SA - Getting Home
- Ken Fredric
- Apr 6
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 12
Day 57 - Casterton - Wannon Crossing VIC, 07 April, 2026
Today was our first day of exploring parts of Victoria that we hadn't seen before, while working our way towards Bendigo where we'd be catching up with Meg's family, and housesitting for her brother at the end of the month.
Once again, the morning was dull after overnight rain, with the promise of more rain to come during the day.
We had a short drive to our first destination of Coleraine, to check out the Glenelg Fine Confectionery shop. Before doing that though we jumped in the back of Mata and put our cold weather clothes on as we'd underestimated just how cold it would be. For a small country town the shop was very impressive, with any type of chocolate and other sweets you could possibly want. After having a good look around we bought a few items, mostly for gifts.
Before leaving town we drove to the historic railway station for some photos, but with the rain becoming heavier we didn't loiter too long.
The next town along the way, Hamilton, which is the largest town in the area, is the location of the Reg Ansett Museum. We drove straight to the museum, paid the small entry fee and were first shown a twenty minute video of Reg's history, particularly centered around the Ansett Airline.
We discovered that Reg had been involved in a lot of other enterprises, apart from the airline, including being a taxi driver, bus and travel company operator and of course being a pilot.
The museum was jam-packed with exhibits and memorabilia of all of Reg's businesses, but mostly focused on the airline that he first started in the 1940s.
Leaving Hamilton we drove for another half an hour, into the Grampians, and parked up in a walking trail car park for lunch.
With lunch out of the way it was another short drive to our lodgings for the night at a free camp at the Wannon Crossing Campground.
The rain was still on again, off again, so we stayed inside for the remainder of the day.
Day 58 - Wannon Crossing - Ararat VIC, 08 April, 2026
We were pleased to wake up to sunshine this morning, but we weren't pleased about the freezing temperature, about 5 degrees.
Our only clear plan for the day was to drive through the South Grampians to Halls Gap, which had been badly affected by bushfires in early 2025.
As expected, the roads were steep, narrow and windy driving through the Grampians. Apart from stopping at a lookout early in the drive, we carried on directly to Halls Gap.
The town was buzzing with holidaymakers, so we didn't bother stopping at all, apart from a photo opportunity in the main street looking back at the Grampians.
Leaving town we had a plan to drive some more around the Grampians, to Lake Wartook, and drive right around the lake, which would take most of the day considering we couldn't drive very fast on the mountainous roads.
Not far out of Halls Gap we stopped at a couple of lookouts for photos, but they were heaving with people who were going walking on the many trails around the area, and there were no parking spaces anywhere, so we stopped even trying to go to any more lookouts.
The plan to drive around the lake came unstuck when we came to the dam wall, which was where the road ended!
Modifying the plan on the fly we decided to divert to Stawell to see what it had to offer.
In Stawell we visited the dump point, then pulled up beside a park for lunch.
With lunch done we drove up to the Big Hill Lookout for great views back across the town and surrounding countryside, with the Grampians looming over the town in the background.
After a quick look at the still-working gold mine on the outskirts of town, we carried on to a free camp beside a lake just outside Ararat.
Although the day had started out sunny, it was only 18 degrees when we parked up, and a cool breeze was blowing, so we stayed inside for the afternoon.
Day 59 - Ararat - Bendigo VIC, 09 April, 2026
With all our touristing done for now, it was time to head for Bendigo to spend some time with Meg's family, and to have some work done on Mata, because a rattle had developed in the engine a few weeks ago. We'd lined up to be at the Toyota dealer at 1:30 P.M to have the noise checked out.
Heavy rain had woken us up during the night but it had stopped by the time we got up.
Thankfully we got to mostly drive the back roads, with our first stop at Avoca to take a look at their silo art.
Our only other stop was at Dunolly for a bakery morning tea and to take some photos of a couple of historic buildings.
Arriving in Bendigo we were too early to go to the Toyota dealer so we parked up in town and went to a great Chinese restaurant for lunch.
Absolutely stuffed after a big lunch we went to the dealer where a mechanic diagnosed a fault alternator as the cause of the engine noise, and also contributing were noisy V-belt tensioners.
We booked Mata in to have those issues fixed, and also to have the 100,000 km service done at the same time.
With all that done we drove to Bern and Helly's place and got settled in for the next few nights.
Day 60 - ? - Bendigo VIC, 10 - ? April, 2026
After a couple of days relaxing and not doing very much apart from trips to Zac's place to feed the dogs, we had an outing on the Saturday.
We went to the farmers' market in Bendigo to stock up on fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, etc, and a bottle of local Shiraz for me.
We were going to have lunch at a brewery in the central area, but it was a little too early so we parked up and had a wander around the Conservatory Gardens admiring the many roses in full bloom.
Close to there we visited the Yi Yuan Chinese Garden that had many paintings around the walls, statues, ponds stocked with Goldfish, fountains and the Guan Yen Temple. Although a bit cold, it was very relaxing walking around the gardens and temple.
That took us to lunchtime so it was just across the road to Bendigo Brewing for beer tasting and great pizzas for lunch.
Feeling a bit lazy after not doing too much for a couple of days, and eating too much, we had a wander around the property later in the afternoon, taking the Kelpie Pez with us, who showed us around. This was the first time we had seen the dam full after recent rains.
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