Day 1 - Macarthur to Bendigo - with a nice surprise en route

Awake at stupid o’clock. Eventually gave up trying to go back to sleep and started packing hoping to be on the road nice and early with the idea that I might get to Bendigo before circadian rhythm starts driving me to sleep this afternoon. With one thing and another, dropping forgotten school hats and raincoats to SIL and pick up super-insulated esky and I’m finally on the road at about 5 past eight, so that’s an early departure fail. On the up side, this will put me at Holbrook for lunch which is neatly halfway to Bendigo.

In our local area and down to the Southern Highlands there’s a fair bit of mist and rain. The country has greened. It’s delightful seeing the trees happy with and new growth in the bushland and on roadside vegetation. Even the dams in some places look full and there’s water lying in creeks and low areas until just after Yass.  Around Jugiong and down through Gundagai there’s a faint veil of green. The earth looks damp but the growth is not as much as I had hoped after some rain a few weeks ago when we were passing. We are not out of the woods yet and more rain is obviously needed. At least the beginnings of grasses will slow the run off now and help the rain to soak in.
The next several hours are spent enjoying the views as the highway reaches crests and the land is laid out in front of me.

Holbrook has been detoured by the Hume Freeway and it’s improved the ambience of the town no end. There’s a lot of people here bang on lunch time so parking on the main road is a no go, but it’s not a problem because if you follow the signs for caravan and coach parking it takes you into a large car park near the library with a safe path through to the main road. There’s also a private parking area belonging to J & B’s Gourmet Café, so it’s easy to park right on the spot and go in through the metal gate and their pleasant little courtyard. Of course I haven’t figured that out yet, so rather than risk getting it wrong and thinking a bit more walking won’t do me any harm either from a fatigue or fitness perspective, first I walk through the public pathway and call into the Holbrook Bakery and join a fairly long queue for service. A man ahead of me pops a bottle of Orange Poppyseed salad dressing on the counter reminding me to buy more of this lovely Gluten free gem. It’s not only delicious on salad, it’s great on sandwiches too.

It’s a lovely day and it would be very pleasant to linger exploring Holbrook in more detail, lucky the grey nomads who can just wing it and stay as long as suits them. That’s not me so I cross back with my awkward collection of packages (should have brought a bag from the car). I can’t resist checking out the offerings at J&B’s Gourmet Café. It’s really busy, but I join the long queue here too, eventually opting to just get a pre-prepared sandwich to avoid a wait. Out into the little courtyard a table is free and it’s very pleasant to take a break at a shaded table while I eat my sandwich and talk to Hubby and friends on Whatsapp. Or half the sandwich anyway. It is delicious but it might be handy to save some for Ron.  (Assue slang for Later on). I indulge in the apple cream sponge from the bakery. Gosh, I don’t think I’ve had an apple cream sponge since I was a teenager and able to frequent the very excellent cake shop at Augusta Shops. This is a good one and very filling. My break in Holbrook has consumed 70 minutes, so now I’m looking at arriving in Bendigo about 5 pm. 

J&B Gourmet Cafe from the rear near their parking area

It being just after 1 pm, I make a strategic decision on the music front. Beatles it is. With Hubby needing to be at home the procrastinating as to which car to take is resolved in favour of me driving my own. This is good in a number of ways. 1.  It’s just more pleasurable to drive. Mazda 3 SP25 which has the same engine as the Mazda 6, so although it’s a bit more thirsty than our Honda, and I don’t especially relish taking her on the dirt, (I do like dirt roads) when you need the power she responds. 2. It’s more luxurious. Heated seats, and most importantly it’s got a Bose sound system. Driving alone over a long distance I’ll need that.  So, zipping down the freeway happily bopping and singing along to my favourite tunes gets me through that danger period for fatigue which for me invariably arrives bang on 2pm and slips away as though an alarm went off at 3pm.

On the road it’s not far until I’m crossing the Murray River into Victoria. Bopping away.  … Oh dear what can I do, Baby’s in Black and I’m feelin’ blue, tell me Oh what can I do…. Of course, with the music up I didn’t catch the instruction for turning off the freeway and before I know it the satnav is recalculating. Eventually my pretty red baby, decides we should continue for 27 kms and turn right into Alexandersons Road towards Locksley. What a lucky thing. I do as bidden and WOW! Just off the freeway, Alexandersons Road travels under a magnificent avenue of mature gums, densely planted and intertwined. Many country roads have roadside trees to shade the road, but this one is special and immediately made me think “Eat your heart out Dark Hedges”. For those unaware, the Dark Hedges is an avenue of very old trees in Northern Ireland that was used in the filming for scenes along the King’s Road in Game of Thrones.  Who would have thought that this un-named avenue would outshine it’s famous cousin that drew our attention from across the globe on our recent Irish holiday. From there the route takes me across the train line at Locksley and onto the Nagambie- Locksley Road and eventually along the Heathcote-Nagambie Road.  I seem to be following brown signs numbered 65 and it’s a very nice drive. 

My first stop is in response to some signs alerting me to an historic landmark coming up. This turns out to be Camp 6 Graytown POW camp from WW2.  It was a brush cutters camp housing mainly Germans and Italians but some Finns as well. The Germans were mainly from the German raider Kormoran, that sank HMAS Sydney of Western Australia. I don’t have the time or energy to explore, there’s some old foundations for a building near the information sign by the road, but it’s nice to step out of the car for a few minutes and have a drink and a snack, and I like military history so it’s all good.

Site of Camp 6 Graytown

Heathcote proves to be a great place to make a stop at the chemist because it’s on the main road and has easy nose to kerb parking immediately in front.  Then it’s only a hop and skip into Bendigo, on the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Warung people. A quick stop at Coles, since I’m passing, then I check into the motel, pleased to find parking is easy, the paving isn’t gravel, and the room is very pleasant, clean and fresh smelling. It even has a nice little kitchenette for a bit of modest self-catering. I unload what I need for the next couple of nights and settle in for a dinner of the remaining half of my lunchtime sandwich, the motel biscuit and some grapes. Which is fine, until I step outside and find a delicious aroma in the air… followed by my friend posting happy snaps of their thai lunch in Shellharbour. A call to my aunties, setting up for Sunday’s visit and a bit of journaling and we reach the end of the day.