For these two mini adventures we had to do them solo as Benny wasn’t permitted, particularly within the Mount Pilot National Park near Chiltern. ​

​We may not have been able to see a waterfall along our Rawes Track walk, but we did have the opportunity to drive up to Woolshed Falls lookout. We tag-teamed in and out of the car as we ran across the carpark in slight drizzly rain to see this natural beauty.  

Located not far from where we were staying at Yackandandah is the Nine Mile Creek Historic Area and on this adventure, Cherry got to get her shoes dirty as we took her off road onto dirt roads and through a little river crossing to the start of Rawes Track. Despite the promise of a waterfall ending we were unable to make it to the waterfall, as past the river crossing the track became very overgrown and as we were in the height of snake season decided against pushing on and turned back along the way we had come. The AllTrails app said about this track, “it's unlikely you'll encounter many other people while exploring,” which offered insight into the reason for the overgrowth. It’s always fun to get out in nature however and we made the most of the walk, taking in the sights and sounds of the Victorian high country.    

​To say Benny was excited to be untethered from the lead for this 9km approx. out and back walk was an understatement. His entire demeaner changes when free to wander at his pace and sniff or eat kangaroo poo at his leisure, it’s also awesome for us as we can keep walking knowing he’ll sprint to catch up, rather than mindless waiting for him to do this dog thang before continuing; so it’s smiles all round and this trail didn’t disappoint, the trail meanders beside the creek and rural properties, and we saw many others, cycling, walking dogs, running.  

​The home of Australia’s favourite outlaw Ned Kelly, we were looking forward to soaking up the historic magic that is, Beechworth! On this adventure an intriguing bar caught my attention, and I couldn’t resist a peak; the exposed internal red brick and timber slatted ceiling created a rustic charm ambiance, and I was even more delighted to discover the bar was in fact a soda bar, specialising in Billson’s cordials and serving classic spiders, milkshakes, and sodas. I had the Elderflower soda and was hooked! George Billson developed cordial receipts with a local pharmacist in the 1870s yet sold the factory in 1914. The new owners who purchased the factory in 2018 have reinstated the brand and Billson’s has made a comeback with a Brewery, and the Soda Bar, which opened in Camp Street in 2022, and we are grateful they did. It was lovely to enjoy a drink at a venue, without it having to be either coffee or beer (although Shovel opted for the coffee). Such a fun place! Speaking of beer we couldn’t resist a visit to Bridge Road Brewers in the main street of Beechworth, brewers of our favourite beer, the Robust Porter. This was the first beer Shovel and I drank together in 2018 and whilst living in Mount Isa we would get a slab of it delivered and enjoy one together on Saturday evenings. 

Step back in time to our previous visits of Beechworth

It was the Melbourne Cup public holiday weekend in Victoria which coincided with our birthdays, and although we don’t celebrate (either event), we do like to get way and where better to spend four glorious days than in Yackandandah, nestled within the Victorian high country, a short distance from another favourite place of ours, Beechworth. We’d had the caravan park in Yackandandah booked for months and are so grateful we did; it was packed (for our first three nights) and despite the less than satisfactory amenities the location adjacent to the creek and short stroll to town made it more than perfect. The Yackandandah Star Hotel radio jingle had been reverberating as an ear worm in the lead up to our adventure into the mountains and we were elated to discover the vibe hadn’t changed since we last visited in 2018 and that the food on offer was even better than we remembered; dinning in for the four nights of our stay, indulging in the beef brisket and barramundi, most likely the best we have tasted (although I did say this about the barramundi we ate at the Threeways Roadhouse, NT). Just out of the main town centre we discovered a groovy little coffee shop, located in an old train carriage called The Guard which serves toasties and hot drinks in mugs, this place doesn’t believe in takeaway cups and we loved that; having to drink in from a mug chosen from an odd assortment, rather than get a takeaway paper cup made us slow down and enjoy the moment of being in this beautiful town. We love everything about Yackandandah! 

We last visited Warrnambool in November 2018 and loved it so much we wanted to stay permanently. It was lovely to return and still have the same feeling for this rugged seaside town oozing with maritime history and a vibrant gourmet food and artistic scene, which reminds us very much of Albany in Western Australia. We met new local James, at the Grape and Barley, a craft beer aficionado now living in Warrnambool with his Mum after being priced out of the competitive rental market in Melbourne, and Simone and Richard also from Melbourne who had stopped over in Warrnambool on their way to see family near Robe in South Australia. 

Exhibition: "There's no place like home" curated by Serena Wong "looks at both the good and the bad as equal threads in the story of this nation."

Exhibition: Local artist Rachel Robb uses oil to create slow, small-scale paintings that merge the mundane with the sublime in a traditional still-life format

Exhibition: "Structures of Feelings" aligns the work of two ground-breaking Australian artists from different generations, Paul Yore (1987-) and Albert Tucker (1914-1999) to interrogate the response by each artist to their socio-political surroundings. "By aligning the practices of Tucker and Yore, the exhibition draws attention to the incredible power that cultural regimes wield in shaping belief systems."

Known as Port Fairy's safest dog beach because it is a protected cove with little to no surf and it didn't disappoint. We left Cherry at the end of Griffiths Street and walked along the beach towards Battery Hill, then into town.

​The concrete fortifications at Battery Hill originally known as Flagstaff Hill, the Harbour Master’s signal point for shipping, were completed in 1887 in response to a perceived invasion threat by Russian after the Crimean War, which was won by a British and France alliance. Each year in January on Sunday morning the cannon is fired to celebrate the New Year and share the history of this quaint seaside town.  

​A wildlife reserve managed by the Worn Gundidj Aboriginal Cooperation is home to emus, koalas, echidnas, turtles, possums and kangaroos who can be seen around the crater lake and rugged bushland. The Natural History Centre, currently under renovation, was designed in 1962 by Australian architect Robin Boyd, cylindrical in shape echoes the form of this now inactive volcano. The reserve is a no dog zone so we could only drive around the circuit track but it was still very impressive, and the crater loop track would make for an exciting walk. 

​Located near Tower Hill, with rich volcanic soil, Koroit is a historic Irish farming settlement dating back to the 1840s, which is said to boast Australia’s most “complete examples” of early Irish architecture.

​The rail bridge over Curdies River was constructed in 1892 to facilitate the Timboon-Camperdown Line and provided access to the coastal town of Port Campbell and helped local creamery and butter produces access markets to sell their products. The bridge was constructed of local Heytesbury forest timber and displays both utilitarian bridge and wharf building techniques. The rail line was closed in 1986 and the bridge was restored to form part of the Timboon-Camperdown Rail Tail. The bridge is one of the few surviving railway structures of this type in Victoria. 

It's about a 285-kilometer journey from Bendigo in Central Victoria to Warrnambool on the south-west coast. We stopped at Beaufort the halfway point for lunch each way and also checked out a vintage secondhand store, which I can never resist and always want to buy everything in the store, thankfully the Shovel is there to bring me back to reality... I do tend to pendulum between uncluttered minimalist and maximalist hoarder... 

​This area was called “Peerick” by the Jajowarrung First People. Thomas Mitchell was the first European in the region before gold was discovered in 1852. Although unsubstantiated, the town was named after Rear Admiral Francis Beaufort who devised the Beaufort scale for measuring wind velocity. Gumby had a lovely chat to Jim in the local Newsagency regarding the importance of carrying physical cash, of which Gumby does not, as she paid for the Frankie magazine by tapping her phone against the EFT device…