Mon, 21st September, 2015 Janet & Geoff’s, Smiths Gully to King Parrot Creek Rest Area

Warm night but windy. 20.5 degrees in the van at 7am and the wind is still gusting well. Overcast start to the day though.

Said our farewells to Janet and Geoff as they headed off to work – poor things!! Thanks so much for having us stay and letting us leave the van and truck there while we holidayed in Cairns. Hopefully we will see them again soon as they might join us at Mildura as we travel down beside the Murray River later on. We slowly packed up. Jon rang to tell Steve about some gas things and he said that they got half of Dan’s carport roof up over the weekend – ran out of iron.

Lou rang about Bathurst tickets and I texted Penny about where we are going to.

The sky is clearing as we head off. Rebecca texted to say Clive’s tests came back clear which is a huge relief and they are off tomorrow to pick up their motorhome from Brisbane.

Turned off at Kangaroo Ground (180m elevation) towards Yarra Glen. Lovely and green through here.

Down the range overlooking Yarra Glen.

Stopped and got some fuel. This is where we had the lovely pub dinner the other night.

Through the vineyards of the Yarra Valley. Lots of new shoots appearing on the vines.

As we headed down from the turn off to Kinglake NP (350m elevation as we went over the Great Divide) Steve pulled over to let a truck past. Next minute there was a loud bang and smoke everywhere. He blew his front right tyre.

He managed to get it off the road and we pulled in behind him and put on our hazard lights. Steve went to see if he could help. They moved the truck a little further down where it was a little wider as we are on a narrow bit going downhill into a corner.

They got the spare off but couldn’t get the jack under the axle to lift the wheel off the ground. He introduced himself, Younes, when he found out he didn’t have any phone signal either. I did so I let him use the phone to ring is company to get some help. He thanked us and said to contact him as he has a house on the Murray River. They were sending out the tyre company so we headed off down the range.

Past more green fields as we head into Yea which is in a valley at the meeting point of the Yea and Goulburn Rivers. It was originally known as “Muddy Creek”, in 1855 its name was changed to Yea.

Stopped at the old railway station for some lunch then went off exploring.

The railway line is now a walking, cycling and horseriding trail.

Steve on his steed!!

Lovely old house as we walked into town.

Beautiful flowers too.

Some interesting characters in the school’s front garden – made out of horse shoes.

Someone was watching Gardening Aust as they are training their plants – we watched it the other night and learnt all about it.

More pretty flowers.

Hume and Hovell cairn as we head into town.

Lovely wide streets.

Some old buildings still looking regal.

The old pub next door doesn’t!! – not sure what part is left that was from the 1858 era!!

The Shire Hall was built in 1894 and is now under renovation.

Interesting information about Thomas Pinniger, the surveyor of Yea and that he surveyed a lot of Victoria too. This is a replica cairn that he used to mark his survey points.

Lots of hot rods in town today.

The Grand Caledonian Hotel was established in 1873. Lovely green tiles on the front.

At the ‘Comfort Stop’ the locals have decorated the walls with ceramics. The Wedgetailed Eagle represents Bunjil; the spirit Eagle. During the ‘Dreamtime’ he created the land, the animals, the plants and the people. He is now the Eagle Star.

The Hemiphelibia Miribus is a rare form of Damsel Fly that is found in the wetlands around Yea; it is known as a living fossil. One way to tell the difference between the Damsel and Dragon Fly is that the Damsel Fly rests with its wings closed while the Dragon Fly rests with its wings open.

Beaufort Manor is now a B&B.

Back to the truck and we headed off again to King Parrot Creek Rest Area. We checked it out last time when we headed up to Bendigo this way. Bit noisy but plenty of room. Two locals loaded their kids into their cars then roared off leaving their rubbish beside their cars!! We picked it up and jammed it in the very overfull rubbish bin.

Set up overlooking the creek though it isn’t the best view!!

The council came and cleaned out the bin. A couple of vans have pulled in for the night too. We spent the afternoon reading and updating my blog – on the road again and back into the swing of our wonderful life.

No TV reception and limited phone and mobile reception so settled down to watch a couple of the movies Jon put onto my USB while we were home. Watched two good movies – thanks Jon.