Bendigo, VIC

21 November 2010; Mt. Alexander, VIC

Well, we never made it back to the Vaughn area. Instead we headed north and east towards Mt. Alexander . We spent last night in an old Oak Plantation area. It was planted in 1900 so the oaks are VERY big and very majestic. Once again we were all alone although a number of vehicles did drive by us.

Camped among the oaks

Bunyip got to make his first river crossing to get to the site! Keep in mind if you watch the video that I was able to wade across this "river" and it never got deeper than midcalf.

Trox did a nice ride before dinner and as usual he came back with a "bouquet" for our table. He has been bringing flowers at every campsite although this bouquet was trees and grasses because there were very few flowers.

dinner table with bouquet

As I sit writing this I am at the picnic table at our site for tonight. Trox is preparing to leave for a ride and I'm about to move to a more comfortable spot to read. The weather today is very nice with big fluffy clouds but no threat of rain. We have been watching the birds and listening to the multitude of calls including the Laughing Kookaburra.

I have been keeping track of the roads we have traveled via the GPS and will start posting a copy of our tracks on a regular basis. This track is from the 15th when we left Firth Park to this morning when we entered the Mt. Alexander Regional Park. Typical of us our daily average is extremely low - we are beginning to think there is no way we will see the whole country is a year.

Where we've been since 15 November

22 November 2010; Mt. Alexander, VIC

Last night we stayed in a picnic ground that said we could stay overnight. It has turned pretty hot but here it was cool at night.

Campsite in a picnic ground

Trox did a ride last night after we arrived here and got "sorted". Today we headed for Bendigo which is mostly north. We tried to get to a water reservoir which was on all of our maps but couldn't figure out how to get to it. When we visited the visitor center they informed us it supplies part of Bendigo's drinking water and is closed to the public. OH!

We spent the night in the Greater Bendigo National Park. I still haven't figured out what constitutes a national park here. It seems to me that the Regional Parks are way nicer. Tonight we are staying in a spot that we found after dark (NOT a good idea). Pulled in and only one other person was there and he was parked under the picnic shelter (we're not sure why) and had his tent set up alongside. He came over to say hi and to see if he could borrow a torch (flashlight) so he could find his own.

23 November 2010; Bendigo, VIC

Today we are at the Bendigo library so Trox can check on his bike order and I can post this. Not sure where we're going to stay tonight - what else is new?