July 20th

Gulf of St Vincent from Macs Beach

Macs Beach proved a good place to camp despite the very windy and wet night. We enjoyed a long walk this morning along a coastal track and enjoyed the bush..no banksias but wattle heavily in bud.

Today we have travelled coastal roads and tracks enjoying the beautiful colours in the sea. One southern area had magnificent cliffs, rocks, heavy seas and crashing waves.

Tonight we have settled in the Innes National Park which is on the very 'toe' of the Peninsular. We have chosen the Stenhouse Bay Campground. The sun is setting and we hope for a fine day tomorrow.
PS..I now realise the location is actually listed under my blog when it is opened!!

July 19th
A morning of rainbows and showers.
 Very soon after we left our camp we found Shell Hill Reserve. There were several information boards so we now understand much more about the Shell deposits.

Oyster shell deposits in the Gravel pit

Despite the showers all day we have really enjoyed our drive through the beautiful farming countryside. We were lucky to see and identify a new bird (for us) On several instances Adelaide Rosella Parrots flew across in front of us. They are similar to the Crimson Rosellas we see in NE Victoria but they are not as brightly coloured.

Years ago we visited a wonderful Bakery in Nuriootpa. I have always remembered the German cakes we purchased at that time....needless to say we will enjoy German Cake for dinner this evening. The one we purchased is 'plum' flavoured. 

July 18th,
What a wet night! Water everywhere this morning which simply lies across the paddocks without draining away. The track out from the Little Desert was narrow but EC loved the challenge and so did the driver.
Kaniva brought sunshine which was very welcome but the wind has been strong all day.
 Our travels have taken us along the Murray River after we crossed it at Murray Bridge. The river is very different from how we see it in the NE. The cliffs and flats are enormous.
 After a lot of driving up stream between Murray Bridge and  Swan Reach we have found a spot to camp, near a gravel pit,. We do not have a view of the river from here as we are a valley away from it.
Interestingly the walls of the gravel pit, which are up to 6 metres high, show dense layers of soil and shells. They appear to be mostly oyster shells which are very large, some as big as my hand. How long have these been here and how did they get here? The valley here was probably part of the Murray thousands of years ago. Were the shells dropped by the river water or were they discarded from Aboriginal feasts?
We also found a wombat's hole which contained shells in the diggings. It has been a fun night really as John lifted an old piece of tin..and under it was a large lizard in hibernation mode. He did not move so we covered him again to prevent attack from hungry birds.
The rig is rocking with the strong wind..hope it slackens a little.

Mallee bush where we are camped including a few flowers.

July 17th.

We awoke to thick fog, so were unable to walk as planned. The day has been cloudy as we have travelled through the cropping country of the Wimmera. Good rains appear to have fallen as there is water by the road and lying in the paddocks. Great stuff for bogging a vehicle.
We have seen several varieties of wattle in bloom. The Cootamundra wattle is dominant with its full blooms of yellow. They are probably in bloom around the North East as well.
We enjoyed our lunch in the Recreation Reserve at  Dimboola which is a well cared for town. A pink lake was interesting as was the paddock of cultivated salt bush. It was good to meet Graeme and Jo at West Print Maps in Nhill.
Tonight we are camped south of Kaniva in the Little Desert National Park.

Pin Cushion Hakea

Cootamundra Wattle

July 16th.
 Take off time was approx. 10.30 am. As always we were glad to drive out the gate..having said that I know we will be glad to drive back through this gate mid September. A very foggy morning was followed by a very grey day with only a little sun while travelling north of Bendigo. Our track has taken us westward from Milawa and tonight we are camped in  the Kooyoora State Park near Inglewood. It has huge granite rocks which the fog descended on about 4.00 pm. One of the dominant eucalypts is Blakely's Red Gum which grows near Beechworth and another is the Red Iron Bark which can be seen in the Chiltern Forest..you can imagine we feel very much at home. We walked a short distance to Melville's Cave. Melville was a young outlaw during the 1850s Gold Rush days of this area.
PS a hint...Click on the Location tab on the right which should give the location of where we are this evening.

Midday reflections at Waranga Basin

July 15th,
 No time today for photos..
The textile exhibition we had on display is now dismantled. The excitement is over. I can now concentrate on finally packing EC. 
This evening we are nearly ready to hit the road. We are excited to be heading off for 8 weeks. We are lucky to have this wonderful country, Australia to travel and explore. This year we have planned to go west..west is a long way with many new places to visit.

June 30th

EC22 (Earth Cruiser)  has been undergoing maintenance during the last few weeks since John Andrew & Anneshka have returned from 6 weeks touring out back areas. After each trip there is always repair and maintenance work to be done to any rig. that travels the outback gravel and sometimes ungraded roads.
General preparations are going ahead with some packing already done. Tomorrow EC will undergo a regular service in Wangaratta. We will then focus on packing and checking everything we expect to need. This preparation is always an exciting time. Hopefully take-off day will be July 16th.

 John installing the rack to carry Jerry cans of fuel.

John G. & John A. re-installing the modified steps up to the EC house.