In search of the Easter Kangaroo

i will try to post some pics in the next few days from the following trip -- but wanted to get caught up on our posts ... note there are 2 new posts.


So Australia takes Easter very seriously – at least in terms of taking a holiday. The university takes Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Easter Tuesday off … so we rented a car and off we went … we decided to head north and slightly west for our trip. Originally we thought we would try to make it to Mildura – about 5 hours from Melbourne, getting close to the edge of the outback and along the Murray river … alas – when we started planning the trip (the Tuesday before Good Friday), we discovered that all of the hotels, b&bs, caravan sights, and any other lodging in Mildura or anywhere near it were booked. It turns out that in most of the towns in the region we were visiting there was no vacancy. So what did we do???? On the Thursday night we headed to Ballaarat (sometimes spelled Ballarrat), part of the “Goldfields” – about 90 minutes from Melbourne. A small town that seemed cute but was pretty much closed up for Good Friday. A lovely, if small botanical gardens. Our motel for the evening was spacious and not bad (and vacant). Our first experience, however, of being given upon checking in 4 pieces of bread and a jug of milk. This constituted our “continental breakfast.” As we discovered on this trip – the Aussies are very serious about having fresh milk for their tea. So at each place we were given fresh milk for our room.

Good Friday was spent traveling from Ballaarat to our next destination – Charlton. Along the way we stopped in a little town where our guidebook said we could get a walking tour map of the town. In fact, it was a hiking/driving map of the local foothills. The local who gave us a map told us to follow one route to go to the waterfalls, “but there is not much of a waterfall.” He also told us that if we had a good car there was a good spot where there was an observation tower. We decided that our little rental Toyota Echo did not fall into the category …. Well it turns out the signs for the waterfall and observation tower were turned around – we ended up at the tower and then some (it took us a while to figure out where we were in the map). An interesting view – this part of the country appeared dry and as a local would say, “tired.” … The rest of our day was spent exploring wineries and various local towns. This area is called the “goldfields” as it was a prominent area in Victoria when gold was found … it had its heyday. Today, however, many of the towns have boarded up shops and few inhabitants.

Charlton was just such a town – given we had a difficult time finding a place to stay, there was a b&b in Charlton that was the only reasonably priced lodging we could find. We will post a picture of the “hotel” – so in Australia, way back when to be a pub one also had to provide lodging – so many of the older pubs are called “hotels.” Today, they may or may not provide lodging so it can be confusing. The Charlton Hotel’s ad is that they are a B&B, not a pub … turns out the pub part of the hotel lasted only a few decades. Then the pub closed and the building was used as hosiery factoy. About 20 years ago the current owners restored it as a b&b. We did not particularly like having to share a bathroom and the town itself was very quiet – but it did provide us with a clean bed and we were in a location that allowed us to do a lot of exploring.

Our first exploration after arriving in Charlton was to look for a kangaroo. Believe it or not, we still have not seen a live kangaroo in the wild. Even though we have been told “they are everywhere,” the little buggers have hidden from us … the best chances for a sighting are at dawn and dusk – so at dusk in Charlton, Kevin decided we needed to go on a roo hunt … it was nice to see the sun set and the farmlands of the area …

From Charlton we first went north – to the town of Echuca, along the Murray river. We neglected to take seriously, however, our fuel gage – and out here – most of the roads are two lanes and most of the towns offer no amenities … we almost did not make it Echuca. At one of these amenity-less towns we did see a family at a park and so we thought we would stop and ask the location of the closest gas station. Unfortunately we were told it was Echuca – the interesting part, however, is how once engaged in a conversation, the locals will start talking about something else – in this instance we learned that they were from Charlton and that the man helped build the suspension bridge in Charlton. Fortunately we made it to Echuca with a few fumes to spare.

Echuca was nicely built up on the tourist area – having boat tours, a flavor for the past, and nice shops and restaurants. The Murray river is also notable in that it serves as a border for Victoria and New South Wales – back when pokeys were allowed in NSW but not in Victoria, lots of “resorts” popped up in NSW along the river. These resorts continue to have pokeys but also have some nice golf courses. So we attempted to play golf at some of these resorts. I say attempt only because most of the time was spent not hitting the ball but hitting one’s face – the flies (yes, innocent looking houseflies) were ferocious! These flies land on your face, crawl around, up your nose, in your eye … they are particularly good at doing this just as you are taking your backswing …

We spent Easter exploring the area south of Charlton – Bendigo – again more goldfields types of relics – you can see mines, shafts, a bit of history that was interesting. Bendigo is a thriving town with a nice museum and other amenities. Near Bendigo we found Maldon, the first notable town in Australia. Turns out the residents of Maldon, when deciding which storefronts to preserve, decided to preserve all of them. So the main (really only) street of Maldon is quite picturesque and quite thriving.
Before we left Charlton, we went to the next town over to do a bit of mountain climbing. Yes, most of you did not know this but Kevin and I enjoy mountain climbing. On this day we tackled Mount Wycheproof. We were the only ones in the area adventurous enough to tackle this mountain. We pulled into the parking lot and started our climb – 10 minutes later, having accomplished our mission, we were on our way … Mount Wycheproof is noteworthy as it is the smallest recorded mountain on the record books … and we climbed it …

Easter Monday we ventured north to Swan Hill, another town along the Murray River – not as built up as Echuca but still pleasant. We stayed at a “resort” on this night – it had a pool, spa, and mini-putt. Of course Abigail forgot to bring her swimming suit – needless to say this then caused us to go to Target (one of the few shops opened on Easter Monday) in search of suit – although it was 30C (80F) outside we were told it was the wrong season for suits … so a little creativity went into constructing some suitable for the pool (can we say w… trash???).

Our Easter adventure was interesting in that we saw a part of Australia that is dry, sandy, and rather desolate. But still only a couple of hours outside of Melbourne.

We continue our search for a wild (and live) Kangaroo.

Melbourne Food and Reality TV

As we have mentioned before, Melbournians pride themselves on their food – talk to any Melbournian and they cannot think of another city where one could find a better meal. In March, there is a 3 week food and wine festival that is rather amazing. There are special meals at the expensive restaurants, food festivals, cooking lessons, and lots of other events. We opted for some of the more reasonably priced events. First we went to a “spice market” dinner. This consisted of many restaurants serving primarily Middle Eastern food. As part of the event, the kids could ride a camel, there were belly dancers, snake charmers, and other entertainers. Kevin was able to learn a lot about the roasting and brewing of coffee at a one-day coffee academy at a local college. On one of the weekends, there was a coffee market where tons of brewers gathered in one place and sold coffee quite inexpensively – it was a way for us to learn about the different coffee shops in town as well as places to buy our beans. We also had lunch (organized by the festival) at one of the more relaxed but highly regarded restaurant. And on another day there was a fresh foods market (some produce but mostly goodies made by locals). This is where we learned about duccah … a “bush” food – essentially roasted sesames, sunflower seeds, and spices – one way to eat it – dip a piece of bread in olive oil and then dip the bread in the duccah. Quite a nice treat … All in all, we were impressed with all of the different events held through the festival. More cities should be as ambitious (the catalogue for the festival events was close to 100 pages)!

Speaking of food – it is time we discuss Aussie reality television some more… we do not watch all of the reality t.v. shows – but a few have caught our eye (more for the oddity of the shows than for quality). One is called “My Restaurant Rules” – the producers set up a couple in each of the capital cities with a space with which to start a restaurant. These can be married couples, friends, mother & son, etc. In many cases at least one member of the pair has had some experience in the kitchen (professionally) – but this is not always te case. Initially the drama comes from the presentations the couples have to make to a group of food critics in order to get money to renovate and start the restaurant. Then the drama unfolds to all aspects of starting the restaurants (renovations, hiring staff, picking a menu, etc.) … and then there’s the “what happens” once the restaurant opens and various elimination techniques … Given that Melbourne is a capital city, Kevin and I felt compelled to go to the Melbourne restaurant – on the show, the two guys running the restaurant seemed to be the least experienced and appeared as if they decided to participate in the show after a night of much drinking. Despite the food critics on the show raving about the chef, we were very disappointed in our eating experience … Fortunately, the owners were the first to be kicked off the show and, in a twist, new owners put in their place (all future restaurants will be kicked off and not replaced on the program – it is not clear what happens to the restaurant once kicked off, however).

The other reality television show we watch with some regularity is one called “Dancing with the Stars.” Premise is simple, match a celebrity with no dance training with a dance expert. Each week the pair must perform some type of ballroom dance for judges and the t.v. audience (whose votes on their favorite pair are used with the judges scores to decide who stays and who leaves). The producers have done a pretty good job of finding celebrities with no dance skills – and amazingingly, it is not always the worst dancers who get eliminated from the show.

And for non-reality but Aussie produced television shows, we have found a few that are very well produced and fun to watch. One is a travel show that highlights places in and out of Australia – the producers go out of their way to find interesting things to do/places to go without it costing an arm and a leg (sometimes, at least). We also found a gardening show with quite a delightful (and funny) host (a 75 year old man).