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Published: February 11th 2010
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Day 285 - Peterborough to Box Hill North
Before the alarm clock fulfilled its alerting destiny we could hear Kalvin outside just after 5am, he’d obviously woken up early and was getting ready for the fishing trip. We cheekily lay there to get a couple more minutes but he must have known and banged on the door to get us moving! We’d done all the preparation last night so just needed to grab our bags and go.
We headed out of Peterborough in the pitch black with nobody else on the roads, only mad fishermen and Englishmen get up this early we thought!
Kalvin popped along the tight, twisting country roads until we finally got to Lake Bullen Merri which is a brackish crater lake near Camperdown. It’s thought that it was formed by two overlapping maar volcanoes. Maar volcanoes are created when groundwater comes in contact with hot lava and explodes. With the science bit out of the way our interest returned to the activity in hand, fishing!
Kalvin went off in one direction with his fly fishing rod and we went off in the other direction with the rods set up with spinners (lures). We’re
not bothered what we catch but suspect trout or salmon is the go here.
We cast and walk around the lake as we go being careful to watch our step as it’s still pretty dark. Darryl is an old hand at fishing now but I’m still getting used to casting out far enough to be in with a chance of a bite, I manage it but I don’t feel any. We keep walking and walking and walking the idea being that we make it to the corner of the lake where the water is much deeper. It’s well and truly light by the time we make it ¾’s of the way to the corner, we’ve lost sight of Kalvin, I’ve untangled my line about fifteen times and wrapped the lure around my head a few more and we’re still not getting even a nibble. The rain has reduced though, it’s down to an off and on drizzle rather than an off and on downpour which is good!
Darryl spots a figure by the back of Kalvin’s ute, we assume he’s got fed up and not had any bites either so we start to make our way back around
to where the truck’s parked, still casting as we go! I’ve got the keys in my pocket so imagine our surprise when we see the ute reversing out of the parking space!!! Unbeknown to us, Kalvin had remembered his hidden spare key to start the ute to come and pick us up! For a minute though we were a little concerned!
As we stood with Kalvin looking down over the ‘barren’ lake we started to see fish swimming tantalisingly close to where we had been casting out. How rude that none of them had swum slightly further into shore and hooked themselves on our lures. We decided that if we saw any more as we drove around the lake that we would stop and have another go, we saw none so continued on and out the other side.
The local area is stunning with magnificent views over the valleys. After a quick trip around we headed to Camperdown where we enjoyed a coffee and a milkshake courtesy of Kalvin and then sauntered back to the beach house. We stopped when we reached ‘Joe Blakes Road’, that’s a bit of Australian cockney rhyming slang for you to work out
- it shouldn’t be too hard but give us a shout with your guesses! Then a bit further along Kalvin spotted a white bird sitting on his ‘dinner’ at the side of the road. The bird was pretty big but none of us recognised what it was so Kalvin turned the ute around and headed back for another look. We had to get the bird book out to identify it as a White Goshawk. Beautiful it was and although it flew off when we got close we were pretty sure it would return after we’d left for its catch!
Back at the beach house we got the caravan packed up and ready to hit the road back to Melbourne. We’re so grateful to Julie for having us to stay and we’re really looking forward to hearing about Kalvin’s adventures through South America on the bike. Fingers crossed (no dislocated finger pun intended Kalvin!) Peterborough is somewhere we’ll make it back to before we fly home in April. We hugged Julie goodbye just before lunchtime and made tracks with a promise that we’ll catch up with her when we get to Mansfield and the Reeves!
The return trip took
us a slightly different way up to Colac through very pleasant countryside and we made good time coming back to Melbourne and our beautiful family, Grant, Anna, Charlotte and Amy. We’d text Anna to say we’d be back around 3pm and at one minute past she was on the phone to see where we were. Bless her, she’d come back to the house to let us in but had an appointment she needed to get to so couldn’t hang around. The thing was that she’d forgotten about the spare key and the fact we know where it’s kept! There was no need for her to wait and when we got back Darryl swung the caravan on to the drive and it was rather like we’d never actually left!
We have an invitation to dinner this evening. Anna’s Mum Helen is celebrating her birthday tomorrow so a large crowd is gathering tonight. Our invitation was beautifully passed on to us by Anna when she rang us early this morning. Once I’d confirmed that we were definitely coming home today she said “Oh good. It’s my Mum’s birthday tomorrow but everyone is going for dinner tonight and you’re expected, I mean
invited!” I did giggle but we’re very, very grateful for the invitation and are delighted to be able to go.
When the girls get home from school, normal service in the pool is instantly resumed! Darryl is playing ‘horsey’ and the girls plus lovely Georgia from next door are standing on his back waiting to be dunked under, they just love it.
It’s great to be back, we’ve really missed our fun loving family and we’re a bit indisposed as far as cash goes at the moment so they’re helping us out a lot with a free camp spot, beer, beautiful food and stunning company. We count ourselves as very lucky and hope that when they come to England we can return the hospitality ….. although we won’t have a pool or the weather and Grant will still have to cook!!!
We got ready for dinner and whizzed out to Doncaster East where Anna’s parents live. There’s a great hustle and bustle of Anna’s family & family friends and the evening flows along over food and a few drinks. We spent time chatting to Aunty Cathy and new husband Geoff who are travelling to Europe later in
the year and spending time around England. Geoff is beside himself with excitement which is lovely to see so we hope the weather is good for them.
When time comes for the birthday girl to blow out the candles the grandchildren gather round and young Peppa is perfectly lined up to help. The tradition is that Happy Birthday is sung twice at varying speeds and there are smiles all round as the candles are all extinguished!
It’s great being back around the family and catching up on everyone’s news. We’re very conscious that our time in this great country is ebbing away so we’re relishing the smiles and the happy occasions that bring everyone together, it’s just great.
Back at home we manage to sink a few more drinks and catch up on recent events then we hit the sack.
Dar and Sar
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