October in West Victoria

Wednesday 1st October Day1
Left home around 7:30am and arrived at Lake Bringalbert around 1pm

Thursday 2nd Day2
Went for walks and colected wood for a fire tonight..Rosie cooked with a campoven

Friday 3rd Day3
Woke to a foggy morning..packed up and headed to Lake Ratzcastle.......there were 3 other vans where we normally camp so we ended up near the swamp just below the toilet block

Saturday 4th Day4
Collected wood and cooked dinner with the choofa/brazzier Rosie cooked a roast lot more vans and campertrailers turned up ...still by ourselves

Sunday 5th Day5
Did same ol same ol....Rosie cooked breakfast and dinner on the choofa....we had a chat to some other campers......saw 3 wallabies tonight

Monday 6th Day6
Woke to a not so nice morning...by 11:30am we packed up and headed 60klm SE to Harrow...been here before..still $12 night powered.....storm caught us...wind and rain since we got here

Tuesday 7th Day7
Went for a walk.......lot of rain off and on ....chatted to caretaker and stroke guy with 4 sausage dogs and cabin chap...

Wednesday 8th Day8
Left this morning and headed SE...Had a look at Chetwynd then down to Red Cap Creek..which also turned out to be Casterton Anglers Club....said to ring a number..but only prob....
there was no phone reception...so onward we went ending up at Casterton CP $23 night powered....also bought a wrist watch...for some reason..at 4am the screen cracked on mine

Thursday 9th Day9
Left Casterton this morning and headed west on the Penola Rd found couple free camps...first being Wattle Glen...small sloping area in forest.rough drive in with van
2nd was 17klm from Casterton 3klm on from other camp.....called Long Lead Bush Camp.....found a level spot and set up.there was a newish toilet...2 shelter sheds and lots of campfire pits and tables...had a look around after lunch......there were no water tanks or creeks close by...reminder BYO drinking water...also this place has lot of trail bikers ....2 lots today

Friday 10th Day10
Spent day by fire...took plenty of pics....Rosie went for a walk around 2klm when she returned she was greeted by 2 DEPI rangers ...who spent a lot of time chatting with us about local camping spots.........last couple days weather been great

Saturday 11th Day11
we packed up before trail bike riders turned up...suppose to be about 200.....headed SE from Casterton through Merino...had a look at their Showgrounds then down to Hotspur then West to a camp area deep in a forest 17klm of rough track...only to find the last 100mtr bogged in with deep slop mud.....so we turned around avoiding the fallen trees on the way out...

.heading North we thought we might stop at the showgrounds at Merino.......found a level spot..the public toilets were very clean....rest of area been neglected ...after dinner a local farmer dropped by and offered the use of the hot showers in a building near our van...we gladly accepted...realizing later there were power in there 15amp ones...I put a stand we use camping in there so Rosie could at least boil a kettle.saving on gas.

Sunday 12th Day12
Went for a walk to a park next to a swimming pool being rebuilt ... the park would have been a botanic show piece in its hay-day but now long forgotten......and overgrown with briars (could be blackberry)
spent rest of the day sitting in a shady spot out of wind......there are no campfire here so all cooking done in van

Monday 13th Day13
Woke to a crappy wet horrid day....Rosie did cloth washing again....only did some Saturday morning at Casterton laundry mat......the wind and constant rain didnt let up all today.....by 2pm I thought the van was going to tip over so we roughly packed up and moved the van next to the shed...hoping it would protect us more only to see the wind change and now the Pajero taking the brunt of the wind.......only consolation...was now we could plug the van into the 240v 15amp plug ...nice to have the heater on...it was 6c earlier in van

Tuesday 14th Day14
Left Merino this morning and headed down to Dartmoor yes there are new toilets up on the hill
then went looking for Mill Swamp......finally found it just as well we walked in as you couldnt get a van in or turned around
Went back to Casterton to get fuel and extra food...then let the GPS get us to Fulham Streamside camp above Balmoral....eventually found it...not a good place to get a caravan into.....so we decided to go to Mountain Dam on the top of the Rocklands Reseviour GPS got us loss and 150klm out of our way we found the campsite.....bit slopy but not bad

Wednesday 15th Day15
Collected firewood and chatted to those camped around us.....while Rosie cooked dinner we saw a kangaroo

Thursday 16th Day16
woke to a rotten day ....rain and more rain....eventually cleared up by 3pm...cooked dinner on the choofer ...sat by the fire after and saw 3 gang-gangs...never seen any before.....they have quite a distinctive call

Friday 17th Day17
Best day ever to wake up to...saw 2 kangaroos..spent most of the day sitting by the fire....couple vans came in and set up....saw a satellite tonight while looking at stars...packed what we didnt need tonight for a quick pack up in morning to head home via Horsham for fuel

September in West Victoria

West Victoria COG at Lake Ratzcastle then more places

Tuesday 2nd September Day1
We had to be at Home of 12volts Mt Barker around 9:45am to get caravans battery replaced....while there we had the 7pin plug on van rewired.....and eventually got on the road by 11am......getting to Lake Ratzcastle around 3:30pm.....met by Outback Jack...

Wednesday 3rd Day2
Poddy Dodger arrived....spent night by our new campfire pit...spend time collecting wood most of the day

 Thursday 4th Day3
Cactus (Murray) arrived mid morning with Derek arriving late afternoon

Friday 5th Day4
Rick rang early morning to let me know he was on his way....eventually arriving 2:30pm...Burnie turned up around 3pm...all accounted for

                                                        Burnie arrived with fire wood
Saturday 6th Day5
everyone just relaxed and cooked lots of food......weather been fantastic

                                                         My new camp fire pit
Sunday 7th Day6
Time for some to head off....leaving only 4 vans left.....lot quieter now...Fathers Day today

Monday 8th Day7
Monday all were packed up and were all on the road by 9am....we got fuel and food at Goroke then with Burnie & Shirley headed to Hynes on Rocklands.on the way had a look at Jane Duff Camp....only to get to Hynes just as gale force winds then later rain.

Tuesday 9th Day8
Woke to crappy morning only to see it turn out nice enough to have a campfire tonight.

Wednesday 10th Day9
Been overcast all day....had a fire tonight only to see all the wood we collected get wet....before it rained we managed to get Burnies campoven seasoned...he has had it 5 years and never used it...I got some info about it for him via the COCIA group......the WKM stands for Wagner Krusty Manufacturers 1891... Wagner Manufacturing Co.. Characterized by heavy, rough-textured castings typical of post-1960s factory automation. Detailed seasoning instructions actually molded into each piece. Sets comprised of a skillet, dutch oven, square griddle, and tea size corn stick pan....Made In Taiwan

Thursday 11th Day10
Left Hynes this morning headed north to Warracknabeal...got extra food/fuel..and went to look for a CO I saw there last trip only to find it was sold.......travelled onward to Brim......there are 7 other vans here luckly we both found power points but not close to each other...might be here till Saturday

Friday 12th Day11
Still at Brim...Rang Mum and she told my she has to have open heart surgery 24th Sept.....weather been good today.had a campfire tonight.Rosie cooked chicken in CO.

                                                               Burnie's choofer
Saturday 13th Day12
Still here...nice day today.....heading off tomorrow

Sunday 14th Day13
Woke early to find Burnie in destress as 4am security rang hime to say his alarm went off on his house.........his daughter checked and house was still Ok...so we packed up and headed east then north to Green Lake near Sea Lake....we been here before....with same cat meeting us tonight...that was here last May..

Monday 15th Day14
Lazy day....nothing much happened......was windy and overcast...no rain.....had a campfire tonight......with cat for company again

Tuesday 16th Day15
lot of campers today....4 Jap young ones....older couple in a old Lotus caravan and young chap in a whizbanger.....had fire tonight....off tomorrow

Wednesday 17th Day16
Left this morning......the GPS got us totally lost...but we finally found our way to Hopetoun...where we are staying 3 nights

Thursday 18th Day17
Still here went for a walk around town stopped at Corrong Homestead...took few pics.......had fire tonight next to the lake in fire pit provided

Friday 19th Day18
More walks today......lot more vans turned up.........fire tonight....Rosie cooked with CO again....Roast last night...stew tonight

Saturday 20th Day19
Left Hopetoun this morning headed north through Walpeup then had a look at MurrayVille CP if they added cabins....they hadnt..staying night at Lameroo CP tonight then home tomorrow morning

Home again.....then off back to Victoria the 1st October if Mum is Ok..