Category: Victoria

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My first visit to inland Victoria – Echuca and Bendigo

Ange BowmanLeave a comment
Up river from Echuca wharf
With a couple days off from work I decided to head to Bendigo with Sharpie to attend the Australian Sheep and Fleece Show.
We decided that we would overnight in Echuca and found staying at the Mercure hotel a pleasant experience. The rooms are older but very clean and being older meant we had oodles of space. The staff were extremely welcoming and made us feel right at home. 
Before dinner we took a spin around town for a quick look at this historic port look at option for dinners in the end we decided take up Marcus’ (front desk) invitation to dine in house at the restaurant. This was the right thing to do 

 




Up early for a simple but tasty breakfast at the Beechworth bakery before having a look around this historic town. It is quite touristy these days but you can still imagine and almost hear the bullock drays and paddle steamers loading and unloading cargo.


We set off for the 1hour bit drive to Bendigo and checked into our fun hotel for the next two nights. I found a great deal at the Art Schaller Series Hotel which is the most interesting and fun hotel I have ever stayed in. We knew we were going to enjoy our visit to Bendigo.






The now time to find the real purpose for our visit, the Australian Sheep and Fleece Show, one of the biggest in the country and features many different breed of sheep and all the bi products of these animals.



The craft pavilions were packed with everything from spinning, weaving and all craft activities related to natural fibres. Visitors came by the bus load from Melbourne for this side of the show. I made a few small purchases of leather gloves and ear muffs ready for our trip later in the year. Loving my new ox blood leather gloves and cant wait to find an opportunity to where them. Our interest was with the merinos of which there were plenty to look at along with more than 500 fleeces in fleece judging competition. Sharp was delighted one of clients took out a broad ribbon in the commercial fleece section.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time and it was really worth the visit to this annual event. Sunday was spent driving the eight hours home, we hit the rain that Sydney had been having all weekend at about Holborn and were really please to roll into the garage ready to for a full work week tomorrow.


Our next trip will be to outback of NSW Brewarrina Field Day

A Weekend in plus a few days in Melbourne

Ange BowmanLeave a comment
Ordering the deep fried Durian

Last Thursday I jumped at the opportunity to spend a few days in Melbourne. Ian was down there for a conference so I followed him down on Thursday. I had a lovely couple of days browsing around the shops (didn’t buy much never do) and resting up in Rydges on Exhibition St (in Theatre District near Chinatown and few blocks from Bourke St Mall). Hotel was in a perfect location and I got the right rate which made for a good weekend. Ian joined me Friday afternoon and we headed to Chinatown for dinner. Surprise surprise we had Chinese although Japanese was in contention right up to the end. After a great meal Ian rounded off with a dessert of deep fried durian which had the waiters smiling because it is a very unusual fruit for a non- Asian to order, they were delighted that he actually liked it. A colleague of mine at work said you can actually buy them at most supermarkets but they are famous for being totally unsocial because they are so smelly.
The next couple of days we spent seeing the sights of Melbourne in glorious weather. Dinner at the hotel’s Locanda Steakhouse on Saturday night was excellent and most enjoyable. The rain began as we boarded our flight home – thank you Melbourne