Winging Our Way To Wang

---

On Wednesday 2nd November we awoke to heavy rain and it looked as though it had been raining most of the night. We did a bit of packing and then made our way to the breakfast room for our continental breakfast. Fortunately, during breakfast, the sun broke through and things began to look a lot brighter. Our planned trip to Jindabyne before going back to the caravan at Corryong was looking possible again so, after completing the packing and loading everything into the car, I settled the bill (was it really that much?!!**?) and we set off for Jindabyne. This was in the opposite direction to the caravan but we had heard that it was a nice place and we were only 45 kilometers away. It was a lovely ride on through the Kosciuszko National Park and before long we were looking down on the lake for which Jindabyne is well known. It was a pleasant place with a lovely lake-side area where we parked and had a little walk. In truth, it didn’t grab us as a place where we might spend a lot of time so our visit was pleasant but brief and we were soon climbing the hills back up to Thredbo to make our way down the other side to Corryong. In the meantime, our two-day pass had expired by about half an hour and we anticipated having to pay another day’s fee of $16. We explained our position to the lady in the kiosk and she gave us a Transit Pass so as long as we didn’t stop before reaching the other end of the National Park we wouldn’t have to pay. We hadn’t planned another stop anyway so that suited us and we made our way to the town of Khancoban – just outside of the park. The journey was quite testing with steep descents and sharp turns but the roads had dried while we were in Jindabyne so our concern about wet, slippery roads didn’t materialise. The main concern was motorbikes! It’s obviously a challenging road which motor-cyclists love to take on and there were dozens and dozens of them. In Khancoban we stopped in the town shopping centre (not a big place) and had a lovely, cheap lunch in one of two cafes there. Then it was on to Mount Mittamatite Caravan Park in Corryong to be re-united with Sweetie. She was just as we’d left her although there were a few new neighbours nearby. We settled back in easily but, as we were back on the road in the morning, and it was a dry pleasant evening, we managed with the bare minimum of comforts so that we would need to do little in the morning before we left. The park was as full as we’d known it in our short stay and with quite a few of the cabins also occupied. After yet another Frittata (I’m becoming an expert), we had a little walk to take in the view of the hills behind the park and we also saw a wonderfully red sky as the sun set, bringing to an end a successful association with the small town of Corryong.

Thursday 3rd November started very well - the sky was clear and the forecast was good. We were ready to leave the Mount Mittamatite Caravan Park quite early although today’s journey to Wangaratta was not a particularly long one. The route from Corryong followed a very similar pattern to the route into Corryong – hilly, winding roads though with not a great deal of traffic. Pie seemed to cope with the hills pretty well – one or two “smokey” moments but generally progress was good. After negotiating the hills, we found ourselves following the shores of Lake Hume near Tallangatta – an area we had visited early in our travels while we were staying at Albury which, actually, was our first ever stopping place with the caravan. The lake looked lovely and we were due a mid-morning stop so we found a quiet rest area right on the shore where we settled for some time. Back on the road we soon approached and then passed through Wodonga before picking up the Hume Highway towards Melbourne. Wangaratta was only a half hour’s drive away and we reached our chosen caravan park – Painters Island – at about 1:00pm. The caravan park looked delightful but it’s proximity to the Ovens River means it gets flooded frequently. Indeed, on our last visit to Wang last October when we just had the car, it was several feet under water. It’s a shame that it suffers so much as its location and its fine facilities make it a lovely place to camp. We were able to select our own site and found a nice roomy one which Graham could drive straight on to. We were soon fully set up and after a quick lunch we drove the short distance into town. We should have walked really – it is that close – but I needed to do some shopping. Most importantly, though, I needed to find a hairdresser that could fit me in within the two days we were scheduled to stop in Wang. The first one I tried was fully booked, the second one said “tomorrow” but was very expensive and the third one (third time lucky) invited me back this very afternoon and also quoted a more acceptable price. The hairdressers was so close to the caravan park that Graham went back with the car and when I finished I walked back over a footbridge to the caravan.

Our main reason for visiting Wangaratta was to catch up with our dear friend Wilma who we have known for years. She and her late husband Jack swapped camper-vans with us many years ago. We had first met over 20 years ago on a ferry from Ireland to North Wales and had established an instant friendship (with the help of Rosie, our dog) and had arranged various get-togethers over the years. We eventually bought their old Aussie camper to do our first 12 month tour of Australia in 2003. Sadly, Jack, a huge influence on our camping exploits, passed on a couple of years ago – a devastating loss to Wilma and their delightful family. I made contact with Wilma and we agreed to meet up at her house at about 11:00am tomorrow (Friday) morning. To us, Wilma’s house is perfect - Jack designed and built it in the most splendid location and it is always a joy to visit.

That morning, Friday, before we set off to Wilma’s, Graham got chatting to a neighbour. Chats usually follow a similar pattern – have you been here long? - where did you come here from? - where are you going on to? – where’s home? Often, conversations can be a bit bizarre. We say “we’re from the UK” and they say “you must know my cousin George in Lancashire”!!!! On this occasion, the fellow said he was from Burnie in Tasmania and Graham told him we were meeting up with an old school friend, Gerry Davies, in Burnie in January. It turned out that they were near neighbours and close friends with the Davies family. So sometimes, aimless conversations can be worthwhile. We’ll probably meet up with Frank and Helen again in January.

Our day out with Wilma was splendid. We had a quick cuppa at her place and caught up with all the family developments. Wilma has a lot of grandchildren and a goodly number of great grandchildren. We chatted about a likely destination for lunch out today and settled on Rutherglen. It’s a place we’ve not been to before and is a reasonable drive out of Wang. But its main claim to fame is that it boasts one of Australia’s most famous pie shops – Parkers. We had a brief drive along the main street and then a casual walk which happened to end by the pie shop. It was the natural place for lunch and even I was attracted to some of the fancy flavours they had. Wilma and I settled for steak and mushroom and Graham had a chunky beef one, and I must confess it tasted good. (We could have had buffalo, kangaroo, duck or emu. They also baked cakes but we resisted the temptation.

Apparently Fred Parker, the owner, had recently competed in a national competition and he said: “On four occasions over the years we have picked up the award for Australia’s best! I am pretty bloody proud of that! Just as our local wine industry goes to wine shows we do the same with pies. It is a great few days!” The medal tally for 2011 is a staggering 2 bronze, 2 silver and 6 gold. Fred said of the wins, “The judges went ‘quakkers’ for the Parkers ‘Duck’ pie and our ‘Coat of Arms’ pie which has – you guessed it – Kangaroo and Emu!” Because the coat of arms is IN the pie it is ok to eat it – it is not being unpatriotic, tucking into a pie is a totally Australian thing to do! Tucking in to an award winning pie from Australia’s greatest pie shop is a ‘PIE-tastic’ thing to do!”

I had spotted an old-fashioned “Lolly Shop” just along the road and felt compelled to go in, have a good poke around and of course ended up buying a few things and so did Wilma. It’s always nice when you’ve got company in shops like that and we thoroughly enjoyed our mooch. We chose a different route back to Wang and called into the caravan on the way by as Wilma had not seen our latest mode of camping.

Back at Wilma’s, we sat and admired the gorgeous view over the park opposite which includes the most iconic of river-gum trees which looked absolutely resplendent. Erica and Ron (Reinhart), friends and neighbours of Wilma’s, called round and an amusing, entertaining chat followed. They are of German origin and have been in Aus a long time but they still have strong German accents which make for some very amusing anecdotes. Later, Wilma invited us to stay for tea. We hadn’t planned to but we couldn’t resist and settled in for some delicious soup and toasted sandwiches followed by bananas and yoghurt. Time was going on and reluctantly we had to bid Wilma farewell. It was much later than we had planned and we still had shopping to do for our onward journey tomorrow as well as some caravan preparations. We were able to find a petrol station easily enough and eventually happened on the super-market but by the time we got back to the caravan we only had time for a shower before we turned in. We were so pleased to have been able to spend more time with Wilma and it had been a very special day.

---

Photos

Sat in the middle of the road not knowing what to do
but fortunately the kangaroo hopped off out of harm's way

Monument to a Polish explorer and scientist - Sir Paul Strzelecki
he discovered and named Mount Kosciuszko

November photo on the 'Moira' calendar
Wonderful photo taken last winter