Month: December 2019

21st to 26th December 2019

(N.B. I could not believe it. I thought Nug Nug would have been a straight out aboriginal name. Anyway, read on …) I could not find a precise meaning of Nug Nug. However, Mr Wikipedia noted, ‘… names are examples of reduplication (e.g. Wagga Wagga), a common theme in Australian toponymy, especially in names derived from Indigenous Australian languages such as Wiradjuri.’ From this we may deduce it is of aboriginal origin although other dictionaries define the single word Nug as a high quality bud of cannabis and another, the lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries, to nudge or prod., To make a jerking movement, to tug, especially of a fish.

The Reserve at Nug Nug is a heavily wooded and shady spot with a creek. If an aboriginal ever says ‘Nug Nug’ to me, I’ll have a look around for shade or a creek. By the way, someone else at the park said it meant gentle breeze. So we now have gentle breeze in Hindu (at Porpunkah) and also Aboriginal.

We returned to Myrtleford and stocked up for our next stop Nug Nug about eleven kilometres south. We could have missed the turn off easily, but luckily we didn’t. A most delightful spot and perhaps our favourite. The following may not be entirely correct but it is at least sort of right. Apparently it is more or less privately run by two families.

As I understand it, these families had been coming to Nug Nug all their lives and it was planned to close it. These two families intervened and a sort of partnership was formed between them and the council and the forestry department. The families run it and it is not only self supporting but flourishing. It has two sets of his and hers ablution blocks with flushing toilets and a cold shower.

Two levels, high and low, the top has some shade and the bottom has LOTS of shade and a creek running across the back of it. AND 240volt AND water is available. We took a shady spot backing onto the creek. Cost was $5 PP per night and just $10 per day for power. So $20 a day for us. Fabulous spot.

A young family next to us had been coming for years was great company at ‘beer o’clock’ and a more mature chap across the road had been more or less everywhere and was a wealth of information.

We planned three days and stayed for six. The creek was great to get your feet wet and cool but a five minute walk took you to a large swimming hole that looked like something out of a movie. We had Christmas lunch with the family and pooled our resources which included our 19 metres of flashing party lights. (off at 10pm)

19th to 20th December 2019

When the township now known as Bright was first surveyed in 1859 it was called Morse’s Creek. In 1866 its name was officially changed to honour John Bright, who, at the time, was the MP for Birmingham in England.

The mountain is named after Charles Hotham who was Governor of Victoria from 1854 to 1855. Ferdinand Von Mueller is said to have named Mt Hotham and other surrounding peaks however much of his work was discredited when the first official maps of Victoria were produced in 1872.

We couldn’t keep our drive through park and would have to unhitch to stay so we decided to move on the Bright. N.B. Besides the hassle of unhitching and hitching up again, we prefer to remain hitched as with bush fires around we were set up for quick getaways.

 We arrived and did a short parade through town before finding a spot to park our 14.3 metre long monster. did a little necessary shopping and some un-necessary, including some fluffy toys amongst them two Kookaburras that when pressed on the spot that demanded to ‘press here’, it made a sound rather like a Kookaburra.

Wise investment. Alpine caravan park, Bright. Nice enough place but hardly anyone in it. We ended up unhitching because we wanted to go for a little jaunt.

So we headed to Mt Hotham passing through and stopping at Harrietville for a coffee and icecream, completely missed the town of Smoko, and wound our way up 45 minutes of steep road and long drops which made didn’t overly concern us but we were certainly apprehensive. (A bit scary)

The entire time we passed bare, burnt out trees for as far as the eye could see. We were later told that, it was the status quo since the 2013 fire which burnt with such ferocity that the trees had not and would never recover.

The top was indeed around twelve degrees cooler as promised and the lunch was a monster hamburger cut in half to serve two and it was still too bloody big.

We made it down to the bottom without incident, hitched up and spent a pleasant evening with the air conditioner on and departed in the morning for a twice recommended spot called Nug Nug.

Tuesday 17th to 19th December 2019

When pastoralists arrived in the Ovens Valley in 1837 they named the local creek Myrtle Creek because of the myrtle trees (probably tea trees) growing on the banks Subsequently a ford across the creek was used by prospectors travelling to Beechworth. It became known, self-evidently, as Myrtleford.

The town at the confluence of the Ovens and Buckland Rivers, is Porepunkah. The meaning of Porepunkah has been given as Hindu for ‘gentle breeze’ Further note from enquiries. Apparently when first settled, Hindu Indians were brought to the area to work. In India, a ‘Punkah Wallah’ is a person who operates a large fan to create a breeze.

Myrtleford proved a nice, neat and convenient town with two supermarkets and two ‘boozerama’s’. We restocked, had lunch in the van, took a long spin around town then proceeded to the ‘Punk’.

It was warming up and we wanted some luxury, more specifically air conditioning and for that we needed a park and 240 volts. We chose Porepunkah for no better reason than the caravan park with our 10% discount was six dollars cheaper.   It turned out to be a lovely little town on the Ovens River with a track along the bank just a 7 minute walk to the ‘Punka’ Pub.

So we were told. We didn’t do it. Too hot. So a late arrival but a nice shady spot and first job setting up was the 240 volts. Second a nice shower and thirdly a beef and noodle salad with a beer too cold to hold. Next day, maintenance. Fill water tanks, washing, extend funnel, (A long story. Don’t worry about it) and out of curiosity measured the rig or car and van together. Results generally? 2.5 metres wide (with mirrors out, both), car 2 metres and van 3 metres high and the lot together 14.3 metres long. I had wondered . Now I know.

Saturday 14th to 16th December 2019

The name Everton is derived from the Saxon word eofor, meaning wild boar that lives in forests. Bit ordinary!

It’s time for some private time off the radar. So we fill the water tanks and go back to Wangaratta again for bottle gas, Telstra, and the info centre. We decide on Tarrawingee for free camp at the Plough Inn pub. Wiki camps says call first but no answer. Not for so we drive there anyway. A car out the front but locked tight. While we are there a few cars come past, stop, look and drive on. I duduce it is supposed to be open but the locals know ‘it might not be.’ So a second search and we head for Pioneer Bridges Camp Grounds outside Everton.

A small river come swimming hole, tall shady trees and his and hers long drops. Perfect. We didn’t look at the compass hence parked shady and those shady trees blocked the Sat TV. That gave us three days and nights of relaxation.

Very pleasant and enjoyed but we wanted to keep moving to cover as much of this part of Victoria before making our way to Mansfield on 27th, just ten days off. Next stop Myrtleford.

Thursday 12th to 13th December 2019

Milawa was named in 1874 after being known only as The Square for many years prior. The word Milawa is aboriginal in origin. The word is made up of the words ‘Mila’ meaning ‘Eyes’ and ‘Wah/Wa’ meaning water. It lies at the confluence of the Ovens and King rivers, northeast of Melbourne. Its name is derived from an Aboriginal term meaning either “meeting of the rivers” or “home of the cormorants.” The site was first settled in 1837 by a sheepherder, George Faithfull, and was proclaimed a town in 1845.

Brown Bros free camp and just over the road from the winery. One other caravan over a hedge but no car so we make a visit to the winery for a tasting. We return to the car and new friends Morris and Shirley that we met in Rutherglen have arrived from a day trip.

They have been here for a day longer than us so know the ly of the land. Just a 10 minute walk up to the main street and lo and behold, a shop selling alcohol AND Thursday night only $10 Pizza’s! Perfect dinner.

Only one day overlap and Morris and Shirley are on their way home. Holiday over. We decided to disconnect to go to Wangaratta . Howeverthere is a problem getting the 12 pin plug out. I finally manage it gut one is pulling the other side out so slapped in back together and took the van for a nice drive to a Wangaratta auto electrician. Fixed over two hours but ‘oach’! it was the frisge plug and am told they all eventually melt. That’s nice to know. Diesel top up another visit to Bunnings and by the sun was getting low so we went back to the free camp at the winery.

Wednesday 11th to 12th December 2019

The Aboriginal word for the Yackandandah area is Dhudhuroa. To the Dhudhuroa people Yackandandah means “one boulder on top of another at the junction of two creeks”. … Yackandandah, however, became the main focus. A survey of the town was made in 1856 and land sales there began in early 1857.

We arrived in Yackandandah at about 3.45pm and went straight to the info centre to see what we should look at. Closed, so a walk down the main street. There was a fabulous second hand and bric-a-brac shop with hand made models of ships.

Brilliant. I guess that’s it so off to Yackandandah Holiday Park which happened to be one street back and happened to have a path direct from the park up to town in just 4 minutes and conveniently the path enters town right at a pub. An entrepreneur selling seafood happened to be at the side of the pub, as they are for three hours same spot, same time, same day every week.

We bought up big and ate well that night. It would have been nice to stay longer but we had a pre-arranged meeting with new friends from Rutherglen in the free camp at the Brown Bros Winery in Milawa.

Monday 9th to 11th December 2019

The Ettamogah family was born in the late 1950’s when cartoonist Ken Maynard published a series of cartoons in The Australasian Post. As a boy Ken would cycle around a water hole called Ettamogah, an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of good drink’.

Originally used for grazing by the settler David Reid, the area was known as Mayday Hills until 1853 The name Beechworth was coined by surveyor Smyth in July 1853, after his birthplace in Leicestershire, England.

Off to Beechworth but not before a detour to the “Ettamogah Pub. Yes There is a place called Ettamogah.

We put the name into Ethel the GPS and after a few wrong turns we happened upon the pub, complete with crooked walls and truck on the roof.

We had a hamburger to all end hamburgers and one light beer over an hour, read the walls and made notes on the walls at the request of the barman. He even gave us a choice of felt tip pens. Excellent!

On to the Beechworth Holiday Park. Monday afternoon and Tuesday we toured the Gaol and saw where Ned Kelly stayed for a while (cell 30) and his mother Ellen. (cell 10)

Also the Ned Kelly Vault/museum and the court house, holding cells and other significant locations.

Full marks to Beechworth by the way for putting a halt to knocking down old buildings and also preserving heritage and pushing the history of the area. We extended to Wednesday, so we could do two ‘walks’ around Beechworth. One for the gold rush days and one for the Ned Kelly history. More information on Good old Ned.

N.B. Cicadas proliferate here and are very, very noisy. Been listening to them since we arrived and on our farewell day, one landed on a van tyre.

They can live underground for up to 17 years. When they finally come to the surface, magically many holes appear in the ground, about 20mm diameter and all over. For someone who didn’t know, it would be baffling.

Saturday 7th to 8th December 2019

For centuries, the Albury-Wodonga area was known as Bungambrawatha, or ‘Homeland’, by the Wiradjuri people. … Wodonga, meaning ‘bulrushes’, still retains its Aboriginal name.

Albury is said to be named after a village in Kent, England which it apparently resembled.

Saturday afternoon in the main street of Albury for some relaxation, food and coffee. Very civilised. We then headed for the SS & A Club.

That is the Sailors Soldiers and Airmen’s Club. A massive and well appointed structure that I think might have taken up a whole town block. Also a massive bitumen car park also amply doubled as a free camp area, with toilets of course during club hours only, so one had to be self contained as we were. This evening they had a Food Fair in a closed off outdoor area, with a fab choice of Italian, Spanish, Mexican etc etc and reasonably priced drinks.

We returned to the caravan mid evening only to find that our toilet cassette was malfunctioning and could not be used. Public carpark. Lots of cars and people coming and going. We were parked on the side of the park next to a fence but still very inconvenient given the situation.

We managed for the night but next (Sunday) morning off to Four Seasons Park in Albury till businesses open Monday morning. It worked out better then hoped. It was an adjustment from an expert, Border Mobile Caravan Services across the river in Wadonga. in the morning. Fixed in an hour and we were back on the road again.

Wednesday 4th to 6th December 2019

In September, 1860 gold was found near Rutherglen. A town named Barkly appeared overnight as prospectors poured into the area. Shortly afterwards another site was discovered 500 metres to the east. In October this second site was named Rutherglen after the Scottish birthplace of John Wallace, who established the Star Hotel on the new town site. It is claimed that Wallace, as the publican of the Star Hotel, was told “Shout the whole bar and you can call this town whatever you like.” So he bought a beer for everyone in the pub and called the town Rutherglen.

Ah Rutherglen. Wine! We parked off the main street with van attached and did a little shopping starting with Parkers Pies, then on to the Rutherglen Caravan and Holiday Park.

First things first we washed some clothes. There was a small wetlands style lake which I think once was the water source for the town. Now this is a caravan park. Every day at 5pm someone rings the bell on the tree and that signals ‘beer O’clock. A fine tradition and we fitted in well.

Hence met new friends. Next day we were going to cycle but ended up walking to De Bertoli Winery. Made for an interesting walk back with our purchases. We stopped for a coffee.

Wise decision. Next day, it finally happened. We got the fold up bikes out. Then off to Chambers winery.

Very close on a bike we were told. About twenty minutes each way. Seemed longer. A lot longer.

We survived and made a loose plan to meet new friends in the free park camp at Brown Brothers winery. Yes. Moving on.

Thursday 28th November to 3rd December 2019

Corowa is the largest town in the Federation Council and was the administrative centre of the former Corowa Shire. The name could have derived from an Aboriginal word referring to the curra pine which yielded gum used by Aborigines to fasten the heads of spears to the shafts.

The name Wahgunyah is believed to be an aboriginal phrase meaning the resting place of crows.

We looked for the information centre of Corowa and followed the signs to a monster of a building which happened to be the council chambers. I said this council, must be loaded.

Turns out, even more bizarre. It used to be the local lawn bowls club. Apparently, when only NSW had ‘the pokies’ , bus loads of punters would come over the border pretty well every day. The bowls club (with pokies) got bigger and bigger and bigger (and bigger) till it was as I understand it, the biggest bowls club in the southern hemisphere. But all good things must come to an end. Victoria got the pokies so there was no longer a need to go to NSW or more particularly the Corowa Bowls club. In the end, the council took it over and the bowls club is now a more manageable size. A partitioned off bit of the original on the end.

Corowa’s other claim to fame is that Federation started there. Apparently, every time anyone crossed the river from NSW to Vic or vice versa, they had to pay tax on any goods bought or sold. It was getting out of hand and everyone was getting a bit ‘dirty’ on the system. So the Corowa people set forth a plan to federate so it was all the same place. The story goes that this is where it all started and of course it took years to organise with letters to the other states organising meetings and letters to England. It was worth keeping them involved of course. Now the story goes that Tenterfied is where it was all signed and so as human nature goes, Tenterfield wanted to claim the glory.

We free camped just over the bridge in Wahgunyah, in The Willows reserve. Bonus! It had an all but new flushing toilet perched up on the hill and just a three minute walk. We met Diana at the toilet. Yet another very nice lady. She was also free camping there with her campervan. We got to know her quite well and we had the odd lunch at the pub top of the street.

The Old Empire Hotel. How convenient, Guinness on tap. We were camped for 6 days and only moved on when our batteries were getting low. We had inadvertently parked in shade and the solar panels were our only power source. During out stay, we did walk across bridge twice.

Bought a snappy red hat for an made in Austria.

Went to the chocolate and whisky old flower mill and tasted both. It even got just a touch of rainy and cold. Again, bad for the solar panels. Yes. Time to move on.