days away
Well, I have had my few days away, and a very good time was had by all who attended. Me and Me. Didn’t do much thinking, but did a lot of remembering. Nice and peaceful, plenty of good eateries nearby. Got up there (Neerim South for those of you who didn’t know) about 3:30 on the Monday and nobody around the place. The owner told me he would be away and he left the place open for me to just go in and make myself at home.
This is what the place looks like from the front. Mud brick, tin roof and a porch over the front door.
The back of the cottage
Inside the front door looking through the lounge to the kitchen and back wall.
So I did, but the dogs were very enthusiastic about saying hello. The slow com heater was lit and burning well. When they got home, I was told that some people had reported the heater would go out during the night, and they even had that problem with the one in their own house, but it behaved itself beautifully for me. Just a matter of knowing how to pack them, I guess.
The cottage was mud brick with a bathroom, one double bed room and open plan kitchen/ lounge/ dining room downstairs and two double beds in the loft. Part of the floor was slate, with redgum pavers on the rest.
The main bedroom, so small I had to get dressed in the lounge
Went to the local for tea, Chicken in a seafood sauce was OK but nothing to write home about.
Tuesday I went and did a bit of shopping and then out to the Tarango cheese factory, but they don’t do tastings and direct sales any more, so it was a bit of a wasted effort. But never mind, I found out where the place was and had a nice chat with the counter jumper. I went to visit the Musical village at Darnam again. It’s a fascinating place, a museum of keyboard instruments set up by an ex music teacher from Ballarat where they restore pianos and organs. That was where I dropped the camera, so I didn’t get any photos until I bought a new one in Warragul on the way back to the cottage. Sprawled around the cottage for the rest of the afternoon listening to Bach, Vivaldi and Albinoni, (I had taken a few good CDs and DVDs with me) and I watched Lords of the Rings part two again. About tea time I found a very nice Restaurant in the village which was normally open Wed. Thur, Fri and Sat nights only, but he had a function on that night so decided to open to the public anyway. Now that one was something to write home about.
Wednesday was a lot of fun. Went up and took some photos at the Noojee Trestle bridge,
This is the sort of forest they have at Noojee
and this is the sort of trestle bridge they build. Originally built for timber tramways, it's a long time since it has been used for that purpose.
then on to Noojee for lunch at a place called the Outpost. When I eventually found it, they were shut so I decided to skip lunch that day and go on to Mt Baw Baw. Got as far as Tranjil Brend and found out that it was compulsory to carry snowchains during the declared snow season. I don’t have any and didn’t feel like hiring them so I went rally driving instead on the back roads to Walhalla. Another one of the fascinating places we have here. A gold mining town once home to 30,000 people, the population is now 12. A small weatherboard cottage here will sell for about the price of a four bedroom brick house with all mod cons in the city. There are so few of them and there is no flat land left to build more.
The only way they could get enough flat land to build a fire station was to put a bridge over the creek and build on that
Looking down onto the railway station at Walhalla. A narrowe gauge line it now operates as a tourist attraction
This is the pub at Coopers Creek. Come to think of it, it is Coopers Creek, nothing else there except trees and it's at the end of about 12 K of dirt road. Unfortunately, they open on Frid evening Saturday and Sunday only so I not only couldn't get a drink, I couldn't even get photos inside
Dirt roads most of the way and I stoked it along Got it up to 180 a few times, but mostly it was around 140 160 and I managed to blow some of the carbon buildup out of the Camry.
Thursday I did very little. Had a nice long lie in and wandered around the farm for a while. Went back to the Bakehouse for tea that night and took along the last halfbottle of Noble Tramina I had. We bought a case of it when we were in Mildura in 1996 and it’s a beautiful drop of dessert wine. So there were a few memories floating around that night. The Friday I came home. So there you have it, the story of my few days away. I did very little thinking, but a fair bit of remembering
This is what the place looks like from the front. Mud brick, tin roof and a porch over the front door.
The back of the cottage
Inside the front door looking through the lounge to the kitchen and back wall.
So I did, but the dogs were very enthusiastic about saying hello. The slow com heater was lit and burning well. When they got home, I was told that some people had reported the heater would go out during the night, and they even had that problem with the one in their own house, but it behaved itself beautifully for me. Just a matter of knowing how to pack them, I guess.
The cottage was mud brick with a bathroom, one double bed room and open plan kitchen/ lounge/ dining room downstairs and two double beds in the loft. Part of the floor was slate, with redgum pavers on the rest.
The main bedroom, so small I had to get dressed in the lounge
Went to the local for tea, Chicken in a seafood sauce was OK but nothing to write home about.
Tuesday I went and did a bit of shopping and then out to the Tarango cheese factory, but they don’t do tastings and direct sales any more, so it was a bit of a wasted effort. But never mind, I found out where the place was and had a nice chat with the counter jumper. I went to visit the Musical village at Darnam again. It’s a fascinating place, a museum of keyboard instruments set up by an ex music teacher from Ballarat where they restore pianos and organs. That was where I dropped the camera, so I didn’t get any photos until I bought a new one in Warragul on the way back to the cottage. Sprawled around the cottage for the rest of the afternoon listening to Bach, Vivaldi and Albinoni, (I had taken a few good CDs and DVDs with me) and I watched Lords of the Rings part two again. About tea time I found a very nice Restaurant in the village which was normally open Wed. Thur, Fri and Sat nights only, but he had a function on that night so decided to open to the public anyway. Now that one was something to write home about.
Wednesday was a lot of fun. Went up and took some photos at the Noojee Trestle bridge,
This is the sort of forest they have at Noojee
and this is the sort of trestle bridge they build. Originally built for timber tramways, it's a long time since it has been used for that purpose.
then on to Noojee for lunch at a place called the Outpost. When I eventually found it, they were shut so I decided to skip lunch that day and go on to Mt Baw Baw. Got as far as Tranjil Brend and found out that it was compulsory to carry snowchains during the declared snow season. I don’t have any and didn’t feel like hiring them so I went rally driving instead on the back roads to Walhalla. Another one of the fascinating places we have here. A gold mining town once home to 30,000 people, the population is now 12. A small weatherboard cottage here will sell for about the price of a four bedroom brick house with all mod cons in the city. There are so few of them and there is no flat land left to build more.
The only way they could get enough flat land to build a fire station was to put a bridge over the creek and build on that
Looking down onto the railway station at Walhalla. A narrowe gauge line it now operates as a tourist attraction
This is the pub at Coopers Creek. Come to think of it, it is Coopers Creek, nothing else there except trees and it's at the end of about 12 K of dirt road. Unfortunately, they open on Frid evening Saturday and Sunday only so I not only couldn't get a drink, I couldn't even get photos inside
Dirt roads most of the way and I stoked it along Got it up to 180 a few times, but mostly it was around 140 160 and I managed to blow some of the carbon buildup out of the Camry.
Thursday I did very little. Had a nice long lie in and wandered around the farm for a while. Went back to the Bakehouse for tea that night and took along the last halfbottle of Noble Tramina I had. We bought a case of it when we were in Mildura in 1996 and it’s a beautiful drop of dessert wine. So there were a few memories floating around that night. The Friday I came home. So there you have it, the story of my few days away. I did very little thinking, but a fair bit of remembering
posted by OOTOR/suzie86 | 10:40 AM
|
1 comments
