Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gatew

... br><br>Sunday we pretty much just all hung out all day, chilled.. And then road trip to Wangaratta! Now the name "Wangaratta" you gotta say really slappy, kind of American, like &#8220;Waangaradda&#8221; lol. It&#8217;s a little city out in the country of Victoria &#8211; yes, the first time I actually went to the country! And no, after six weeks in Australia I still haven&#8217;t seen a live kangaroo. Although we did go on a ...

... they dug to get better access to the gold. Only one man was lost in the work, and it cost more than the bridge (which in itself was an expensive undertaking). It must have been worth it though, because they repeated the process again a few years later and the information board erected nearby reported billions worth of gold found based on today's money.<br><br>We met up with the others at the Bridge Road brewery again, after pausing ...

... too warm to snooze in the cabin. Later we headed out with my Uncle to check out Pennyweight Winery, the winery we'd seen the sign for on the railway path at the end of the morning's ride. I was really impressed to see they'd gone to the trouble of getting their products both Organic and Biodynamic certified. The owner was very friendly and allowed us to taste all the varieties on offer - two whites, three reds, and five fortifieds. We were intrigued by the Gamay, which ...

Today was a travelling day, from Kiama to Benella, about 650km altogether. Weather was cool but no rain and the ride was quite scenic but not too challenging.<br><br>Took off into the back roads on entering Victoria and went thru Beechworth and some of the foothill highways still heading towards Melbourne. Finally rejoined the main highway at Benella where I stopped for the night, only about 200km north of Melbourne now.<br>

We have driven further into the state of Victoria and away from the coast into the bush and mountains. During the drive, we passed several areas that had been affected by the recent bush fires, the trees were all black but begining to regenerate. <br><br>We first passed through Glenrowan which was where the famous Ned Kellys shootout ...

... off for the limestone quarry, then follow the signs to Holey Plains camping area.' In some cases, this would have sufficed, but for the few details it left out... namely 'turn off the highway and head for Y town before heading for X town', always an important one, the fact that the limestone quarry was called Calcimo or something equally helpful, and the fact that once one reached the State Park, there was a 7km drive along a very long and winding road. Hence, by the time I ...

We had such a full and wonderful trip, seeing and doing so much. It was very tiring but extremely enjoyable. It was all great, but for me the highlight was not the pyramids and temples but the experiences and cultural differences. In particular I really enjoyed the innocence of the country villages. The people have nothing but seem so content and happy. Materialistic things just don't matter. I would love to go back ...

Only 4 weeks to go and counting down! I am so looking forward to this trip. I'm sure that Mum is looking forward to it too but she doesn't show emotion and wont let herself get excited, preventing any possible disappointment. I don't think she will actually believe she's going to Egypt until we get on the plane. I am so excited to be taking my mother on a holiday and helping her to achieve her travel dreams. And Egypt, what ...

How does the saying go, 'one good road deserves another'? We don't think so but it's near enough. We headed inland from the end of the Great Ocean Road, skirting past Geelong and Melbourne. We didn't really have enough time left to 'do' Melbourne and to some extent we suspect that it is just another city, with highlights, of course, but we were more interested in the countryside. The target of our inland foray was the start of the Great Alpine Road at ...

... I glanced into the trees and saw a large kangaroo leisurely loping through the trees. "A kangaroo," I gasped. "And another!" I cried. Off they went into the trees. Unfortunately, it happened too quickly to get a photograph. When we actually reached the property itself, there was no road and the field was littered with huge rocks that could have easily taken out the bottom of the car. But we carried on, following the faintest of tire tracks in the long grass. At ...