Exploring Little Desert and Mount Arapiles

We had a slow start the next morning and enjoyed relaxing over breakfast with beautiful Blue Wrens, Robins, Kangaroos and a cute little Echidna who was passing by.  

Some time later we took a walk to Whimpey's Waterhole and enjoyed a couple hours by the water with some Rainbow Bee Eaters, Honeyeaters and after finding the source of a big noise above us, a young Goshawk and it's Mother.  The young hawk was almost fully feathered and we thought we might see it leave the nest over the next few days but it was still there when we left.  Looks like the kids hang around in the bird world too!

After lunch we jumped into the car and went off to check out some of the tracks in the National Park.  We had a good afternoon and found the very sandy tracks fairly easy to navigate though a little bumpy in places.  

Back at camp we spent a couple of hours relaxing before returning to Whimpey's Waterhole for the dusk activity.  Dinner and bed were not too far behind.

We were up earlier the next morning and had a big day planned as we drove out through Nhill to Kiata where we checked out a great campground and were very surprised to find no one there at all.  It was a bit hot so perhaps it's a cool climate campsite.

Leaving Kiata we drove on through Dimboola to have a look at Horeshoe Bend and Ackle Bend camp grounds, both on the banks of the Wimmera River.  The first one had a few vans and tents but only one at the other.  They are all very well maintained and look like a great place to put in the memory banks.  And a great place for our picnic lunch too.

We left the campgrounds to drive over to Mount Arapiles and Mitre Rock and on the way was surprised to see a huge body of water that didn't seem to be marked on our map.  It was Lake Natimuk and the whole shore line was just thick with waterbirds of all types.  Not one place to stop safely though so no pictures of any birds today.

Arriving at Mount Arapiles we drove up to the summit car park and then climbed the 50 meters to find a pretty spectacular view over the surrounding district.  As we where right in the middle of wheat country it was so interesting to see wheat fields as far as the eye could see and with harvest in full swing there appeared to be many different patterns on the ground as well.

To the left of us we could see the much smaller Mitre Rock and Mitre Lake right behind it.  As we scanned the district from the top we were quite amazed by the number of lakes we could see.  Some of them are salt lakes and others are fresh water but it all makes for an amazing sight.

Mt Arapiles is widely regarded as Australia's best rock climbing area. There are over 2,000 different climbs on its many cliffs, crags and pinnacles and the camp grounds below were full.   As we drove along the road at the base of the rock we could understand how it attracts thrill seekers from far and wide to try and ame this beast.   

As I was taking pictures of some of the steeper sites we saw three climbers at the top making their way down what looked to me like a totally impossible route.  I was very surprised to see them there as it was an extremely hot and windy day and we had found lots of people around the campsite.  Perhaps they were the sensible ones.

We left them to their adventures and drove home for some quite time under the awning before returning to the waterholes to see what was happening.  The Diamond Firetail Finch was the highlight of the night for Bill and he went to bed a happy man.

The next day we set off on another adventure.  We were going to drive the McDonald Hwy.  This is a 4wd track that goes right through the middle of the central block of Little Desert National Park.  

Like the tracks the other day it was very sandy and fairly deep in some places and while we managed it easily in the Jeep you can certainly see evidence of where some people have obviously been in great trouble in a number of places.  

It was a fun drive and part way through we came to Broughton's Waterhole where we stopped to eat our picnic lunch.  We can only imagine that this waterhole must attract lots of birds and animals at dawn and dusk but I don't fancy driving in and out at these times so I guess we'll never know.  Only two Cockatoos in the trees today and a few smaller birds around the picnic area but an amazing find in the middle of nowhere!

The 'hwy' finally met the real road and after putting air back into the tyres we drove on to have a look at Kaniva.  We had a coffee here and then took a walk along the Main Street where we found the Large Windmill and a number of painted sheep placed at various intervals.  

These sheep have all been painted by 35 community groups and like the elephants in Melbourne they are bright and entertaining.  I particularly loved the Cancer Council sheep and of course 'The Lamburger' just had to get a mention.

Back at home we hung out at Big M's waterhole for a while where some other honeyeaters had come to play.  Soon after it was dinner and bed as we rested for some more fun tomorrow.

Until then......

We're off to Little Desert......

After Christmas Day with the family we said goodbye to everyone and drove home stopping on the way to pick up the camper for an early start the next morning.  We were going to stay at the Little Desert Nature Lodge and while there explore the Little Desert National Park.

Where is this you might ask, just as I did too, never having ever heard of such a place.  The National Park can be found 375km NW of Melbourne.  It started out as a 217 hectare reserve set aside for the preservation of the Malleefowl.  Over the years this has increased to its present size of 132,000 hectares and it remains one of the last strongholds of the endangered Malleefowl (Lowan).  

The Nature Lodge, 16 kms from Nhill, is owned and operated by Conservation Volunteers, a leading not for profit organization. It borders the National Park and conserves over 117 hectares of Mallee habitat and wildlife.  With cabins, bunkhouses and camping it is a great place to base yourself and explore both the reserve and the National Park.

We got a reasonably early start the next morning and after stopping for coffee at Beaufort we found that Santa had not quite left Australia.  Perhaps his six white boomers didn't want to fly.  

After two more stops for lunch at Ararat and fuel in Nhill we arrived at our destination around 4 pm.  We were met by Peter, the Ranger on duty, and told we could set up camp anywhere we liked as there were no other campers there.  We picked a great spot beside the shelter shed and were soon having a cold drink in the shade.

Once we were settled in we set off with the mud map to find Big M's Waterhole and spent a couple of hours being entertained by masses of cute New Holland Honeyeaters.  

Crossing the lawns we were surrounded by many of the resident Eastern Grey Kangaroos.  These were grazing peacefully in the sunshine and were to be our constant companions over the next 6 days.

Another resident of the lodge was George, the emu, who spent his days wandering the property watching all the comings and going of the visitors.

After our big day on the road we were glad to have dinner under the stars and slept like babies not even waking with the first birds the next morning.

until then......

The Sounds of Christmas.......

Back at work the next week I discovered that while we had been away Christmas had come to Melbourne.  Every shop and arcade you went into was playing Christmas carols and every street corner seemed to have a Salvation Army duo or trio playing the same.  The decorations are all up, the Myer Windows open and Santa has arrived in Melbourne not once but twice one week apart.

I found it a little difficult to accept that this was right as we had been away in the bush with no visible evidence of Christmas and to come back and see it in overdrive seemed to be an assault on the senses.  Slowly I came to realize that it wasn't going away any time soon and so now the  tree is up, the cards have been sent, the shopping done and I'm even singing along with some of the carols.  They say if you can't beat them.....

But before we celebrate Christmas in the Harris family we have one other big event first.  Ethan's birthday is at the end of November and we joined everyone for a bar-b-que and birthday cake before joining in to play one of Ethan's games, Logo. This is a fun board game seeing how brainwashed by advertising logos we are.  Can't remember who won but we had a lot of laughs along the way.

The next day Bill and I spent the day in town where we organized new glasses, haircuts and a look at some of the Melbourne Now artworks that had appeared the week before.  The Tram Bar at the Art Centre had had a makeover for the event and looked a little different.

The NGV was sporting a new artwork on its outside wall and a little further along we found a hybrid artwork/ Christmas Decoration.  Called 'Deck The House' it represents the artists childhood Christmas spent in the suburbs.  It come to life at night with many lights.  On the steps of the GPO we found a Christmas Choir singing Carols.

We finished the day off with a trip to the Comedy Theatre where we saw Agatha Christies 'A murder is Announced'.  It was a great production and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Getting up early the next morning we drove out to Werribee Treatment Plant where Bill spent a few hours trying out his new camera lens.  He had ordered it before we went away but it did not arrive in time to come with us so he was looking forward to seeing how good it was. It certainly is big!    The sun was shining and we were looking forward to some warmer weather at last.

Monday dawned and so did winter.  I spent a week in my winter coat as I walked to work and Bill tried to escape with a few days work in Qld.  Back at home for the weekend we spent Saturday in shopping mode at the market getting ready for dinner that night with Astrid and Hans.  We had a great night in and enjoyed catching up on each others adventures again.

The following weekend we decided that we had been home for far too long so booked our favorite cottage in Jamieson and headed up on Friday night.  We had dinner on the way in Yea and on arrival had a coffee and a chat with Angie and Freddie before falling into bed in Camellia Cottage where we slept like babies until the birds woke us in the morning.

After a leisurely breakfast on Sat we decided that we would take a drive up to Mt Stirling and found another great spot to explore.  This next mountain over from Mt Buller has snow in winter and in summer is popular for bush walking, horse riding and 4WD activities.  We drove up as far as the Kings Saddle but will go back in the future to drive further in.  As we had no lunch with us this time we decided not to go further this time.  Next time we will go prepared.  

We drove back down the mountain to Mirimbah where we had lunch and then followed the Howqua Track into Sheepyard Flats.  This is a camping area just near Merrjig in the High Country.  We found the camp and it looked pretty good with a few people enjoying the river.  On the way in we had passed a couple of other smaller camp sites and have stored these in the memory banks for further use.

We continued to follow the track expecting to come out the other end in about 30 mins but had taken a wrong track somewhere and about an hour later decided that we didn't know where we were.  Other than somewhere in the Jamieson State Forest on a network of 4WD tracks.   But between our GPS and Bill's own inbuilt GPS we managed to find our way out even though it was more like 3 hours than 30 mins.  Still it was an adventure but we will not leave the maps at home next time!  

We had dinner at the Jamieson Pub before driving back home for a quiet night in.  The next morning we enjoyed a couple of hours with the birds before we said farewell to our little slice of paradise and headed back home for another week.  After lunch at Yea we were on our way home when we decided on a little detour and followed the signs to Strath Creek.

Here we found another tiny town but kept following our noses to The Hume and Hovell Cricket Ground where we found an English Village Green in the middle of nowhere.  This lovely ground has been created from the former bush and farmland by a cricket loving owner.  

It is now a beautiful cricket ground with a stylish white picket fence, six turf wickets, practice nets, Pavilion, bunkhouse, lovely lawns and stunning rose gardens.  It was not open the day we visited but we were able to drive in and get some photos.

We drove on from Strath Creek stopping at the Murchison Gap Lookout where we found an amazing view of 'The Valley of a Thousand Hills' before continuing our journey home.

The next week was a little warmer, we had dinner with friends at their home in Diggers Rest on Saturday night, finished the Christmas shopping on Sunday and had a great night out the next Thursday with Marg, Pete and Peter M who had all flown in from France and Darwin for their Christmas in Victoria.  It was so good to see you all again and apart from the brats in 'The Blue Room' just like old times.  Enjoy your travels next week.

We finished off the lead up to Christmas with lunch on Sunday with Suzie and Bryce at a very nice restaurant, Mr Hobson, in Port Melbourne.  Right on the water it was a lovely lunch and so good to see you both again.

And so now with Christmas only 3 days away it is time to leave you here.  Bill and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas where ever you are.  Enjoy your day with your families and friends and I hope that Santa is good to you all.

until next time, Ho Ho Ho...........