On the way again.

After a hectic few days staying on the Mornington Peninsula with Barbara and Dave we are once again on our travels. Our stay enabled us to thoroughly clean Betty, even to the extent of polishing her, and cleaning her out for the first time since we left Perth last August.

We were also able to catch up with all my extended Aussie family, and we spent time with Paul and Marrianne and their 'kids', as well as Barbara's family and grandchildren. Hastings, just down the road from Somerville, is on the Westernport Bay, and Anne and Barbara take advantage of a good swimming pool there to excercise each day.
The weather is very mixed down here, it is Autumn and some days are warm, and others are very wet indeed. On our last night it rains all night, and as we leave the peninsula the rain continues.

We have decided to bypass Melbourne and make for Healesville and Maryville, some 200k north. This is the area that was devastated just four years ago by bushfires, both towns were almost completely destroyed, and evidence of new building is all around us. Shelterbox sent tents here during that period, and Rotary worldwide responded with funds to help rebuilding.

Much of the flora, the gum trees, the tree ferns etc, are able to regenerate after these fires, and we saw hundreds of burnt trunks supporting new growth as we went along the roads. Some of these gum trees are 40-50 metres high, and there are huge forests in the Yarra ranges.

Leaving the main road we drove to Lake Eildon, a reservoir which not only provides much of Melbourne's water, but much of the region's electricity also. A beautiful area, the lake has filled many of the valleys in this hills around, and provides a great deal of boating recreation, including houseboats which the area is famous for.
The weather had improved a little by then, with just a few short showers, and quite a bit warmer, so it was a real pleasure driving through the mountains. However it is Saturday night, and a holiday area, so we found ourselves without accommodation, having tried quite a few camp sites for cabins. So we had to move on out of the immediate area, and made our way to Bonnie Doon, where we were fortunate to pick up the last cabin in the area, on the side of another lake some 80k further on. Tomorrow we hope to move on up to the Murray river for a couple of days, we have already seen many vineyards in the Yarra valley, we expect to see many more in the Murray!