The Empty Esky Tour – Day 5 Broken Creek

Day 5, Tuesday 25/2/20 Broken Creek, warm 33 The boys drive into Benalla for newspapers. I shoot the sunrise over the sheep paddock. Over by the quarry there are rabbits skittering about and a family of purple swamp hens walking single file and busily chatting to themselves. We carry our coffee machine over to the camp kitchen to use the power and pay Doc an extra $1 privilege. It’s a beautiful morning to eat breakfast in the camp kitchen overlooking the paddocks and to have a little more room to stretch out for a change. We pile into one car … Continue reading The Empty Esky Tour – Day 5 Broken Creek

The Empty Esky Tour – Day 4 Vaughan to Broken Creek

Day 4, Monday 24/2/20 Vaughan to Broken Creek, overcast 33 A hot night and we slept well, the air smells of dry grass. We leave the others to pack up and we head into Castlemaine. We park beside the gardens and a friendly council worker explains that we qualify to park in the space marked ‘No Parking except for 6 metre vehicles’, it’s right behind the IGA supermarket if you’re interested. Now that’s good to know but at this point in time Woody has just realised that he has lost his car keys and that the car may have been … Continue reading The Empty Esky Tour – Day 4 Vaughan to Broken Creek

The Empty Esky Tour – Day 3 Vaughan Springs

Day 3, Sunday 23/2/20 Vaughan Springs, hot about 30 A few camps have left. We wake to the screeching of cockies. There’s no better sound on a hot morning than cockies screeching overhead. We laze about and take things easy and in case you’re wondering, the town of Vaughan is a collection of old miner’s cottages. There are no shops, just the remnants of 19th century mining, a Chinese cemetery and the Mineral Springs reserve. The campground is quite small, but it is quiet and there are toilets and water is available. It is the perfect spot to put your … Continue reading The Empty Esky Tour – Day 3 Vaughan Springs

Sex in the Sea and the Otway Ranges

Feb 2020, Otway Ranges, Vic A short drive from Lavers Hill on the Great Ocean Road, you’ll find the Otway Fly set in the rainforests of the Otway Ranges. We old buggers give the flying fox experience a miss but gallop off to the walkways suspended above the forest. We probably walk several kilometres in all and climb the tower just to say that we still can. The tower appears to be swaying slightly in the breeze or is that the gums trees moving. Hang on we’re just giddy from the climb. Luckily, we have a botanist in our group … Continue reading Sex in the Sea and the Otway Ranges