Dargo

We LOVE Victoria! We love the weather. We love the cold nights. We love the lack of humidity. We even like some of the people. Not all. But some.

Mallacoota was lovely just over the border. That was the first time I'd snorkelled in cold water for four years! I was so surprised, I got out and went back in again just to check I hadn't, I dunno, briefly transported to another dimension? But it's just Victoria!
And a change from the Coral Sea to the Tasman Sea, which gently wafts past Antarctica. I was so surprised, as the water was warm an hour north in NSW.

I decided to mix things up a bit, I'm so sick of caravan parks. So we did a farm stay at Tostaree Cottages near Nowa Nowa, and promptly fell in love with 'camping' again. Apparently, it's called camping. Even though we're in a caravan.

There was a huge barn with a bar for happy hour and a little pony called Vegemite in the paddock next to us, that I had to make a special trip to the 'General Store' (no supermarkets) to buy some sad, wilting carrots for.

The campground was right on the Gippsland Rail Trail, so I yanked the bike off the rack where it was growing cobwebs and we set off to look at old trestle bridges galore, of which there were a plethora in the area. It felt like I was cycling through mud, so mental note was made to trade it in for an ebike ASAP. No point lugging a bike around you never use because you hate everything about it.

We sadly waved Vegemite goodbye and moved onto Bairnsdale and we loved it there, too. Cute country town with lots of shops. Traded in the old rubbish bike for a new ebike - which I love and use every day. It's only a basic model with a very small battery that doesn't last for half the ride, but it's smooth and oh so helpful on the hills! Had my scraggly hair done, chucked out old ripped, stained clothes and got new ones. The lovely pool was next to our site. And there was a HUGE loud storm that I thought was going to end us. I really didn't want to leave Bairnsdale but my bank account needed us to move on 😁

Off we went to Maffra Golf Club (still avoiding caravan parks) where I was briefly reminded that human beings are awful creatures. The caretaker was a spiteful, micro managing piece of work who constantly over stepped her remit, so I went out of my way to annoy her every single day. The golf course was lovely and lush and green and I took great joy in running the ebike over it every single day, with Dick trying to keep up, practising my slides and leaving deep ruts in the grass that she'll be crying over tomorrow 😏

Now you find us at Dargo River Inn at Crooked River. We're in the Victorian High Country, not far from the Snowy River and amongst old gold mining towns. Which we all know are my jam. Lots of 4WD tracks here that take you to see old mining ghost towns, we'll be on those tomorrow.

Just watching a storm roll in after chicken parmigiana at the pub. Very content.

Dick has his final Public Access Test in Melbourne in a few weeks, which, if he passes, will make us a fully accredited Assistance Dog team - so we've been busy training on the buses and trains and sharpening up his verbal commands. I've unknowingly been training him with hand signals for four yrs which, for some reason, the organisation doesn't quite comprehend are vastly superior to verbally barking commands at the dog. Our genius goes unacknowledged and unrecognised, yet again!Read more