OMEO

Departed our camp on Lake Hume at Huon early as we wanted to get as far as possible
down the Omeo Highway due to bad weather being forcast in the next few days, and we
definately didn't want to be travelling through snow country in bad weather. 
The Omeo highway is quite senic and follows the Mitta Mitta River valley up into
the Victorian High Country, but it is so steep, narrow and winds around the sides of huge
mountains like Mt.Bugong and has 30kms of dirt road in poor condition and all with no guard
rails at all. If you went over the edge nobody would ever know as it is so steep into the 
ravines below. Edges of the road are broken away and trees have fallen down hillsides onto
the highway so we took it really slow indeed and managed to make it to our campsite on the
Mitta Mitta River at "Big River Bridge" (photo) near an old gold mining town called 
Glen Valley which is about 47 kms before Omeo. It was so cold so we decided to cook our tea
on an open fire and use it afterwards to keep ourselves warm. After tea we were sitting
around the camp fire when a local fox decided to venture into our campsite - well you
should have seen our dog "Daisy" go off at it - she must've thought it was a rabbit or 
something. No TV only limited Telstra mobile coverage at times here

TALLANGATTA

Well what a day we had today! We travelled to Tallangatta then 15kms. down the Omeo Highway to a campsite where we had lunch and luckily we decided to check the TV reception as we were deep in a valley of the Mitta Mitta River heading up towards Mt.Bugong. But as the Royal Wedding was to be telecast on the TV tonight it was imperative that we had TV reception, but alas no reception up this valley anyway! So we thought it wise to back track until we obtained reception and guess what! - we only ended up about 5kms further on from where we left this morning! We left from a camp called " Ludlows Reserve" (see photo) and we ended up camping in a reserve\boat ramp at a small place called "Huon" on the edge of Lake Hume again. Anyhow tomorrow we will head up the Omeo Highway as we hope to get to Bairnsdale early next week in order to pickup our mail at the post office there. But we probably will not have any phone or internet coverage over the week-end as we will be deep into the Victorian Alps passing Mt. Bogong etc.. (Cold too probably!) 

ALBURY\WODONGA

Travelled via Rutherglen to Albury\Wodonga today and we travelled 15kms or so on the famous Hume Highway, which was a big change for us after trying to stay away from big freeways etc.
After topping up with diesel ($1.56.9)at Wodonga we crossed the River Murray into New South Wales to take a look at Albury, which is quite a nice city and has grand old shops as well as many modern ones. It was a lot bigger than we had imagined and we had a little bit of trouble trying to find the road out to the Hume Weir as we had to cross over the top of the Hume Freeway to travel the 15kms. to the famous weir across the River Murray (photo). The lake formed behind the weir is called Lake Hume and we travelled below the weir across the River past the army barracks where I think my 
brother Colin was based for awhile when he first joined the army many years ago. We pulled up at 
a great little campsite, (recomended to us by a lady traveller we met at one of our previous camps near Cobram) around on the shoreline of Lake Hume called "Ludlows Reserve". It is a grassed reserve with free electric BBQs and toilets as well as a couple of boat ramps. We both had to help a 82 year old fisherman soon after arriving as he had a heart turn just as he was getting out of his dinghy and collapsed into the water, but all was well when the ambulance arrived from Wodonga only 15 minutes later and took him to the hospital there. We also helped a local chap who was having trouble with his "Mariner" outboard boat motor. TV and Phone coverage is good here but Vodafone wireless internet is very poor and we are only about 20kms. south east of Albury\Wodonga and 22kms from Tallangatta, which is a town they had to move 8kms further up the road when they increased the capacity of Lake Hume in 1956.

YARRAWONGA

Finally left our Easter camp at Cobram around 11am and after refilling our water tanks
at the showgrounds there and grabbing some "McDonald's" for lunch we headed to Yarrawonga
were there is a huge weir across the River Murray (photo) which creates a huge lake called Lake Mulwala, behind it which enables irrigation on a large scale around this area of Victoria for fruit, vegetables and dairy industries. We did some food shopping at Yarrawonga, but found prices rather high, but that maybe due to the Easter holidays here, as a lot of Victorians spend their holidays here (and everywhere else too!- there were plenty of campers at our previous camp site as well). So after taking a look at the weir and hundreds of European Carp swimming around below the 
weir we carried on eastwards for a further 20kms. and stopped at a nice camp called "Parolas Bend" 
beside the Ovens River in a state park.

COBRAM

We had great weather here today - sun was out so Lesley was knitting in the sun and Peter went fishing for awhile this morning. Three times Redfin followed the lure up to the surface, until it got snagged and was lost. Tomorrow will try to spear them with the squid spear, as they can be seen swimming around along the edge of a small creek as it joins the River Murray, so may have better luck then. Photo is of the fog that enveloped this area last Thursday morning. We also met a park ranger today who told us that several of the red gums here have been dropping their branches and whole trees have been falling over since the floods in January. So we decided to unhitch the Suzuki and move Lucky Pigs back a few metres as it was right under a red gum!

COBRAM

Our campsite on the River Murray here near Cobram has a great view (photo) and it was drizzling when we arrived on Wednesday and Thursday we awoke to a magical fog covering the whole area. We were lucky to get here on Wednesday as the place has become overrun with caravans and campers probably from Melbourne, they have been arriving over the last two days non stop, but fortunately we had selected a great spot that does not lend itself to others camping on your doorstep! We took a walk down to a bend in the river where there is a beach and it's like a huge caravan park with everybody camped on top of each other! - Definitely not our type of a camping holiday, but suppose it is the same in most other places at Easter time. We are going to stay here until after the Easter break now anyway.

COBRAM

Departed our camp just outside Echuca around 9am and ventured into the town itself to look around the historic Port & Wharf area on the River Murray(photo). There are several paddlesteamers upon which cruises can be done and many of the original buildings and their corresponding businesses have been restored for tourists to view as you walk around the port area. After a couple of hours of sightseeing we left Echuca and headed east, stopping at a roadside stop on the Goulburn River at McCoys Bridge for a coffee stop. Upon reaching Cobram and as we had travelled nearly 300kms since leaving Bridgewater, we refueled the motorhome (Diesel $1.539) then found a nice quiet campsite on the River Murray about 5kms north west of Cobram called "Dead River Beach". There is already a few other campers along the river here, so looks like it maybe a popular spot for the forth-coming Easter break. As it was raining most of the afternoon we decided not to travel too far down the track along the river in case we needed to get out if it rained heavier in the next couple of days. We plan to camp here over the Easter\Anzac day break and stay off of the road whilst all the "maniacs" are travelling over the holiday break. But if we get overrun here with drunks and trail bikes etc. we may move on anyway.

ECHUCA

We left Bridgewater today around 11am after saying our goodbyes to our friends at BlazeAid. We had planned to depart yesterday but we didn't return from a shopping trip into Bendigo until 7pm. Daisy & Lesley also had a haircut in Bendigo. After calling into the butcher shop at Inglewood to buy some fabulous local meat we headed north feeling sad to be leaving all our friends at Bridgewater BlazeAid which has been our home for the last six weeks. Our friend, Lorraine had left last week for the Easter markets in Goolwa then onto Wallaroo in S.A.! Last night we received a wonderful "thank you" card from Brett & Carlie Collins, who own the farm that we have been helping with flood repair and preparing for canola seeding and we have promised them that we will try to return around september\october to see all the paddocks covered in yellow canola flowers.

So heading north away from Bridgewater we called in to Mt. Terrick Terrick conservation park south of Echuca, but decided to camp closer to Echuca so we can have a good look around there tomorrow morning before moving on eastwards along the River Murray. Around 3pm we found a campsite about 4kms outside Echuca called "Wharparilla Flora Reserve Rest Area" where we setup camp for the night and another motorhome and two caravans also pulled up later as well. But we really enjoyed two of  the huge T-Bone steaks we purchased this morning in Inglewood

BRIDGEWATER

We are still doing volunteer work for BlazeAid at Bridgewater, we were going to head on to their other base camp at Charlton but one of the local farmers we have met here has had to move out of his house, so we agreed to help Lorraine move all their house contents to Bendigo. But BlazeAid agreed to help as well so Peter has been helping do the farm work whilst Lesley, Lorraine and other BlazeAid volunteers have been packing and moving everything to Bendigo for the last week. Peter has been driving tractors and even ploughing the paddocks in order to get them ready to plant canola crops on the farm. Tomorrow Lesley, Lorraine and Anabel are coming out to the farm to help clean flood debris etc. from some fences.