We're off to Cameron's Corner

Hi everyone,

Just gonna put the latest posts up.  Outside of Petersbough now and gonna make the dash to Cameron's Corner.
Here is my post from yesterday:
Posted 9th Mar 2013
We went cross country to Melbourne was some lovely scenery we camped at a little reserve where we found lots of Acorn Trees.  I looked on the net and they are edible but require a bit of processing http://www.grandpappy.info/racorns.htm  we picked a couple of bags to give them a try. It started to rain quite heavily so we went to bed early, couldn't even cook dinner- S had a cold can of spaghetti (yucky) Was a very cold night, we left early and headed for Bad Al's we tried to stop to make some breakfast as we were crossing the Black Spur tooooo cold! Black Spur just as beautiful as ever (RIP Dave) took a video, we had some great days in the old days riding up there, but didn't see any bikes too early in the morning.

When we got to Healsville we stopped for breakfast at the Beechworth Bakery YUM!!!  I bought a cook book the food was so great! Knocked on the door of Bad Al's house and Silvia (his Mrs) looks stunned, I don't think she was quite sure who we were! She did recognise us in the end and was really lovely and welcoming insisting that we stay in the "honeymoon suite".  We went off to do some shopping and by the time we got back Al was home and she was making us some scrumptious cheese cake. Man I forgot that Victoria had such yummy bakeries and bakers! I think I must have put on kilos just being here!


Had a great time catching up with Bad Al & had a trip down memory lane from when I used to live in the area as a girl.  We went out berry picking and got lots of raspberries, strawberries and blackberries. You can go to the U-Pick farms and eat as many berries as you can you have to pay $12.50 per person and that covers the 1st kg of berries. We ate about 3kg before we left!

After spending a few days at Al's we drove over to Ballarat to see my cos & good friend Ann. We stopped at the Lerdiderg Gorge on the way, when we went down the bottom there were campers every where and no place to set up our trailer so we decided to stay up the top (thank goodness).  People were arriving all evening into the night… turns out there was a 'rave' down in the gorge, we couldn't hear much over the genny so it didn't bother us.  Next morning they were still going! We left about 10:30 and was starting to slow down then.  It sounded like all instrumental and no singing very repetitive & boring! Oh well to each his own.  We continued on past Woodend, we didn't stop at Hanging Rock (unfortunately you can't fit everything in) We arrived in Ballarat mid afternoon, (they were expecting us lol)  It was so wonderful to see Ann after all these years we had a great reunion. She couldn't believe my cooking but said  I hadn't changed apart from that. She hasn't changed much either, but she is ill so I worry about her. 

In Ballarat we went to see Sovereign Hill was a great day but quite expensive $90 for both of us. I didn't mind the entry fee so much as i they had lots of people dressed up and heaps to see but I was not happy with the charge of $4.80 for a drink! Even the small bottles were $4.00 each (ripped off) We had a great time saw the red coats and had a trip down the mine (the free one) the holograms were amazing. We bought some olde lollies I had an umbrella, haven't had one for years, S had some spearmint drops. For afternoon tea we went to the Beechworth Bakery again, good but not quite so much pride at the Healsville store (Pull your sox up Ballarat) I had a beesting yum yum yum lol. On way back to Ann's we found a pear tree and another quince tree (I tried the recipe from Burke's backyard and they are very good, kind of like tart apples) We picked heaps of both, when we cooked up the pears they were a bit disappointing but we've frozen them & will think of something later. i spent several hours processing the acorns and am still not sure I will eat them, gonna give them a try for lunch today.

It was sad leaving Ann's but we have to get on, only 3 weeks left & we still haven't got to Cameron's Corner. All the fruit was cooked and frozen so no worries going through the fruit fly. We stayed at a roadside camp and yesterday found our current camp on the Murray. Very picturesque but the water is very dirty, don't think I'd eat a fish out of it so we're not gonna bother. We will stay here till Sunday then we will make the run to Cameron's Corner, from here to there and back to Port Augusta is 1600kms we intend to make the trip in 1 week (that means about $500 in fuel) we'll see if we make it this time...