The ‘gift’ of a scenic ‘wrinkle in time’

Just a few weeks ago I had been in deep conversation with Stephen Hughes (or rather he was telling me about) Black Holes; and how time lengthens / shortens as you approach the edge of one of one of these cosmological phenomena - so that there is a specific point where 2 Peter 3:8 becomes a literal reality and ‘a day can be as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day’.
This morning I thought for a moment - perhaps through some quirk of quantum physics - that such an ‘horizon’ event had taken place, possibly caused by the rapid movements of Albo through this part of Victoria recently promoting the ‘Yes’ campaign, coupled with the power vacuum created in the wake of Dan Andrews’ departure - that a ‘wrinkle in time’ had occurred , because just 2 minutes after takeoff from Bendigo this morning, I looked out the window and I was certain we were passing over Nepal or Tibet!
I turned to Loriene beside me and asked if she could explain what we were seeing; we were both lost for words, for down there just off the right wingtip was a very, very large Buddhist building with the morning sun glinting off its golden facades. I cast my eyes further afield - was that Maryborough or Namche Bazzar over there? If the latter, then Everest Base camp can’t be far away . . .
I scanned the horizon carefully but could see no sign of the Himalaya ranges. On closer inspection of this unexpected apparition just below us, we noted that it was indeed nestled among eucalyptus trees with merino sheep contentedly grazing nearby in the paddocks.
Hmmm.
It suddenly dawned on me that we were actually in regional Victoria and that the incongruous structure below us was none other than Bendigo’s ‘Great Stupa of Universal Compassion’ on the western outskirts of town - the largest Buddhist stupa in the Western World. It’s the same size and design as the Great Stupa of Guyanese in Tibet, but it is very spatially disorienting for some unsuspecting tourists from north of the border!

We breathed a sigh of relief, snapped a few photos and continued westward for 40 minutes towards Stawell which was our destination for this morning’s flight.
On approach to Stawell we noted the largest wind turbine collection that we had ever seen, stretching out in all directions; yet none of the turbine blades were moving and on arrival at Stawell there wasn’t a breath of wind, leaving us wondering if they’d picked the right location for their very expensive, renewable energy infrastructure 😳

While Loss unpacked the aircraft and secured it with tie downs etc, I scootered into Stawell to collect the hire car and returned just in time to find all jobs completed with bags arranged neatly at the perimeter gate.
In the fishing vernacular of Loss’ late father regarding such situations? - ‘she’s a keeper!’
The Holden Commodore provided by the rental car operator (which curiously also was simultaneously both a vehicle wrecker and RACV service provider - I guess dependant on the state of your vehicle breakdown) - would have also been met with approval by Loss’ dad.
We motored into Stawell, bought some groceries and paid a visit to Stawell’s most famous attraction - Central Park where Australia’s oldest and most lucrative running race is held - the Stawell Gift.
The lady at the Museum was very knowledgeable about the history of this race which was first run in 1878 and was designed originally to keep the gold miners in town over Easter so as to spend their money locally.
We then proceeded to Hall’s Gap and called in to the Information Centre to obtain a bit of local knowledge about the Grampians. Having then checked in to our accomodation just up the road we then spent the afternoon touring the northern section of the Grampians, taking in some splendid views and walking around 14km on various hikes and tracks. It is a spectacularly beautiful part of God’s creation.

As usual, we fitted in more than we really should have and got back through the door at about 7.30pm. Loss has just cooked up an amazing meal, most of the produce (potato, sweet potato, corn, asparagus, broccoli, carrots and cream cheese to accompany the Stawell purchased meat and mushrooms) having been unwittingly transported in the plane from Sydney 😳
Having lightened our load of all that produce, I expect the runway takeoff roll on our next leg to Parafield on Thursday to be considerably shortened!Read more