Blogs from Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Apparently noone uses the full name of a town around here. So instead of saying Rushmore to Murchison to Shepparton, it's Rushy to Murchy to Shepp. There was no real hurry today as we were only planning on about 55kms. Having said that Felice said he'd come up for a Sunday drive and meet us at Murchy for a coffee at about 10am. We bid farewell to Rushy with a slight detour to see a block of land Jeff's brother has recently bought and a property that Jeff had previously been interested in. What happened next was quite absurd but let's just say it involved Jeff and I being separated, lack of communication, a lack of direction and a lying GPS. Anyway, Jeff and I were reunited just outside Rushy with a stong wind at our ... read more

Brent took the day off work to see us off. That might have been a mistake as Barry spent half the morning giving him instructions on what to do while we’re away and I made sure he could feed himself OK. Bet he breathed a sigh of relief when we finally left around 1pm – much later than we’d intended. We had a good run until we started to get peckish and stopped at a roadside fuel place for some lunch. Surprisingly they had a home-made chicken and vegetable soup which was really thick, packed full of fresh veg and delicious – filling, too. We had hoped to get up into NSW but the sun was already getting low by 4.30pm so we decided we should find somewhere for the night. Soon after we saw a ... read more

A few photo's of our time at the Zuchinni farm in Strathmerton... read more

So after the fun-packed weekend we thought that we may go into some sense of normality but no! Monday brought Pommey Jo Sheppard (who moved here from the UK with her hubby Martin and kids Molly and Lucy 3 years ago) and kids were staying for the whole of the Easter break. We hit it off straight away; Jo had such a mucky sense of humour just like us, so it’s fair to say we had a laugh or 3. Tuesday; Bobby Swan a friend of Debbie & Padge (D & P) true to his promise came to pick me and Dim up for a day touring around the bush; it was a great day and Bobby was so funny without even knowing it. We visited bush, rivers, a cemetery, a muster station (a place where ... read more

Undera Speedway - Victoria Solo Championships Those of a non speedway disposition please look away now. My mate Howard Williams the track announcer at Undera speedway kindly transported me up to Undera speedway (near Shepparton), some 150 km from Melbourne for an evening's methanol fix. We travelled up via Nagambie (stopped off for a fish supper at a Greek chipper!!) and Murchison (Murchy has a town of his own in Oz I never realised that). The entertainment on offer was : Victoria Junior Solo Championship, the field included Declyn Adams (yup Leigh's son) who was ok but rode well within himself, Lindsay Phillips, Cooper Rirodan, Jack Halls, Jack Fallon and last but no means least Max Fricke. These guys are all potential speedway stars of the future in my opinion. The junior solos were on bikes ... read more