Genoa

We arrived at Genoa tired and late. Genoa has a "wayside stop". You make a donation generally between 5 and 10 bucks and just park up, maybe head across the bridge to the pub too. We did.

Genoa is a place that's having a "rebirth". They used to allow grazing down to the waters edge, so the flora in the area was pretty well destroyed, but 10 years on it's looking pretty good. The old pub is family owned and run and doesn't have pokies, acts as the post office for the local area, the school drop off's also happen at the pub. It really is the local community hub.

My mate "Possum" lives about 16k further north but we hadn't let him know we were in the area and we were tired, so we thought we'd drop by the following morning.

We drove through Cann River on the way to Genoa. We were in Cann River in time to see a guy who was in a wheel chair thrown off a bus. He was either full or on drugs because he (rather swiftly I might add) pushed his chair though town throwing curses at everyone and anyone. In the time we were there he was kicked out of the pub, the newsagent and a garage. We were in Cann River for about an hour and about 1km out of town we came across the same guy only this time he was travelling East along the Princess Hwy but in the Westbound lane. We had to slow right down in case he changed lanes. The cars on the other side were stopped. I believe the police might have helped him out because we called them. Poor bugger, he had absolutely no sense of direction.

 The Genoa Pub Bar.

The old Genoa bridge. One side had been converted to a foot bridge. it runs between town and the "Wayside stop".
  

Buchan

Someone suggested we drop by Buchan and check out the caves. We dropped by on a stunning day prepared to stay at the campground there, but at $54 for a powered site, $48 unpowered, we thought better of it. We drove back up the road about 2km onto the old Buchan Road, and pulled off the road onto a verge between the road and a fence and stayed there... for free.

It was quiet and in the morning the sun was out and the clouds were down in the valleys. What a place to start the day. We then drove back to the caves and did a couple of the walks in the park. We didn't go into the caves as we had some distance to cover.

Buffalo

Some Ulysses mates of ours live at Buffalo in SE Gippsland. Ross and Anne are semi retired dairy farmers (if dairy farmers can ever retire). We arrived in time for dinner, Trevor and Ria (also Ulysses mates) came by and we had a great time catching up. Ross has enough projects to keep him busy for the next 20 years I reckon. They live in some great country.

We also learned a lot about the differences between Silage and Hayage, how it's cut, wrapped and consumed, the price of trout, stock rotation, chinese camper copies, out paddocks, how to tackle burglars and poachers, and protect Nissan patrol paintwork.

Seriously they are a great bunch of mates and by the time we'd left, we'd almost considered becoming farmers. The knowledge these guys have is something you won't ever find in books.

Cape Paterson

We're back on the road. We said goodbye to family for another few months and we've headed back to Cape Paterson. My cousin (Liz) and her husband Jim run the Cape Paterson CP. They also make pretty good coffee.

The weather report for SE Victoria is not looking too good for the rest of the week so we'll likely start moving north pretty quickly.

Caravan maintenance

The van is back. The repairs and some insurance work have been completed. The caravan manufacturer (JB caravans) have been very attentive and have gone to great lengths to fix any of the problems we've had.

We're probably a little unusual in the van since new has been on the road as we've been travelling since we picked it up in May 2014. I would suggest that most vans don't get used near as much, so problems we've experienced during the first 12 months, most people would not discover for several years.

In summary:

We've had a couple of structural problems (wheel alignment, a minor water leak and some internal roof work).
The installed items have also been a little problematic. Appliances like the stove, microwave, plumbing fittings, TV, windows, blinds, step, etc have had some work done to them or they have been replaced.

On each occasion, these problems have been fixed quickly and professionally either in the factory, or at JB's nominated repairers elsewhere. Wencent and Carrie at Northern Caravans in Melbourne have done an excellent job managing these issues to resolution.

We're approaching 12 months on, and our van remains as new.

Melbourne - the farm

We stayed at the Williams place in Rowville for a week or so. Peter and Val have a couple of acres with the usual few animals and farm stuff. We played farmer for a week whilst our van was having some work done and Peter, Val and Corrine went off for a few days.

Yep we put on the "wellies" and collected the eggs, watered the veggies, cleaned out the cow troughs, had a couple of BBQ's, and spent some quality time with Rose's dad Jac.

We were on a pretty steep learning curve. Last time we stayed there we learned that you don't heard chickens so we didn't spend too much time on that although we did feed them some "ultra, ultra" hot pizza that we couldn't eat. We sort of expected they might either go off the lay or provide us with curried eggs.

When we were cleaning out the cow troughs, Rose was a little excited when the cows became a little exquisitive, so we "mooved" them into another paddock. We finished the job and Rose took off to do other things, I proceeded to heard the cows back and had just got them to the gate when Rose appeared waving her hands in front of them "do you want any help", upon which they decided to head back past me. "Oh..... sorry".... mumble, mumble...... I better go and get them again.....  I herded them up again only this time the dog decided he wanted to help.... off they went again. Bugger it.... he shuts the gate, goes back inside, grabs a beer..... stuff it, they can stay there!

Melbourne

We were back in Melbourne for dad's 82nd birthday, our nephews wedding and for some minor surgery.

The birthday was great and spending some time with Mum and Dad is always a highlight. No matter the occasion it's always so easy being there and a great time to just sit back and relax.

Tim and Hayleys' wedding was at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. The day was absolutely perfect and the reception at Fenix in Richmond afterwards was excellent. Corrine took us there and home which was fantastic.

No photos of the surgery, suffice to say that it all went well but if I had to choose between Belleura Hill Private (stone removed) and Peninsula Private (stent removed), Belleura had better food and Peninsula had warmer blankets.

 Tim and Hayley.

 Your's truly's

Peter, Corrine and Val Williams. (Rose's sister in law and her husband and their daughter).

Launceston

We spent the day in Launceston. It's not really RV friendly but we found a place to park, saw a movie, did some shopping, emptied the dunny, and went down to the port and waited. Luckily we were there about 3 hours ahead of departure, as the ferry was full and the line was long.

On arrival in Melbourne it took us 38 minutes from the time we unloaded to be at Rose's sisters place in Rowville.

I think we could have easily spent another 6 months in Tassie..

Sheffield

The murals are what stands out in this little town. Oh, the period buildings are pretty impressive too, but not in the same league as the artwork. This place is stunning from the guy walking along the footpath with his Lama's, to the great little coffee shops, to the old trades, to the free camp in the show ground, to the "marbles" and glass shop. There's a sense of pride in what's happening around Sheffield.

This was the original mural painted on the side of a building down a side street. Nearly every building now has artwork of some kind on it, and none of it is graffiti.

Not all buildings are as they seem.

Stanley

Stanley is on the North West coast resting under "The Nut". A great little place with loads of character... but windy as hell!

We stayed in the van park a couple of days and took a drive on one of them down to Couta Rocks and Arthur River, Carol Bay, etc. Rose drove all day and it was pure bliss. The West coast is pretty desolate and rugged but with some great scenery, being pretty much all National Park.

Whilst in Stanley, we were walking through the van park and stumbled across a guy I worked with 40 years ago in the army. Ron and Deb live in Brisbane, about 15 km's from us.