TRIP REPORT
MONDAY - 17th April
After breaking camp we headed south and drove past the salt museum and Lake Kenyon once again before heading down to Linga where we aired up .
From Linga we travelled along the Mallee Highway through Underbool to Walpeup where we picked up the Hopetoun- Walpeup Rd . Ed left the group here as he was going to visit some friends in Horsham .
We headed down the Hopetoun Rd and this took us to Patchewollock , the first town on the silo trail . The silo featured a local grain farmer . But quite possibly the highlight of this stop were the corrugated iron mallee fowl structures , these are really great pieces of art . I might add that the silos have all been painted by different artists and they have chosen locals as their subject matter . The silos are now disused and Graincorp , who own the silos , have even donated to the projects .
It was then onto Hopetoun where some fuelled up , others stopped at the shop for some warm food . Some lucky ones placed pies into their car ovens to warm up on the way to Brim , some 35km further down the road .
At Brim we stopped opposite the silo art and had lunch . Locals have a caravan here offering drinks and souvenirs . Alas , no facilities .
From Brim it was another short hope down to Sheep Hills . Consensus was that these were the best artworks although Brim was a close second . These artworks had an aboriginal theme and the reflections in the children ’ s eyes were somewhat mesmerising . The colours here were also quite vivid and that canvas extended to the small adjacent holding silos .
It was then down to Rupanyup , the last stop on the silo trail . These artworks had only just been completed , in fact the tower lift was still out the front . These silos were a different style , being steel rather than of the concrete Geelong style of the others .
Silo trail complete , we headed for St Arnaud where Toby & Megan and the children left us and headed home via Bendigo . For those getting fuel it was quite a surprise to be given driveway service and even a windscreen wash !
From St Arnaud we headed down the Sunraysia Hwy to Avoca and then to Ballarat and the Western Highway . It was Easter , traffic was busy , everyone heading home , right in the peak of things but alas people want to repair bridges for 6 months at a time and we got caught in the log jam . Some were better positioned and managed to get to an exit and work the back roads home . As it was , once past Ballan traffic flowed for a while to Bacchus Marsh where it slowed again , although not as bad as before .
We finally made it home nearly 2 hrs later than expected but had had a great time never-the-less . Ron Reed ( 963 )
Geocaching First Geocache was called Rocket Launch .
We had to find it with a special app . It was 150 metres away from us . It didn ’ t take long for us to find it . It had a metal thing on it . It looked like a tow bar . And some sticks on it . We swapped a first aid mask for a dinosaur . And then we walked back to cars and had lunch somewhere .
That afternoon I climbed Mt Crozier . I went up with my dad , Ron , Paul , Sue and Mike . We searched for another geocache called Crazier Crosier . Ron swapped a compass geo coin for a pirate geo coin .
We climbed back down Mt Crozier , had an Easter hat parade and had a roast dinner and went to bed .
52 © Vol 34 No . 4 -May 2017