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Published: March 27th 2010
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St Kilda
St Kilda Luna Park is still standing believe it or not! We drove into Melbourne from Wilson’s Prom, like the Beverly Hillbillies. We hadn’t showered since Eden, and were just feeling a bit grotty. The city attitude of ‘every man for himself’ was very apparent from the outskirts, and was quite a shock to the system.
Over the West Gate we went and landed at Yarraville, in the driveway of Aunty Charlie & Uncle Daz. It was great to be on known territory - we knew we would be made welcome for the time we were here. This was fantastic because, like complete idiots, we’d left not only the jockey wheel, but the caravan winder back at Wilson’s Prom! I felt pretty stupid for not double checking everything was packed. We had an old winder that we kept as a spare, so that was OK, and Uncle Daz has a huge big trolley Jack that we used to unhook the van.
Yarraville is only a suburb or two away from Williamstown. Williamstown was a special place to mum - she spent the first part of her childhood here. Nan and Pop ran a furniture shop from North Rd in Newport, and being one of the youngest of eleven children, Mum
had plenty of stories to tell. Apparently Pop was part of the original ‘Painters & Dockers’ union or something. All very interesting anyway. Dad was from a large family also, and mostly his and mum’s family (that I know anyway) are still around Melbourne, Bendigo & Geelong - so the next few weeks will be full of kisses and cuddles from kin!
The next few days were spent catching up with everybody. Not only Charlie & Daz, but Anth & Rob, Heather & David, Julie and a great friend I haven’t caught up with for 15 years, Paul. Dakota was in his element - he and uncle Daz played cars and caravans heaps, taking apart bits and pieces, changing wheel bearings and brake pads and generally being grease monkeys - he relished every moment!!!
Whilst there, we really didn’t do too much ‘tourist’ type stuff. We did, however, do a tram trip around the city and browsed the Queen Victoria Markets. We also took a trip over to St Kilda Adventure Playground with Anthony & Robbie, and then went over to the beach boxes at Brighton. Apparently they are worth a small fortune, and only the super wealthy
Gold Fever
We spent hours panning, and actually found real gold! can consider ever owning one.
All in all, Melbourne was great. I was certainly reminded, however, how awful the weather is - beautiful one minute, dismal the next. Melbourne can keep it’s weather thank you very much!!! We left with a beautiful new jockey wheel WELDED to the drawbar - no more forgetting the jockey wheel - Ha!
From Melbourne we drove North West into the golden triangle, catching us with some very dear Spargo cousins, Aunts and Uncles along the way, and camped at Bendigo in my cousin Rel’s yard. True to form, it bucketed down with rain from the moment we got there until the moment we left. Flash floods two days in a row … yes, in Bendigo!!! It was absolutely amazing, the water is soooo restricted there people aren’t allowed to use their hoses at all, a nice looking lawn is one that has a few weeds among the dirt … and the moment we get there it floods! I’m quite sure that other towns will hear about our amazing water attracting abilities soon, and request our presence from afar :?
Luckily we were camped under a carport, had a house to hang
out in and great company to hang out with ☺ Rel and Mark’s girls had grown so much since the last time we’d seen each other, and the new addition to the family is nearly 18 months old! We visited Nettie and her crew whist there also.
From Bendigo we day-tripped to Sovereign Hill at Ballarat. Sovereign Hill is a replica Ballarat from the gold rush days, and is quite interesting. We saw $125 000 worth of gold being smeltered and poured in the old fashioned way right in front of our eyes, took a tour through a gold mine, and browsed an early 1800’s town. At the end of the day we tried our hand at gold panning. You wouldn’t believe it, but we found gold … real gold I tell ya … we all were struck by ‘gold fever’ then and there! On the way home we caught up with the Ballarat mob for a BBQ, it was fantastic to see everybody there!
From Bendigo we drove across to Geelong, passing through ‘Spargo Creek’ along the way. Apparently it was named after my grandfather Gus who drove trucks through those parts many moons ago, or so
Koda & Uncle Daz Playing Cars
He was just in his element being a grease monkey! I heard somewhere along the traps. The funny thing is that there is a property there named ‘Dakota’, and I’ve always joked that it would be cool to live there, and Dakota’s name could be the same as his address almost! Anyway, the pub was clapped out and broken down with no great big sign like there used to be, so no pics I’m afraid!
On to Lovely Banks, and into my cousin Bazil’s yard. Bazil has about 100 acres I think, not far from Geelong. He has every toy a child needs - a paddock basher, a motorbike, and horses my kids just had a ball with all of them!!!
Dakota jumped straight in the paddock basher and drove it, which really impressed me, until he started the donuts in the back paddock! Shay-Lee then jumped straight in and drove it, which just plain freaked me out! Considering it’s a manual, four on the floor Gemini, it’s just not right that a 9 year old can get straight in and drive! Kalahni went on my knee, figured out which foot was the accelerator and pushed it hard to the floor - surprise surprise! Donuts were his specialty!
Quite a number of times I had to push it out of gear just to slow him down because I couldn’t get his foot off the accelerator!!!
A few farms down, were Uncle Margaret & Uncle David. It was great to catch up with them for dinner, we ate a roast beef straight out of their back yard - talk about fresh!!! Kim and her kids were there, the youngest of which I hadn’t met before, along with Laurie and his kids. We also went for a drive to Point Cook to see Uncle John and Aunty Cheryle, and no trip to Geelong would be complete without seeing my beautiful Lee!
From Bazil’s place, Lara (where we lived for 2 years) is only about 10 or 15 minutes. So we spent a day catching friends down there. Shay-Lee really wanted to see her old school teacher Mrs Bigham, and her friend Cherie. Kal wanted to see his day care Mum Wendy. Dakota saw Connor and we all caught up with Connor’s family. Ending the day with the best fish and chips ever at ‘Six Ways’.
The last weekend, Bazil took us to his onsite holiday caravan at
Ocean Gove with Jessie, Daniel and Connie. We had such a wonderful time there, fishing and surfing together. Unbelievably, the weather turned on for us, and we enjoyed one of those rare Victorian days that have both great weather and favourable beach conditions - FANTASTIC!!!
Wow, what a great big wonderful family we have! From here on in there’s none - it’s just us, which is both exciting and daunting at the same time. We’re also breaking new ground, going places we’ve never been before - What a great adventure that will be!
Next Stop - somewhere down near Apollo Bay.
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Ian Hogan
non-member comment
Still Here!
Hello everyone, Great story and pics! Keep it up. Ian