What’s that smell?....... Poowong

“Why travel only 7km up the hill from Loch to a small town named Poowong?” you may be asking. The reason we went to Poowong is because our two older boys, Sam and Will thought the name was one of the funniest they had ever heard. I overheard the two of them discussing exactly why they thought a town would be called Poowong. They concluded that it must be because of all the cows. “That many cows would make any place smell like poo” they giggled. We also wanted to experience bush camping before we headed to the coast.

The Bass Valley Campground is what I would call true ‘bush camping’. (However I may change my mind on that after I have been to some of the remote bush camps outback – I will let you know).  Unlike its name implies Poowong is a lovely place (and doesn’t smell ‘like cow poo’ at all). It reminds me of my cousin’s block of land just out of Mansfield. Massive gum trees, patches of really green grass and patches of dusty dry land all covered in fallen sticks and stringy bark. It is a very pretty place with the Bass Valley River creating a big horse shoe shaped clearing. The river continues to wind its way either side of the campground along the road.

 

We arrived at Poowong at about 5pm. There was one other couple in their motor home. They were only stopping for the night before heading for Tasmania. Unlike the powered site at Loch, this week we are reliant on solar power, so we had to give a lot of thought to our location.  There was a beautiful big clearing which would get plenty of sunlight. But it was right where our Tasmanian-bound fellow campers had parked. We decided to stop close by and “steal” their position once they left in the morning.

It only took us just over an hour to set up this time. We are getting quicker and quicker every time. Before we know it we will be setting up with our eyes closed!

The following morning we were woken up by lots of cars pulling into the campground. We went outside and found a large walking group who meet at various places every Monday morning. We said our good mornings, then got stuck into breakfast and the boys schoolwork.  Dan took a coffee break mid-morning and we jumped on the opportunity to say goodbye to our neighbours (and of course, steal their camp spot).

There was some very confused looks on the walking group members faces when they arrived back and realised we were set up exactly the same only about 15 metres away in a different position.

There were some ups and downs during our stay at Poowong.

There were some ups....

The boys had a fantastic time climbing down to the river and clambering over all the fallen trees.

We visited Coal Creek, a replica of an old Coal Mining Town. The boys were fascinated by the old machines and how they made things in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. They loved buying rock sweets from the general store, visiting the old school room and playing chess on the giant game board.

We met some wonderful people. One in particular was a man named Ken. He looked a bit like Santa with his long white beard. Ken has been travelling round Australia for over 9 years! He had so much knowledge of travelling and was more than willing to share it with us. He spent a long time telling us of his adventures and we loved listening to him. After Ken left the campground Will said to me “mummy, he was one of the nicest people I have ever met!” I couldn’t have agreed more.

And there were some downs.....

The weather was not kind to us this week. It was cold, wet and very windy. I spent many hours laying in bed at night wondering if a) the caravan roof was going to start leaking again, and b) the trees surrounding us were going to fall on us in our sleep. Thankfully neither of those happened and we survived the bad weather.

Whilst driving around we realised that there was something wrong with our gearbox or clutch. Whenever we put the engine under a bit of pressure, it was slipping out of gear.

After a bit of online research and a few phone calls home to our ‘friendly mechanic’, we realised that we needed a new clutch and flywheel.

We spoke to Tonia’s dad and he recommended a good mechanic in Korumburra. He gave us a good price but told us he couldn’t fix it until next week. We decided we may as well stay here and get the car fixed rather than risk doing more damage.

As nice as Poowong is, there is not really a lot for the kids to do. It has been wonderful staying here for the week, but we didn’t really want to stay for another week (especially if we were stranded without a car).  So we are going to take the risk and move the caravan back to the Loch Memorial Reserve and spend another week there.

It feels strange to be entering our third week away and still only be 100km from Melbourne. But it could be worse.... we could have broken down in the middle of the outback somewhere and have an enormous bill to get the car repaired.

Our boys are happy to be going back to Loch. They can’t wait to go back to the skate park, play on the playground and the cricket oval. But most of all, Will is really excited because it’s his 7^th birthday on Saturday and this means we can now go to the Loch pub for his birthday dinner!

 

A taste of country hospitality

We have been at Loch for a week now. It is a beautiful place and the people are so friendly. In fact we have spent many hours this week just chatting to the locals.

Sam and Will started school this week. We enrolled them into Distance Education Victoria last year, and after going to an interview to meet their teachers, I was given 6 months of schoolwork.

They each get an English/Literature and a Mathematics handbook which is taking them each about 2 to 3 hours a day to complete. So far they are really enjoying the work and are completing it without too much fuss. I have had to motivate Will a bit more than Sam, but I was expecting that. What better motivation than “if you finish before lunchtime, we will take your scooters over to the skate park and you can spend the afternoon there”?

 

To get to the skate park, we walk over the Loch Suspension bridge, over the miniature railway crossing, through a tunnel which runs under the South Gippsland Hwy, and we arrive at a beautiful new playground.

 

Before we left home, some friends asked where our first stop was going to be. We replied “a little place called Loch, it’s somewhere in Sth Gippsland”. Tonia said “I know Loch! It’s about 8ks from where my mum and dad live.” So on Saturday Ton, Cam and their two kids came down and met us at Loch.

After a cuppa we headed off to the Korumburra Show. The local recreational reserve had been taken over by horses, tractors, local fruit and veg competitions, ute displays, food stands and amusement rides. After spending a few hours there, we were invited back to Ton’s parents’ house.

There we were shown true country hospitality like we had never imagined. Tonia’s mum, sister and niece had made an amazing roast dinner followed by homemade Lemon Meringue Pie, Apple Pie, Profiteroles and Mud cake (with icing made from Jersey Caramels – tasted great but once it had set, we almost had to get the chainsaw out to cut through it!). After dinner we all went back to the Show to watch a breathtaking firework display.

Sunday morning we went to the Loch market. It was a small Trash and Treasure market held near the railway station.  Sam and Will spent most of the time looking through the second hand books, working out how many they could buy with their pocket money.

After another cuppa and lots of laughs we said our goodbyes to Tonia, Cam and the kids. We then packed the caravan up for the huge 7k trip to the Bass Valley Campground.

Before we left we had planned on filling up our water tanks from the taps at the cricket club. There was an over 65s cricket match on so the car park was full. It was going to be a tight fit to get to the clubrooms anyway, but with all those cars, there was no way we could manoeuvre the caravan to the taps.

We pulled up and asked a few of the locals if there was anywhere else we could fill up with water. They all had a discussion that went something like this “Yeah, normally you could go to Georges (he’s the guys that runs the servo) but he’s gone fishing this arvo. Hey what about Pop’s place? Nah, you’d never get her in there.  I know, why don’t I take you to me mum and dad’s place and you can fill her up there?”

So ‘Grant’ jumped into the passenger’s seat and took Dan to his parents place to fill up while I stayed and watched the cricket match.  Another example of the country hospitality that I am very quickly growing to love.

At home quite a common discussion at social events is who is going to drink and who is going to drive. That afternoon at the over 65s match I heard a young guy and his dad having a similar conversation. I nearly laughed out loud when I realised they weren’t debating over who is driving home.  The debate was about who could have another beer and who was going to milk the cows that night!

 

So here we are...

We have finally made it! After 9 months of planning we are on the road.

First stop – Loch, a beautiful little village (yes, we really do have villages in Australia, much to my surprise), in South Gippsland.  We are actually only about one and a half hours from home. We decided not to go too far from home, because why not explore our own backyard before we venture off interstate? 

I am so glad we stopped here. I never knew a place this pretty existed so close to home. We are in dairy country so we are surrounded by beautiful green rolling hills, most of which are scattered with black and white dairy cows. 

We stopped at the Loch Memorial Reserve, which also doubles as the local cricket and tennis clubs. Along with the beautifully manicured cricket oval and the tennis courts, it has a great playground, a suspension bridge and a really nice bbq area. We pulled up on the opposite side of the oval to the clubrooms, got out of the car and said “we hope they don’t mind us camping right here. This is just perfect!” We overlooked the oval and playground on one side, a small river and green hills on the other, and between two gorgeous big Oak trees.

We walked over to the playground to have a look around saw a sign “Camping $10 per night. If you need power ring this number...”  I got out my phone and rang the number just as a man walked up and started chatting to Dan. Turned out he was the man I was trying to phone. 

He told us it was $15 per night if we wanted power and he would give us a key to the clubrooms so we could have a hot shower. He also told us we could stay for a week and we could stay exactly where we were. That made me very happy because we had definitely chosen the best place to set up camp.

 

Even though we have been living in the caravan for nearly 5 months, the one thing Dan and I haven’t got the hang of is levelling the van. We pulled up thinking the ground was fairly level, but over an hour later, and with the van still not level, we gave up and went to the pub for dinner.

Later that night after the kids were in bed, Dan and I stood outside and he said to me “we did it babe!” It was a very surreal feeling. We have worked really hard to get here but it still hadn’t really felt real. It hit me then that this was our life for as long as we choose it to be. It was a great feeling!

We plan on staying here for a week while the kids settle into a routine with their schoolwork and Dan irons out the creases with work. That may change depending on the weather, how much we like it and our mood! That is what I love most about this trip. We have the freedom to choose where we go and how long we stay for. It is all up to us!!

So.... this is how it all began

We were out for dinner with my extended family when my cousin asked where mum and dad were. I replied "away travelling AGAIN", to which my cousin asked "where are they THIS time?"

The following conversation revolved around the topic of travelling around this great big country of ours. My husband Daniel told them he has always wanted to travel Australia, but couldn't see it happening anytime soon, let alone before he retired. "If you are going to do it, do it now before the kids get to high school and you get too old or sick to travel" was the advice from everyone around the table.

In the car on the way home I could almost hear Dan's brain ticking over, trying to figure out how we could make a trip like that happen. Dan and his family run a small home business so we knew it would never be possible to take a couple of months off to travel. We played with the idea of him working whilst on the road and, in theory, it was possible. "All I need is a laptop, the internet and mobile phone service" he said.

Over the next few days, Dan kept saying to me "Let's just sell the house, pack the kids up and go." Every part of me was screaming "don’t sell the house! Don't sell the house!" So I promised Dan I would try to figure out if we could do it, but there was no way I was prepared to sell up.

Still to this day I am sure Dan thought I was just humouring him, without any true intention of going along with his idea. He had mentioned it before but I never really gave it much thought. But the more I thought about it, the more the idea grew on me. We could really make this happen! Couldn't we?

I decided that we need to do a bit of research. Firstly I asked my friends and family what they thought about us going away. I got some very different responses. Some told me I was crazy, thinking about taking our two oldest boys out of school. "You do realise that you would be with them 24/7?" one person said. "If you can do it, you are a better person than me." Others said "no don't go, we'll miss you too much." However the most common response was "Oh wow, that sounds amazing! Think about how much the boys will learn!"

We decided in April 2010 that we were going to try to make this trip happen. We knew we had a really hard road ahead but were prepared to do whatever it took to make this dream come true.

Before we left home I had a lot of friends ask me so many details about planning this trip. Some of whom are about to embark on a similar adventure and some of whom are just very interested. So throughout this blog, I am going to explain the planning process we went through to get here.

I had every intention of keeping a diary whilst we were away, but it seemed like a much better idea to share our experience with our family and our friends. So I am going to update this blog as often as I can and you can follow us on our “trip of a lifetime” Hope you enjoy...