After a couple of days in Mount Gambier we packed up and headed off for the Victorian border. As we have been travelling we have been in constant contact with our parents. My parents had been holidaying in Queensland and Kathy's parents had left Sapphire in Queensland after being there for many months. Our parents had met up with each other in Temora for an airshow and they had planned to meet up again in Shepparton for a Mammoth Scale model aeroplane weekend. My father was entering the weekend and flying one of his models there. We knew of their plans and we decided that we would be in Shepparton to surprise them when they arrived. To achieve this we needed to neglect to tell them where we were when we spoke to them. As we were travelling through the Adelaide Hills, we were telling them we were still in Port Lincoln. Very naughty of us… we know.

Anyway, a few kilometres from Mount Gambier we were back in Vic again… sooner than we had planned when we embarked on this journey, but these things often do not go exactly according to plan… We followed the Highway to Portland, had a drive around town and continued through to Port Fairy and Warrnambool where we did the same. A short way out of Warrnambool we turned off for the little town of Cudgee. Kathy's parents had a little house on a couple of acres in Cudgee when Kathy was a kid, and she had always held a certain fondness of that house, so she was keen to drive past and see if we could find the house. After a couple of U-turns we found the house and stopped to get a photo. The owner of the house was home at the time and she was very happy to let Kathy have a wander through the house. The house is a small traditional farm house, built in 1890 and unfortunately in need of some major repairs and a whole lot of love. It turns out that the woman living there is the same person that bought the house from Kathy's parents 32 years ago, and she remembered Kathy and her curly hair, her standing on the wire fence at the back of the property and being told off for it by her father. Amazing… Kathy even got to see inside her old bedroom of the house, she was stoked!! Well worth the effort and the short detour. From here we turned off the highway and followed the Great Ocean Road. We have travelled the G.O.R. a couple of times before so we didn't spend a lot of time stopping in at all the sights, just a couple here and there. One thing we did notice was that we found ourselves looking at the sights along the Great Ocean Road and saying things like, "It's nice, but it's not as good as… (insert another stretch of Australian coastline here)". Then we berated ourselves for sounding like spoilt brats. It is difficult, though, when we have seen so much on this trip, not to make comparisons. There are so many beautiful places that one needs to be mindful to enjoy each of them in their own right. We surprised Kathy's uncle in Lavers Hill by calling in unannounced on our way past. Upon his insistence we stayed the night with him and Kathy's aunt. Staying at their house was the first night we had out of the camper since the house we began to house-sit in Rubyvale in Queensland, which was quite some time ago! There was a bit of wind that night and I found it strange that the walls were not flapping…. A house may take a bit of getting used to again one day…

The next day we left Lavers Hill and visited Kathy's 96 year old grandfather in Colac. He was happy to see us again after our travel around the country. From Colac we travelled north along a similar route we travelled at the beginning of our travels, through Ballarat and then out through Castlemaine, Bendigo and on to Rushworth where we camped for the night in a bush camp at Whroo, just out of town. Our goal was to arrive in Shepparton early the next morning and be set up in the caravan park before our parents arrived and complete our surprise arrival. After a quiet night camped in the bush we packed up and drove the 50 km to Shepparton, and were set up in the caravan park by lunchtime. We waited and waited, and our parents finally arrived by mid-afternoon. They were truly surprised to find us there, which was a relief for us as we were worried they had figured out what we were up to. As it turned out the secret was safe and the surprise worked a treat!! We stayed in Shepparton two weeks with our parents and apart from the model aeroplane event we didn't do a great deal. We had great weather for the most part and it was great to catch up with our parents again. When we left Shepparton we decided to go back to Traralgon for a week or so to re-organise our car before we sailed to Tasmania, but there was no rush getting back to the Valley. So, we drove east from "Shep", travelling through Winton, Glenrowan, Myrtleford and on to Bright. We had intended to stay in Bright for a couple of days but we found it to be expensive to stay there, camping there was similarly priced to Broome! We had a look around town and then drove a few kms out of town to camp in a free camp at Smoko. This was a nice camp in the bush alongside the river which we had all to ourselves. As we drove to Smoko we could see snow on the mountains nearby, so we expected to have a cold night, but it was surprisingly mild most of the night. The next morning we headed along the Great Alpine Road, stopping at Harrietville to hire snow chains before climbing up the mountain and into the snow at Mount Hotham. The road was clear and dry, so there was no need to fit the chains, and the weather was clear for the most part. At the top of Mount Hotham the cloud reduced our visibility to less than 20 metres, which was a bit of a pity, but it cleared quickly once we began to descend again. The snow was still very thick at the top to the mountain and when the sun came out it was a very beautiful sight. The whole drive through Mount Hotham and down to Omeo was a very enjoyable drive. We stopped at Omeo for lunch and to drop off the snow chains. After a delicious lunch at the bakery we had a wander around town. It is a quiet little town and could be a good place to live, but it might be hard to get jobs there and it would be bloody cold in the winter, being so close to the snow and all…

From Omeo we took a dirt road that led from Omeo to Dargo, driving across the ridges of the high country. This was a very scenic drive, although not very quick. In a few places the track became quite muddy and rutted, but we have travelled worse! There were also more trees down across the road than we cared to count, with us needing to drive the Pajero over numerous fallen trees and squeeze through the gaps in the larger trees that had sections cut out of them to clear the road. It was slow going but an enjoyable drive. On the way we came across a place called "Dogs grave". I had seen this on the maps a few times and often wondered what there was there. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that there is actually a dog's grave there… It seems as if some bushy from the 1800s buried his dog there and erected a plaque in his honour. It was interesting to see and slightly touching that the memory of an ordinary dog could survive such a stretch of time. As we neared Dargo the track began to follow the Dargo River and we stopped at a campground here for a couple of nights. This was our 100th camp set up on our trip. One hundred camps! It was a great spot right on the river, but unfortunately I could not induce a fish to jump out of the river in order to be cooked for dinner. Later than evening I did go looking for a replacement in the form of a rabbit, but they were snuggled up underground out of the cold night air, so that was unsuccessful as well. I did stumble across a Fallow Deer while looking for bunnies and there is a lot of deer sign around, so I will definitely be coming back to this spot one day for some food collection exercises!! After a couple of days we packed up and headed through Dargo and down the hill. We drove through Sale, Stratford and Maffra to check out some potential places to live… maybe. From here we continued through to Heyfield and into Traralgon. Traralgon…. We had mixed feelings about returning to Traralgon, even for a short visit. I had expected that when I sighted the power stations in the Latrobe Valley that I would just want to leave again. As it happened, we drove toward Traralgon, sighted the power station at Loy Yang in the distance, and the first thing that came to my mind was, "Oh, it's not as big and intimidating as I remember it". I guess that we have seen so many towns around the country that have large industries attached to them that I have realised that there are places that are worse affected by industry than Traralgon. Some towns we have visited that are known as being beautiful towns actually have large industries attached to the town, right in town. So, the power stations are maybe not so bad… Also, as we drove through Traralgon on the way to my parents' house, we couldn't help but notice that the town itself is actually quite well presented, and having a different perspective on things after seeing a lot of towns we think that if we had never been here before that we would think it was quite a nice town. It's weird how travel can change your perspective on things….

We have been in Traralgon now for a week. My parents have been very patient with us, allowing us to stay at their house and reorganise the Pajero and our camping gear before we head for Tassie. We are leaving the camper here and have borrowed a tent from some friends to take to Tassie. This will make it cheaper to travel on the boat without the camper and it will also make it easier to travel into all the little out-of-the-way places once there. We are looking forward to Tasmania and hope that we will not get too much crap weather… but we are expecting to have our fair share, so I'm sure there will be adventure to be had and more stories to tell!