Australia
Shire of Campaspe

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 206

      Und noch mehr Goldgräberstädte

      March 21, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Heute war ich in Bendigo und Castlemaine. Auch Städte, die im Goldrausch gebaut wurden und reich geworden sind. Ich bin auch zu einigen geschlossenen Minen gefahren und hab mir die alten Bauwerke mal angesehen.Read more

    • Day 30–44

      Daylesford 1

      December 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      The rural setting of the Daylesford house turned out to be a total advantage. It was gorgeous! A beautiful house with classic natural interiors set in a five-acre gum forest block. Kangaroos, wallabies and kookaburras in the yard, 100m tall gum trees, a wombat under the house (which we never saw, alas), and micro-bats squeaking in the eaves. Classic Australian landscape scenes in every direction, it was like being in a McCubbin painting. M0ses immediately loved it so much that he wanted us to buy the house that was for sale down the road. It probably helped that there was every outdoor activity known to humanity at the house: drift trikes, bikes and scooters,
      fire pit, trampoline, flying fox, several playhouses, sandpits, hammocks, spa, the works. From what we could tell the area seemed to be mostly baches (in various states of glory) rather than primary houses, which might have accounted for the non-existent cell coverage. Luckily the house had Starlink. The owners, a couple from the UK, had taken their children back to the UK for the first time since Covid. We didn’t meet them but felt like they could have been our friends: similar demographic, same-aged kids, same cookware. I am going to be quite honest and say I tailored our Trusted Housesitters profile specifically for this housesit. We were even looking forward to taking care of the animals: three guineas and a cat, because the kids have been asking for pets when we get back to New Zealand so we thought it would be a good test. Spoiler alert: they did bugger-all animal care, don't think we’ll be getting pets after all. But we were so grateful to have been able to stay there for a month for free, given Australia is not known for being an affordable destination. An Airbnb would have cost in the region of $6k.

      The kids spent hours and hours in the bush in the first few days, reluctant to even leave the property. We had seen Daylesford was somewhat of a weekend tourist destination with wineries and spas and boutiques so we were keen to explore, but after three weeks and more than 5000km of road trip it was quite nice to spend some time settling in. In the first week we also finished up Te Kura for the year with some excellent and fun modules - even though we kept relatively on top of schoolwork this term there was still a bit to catch up on after our road trip. Being rural, and in a forest setting, the house was a bushfire risk. We downloaded the excellent Vic Emergencies app and spent some time learning about the various warning categories. The owners had asked us to evacuate with their pets and a box of their precious things in the event of “Catastrophic” conditions but we felt nervous even on the “Extreme” days. There was a large fire in the Grampians while we were there and also smaller fires much closer to us - around 20-25km - which gave us some smoky haze and pink skies. It was alarming to smell smoke at night until we realised it was nearly 100km away. Bushfires are far more predictable than I had thought and the warnings, based on temperature, wind and recent conditions (heavy rain? has the hay been harvested?), were given up to three days ahead. Fire is something that gives me particular heeby-jeebies so I doubt I would ever feel comfortable owning a house in a forested area in this country.

      We only decided to come to Australia quite late in the piece, with maybe a week’s notice. The whole reason for coming here was to spend some time with M4rk’s cousin Richard, in Bendigo, and while we were here, to offer our services in helping to clear out his parents’ house, also in Bendigo. Richard’s only sibling Steve died unexpectedly in late October so we thought it would be nice to be around Richard and support him in the months following Steve’s death. We figured the one hour trip from Daylesford to a Bendigo wouldn’t be a big deal; so many people do it as a commute every day.

      Meanwhile, Richard and Steve’s parents (Bron - Mark’s mother’s sister - and Ron) had both passed away six weeks’ apart in 2019. Clearing out their house, which it’s fair to say had more than its fair share of things inside it, has been a job too overwhelming for the family to complete. We hadn’t seen inside the house when we offered to help, which was perhaps a good thing. We discovered the overwhelm for ourselves: it was difficult to move from room to room and impossible to get into some - boxes and items everywhere. We spent many hours after our first visit trying to work out a strategy to tackle the job. We ultimately resolved to sort it into different categories, then store each category, boxed and labelled, in different parts of the house. Apart from extreme fire risk days, when we didn’t want to leave Daylesford, and days when we had visitors from Melbourne, we spent most of the rest of the month doing this. By the new year we had cleared walkable corridors between all of the rooms and removed most of the furniture that was destined for landfill. We still had the back bedrooms to work on so decided to come back in late January to finish those off. The commute proved to be unproblematic. We picked up a coffee each morning from a hole in the wall in Castlemaine with a painfully slow barista who only took cash (that’s where your Christmas money went, thanks Mum) which also marked the point in the trip when the kids were allowed their iPads. In the evenings we drove back to Daylesford in the beautiful sunset, pleased to be in the aircon, sometimes stopping for dinner on the way. We learned every bump in the road and cell coverage black spot on the route. We listened to the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and felt some kind of affinity with Bull, the “hobo”, who is described as being always on the move. “But in truth,” he says, “we are going nowhere. That my friend, is the irony of our constant movement”.

      Full credit to Richard, we thought, for letting us turn up out of nowhere and sort through his parents’ things. I think it must have taken a great deal of character to accept help in that situation, especially given the state of the house. I only ever met Richard's mother so as I boxed up family photos, I imagined his father saying to me “who the hell are you?”. Sorting and clearing out someone’s house is such an intimate insight into the lives of the folk who lived and loved there.
      Read more

    • Day 59

      Echuca am Murray River

      December 16, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      wir haben uns auf dem Rotary Club Campground eingerichtet. Keine Infrastruktur, aber in der Natur draussen. Im AU Winter finden hier Anlässe statt und eine Mini-Eisenbahn fährt dann Gäste herum. Wir brauchten etwa ½ Stunde, um in die reitzvolle Stadt zu marschieren. Eindrucksvoll sind die noch erhaltenen Gebäude aus dem 19. Jh. am Murray River, der die Grenze zwischen Victoria und New South Wales bildet. Beim überqueren des Flusses gelten strenge Einfuhrregeln, um die Verbreitung von Fruchtfliegen zu verhindern.
      Am Fluss kann man sogar baden, ab und zu kommt einer der alten Schaufelraddampfer vorbei.
      Read more

    • Day 1,977

      Echuca

      October 22, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      We fancied a quick look at this town, which lies on the Murray River on the border with Victoria State. Pronounced Eh-cooch-uh. A little gem of a find, full of history surrounding the trade brought along the river as the country was being opened up. A staging post for the timber trade bringing Red Gum to the expanding city downstream.
      It is now home to heritage steam vessels which have been renovated and now offer trips along the river.
      The river was high due to rain up country. One boat, unable to trip out on the high water, provided a static bar which we took advantage of. The locally made St Mary wine being quite pleasant.
      Read more

    • Day 62

      Wharparilla, Murray River

      December 19, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

      seit gestern verweilen wir an diesem herrlichen Platz, am Strand des Murray Rivers. Nach einem erfrischenden Bad im Fluss, genossen wir den sonnigen Tag.
      Der Fluss sieht ganz harmlos aus. Es ist kaum vorstellbar, dass 2007 das Wasser einen Meter höher war, als das Plateau, auf dem wir stehen (4m über dem Fluss). Ausser den vielen Vögeln, die vor allem in den frühen Morgenstunden einen Heidenlärm veranstalten, fährt nur ab und zu ein Schaufelraddampfer vorbei.

      Auf einer kleinen Wanderung durch den Eukalyptuswald trafen auch wir auf Schnee 🤣; es waren natürlich die Samen von unzähligen Disteln, welche vom Wind zusammengeblasen wurden.

      Zwei Pflichtarbeiten mussten auch noch erledigt werden. E-Weihnachtsgrüsse und die Montage eines Schatten-/Windsegels.

      Nun hatten wir aber ein Dessert verdient, Fruchtsalat mit Schlagrahm - mmmhhh !!
      Weil Susann nicht viel von den vielen, kleinen Fliegen hält, hat sie sich das Netz über das Gesicht gezugen, wie Sue Charlton in crocodil Dundee 🥹
      Read more

    • Day 86

      BUSHFIRE RELIEF

      January 25, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Und allerortens wird für die Opfer der Buschfeuer - ganz unkompliziert und sehr erfolgreich - gesammelt! Auch werden die Feuerwehrleute unterstützt und Opfer werden auf Campingplätzen aufgenommen...
      Selbst ALDI Australia war sofort mit dabei!
      Read more

    • Day 75

      BENDIGOs viktorianische Architektur

      January 14, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

      Wir sind bei ganz lieben Freunden zu Besuch und bekommen von Jim eine ganz persönliche Führung. Die imposanten Gebäude in der City lassen den Reichtum der Gold- und Diamant-Gräberstadt erahnen.
      Danach muß Jim zum Radiosender, wo er für Sehbehinderte die täglichen News liest. Zeit bleibt aber auch noch für das GOLDEN DRAGON MUSEUM, hier ist u.a. ein 120 m langer und über 100 Jahre alter Papierdrachen. Dieses Monstrum kommt jedes Jahr zum Neujahrsfest, zusammen mit anderen historischen Exponaten, wieder an die frische Luft.
      Beeindruckt haben uns auch die vielen Fledermäuse im Botanischen Garten, so viele an einem Ort hatten wir noch nicht gesehen. .
      Read more

    • Day 21

      The River

      December 10, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Vanuit Phillip Island met een boog om de drukte van Melbourne heen, maar tich bewoonde wereld voor een grote was en wat inkopen. Na een tip v een Nederlandse route gekozen die noordelijk langs de Murray River zal gaan ... t wordt wel heter, met af en toe koude(7 gr) nachten, vannacht echter onder de sterrenhemel geslapen ( muskietententje)Read more

    • Day 38

      Patho Church

      November 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      Heute trafen wir uns mit Damian, Anna und deren ältesten Tochter Jessica zum Brunch in Echuca bei odd captain. Wir bestellten einen feinen Bagle, mit Ei, Speck, Käse, Röstitäschli und Ketchup. Wir unterhielten uns und danach gingen wir zu ihrem Haus. Damian ubd Florian gingen zum Murray River, wo sie einige Hausboote vermieten. Jessica packte ihre Sachen, denn sie ging in ein christliches Camp. Wir verabschiedeten sie. Ich war froh, dass ich noch die Wäsche bei Anna waschen konnte. Anschliessend kamen auch die Männer zurück und wir unterhielten uns noch eine Weile. Wir fuhren danach nach Echuca und ich durfte auch noch ein grosses Hausboot, welches sie vermieten (mit 5 Schlafzimmern) besichtigen. Danach erledigten wir noch einen Einkauf und fuhren zurück zur Kirche. Das letzte Bild ist heute Abend beim Spaziergang entstanden, es soll zeigen, wie viele, meeega lästige Fliegen es hier in Australien gibt.Read more

    • Day 64

      immernoch am Murray River

      December 21, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      wir können ja nicht den ganzen Tag am Flussufer faulenzen. So marschieren wir wieder einmal los, um die Umgebung um Wharparilla zu erkunden. Gemäss Karte gibts hier nichts, G..Maps' Satelitenbilder zeigen aber etwas anderes. Zunächst gingen durch den Eukslyptuswald, wo man sieht, wie die Wege nach einem Hochwasser aussehen. Später erreichen wir den schicken Ort. Grosse Häuser auf sehr grossen Grundstücken. Einige davon mit gepflegten Gärten und Western-ähnlichem Ambiente. Bei einem Garten entdecken wir sogar Weihnachts Dekoration.
      An der Hauptstrasse laufen wir etwa zwei Kilometer an einem grossen, abgeernteten Weizenfeld entlang, die Strohballen wurden haushoch aufgetürmt.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Campaspe, Campaspe Shire, Shire of Campaspe, Comté de Campaspe, Contea di Campaspe, Hrabstwo Campaspe

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android