic drive from Gentle Annie's to Melbourne took us meandering through the hills of The Great Dividing Range, through the towns of Mansfield and Yea. We found a lovely little ol' time shop to have lunch - delicious lunch - of Caramelised Onion & Pumpkin tarts .. yummy !

Then on through the fire-scarred landscape of the King Lake district. Recovery is slow for everyone, including the trees.

Here in Melbourne, we're being thoroughly spoiled in our home away from home. mmm what to do first ... ??

Tuesday, 2nd April ~ Whitfield, Vic

Today, I say a big Happy Birthday to my Mum !!

We're back from our Easter family bush camping, so peaceful and special to have just us; and into bedlam, called civilisation. Good grief !

Instead of words, I'm letting the photos tell our stories...

Easter Bunny at the Everton Bus Shelter

 

 

 

Relaxing after camps established

 

Our camps on the other side

 

 

 

James and Ben in their 'Easter Bonnets'

(lovingly knitted by Noni xo)

 

  

Happy Boys at the Easter Hunt proudly displaying their Haul !!

 

 

 

a Glamping moment

 



'stick' damper

 

Popi with a couple of future birdwatchers

 

 

fisherman and the proud catch

 

While the millions crowded into the market at Beechworth, we opted for the quieter scenic fringes

 

 

 

 

  Bucklands Gap

 

 

 our nightly camp fires were very welcoming and warming

 

 Such a fun weekend, beautiful memories xo

 

 

Learnings about my Blog

I would like to share some of my learnings about my Blog and maybe you know already, or maybe you'll find something in the list to help you.

Photos;
the photo you see in the blog is a thumbnail image designed to reduce bandwith and download time. Click on any thumbnail and you'll link to the full sized photo and photo gallery.

Comments;
I'm sorry if you've commented and I've not responded. I'm unable to see your comment/s. Don't know why, but I've sent in my feedback. I am able to see a couple of comments from Kate, but I know of other friends who have commented and I'm not able to see it. If you'd like to comment, please email me kivaren.creek@gmail.com  -  it's always good to hear what you're up to and what's going on in your neighbourhood.

Friends / Followers;
I can see a couple of Friends following the blog, because I see their thumbnail pic. But I know I have more Friends following, but they don't show.  Don't know why and once again I've emailed my feedback.

Following;
You don't have to 'sign up' to the Blog or wait for me to email you the link to the latest update, if you keep an email, you can click the link any time and you'll see the latest story. Mind you, you don't have to read every word, you can just look at the pictures. Or not...


I think that there are better blog sites out there .. but this is where I started and I'm not changing, just learning.

Thursday 28th March ~ Everton, Vic

A lovely week in Canberra over and time to move on.

Our drive to Everton (near Wangaratta, Vic) was a little longer than we like to do, but manageable. We wanted to be in this vicinity because we have a 'pressing engagement' :) Meeting up with Kate, Adrian, James and Ben for our family Easter camp. YAY ..

And we knew, once we arrived in Everton, we could rest up.

I couldn't believe the lack of traffic on the Hume Highway. In the past, when we've travelled along this highway, the traffic has been quite heavy. Well a lot heavier than we experienced on Tuesday (remember this is a dual carriageway highway - no oncoming vehicles either, as you can see). Not complaining mind you!

We're in a built up part of the country (Australia, that is) now. The distance between towns is not as great as in Queensland (just as an example). I like to explore some of the history and basic facts of places we stay (or see along the way).

Everton is a small town located 20km from Wangaratta in north east Victoria, along the Great Alpine Road. At the 2006 census, Everton and the surrounding area had a population of 274.

Attractions of the town and area include the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail (a sealed off-road bicycle path offering 95km of cycling along former railway tracks), wineries, and the Victorian High Country. (awh, and we didn't bring the bikes !  ha ! )  Everton Post Office opened in 1876 and closed in 1965. Don't forget the pub ...

 

 

And the caravan park, where every site has an ensuite and car cover. Some have their own olive tree too. Might have to stay for harvest time.

 

 

Most of the customers at the park are permanent residents, who live in caravans that go nowhere. But then we saw this one. Somewhere in this creative construction is a caravan.

 

have a closer look at that dry stone wall, you have to admire the craftsmanship

 

another example of craftmanship we've found in Everton.

 

 

 

Thursday is rendevoux day. Guess what ?  It's raining !  Ahh well.

Happy Easter everyone. Stay safe whatever you're up to.

Monday, 25th March ~ Canberra

We have a 'very first' event .. it's the first time we've stayed long enough in one place to claim our free night! Last night, as the weekend was coming to an end, and both feeling tired and not quite ready to move on as planned, it dawned on us that we could stay another night and claim our 'freebie'. Done deal.

We enjoyed a lovely weekend with the added bonus of more time with Anna and Sarah. Sarah lives in Canberra and Anna makes the 3 hour (or so) journey from Nowra, to stay most weekends. The Old Bus Depot Markets are not to be missed and us three girls did them over pretty well. Ivor stayed with us for a bit, then flittered here and there, finally leaving us to it to enjoy some birdwatching in Telopea Park. We all enjoyed ourselves. Ivor luckily picked up a Gang-gang Cockatoo! Now that's special (but no camera with him).

After lots of sampling at the market with some yummy purchases made, it was time to head back to the van to fully relax and enjoy our market pickings. Followed by a sad good-bye to my girls. Ahh well, we might be back.

That was when we realised we were feeling a little tired and may not be quite ready to move on. And with the extra time, head back to Telopea Park, this time with the camera.

Ivor takes me to some pretty special places. Over breakfast we were making plans for smoko in the park, but then Ivor threw in a couple of extra birdwatching spots. Let's go to the 'poo ponds' (always good for birds you see) as the Freckled Duck and Blue-billed Duck (which we want to see) have been seen there recently. We dipped on the poo ponds as it is a construction site at the moment. Dam .. ? !  Across the road is the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, so we dragged our (disappointed) selves there again. We were trying to think like ducks and thought, well, lots of construction going on at poo ponds, just across the road (pretty close) is another nice area, maybe the ducks will be there. But obviously our duck thinking isn't like real duck thinking. No ducks to be seen (well, not the ones we wanted to see).

On to Telopea Park with a side trip to the bakery for some yummy treats for smoko. As we pulled into the car park, Ivor said, that's it, I just heard the Gang-gang. I couldn't, but maybe I'd become starving deaf. Once I'd had a half of a gorgeous, yummy spinach & cheese quiche, I could hear it. Amazing. There he is ...

there she is ...

Now, how happy would you like to be? happy with our yummy smoko; happy with our bird views; happy with our pictures snapped; we wandered around the park and soaked in the colours of a beautiful autumn day.

 

 

But there's more. We spotted this Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

And as we wandered back to the car, the Gang-gang showed up again and few down to the ground. WOW...

Pretty special.

Saturday, 23rd March ~ Cultural pursuits in Canberra

What a glorious, sunny day in Canberra today, one of those crisp, clear and fresh days; quite a contrast to the last few days that were heavily clouded with a storm thrown in. After hearing about the tornadoes in northern Victoria, our noisey, wild storm pales into insignificance. Poor things, it must have been very scarey and an event they won't forget.

On to more arty things .. 

National Art Gallery ~ we are here in perfect time for the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition - it's only in Canberra, not a travelling exhibition. This is my second photo .. I'm breaching copyright if I show you my first photo. I am well aware that no photography is allowed inside the exhibition, but I didn't know that that included the 'entrance hall'; so I got myself into trouble, not big trouble, but whoops! And the very nice lady let me keep my photo, only if I promised not to 'publish' it. It's on my phone, so when we next meet, I'll show you. I remember seeing the opening days of the exhibition on the tele, the long lines of people to view the exhibition, but our timing is lucky; no queues and plenty of room to see all of the collection.

 

 

National Portrait Gallery ~ another well-timed exhibition at the moment, the National Photographic Portrait Prize. As we'd been to the NPG in Old Parliament House on our last visit to Canberra (2006), we thought we knew where we were going this time. Just as well we double-checked as the new NPG opened in 2008. Over 1200 entries were received and 56 chosen for display. Using our 'judges eyes', we tried hard to see what they saw to select the winner and highly commended entries, but it's impossible to our untrained eye and we just can't agree with their decision. We lodged our 'peoples choice' vote - that wasn't easy either. I would like to have seen the full range of entries - we might have seen something more appealing to our judges eye. Over the last few years, I've contemplated entering, I'm definitely entering next year!  Here's a link to the NPG facebook page, where you'll see the winning entry  https://www.facebook.com/nationalportraitgallery.canberra#!/nationalportraitgallery.canberra

 

 

Another exhibition at the moment is First Ladies: Significant Australian Women 1913–2013.

 

 

Parliament House ~ always a treasure to visit. I think it's because I'm a lover of 'rock' and 'wood'. The most striking thing about Parliament House is the 81 metre high flagmast. It's one of the world's largest steel structures and is a central landmark of Canberra. In the Foyer, a eucalyptus forest of 48 marble-clad columns and two marble staircases and beautiful masonry and timber used throughout the building.

 

I think this pic is a hoot .. looks like some sort of monster, with the hands of the clock giving him a lop-sided grin.

 

the striking flagmast and the gloomy clouds

 

 

a surveyors dream; lining up the monumental buildings within the natural geography of Mount Ainslie

 

 

Time for time-out and off to the bushlands of Lake Ginninderra. It was a cold and gloomy twitch, and only 30 birds, with no 'stand outs' - probably sensible and keeping to their warm spots.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 21st March ~ a taste

I've been hankering for a 'wood-fired pizza' for a few days now, it's been another timing issue; in Shoalhaven Heads - wrong day (they don't do wood-fired pizza everyday); and you can guess the rest. 

But, on researching 'things to do in Canberra', I came across a double page spread bragging about 'wood-fired pizza' ... imagine that !? drool, drool ... not just one pizza place, but how many ?? But pizza will have to wait a bit.

 



We decided to go birdwatching at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, located very near to us. This is the top birding site, according to our birdwatching guide, but you have to remember that we live in one of the top birdwatching locations, so tone it down a bit. After lots of hard work, we recorded 31 species, no particular stand-out bird, but nice to see a Red-kneed Dotterel. On reading about the wetlands, someone commented about a White-faced Heron performing a showy circling flight around one of the bird hides. It must be his favourite 'trick' because he did it for us too. To be fair, it really is a great spot, with five bird hides dotted around the wetlands. Sadly, the wetlands were a bit dry, but 'the autumn rains will top it up'. (Not just yet I hoped.)

Then it was lunch time .. drool, drool. We happened to choose the 'poshest' place, linen napkins placed over your lap, no bottle of wine under $30 and $10 per glass, so the water (not sparkling) was lovely. But the pizza, OMG, crunchy base and delicious topping .. a simple prosciutto, rosemary and potato, fulfilled my wood-fired pizza dream. Come to think of it, a glass of wine would have spoiled and washed away the distinctive flavours. Afterall, I was there for the pizza.