Hi everyone, I am just back from 8 weeks travelling across Australia from Western Australia, where I live, across South Australia, with a few stops, and then our main destination touring around Victoria in the south east of Australia. See maps!
For those not familiar with Australia - Map 1 is a map of Australia with a black outline roughly the area we travelled through.
Map 3 - is a blow up of the South Australia and Victoria part of our trip.
I must confess that with the incredible rise in fuel prices before we left and the trouble in the Middle East, at one stage we actually considered not going. But we are glad we did go. You can't put a price on making memories with those you love. Yes fuel was expensive, but we just put it in, I wrote it in the book, and then closed the book.
We were away exactly 8 weeks. We travelled 11,559.5km, fuel cost $4,918.57, most expensive fuel we bought was in Corryong Victoria @ $3.31/Litre, cheapest fuel Waterloo WA @ $2.15.9/Litre. We did see fuel more expensive but thanks to an app called Petrol Spy we were able to avoid them.
We stopped in 9 free camps and 19 caravan parks.
We had so many enjoyable experiences and visited places new to us, caught up with two sets of friends in South Australia, we met new people, followed up on my family heritage from the 1800s in Victoria, saw koalas in the wild, ticked off some movie locations for our son, experienced the Man From Snowy River 4 day festival in Corryong Victoria, and saw Craig's Hut (from the Man From Snowy River movie) in the fog on Mt Stirling in the Victorian high country.
It was our first trip to regional Victoria, so there was so much for us to explore.
My husband drove us all that way and back home safely. Thank you! Home sweet home. Clean ups done, but still sorting through all those photos!
Over the coming weeks I will bring you some stories and photos, but for now just a taster. I am still going through my photos and trying to catch up on real life.
Here is a link on my blog about the Nullarbor from a previous trip - Crossing Australia - Eyre Highway
I have lots to share with you, but for now a few highlights -
The amazing Stick Shed in Murtoa. We saw The Stick Shed on ABC's Back Roads when we were researching for our recent trip. It is located at Murtoa in the Wimmera-Mallee region of Victoria. Completed in 1942 during WW2, it was built in 4 months as an emergency grain store. Find out more soon!
Fantastic silo and water tank art - is it a thing in your country? It certainly is in Australia
Visiting Craig's Hut from the Man From Snowy River movie - in the Victorian high country - very atmospheric in the fog. (and a few other movie locations - more later!)
Visiting historic Echuca on the Murray River and taking a cruise on the Paddle Steamer Pevensy - used as the PS Philadelphia in the Australian 1983 TV series All The Rivers Run.
The state border between New South Wales and Victoria actually runs along the high tide mark on the Victorian side of the 2,508 km Murray River before it runs down through South Australia to the sea. River trade was used for many years up and down the Murray, Darling and other rivers before rail transport.
Driving and walking through forests, along coastal paths, and finding koalas in the wild!
I hope you will join me over the coming weeks to read these stories and more about our recent travels through South Australia and Victoria. See you then!
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Sorry I have been missing from yours over the last 8 weeks. Have a wonderful week.
