Summer days in Chiltern

With Australia day falling on Thursday this year there was really only one thing we could do, take the day off on Friday and make a long weekend of it. We were both lucky enough to be able to get the day off, no Aussie sickies here, and with a 4 day weekend ahead we packed the camper and headed off to the bush again.

Chiltern was our chosen destination and we were looking forward to taking a closer look, having just touched the surface last time we were here in March. We had booked into the Lake Anderson Caravan Park and were suitably impressed on our arrival. The park is a lovely little place with spotless bathrooms, always a good thing, and just a 5 min walk to the Main Street.

We arrived mid afternoon and set up our little home for the next 3 days. We are getting better at this part and were all set up inside & out in about half an hour. We kept the man across the road amused as Bill tried to hammer tent pegs into the hard ground to anchor the mat. The nice man lent us a mallet which did the job in a couple of hits. Must get us one of those! Once we had unpacked and settled in our next task was to walk into town for a bit of shopping.

With the shopping done we came back to spend some time in the shade with a quiet drink before heading off to watch the sunset over Lake Anderson just 5 mins away. The lake has been created from the subsidence of Alliance Gold Mine operations and is now the centrepiece of a beautiful park with a wildlife & bird refuge. The Lions Club have done a lot walk creating a Chiltern walking path around the lake and wetlands and it was here that we enjoyed the days end before heading back to have dinner and settle down for the night. Once the sun had gone down the night cooled and we spent a pleasant evening watching a movie outside. And inside was nice and cool when we finally crawled into our very comfy bed.

Bill woke early the next morning as he was heading off to Bartley's Paddock to see what he could find. I can still remeber the spiders from last time so I opted to stay in bed and get another hours sleep. It was wonderful. Bill enjoyed his foray into the bush and was rewarded with lots of birds and he came home a couple of hours later a happy man. After my sleep in I spent an hour under the trees with a cup of tea and a book. What a nice way to start the day.

After breakfast we went to have a closer look at the little town. With a past deeply entrenched in Gold Mining Chiltern is full of history with most of the buildings in the Main Street heritage listed. The town has also been used for the movies, Ride a Wild Pony, My Brother Tom & The True Story of Spit McPhee. I'll have to watch them again to check it out. With most of the buildings contructed in the mid 1800's, at the peak of the gold rush, it is a very old and authentic streetscape with no modern buildings to spoil the feel of the place. You can do a self guided walk 'Chiltern Walk' taking about 1 1/2 hours to see it all. Over the 3 days we saw most of them with our favourite being the Bank of Australasia - now the Mulberry Tree Cafe. We just had to stop here each morning for coffee (the best between capitals, the sign says) & cake. This little gem is run by a lovely lady, Regina, who does all the cooking herself. Each day I had one scone with my coffee but Bill tried a different one of her home made cakes each day. Swiss Apple cake, Rhubarb cake & Apple cake all got the tick of approal and it really was the only naughty thing we ate all weekend. Breakfast lunch & dinner were very healthy options.

With the little town 'done' it was time to head out into the bush and see what we could find. There are many drives through the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park and we spent a few hours exploring these, stopping for a while at Dam No 1 where there were lots of little birds to keep us amused for a while. Went in search of Dam no 2 but couldn't find the way in so contented ourselves with the Major Mitchell monument instead. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch at the Honey Eater Picnic ground at Cyanide Dam. Another leftover from the mining days, the cyanide has long since gone leaving just a small dam where lots of birds come to find relief from the heat of a summers day. Just not today though we did see one gorgeous parrot siting waiting for us on our walk.

Leaving the bush for a while we drove the few kilometres to Rutherglen where we found another town, a little bigger and not quite as charming but historic none the less. We were here to visit Campbells Winery where we were going to buy some more Shiraz Durif, a red wine that we are quite partial too. We left with a mixed dozen of those, Durif and another blend. And a jar of Milawa mustard as well. Looking forward to drinking these. Leaving Campbells we mosied on to Buller winey where it was birds we were after here not wines. There is a bird park here and while there were a few lovely birds it was all cages and we have seen much better. Still it was not a waste, I bought a bottle of their very fancy Sparkling Wine. And while in Rutherglen there was one more place to visit. Parkers Pies are very famous for their homemade pies and we got some to have for dinner the following night. I had to try out the oven so what better way than to cook pies. I bought frozen uncooked ones so I could really try it out. The pies have won awards for their many and varied ingredients and though Bill wasn't too brave with a Jolly Jumbuck, lamb & rosemary, I was a little more daring deciding that the Kangaroo with redcurrant sounded good enough for me. They were both wonderful and the oven worked perfectly.

We spent an hour or so under the awning at home before venturing back to Dam no 1 to watch the sunset. Very pretty & peaceful by the water but not too many birds here so took ourselves back home for dinner and what better way to finish the night than with a bottle Shiraz Durif to send us to sleep. And with another balmy night we slept like babies dreaming of new adventures to be had tomorrow.

until next time ................