Plan...whatever letter we're up to!

 Saturday 15th

We were ready to go on a misty morning in Heathcote but our travelling companions Tom and Jan, were a little tardy so we got away about 7.30.

 The trip to Bendigo and around the outskirts went smoothly until we came to the inevitable Road Closed sign near Eaglehawk. Fortunately there was a coffee van nearby so we had breakfast while we contemplated our options. 

Tom and Jan were simply keen to get home whereas we were tourists and the next week in the Mallee country was not going to be good so eventually we decided to turn around and go with a new plan. Tom and Jan pushed on using various backroads as advised by local farmers and finally made it to Mildura after 10 hours on the road.

We navigated our way around Melbourne, not an easy task, before pulling over for lunch and getting out the map.

Options

1. MotoGp on at Phillip Island?

2. Stay in Warragul then continue up the coast.

3?

First 2 options were no go...no availability at either place so we found a spot just north of Warrugul called Glen Comie Reserve. After all the rain of the last 4 days it was great to be able to sit outside for dinner. We kept a sharp eye on the nearby creek where I found a white-faced heron sitting on its nest.


The rain came back overnight so Michael was ready to pull the pin and go home immediately but I convinced him to take a deep breath and see what happens.


Sunday 15th

We stopped in Warrugul to restock at ALDI and discovered that there are rules about when you can buy alcohol...who'd a thought.

Michael ended up standing beside the queue ushering people ahead of him until 9.59, so when he got to the checkout it was 10.01!

About 1/2 hour along the road we pulled into Yarragon, a small village which has developed its tourist potential with a variety of shops and cafes. If you ever need a jigsaw puzzle there is one shop here to visit.

We enjoyed a stroll in light rain, checking out the wall art, before coffee called.


By the time we arrived in Sale the sky had cleared so we booked in for 2 nights. There was still time to do a bit of exploring so we walked up to the Art Gallery, a fairly unattractive building externally, but light and airy internally. As well as the Art Gallery, the building houses the information centre, the library, a cafe and a learning space. We spent some time at the biennial John Leslie Art Prize Exhibition.It is one of Australia’s most prestigious prizes for landscape painting. The Prize was inaugurated in 2000 and is named after the Gallery’s Patron, John Leslie OBE. As usual the judges choice didn't match mine. The winning work was bottom left.


There were several other exhibitions including one by Annemieke Mien, a Dutch-born Australian textile artist who specialises in depicting wildlife. The subjects of her sculpted textiles are birds, frogs, gum and wattle blossoms, and insects such as moths, dragonflies, wasps and grasshoppers. Her fondness for insects and her sympathetic images, often greatly enlarged and showing normally invisible colours and textures, have revealed new aspects of the everyday world. Her works are amazingly detailed.



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