We finally arrived back in Mittagong late yesterday afternoon after an interesting and quite lovely drive from Cowra. I hadn't realised that Cowra was so close to Goulburn cross country. The only trouble was a lot of the road was unsealed. No matter, the car went well and it now looks quite countriefied with red dust all over it.

Being from the city, it always amazes me to see so many farms way out in the middle of nowhere. The trip between Crookwell and Goulburn was no exception. We stayed on 2 sheep farms and a cattle farm and although they were B&B's, they were also working farms. Things I take for granted like popping up to the shops if I forget something is not so easy for these folk. It was a wonderful experience to visit them and meet some of the people living these so very different lives.

The B&B we stayed at on Sunday night was on a property of some 4,000 acres called Oakleigh which is about 20 kms outside of Cowra down a dirt road. Shirley, who ran the farm with her sons, opened up her home to us and provided a hot breakfast in the morning. Shearers had been booked to start shearing this week but Shirley was concerned about them shearing wet sheep following rain the previous 2 days. Rain can be a bit of a curse sometimes.

I had a chance to looked at some caravans at Cowra and Goulburn on the way through. Most of the vans but at Cowra were quite old and mostly looked like they should be parked on a paddock somewhere. However, Goulburn had a great van previously owned by a priest which had a lot to offer and has been well looked after. Perhaps when Stephen gets back from his trip this weekend we'll go down to have look at it. In the meantime, I'll keep looking.

Well, this is the last post on this blog for my trip trip with Angel and hope you have enjoyed following our adventures. Thank you for reading and sending me your messages. We'll set up a new blog when we hit the road with our caravan.

Bye for now!

Well, here I am back in Albury again in the same cabin, at the same caravan park that I stayed in on the way down to Vic. We had a great few days staying with friends in the Dandenongs and Angel got reacquainted with her old friends Sam and Emma (2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels). On Wednesday, Lesley, Angel and I drove down to Mornington Penninsular to their street markets. Strange to have markets on a Wednesday, but it was great for us. We tried to have lunch at a lovely little cafe in a side street but Angel had other ideas so we ended up having take away in the park which was fun. On Thursday, I had a doggie free day when I caught the train to Melbourne for the afternoon. Melbourne is such a lovely city even in winter time and I always enjoy walking through the streets (except the mall) and the lovely the old arcades.

Back in Albury, we've had time to have a look around the town today and drove out to see what the water levels were like in the Hume Dam. Stephen and I were out here a few years ago when the dam level looked quite low, but it was looking a bit healthier today. We're here for 2 nights and are off early tomorrow to Cowra to take a look at some caravans on Monday. I've booked us into another farmstay B&B called Oakleigh which is on a sheep and cattle farm.

More later.

Our 4 day stay in the Bluegum cottage was quite an experience. The cottage was on a sheep farm in the Otways (a term I still don't really understand). This is the place to go when you really want to get away from everything. The nearest mobile phone reception was about 30 kms away and there was no wireless internet signal. I didn't think I'd miss having these 2 modern miracles of civilisation but I actually did. It had become a bit of a ritual to update this blog and search the internet for the next place to stop.

Anyway, the 4 days we were there were wonderful and rather tiring. You'll see a few photos of the farm which was set into the steep hills above Johanna beach. The drive to get there from Warrnambool passed the Bay of Islands and 12 Apostles and lots of other spectacular coastline. This is what I'd come down here to see again. To stand at the lookouts, be blown away by the scenery and windblown all at the same time. I was not disappointed.

It rained off and on every day we were there, but you could see it coming in from the see and do things in between times. There were a couple of nights where I thought the cabin was going to either be blown off or washed off the hillside, but the owners assured me their cabins were cyclone rated. Lucky for us! Poor Angel had a bad case of the runs while we were there. It usually struck her in the middle of the night and while I know she couldn't help it, I was not impressed at having to get up and down 5-6 times a night to let her out in howling wind and pouring rain. I could tell she wasn't too impressed either. So, while the cabin was cosy, warm and secluded we didn't get much sleep while we were there. There was always something more important to do during the day than to take naps.

We were allowed to roam anywhere over the farm as long as we shut the gates. So we walked some of the steep paddocks that rolled down the hill. Not only did Angel get to meet and chase a flock of sheep, there were a couple of sheep dogs to sniff around with, some horses who came to stare at her, alpacas and a donkey who seemed to enjoy playing chasings with one of their dogs. It was a wonderful place.

Despite the bad weather we did manage a couple of trips out to visit: Johanna Beach - nice small bch but not for swimming; Port Campbell - bit of a surfie town, not much there except a few surf shops, cafes and a pub; Apollo Bay - touristy place, with a thin beach that goes for miles around the bay and a nice jetty to walk along; and the Cape Otway Lighthouse - had to visit seeing the sun came out just as we were passing the turnoff. However, I was always glad to get back to the cabin again to put another log on the fire and just relax.

Sadly, we had to leave there yesterday but were given a late checkout and we didn't get out until nearly midday. We made a stop in Colac to have Angel checked by the vet as she still had the runs after 3 days. I was comforted to hear it's nothing serious, probably just something she's eaten, so after she was given a jab of a needle we were sent away with a little bottle of medicine to be on our way again. This left us with not much time to final somewhere for the night. Trying to find somewhere near or on the way to Geelong proved impossible. So we drove straight through to Olinda in the Dandenongs to stay a few days with good friends, who luckily didn't mind us turning up a day early. We're here for 4 nights and tomorrow we are driving down to Mornington to see the markets and have a nice lunch somewhere.

That's all for now but keep watching this space as the trip isn't over yet.

We've had a busy 2 days. Yesterday, Angel spent most of the day in a kennel causing havoc no doubt while I had a wire cargo barrier installed in the car. I couldn't pick up the car until after 4pm, so I had lots of time to explore the town centre (quite a few times), have haircut, do some shopping plus enjoy a rare treat of having lunch inside a coffee shop instead of outside. Angel seemed no worse for her day of being a socialite at the local kennel and it cost only $5 for the day - not bad. Apparently, people travelling the Great Ocean Road often use a kennel to dog sit while people visit protected places like the 12 Apostles.

Today we drove out to Portland. Along the way at Yambuk, we passed a strange site of a wind farm stretching for miles, with gigantic wind towers towering on the horizon behind paddocks with cattle and few farms in the foreground.

Portland is a nice town with shops running for 2 blocks along the main street. We had lunch in the nearby oval and Angel had a race around on her 20m lead, then we did the shops and headed down to the bay which was only about a block. Across the road from the waterfront there are a few shops, coffee shops and restaurants overlooking a park and the bay. It looks to be the historic part of the town and understandable as it's claim to fame is being the first major port in Victoria. It was quite cold and extremely windy so we both had our coats on.

Tomorrow, we're off to Johanna, near Apollo Bay, for 4 days to stay in a cottage at the Johanna River Farm & Cottages. The cottages are on a farm which is happy to have dogs come to stay, and is within walking distance of a beach. Sounds great and I'm looking forward to another stay on a farm.

We're finally here in Port Fairy and are staying in a cabin in the small privately owned Gum Tree Caravan Park which proudly boasts to be Australia's first cigarette free caravan park. The cabin in cosy and we've booked for 3 days here so that we can have a look around the area. The wagon is getting a cargo barrier fitted tomorrow in Warrnambool so Angel is having the day at a local kennel so that I can have the day free to look around the shops and actually go inside a coffee shop. Today's trip went from Ararat to Warrnambool and only took a couple of hours. Lots and lots of beautiful scenery - too much to photograph - you'll just have to come see it for yourselves. We stopped at a little rest stop come park next to a paddock with some cattle nearby. Angel was kicking up such a fuss at the site of the big black creatures that the cattle sauntered over to see what this little dog was going on about. I was quite surprised that they didn't run the other way. After checking into the cabin and putting on some badly needed washing, we were off to explore Port Fairy. It's quite flat but has lots of cute little cottages that must be full in the summertime. At the moment though there were quite a few vacancy signs out. Nevertheless, I'm glad we are in this little caravan park as there is peace, quite and most importantly lots of grass for a little dog to run around. Also, I figured out how to upload the pictures from the camera "at last" I hear you say. So I've put a few of our snaps on the blog to prove that we are actually away. More tomorrow.

Decided to skip going to Ballarat and go straight to Ararat from Bendigo so that I would be in Port Fairy on Monday. So here I am in a cabin in a caravan park just 2kms outside of Ararat. I must say these cabins that we have been in have been great to stay in (yes, even the smoky one in Yass). There is usually plenty of grass areas for Angel to roam around on and they all have had good heating, kitchen facilities and the beds haven't been too bad. I must admit though I did enjoy the luxury of the last 2 days staying at the B&B. The drive here from Bendigo had some amazing scenery with green rolling hills, scattered with sheep and little lambs (soooo cute) and more cute little towns. We stopped in a little park with a rotunda & picnic table in a little town called Newstead for lunch. With Angel attached to her 20m lead she ran all over the place and managed to wrap her lead around most of the trees nearby too. Ararat is the gateway to the Grampians and isn't a very attractive town but that's OK as it looks to be a working town - at least I'm hoping that there is work here for everyone. It's been fascinating to see all these towns. Tomorrow, I should be in Port Fairy and at last on the Great Ocean Road.

Well, I was a bit ambitious trying to get to Ballarat from Albury before dark. We only made it as far as Bendigo. Actually we are about 15 kms outside of Bendigo in the Axton Bed & Breakfast which is on a beautiful farm with green hills and a few cattle. There is a B&B cottage on a hill opposite a lovely farmhouse which has a wrap around verandah and a self-contained B&B suite with it's own entrance attached to the side of the farmhouse. It couldn't be better as Angel is allowed inside and we decided to have 2 nights here for some R & R before continuing our trip on Sunday. It was a good drive here from Albury, but took longer than I expected. It must be all the rest stops for us both, looking at some of the little towns and Angel loves running around the parks along the way. Today, after a nice sleep in, we explored a bit of Bendigo. Walked up and down the main street, around the park, saw the old tram and did some shopping in the Bendigo Marketplace. Angel will sit outside a shop for a few minutes but stays in the back of the wagon when I have longer shopping to do, but does so very reluctantly. Tomorrow morning (Sunday) we are off to explore Castlemaine and Ballarat. I'm still learning how to use the digital camera and now I have some pics, I need to load them onto the laptop to update onto the blog. It seemed so easy when Stephen did it. Anyway, do not give up hope, there may be pictures yet!