We arrived back in Melbourne at about 6.30pm to be greeted
by a hot and steaming Melbourne summers day. Little breeze and all of Melbourne
appeared to be at St Kilda beach. We missed the worst of peak hour after
disembarking and retrieving our gas bottles. It was too hot to walk Trixie and
all she wanted was to get in the car and not leave us after 10 hours in her
cell in the ship.
We decided that Beach Rd was the best way to escape the
congestion so headed for Mordialloc then towards Narre Warren. A few wrong
turns resulted in a slightly longer journey but we arrived at John and Kerrie’s
just as the sun was setting.
After a couple of days R & R we were off again this time
to chase up a bit of Markham history. Heading out through Ringwood, we made
camp at Molesworth Reserve # 225. A good budget park with limited power sites
though plenty of room for bush camping. The next day took us around the
northern part of Lake Eildon to Mansfield.
We checked into the Mansfield caravan park as there were no
free camps nearby and we wanted to check out the historical society for
information on the family. Robert Markham my great, great grandfather, his wife
Louisa and son William are all buried there and we went and saw the grave. The ladies at the historical society were
very helpful and quite excited to be able to investigate our family name. We
already knew that William owned a business in town from about 1900 to approx. 1907.It
was known as Markham’s Coffee Palace and is still a coffee shop today. We of
course had to have a coffee there and a chat with the current owners who were
delighted to hear of our link to the business. They even showed us the cellar
that was a relic of the former hotel that occupied the building in the mid
1800’s. Williams’s business also consisted of Livery, stables, bait sales and a
boarding house.
Whilst in this area we had to drive to the summit of Mt
Buller. It was a beautiful climb up to the summit car park at about 1750
metres. Unfortunately there was a lot of smoke from local bushfires so the
views were not so good. As Trixie was not supposed to be there we were unable
to walk the last section to the very top.
After a couple of very enjoyable days in this lovely old
town we continued our journey north towards Wangaratta and our next camp at Edi
Cutting # 184 a great free camp on the
King River. The river was very refreshing as the temperatures were still quite
high.
Next day we headed through Wangaratta and Yarrawonga (where
Aileene and I met in 1968) and headed for Cobram looking for a good free camp
on the Murray. After failing to find our first target we finished up locating
#301 at Horseshoe Beach and made camp about five metres from the water’s edge.
No toilets but a great free camp and the water was again a delight as
temperatures hovered in the high 30’s.
Running out of water and other essentials we decided that we
would move again towards Shepparton and visit some cousins. We found a site in
a previously visited park at Mooroopna and got a seven for five day deal that
made it very affordable. The park is not in the book but outside of the over
50’s village on the Rd to Bendigo. We wanted to photograph some of Aileene’s
ancestor’s graves in this district so a week’s stay enabled us to roam around
and catch up with some family. We travelled out to Numurkah and Bendigo and
generally had a great week.
Black Cockatoos at Nug nug |
Aileene’s cousin Di and her husband Karl were keen to take
us camping and so we then headed out to Nug Nug reserve near Myrtleford # 137. This
camp at $10pn or $15pn with power is a delight and we will be back next summer.
It has lovely shade from giant Elm trees and sits on the banks of the Buffalo
River at the foot of Mt Buffalo. What a gorgeous park, lots of bird life and
very beautiful with good water available. Four nights here and then back to
Melbourne Saturday ready to pick up Aileen’s sister Judy on Monday and head for
Lakes Entrance.
Camp at Nug Nug |
And so ended our third week back on the big Island. Sorry we didn't have many pics but I had a senior moment downloading and lost the lot. Will have to do it again next year!
Nug Nug Reserve |