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..

August Trip SE of SA and Victoria

August Trip SE of SA and Victoria

Wednesday 6th Day1
Left home around 7:30am headed down to Naracoorte..getting there lunch time.....then headed to Dennis & Therese so Dennis could help me make a campfire pit via Munn Engineers that took most of the rest of the day

Thursday 7th Day2
Left Naracoorte Showgrounds ($20 night powered) and headed east to Baileys Rocks..set up and lite a fire...(measured their firepit its 250cm high...I made ours 400cm...)
State Parks Ranger was doing some concreting and told us about some bush camps.and also said use as much fire wood as we wanted as the area was going to be burnt soon

                     

Friday 8th Day3
collected more firewood and spent most of day relaxing....set up the green privacy screen come shower tent.....tried it out using the 12v water pump shower set...only had it like 4 years...never used it

                                                      The new privacy shower tent

Saturday 9th Day4
2 lots of visitors came and went...no one chatted

Sunday 10th Day5
Had shower early and made up the green shower tent when dry...people came in and out all day.no stayers except us whole time we were there

Monday 11th Day6
Left Baileys this morning.it was freezing even the pajero was iced over...headed south to Casterton for grocerys from Foodworks then we checked several camp sites but all were waterlogged..so continued down to Narrawong CP for couple days ($27 night TT members rate)

Tuesday 12th Day7
Rosie did clothes washing this morning... then we headed out to Heywood to visit Tess and hubby......then bought lunch at the Local Hotel....then to IGA for extra food......then headed down to Portland got diesel at $145.9 ltr then had a look at Aldi...then back to Narrawong

Wednesday 13th Day8
We decided to stay extra night so we could catch up with another Forum member....we waited and waited by late morning we hadnt heard anything from him so headed off to Port Fairy......having a look at camping spots on the way....we had a look at Yambuk Lake CP...not bad spot if weather was kinda..then on to Pt Fairy had lunch by a River then looked at Fitzroy River Road camp area..on way home....bit wet underfoot.....but put on our bucket list for future places to stay....he rang tonight.we had a chat anyway

Thursday 14th Day9
We left Narrawong this morning and headed north to Hamilton where I got fuel and Rosie got some more grocerys and then headed up through Cavendish up to Glendinning Camp Ground on the Rocklands Resevior
arriving we realised there wasnt much level spots to camp....after at least 1 hour we found something close and set up...turned out a great day with blue skys

Friday 15th Day10
Woke to another freezing morning...but another beaut day.......a chap rolled up as we were cooking dinner and supplied us with a pile of fire wood....we been spending the best part of the day collecting fire wood..this was very appreciated from a total stranger

Saturday 16th Day11
woke to another nice day only to see it come in cloudy..most of the day...but didnt rain....was cold evening so we retired to the van early...only to see stars out around 7:30pm...........same same thing as always..collected firewood...took pics of the water

Sunday 17th Day12
Woke to a bright sunrise....but cloud built up for most of the day....the wind was cold too
lot of people came and went today..

                                               Ice all over the Pajero most mornings
Monday 18th Day13
Cloudy day.......very cold...the motorhome that arrived the afternoon we did....left this morning
We spent time looking at other possible spots to park in future...then spent the day close to the fire

Tuesday 19th Day14
We packed up and were on the road by 7:45am and headed through Harrow then slightly bypassing Edenhope heading to Frances.... where we had a look at Lake Bringalbert for future stay....wasnt bad but wind off lake was chilly
Got home around 2:30pm..long trip back......but will be doing it all again in 10 days or so...when we do the COG at Lake Ratzcastle