Day 26 moving on from the cold wet Grampians

Time to move on but not very nice weather to be packing up in. Fortunately it was only showers every now and again

And in fact there were patches of sunshine and breaks in the clouds

Unfortunately we did not have enough of a signal to logon to VicRoads to find out what roads were closed so we weren’t sure which way we were going to travel out of the Grampians. There was also not enough signal to make any phone calls so I resorted to messaging Heidi and Corina to ask them to look up on the Vic roads website and let us know via SMS what roads are closed.

They were extremely helpful. It was clear that we were better off heading in a northerly direction out of the plantation camp campground rather than going south back to Halls Gap. Having come back home via Pines Road the afternoon before we figured that would be a safe way to travel out towards the Western Highway.

road was okay

A few trees down and a bit muddy in places

But we soon reached the junction with the surfaced Fyans Creek Road

Sky was clearing but every now and again we would drive through showers

We stopped for awhile at this junction to work out if we should be turning off here

further studying of the maps we decided that turning off along Greenhole rd was the way we should be going

And towards Horsham

And towards the Western Highway

On to the Western Highway we started to see Traffic

And signs about water over the road however by now it had subsided and there was just patches beside the road

Or the occasional large area of the flat land that was flooded

We went past this turn off which was one of the routes that we had considered travelling on but still weren’t sure if Roses Gap Road was open as we had heard rumours the day before that it was closed

Had to stop here

After passing over William Creek

To take photos of the big koala

Had no idea why suddenly there was a big koala here as we had not seen koalas around here but we had seen lots of kangaroos

Info about the area…

eventually we got signal here and were able to look at the Vic roads website this is where we saw that the road that we had travelled down yesterday on our drive around was now closed

We also saw some road closures around the area along the route that we had considered travelling through

We were originally not going to go through Horsham as we had heard there was flooding around there but it wasn’t clear where the flooding was

And at one point we had considered turning off here to shortcut across to Harrow

Back to passing more canola growing

And mountains in the mist

Eventually the clouds did lift though

This was a turn off that we had also considered coming out along from our campsite

This however was part of the road closure system

We pulled in at the green lake rest area to use the toilets there

And came across this Monument about major Mitchell and his journey beside the lake

A convoy of Combi vans went past whilst we were there

The lake looked pretty full

Not far from Horsham now countryside pretty flat and very green

Passing through Horsham with no need to stop

And over the Wimmera River which was the cause for some of the areas to be flooded

Continuing on the Western Highway

But then turning off towards Eden hope

Driving through the town

Taking photos of buildings but nothing startling

And then turning off towards Natimuk

We kept driving through rain patches so I decided to check BOM which showed the occasional shower passing through

At one point we passed over the Wimmera River again

Which had obviously broken its banks in places

We passed several turnoffs to roads that we had considered travelling along

But we had decided to stick to the main highways

Through Natimuk that had some more interesting buildings

And continuing on the B240 where there was evidence of flooding around

Mount Arapiles in the distance

Past this roadblock at the end of one of the roads that we had considered travelling along

Pretty drive along here with lots of mature tree lining the road

Turn off here to go to Harrow as we had been told by a person in the information Centre at Dunkeld that it was an interesting historic town

Much smaller secondary road but in good condition

Turned off here to wards Miga Lake

Passing through small towns and farming country

Pleased that we were travelling west and not east where there were a lot of closed roads

On reaching Harrow we pulled up to explore the town

On reading these signs we understood the significance of the town

Had a laugh at this joke cemetery

and these places

The Local Street Guide - not a very big town!!!!

Walked through the town to check out the historic buildings….

Presumably wool??

Spent quite a long time in the Harrow Discovery Centre as there was a very comprehensive museum there

Bill with the famous cricketer Johnny Mullagh

Photos on the side of a building

and this little tile outside the old bank

We were hoping to have lunch at this pub but it wasn’t open so we continued on and had lunch in the little shop come cafe next door

On the road again towards Eden hope

Passing through some small town

Taking turn offs along the way

Eventually reaching Eden hope

Stopped off beside the lake not much to see

Drove around the block to take photos of this historic building

And the signs out the front

Kept going though on towards Naracoorte passing turn offs to interesting sounding town names

Oops shouldn’t have bought all that fruit in Halls Gap

After leaving Eden hope I checked on WikiCamps where it might be nice to stay the night and we decided that the free camping beside the hotel in Apsley was a goer because it meant we could have dinner in the hotel and also have our last night in Victoria before crossing the border

So we pulled up on the beautiful green grass behind the hotel

The HEMA map image of our journey today

We booked in to the hotel for dinner but because there was a bit of time before then Bill managed to fix the cord on the lanyard for my phone

Unfortunately when the lanyard broke my phone fell onto the road and cracked the front protection glass ☹️

Our set up behind the pub before there was another arrival

I went for a walk through the town

This mural is on the back of the toilet block

Took photos of other points of interest

The iconic Hotel in Apsley

So pleased that I found mention of this place on WikiCamps and that we decided to stay here

Had a fabulous evening in the pub very yummy dinner with drinks

But I also got to learn a little bit about this community which is why it’s really nice to stop off at small towns and frequent the local pub

When we first arrived and asked if we could camp out the back and come in and have dinner the lass behind the bar said we would need to book for dinner which really surprised us as we thought my goodness this is a small country town however luckily we did book for dinner as the place was packed at dinner time

When Bill went up to the bar to order a drink he got chatting to a guy called Simon who turns out also has an AOR quantum plus.

Later on I went up to chat to Simon and found out that he is a local farmer here and in fact has his quantum plus in his shed here. We thought he was travelling like us but in fact he does use his quantum to travel but not at the moment.

With further conversation with Simon I discovered that the Border Inn was going to closedown and be sold and turned into a house. However a group of the local families including Simon decided to buy it jointly for the community.

It is only recently that that group of locals sold it individually to a couple who now run it very successfully

We had the most enjoyable evening here

I took this photo of Bill with a young couple at a table in the background with their gorgeous little son Thomas, who will be two on Sunday, hiding under the table cloth and their daughter Olivia.

This family have pulled up behind us in the free camping behind the pub and believe it or not they are also from Brisbane as I found out by chatting to Ben the father

I decided that I would like an Affogato after my dinner so Bill taught the staff what an Affogato consists of so they brought me one

I remembered that Cath and John were playing at the tiger eye bar in Brisbane and that Heidi and Corina were going to listen to them so I watched some of their performance on Facebook and sent messages