The Final Leg – Maldon to Geelong

2 – 3 December 2022

We found our cabin in the caravan park at Maldon and to say we were underwhelmed would be a big overstatement. It was old, tired and not particularly clean in some parts. It was, however, adequate for our overnighter before sailing to Tasmania.

We had booked a night sail so we had the whole day to fill in. Unfortunately the time had been changed from 9:30pm to 11:30pm so that day would be a very long one! We started by going into Maldon for a look around and to have morning tea. Maldon retains many of its original buildings from when the town was established at the height of the Victorian gold rush. Many businesses don’t open until 10:30 or 11:00am giving us an indication that this is a town very reliant on weekend tourism. We browsed the town and considered the route we would take to Geelong.

Our next stop was Castlemaine, about 20 kilometres away. Castlemaine is bigger and was a much busier place so we parked in a back street and wandered around the main street. We did some Christmas shopping and found an art exhibition in the very nice visitor information centre before adjourning to a bakery for lunch.

From Castlemaine we set off for Daylesford – a drive of about 40 kilometres. We knew this place would be even busier as we had visited on a previous trip. We didn’t stay long – just a quick walk up the street to browse in a couple of op shops. From there we headed the short distance down the road to Sailor’s Falls. This is a nice spot with a walk down lots of stairs to the falls themselves. Unfortunately the promised loop walk to the spring was closed. It was a really hot day so we weren’t keen on too much walking anyway.

Next stop was Creswick, another 30 kilometre drive. This is a nice small town where we had ice creams followed by a walk up and down the main street. We called in to the Visitor Information Centre to try to find somewhere to spend some time but the place we chose was absolutely full of young people enjoying the swimming area with much gusto. Definitely not what we were hoping for so we made our way to Ballarat, another 20 kilometres away.

Ballarat is a major city and we knew it had a large botanic gardens and lake so that was where we headed. Along the way we found the cheapest fuel we had seen for a very long time – under $2.00 per litre for diesel and more than 25c per litre cheaper than we had seen up the road a bit. Of course we filled up as we didn’t expect to see that sort of price again for a while, if ever.

We spent some time having a look around the botanic gardens, including the glass house with its beautiful array of flowering plants. With time still to spare we took the car to a nearby carwash then returned to the Botanic Gardens to consider our next move. We decided that the best thing to do would be to hang around in the gardens for a bit longer then have dinner in Ballarat before driving to Geelong.

We used a popular review website to choose a pub for dinner and were very pleased with our choice. The Grapes is a small “local” pub which had a really nice, friendly feel. The menu contained lots of variety – without the heavy reliance on deep fried food so often found in pubs. Unusually for a pub, table service was provided and there was not a single gaming machine within cooee of the dining room. The service was great and the meals fantastic. We would happily dine there again.

We used Google Maps to determine what time we should leave Ballarat and we were finished dinner and ready to leave shortly ahead of time. We set off for the new Spirit of Tasmania departure point in Geelong. We have always found the drive into and through Melbourne to be very stressful so we were hoping the new port would prove easier.

Coming in from Ballarat the GPS took us around the outskirts of the city and there was hardly any traffic. Even on a Saturday evening we were expecting more. The directions were easy to follow and we arrived just after check-in had commenced. After a very long day we were glad to have the end finally in sight. The bonus for us was that the weather forecast was for a very smooth crossing. We were on board in time for a nightcap before settling into our cabin which was right at the pointy end of the boat. Because of the location we were not permitted to have the blinds open with the lights on to watch our progress across the bay but the late night departure meant we were asleep before too long anyway.

Patchewollock

28 November - 2 December 2022

We left Mount Compass and made our first stop at Strathalbyn for morning tea in a very nice bakery, then continued on through the Fleurieu Peninsula to Wellington. We travelled across the Murray River by ferry and could see that the river level was higher than when we had crossed at several points earlier in the year. After huge rainfalls across eastern Australia, the Murray River, and others, were awaiting the arrival of floodwaters.

We stopped for lunch at a small picnic area in Peake, still in South Australia, then continued along the Mallee Highway. We turned off towards Patchewollock and our destination on a property set up for birdwatchers. The accommodation was basic but had everything we needed and the hosts were knowledgeable and friendly.

Visitors to Explore the Mallee are required to participate in a tour of the property before making use of the tracks and bird hides so Mick went out with our host Michael on the first morning. The tour included some birding but is mainly an orientation. There is a cost involved for the tour and also for the use of the hides.

Mick visited the bird hides on our second day – one was best in the morning and the other in the late afternoon. On our third morning we ventured out for a drive into Wyperfield National Park, about ½ hour away. Michael had provided some maps with good birding spots so we stopped a few times along the way to Snowdrift Picnic Area and Campground. This campground looked like a lovely spot to camp with a huge sand dune as the backdrop. We climbed and scrambled our way up the steep dune to the top where there are magnificent views of the surrounding countryside.

We also spent time during our stay getting the trailer sorted and ready to go into storage as well as packing the car ready to go to Tasmania. We were fortunate to have bright sunny days so we were able to make sure everything was dried out and decided to make our last night before sailing to Tassie, a night in a cabin, just in case. Finding a cabin for a Friday night in reasonable proximity to Bendigo where we were to leave the trailer, proved to be quite a challenge. In the end we found one in Maldon that would allow us to drop the trailer off on Friday afternoon, and then make our way to Geelong for our Saturday night sail.

With a relatively short drive to get to Bendigo we left Explore the Mallee mid-morning and headed along minor road towards Wycheproof,  then on to a lovely picnic area near the river at Charlton for lunch. The nearby caravan park looked like a nice spot as well. From there we drove to the caravan storage facility just out of Bendigo.

Once we had dropped the trailer off we set off to drive to Maldon for our last night before sailing to Tasmania.