11 October, Mildura

Got up at 6.45 to take a photo of the beautiful Rio Vista house in the early morning light.

This grand home positively glows in the morning light and this morning was no exception - definitely worth getting up for. The forecast rain eventually arrived mid morning. We decided to follow up a couple more sites on the self guided tour list and so before the rain got too heavy we visited Lock 11 one of the many locks on the Murray River. Our luck was in - when we arrived one of the paddle steamers the PS Melbourne was in the process of being lowered to navigate the next section of the river.

From there we drove out of town to the famous Woody's Gemstone Shop which we first visited when we were here with the kids in the early '80's. It's been a Mildura institution forever and it still appears to be going strong. By the time we left here the rain had set in and we headed back to camp for lunch.

After lunch we decided to check out the local cinema and found that Blade Runner 2049 was running. The original Blade Runner (1982) is probably my favourite film of all time and I'd heard great reports on the sequel. A very long and complicated movie and like the original I'll probably have to watch it 3 or 4 times for it all to sink in, but I certainly felt that this version honoured the original and wove the new story seamlessly into the original. I enjoyed it a lot and expect to watch it many more times.

Tomorrow we set off for out next destination, the Barossa Valley and from there on to Hahndorf and Adelaide.

10 October 2017 - Mildura

Woke this morning to clear skies and warm weather. After a leisurely breakfast we drove to the Information Centre to get some ideas of things to do and places to visit here in Mildura.

Mildura has a fabulous history. Located in the middle of a desert it exists basically because of the ingenuity of the Chaffey brothers who were able to imagine a productive fruit growing empire if the land could be cleared and the water from the Murray used for irrigation. And they proceeded to do just that despite numerous setbacks and near disasters. These early years have left a wealth of interesting historical sites to visit, including homesteads, stately houses and steam driven pumping stations. We decided to take the self guided historical tour which started with the Mildura homestead. This was the first settlement in Mildura which was originally a sheep growing station.

The whole site has been beautifully restored complete with wool and machinery sheds.

We were amazed how complete the photographic record is of this early period, and we found the homestead has been used to house a remarkable set of photos and documents which trace the history of the early settlement.

The second item on the tour was the grand home of one of the Chaffey brothers - Rio Vista.

This beautiful homestead on the banks of the Murray has been beautifully preserved and today is part of the Mildura Arts precinct which includes theatres, galleries and a cafe.

While we were there we visited a special exhibition of Kylie Minogue's stage costumes. While not a fan of her music it was interesting to view the fabulous clothes which have been at the centre of so many of Kylie's stage shows. Everything we saw today was free (or a gold coin donation).

After all that it was time for a bit of shopping and then relaxing at our campsite in the beautiful weather. This evening we headed into town for dinner at an Indian restaurant, and so ended day 2 in Mildura. Tomorrow the forecast is for rain. The locals don't believe it and as I write this there is not a cloud in the sky. We'll see.

9 October 2017 - Mildura

Left Castlemaine this morning at 08:30 after a night of thunderstorms. Castlemaine to Mildura is a 420 km trip and the road is pretty well a straight line all the way. After a couple of stops, one for fuel and the other for lunch, we arrived in Mildura around 3pm. After cool windy weather all the way we were amazed to find that in Mildura it was absolutely beautiful - real shorts and tee shirt weather. Our caravan park is situated next door to a huge shopping mall so the first thing we did after setting up camp was to shop for some fillet steak and salad. Our van is also parked right next to the BBQ's so we had steak and salad for dinner and a fine bottle of First Block shiraz. Tomorrow we'll visit the Visitor Info centre and work on a plan for our stay here. Currently we're booked in for 3 nights but if this weather persists we'll probably stay a bit longer.

8 October, 2017 - Bendigo and Maldon

Woke a couple of times during the night to the sound of pouring rain. It was nice to finally wake up and find that the skies were mainly blue and the temperature was mild. Yesterday we discovered a German Kaffee House in a converted factory and were keen to try it for breakfast this morning. A short walk later we were sitting in a fantastic venue featuring the most mouth watering German and Austrian delicacies and the smell of fantastic coffee. What a find!
After breakfast we decided to make the short drive to Bendigo only 30 minutes away.
As we usually do we visited the Visitor Information Centre first and bought tickets for the Bendigo "Talking Tram" which runs the length of Bendigo every half hour. Our first stop was the interesting tram depot and workshop.

This workshop is a collection of old trams undergoing various renovations, mostly by volunteers.

Pretty soon it was time to go on and take the rest of the ride which was fascinating. After a couple of hours in Bendigo we moved on to Maldon. This is one of the best preserved historic town we have ever visited. It's almost like being on a movie set. On the way there we passed a historic dragline which was used in the 70's to process the old gold tailings which were found to still contain significant amounts of gold.

Did a bit of research on this machine and found that it originally came from the Yallourn mine. After a couple of hours walk around Maldon and a beautiful iced coffee it was time to return to Castlemaine. This is a very historic area with old buildings and heritage sites everywhere. On the way back we passed a beautiful little dilapidated stone cottage.

So now we're back in the van and after a very pleasant day we are experiencing a noisy thunderstorm. Hopefully it will be fine again tomorrow.

7 October, 2017 - First Stop - Castlemaine

We left just before 9 am this morning and all went well. Our route took us up the Calder Highway past Woodend and Mt Macedon. We arrived in Castlemaine at 1pm and quickly set up camp in the Big 4 Caravan Park here which is located right next to the Castlemaine Botanical Garden.
Castlemaine is a beautiful city full of grand buildings and beautiful houses, a legacy of the gold mining era. There are many disused factories and some are being redeveloped into restaurant and cafe precincts.

We're here for two nights and will probably visit Bendigo tomorrow. Then, on Monday we continue on to Mildura with our eventual destination Adelaide via the Barossa Valley. 

21 June - Seminyak, Kuta, Bali

Our last full day here in Bali, tomorrow evening we fly home. Once again, though the sky was cloudy we had another balmy day. After experiencing the second of our complementary massages at the hotel spa we decided to return to Kuta to visit the Beachwalk Shopping Plaza which is considered to be the best shopping centre in Bali. This is certainly true if you're looking for all the classic brand names such as H&M. We were delighted to find a Johnny Rockets restaurant. I have fond memories of JR from the brief time in the early '90's when Melbourne featured a couple of restaurants but they disappeared many years ago. So we had a mid afternoon lunch/dinner at the Bali version of Johnny Rockets.

Found this young boy feeding the gold fish in one of the many ornamental ponds at Beachwalk. He could literally put his hand in the water and lift a fish out. There is even a Lego shop and saw this sight outside.

Walking around shops is pretty tiring and after an ice coffee in one of the cafes we were ready to go back to the hotel. Seminyak is a bit too far for a horse and buggy so we hailed a cab and battled our

way back through the evening traffic. After our Johnny Rockets experience we were too full to have dinner so we cleaned up the last of our gin and tonics and Baileys before settling in for our last night. Tomorrow we check out by noon, but won't leave to go to the airport till about 7pm for an 11:15 flight home.

20 June - Kuta and Seminyak, Bali

We woke to rain this morning but our experience has taught us that after a couple of hours the sun breaks through and the weather is fine for the rest of the day. We decided to return to Kuta for some more shopping today and after a 40 minute taxi ride we were in the middle of what must be one of the busiest places on earth. Left the girls to explore the shops for themselves  and John and I took to some of the back streets to deal with the more entrepreneurial types who would like to flog you anything from full body massages ($8) to new release DVD's (7 for $5). After an hour of this we retired to a shady bar for Bintangs and to watch and photograph the passers by.

After a while the girls joined us for a light lunch and as usual I opted for chicken satays which are superb here.

It was very pleasant sitting in a shady bar, enjoying food and drink and watching the world go by. A bit more shopping after lunch and then a taxi back to Seminyak. 

One of the sights that amazes me here in Bali is the sheer number of scooters on the road. There are literally thousands of them transporting anything from individuals, to couples. to whole families (Mum and Dad and three kids) in what seems like total chaos, but what is actually a very orderly traffic system which seems to only have on rule, don't run into anyone else!

We arrived back at Alila at around 4 for a bit of a snooze before meeting for pre-dinner drinks and then dinner at what is quickly becoming our favourite restaurant in Seminyak which is Tiigo.

Our holiday is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of sight seeing and shopping in Legian, and then on Thursday we fly home.