On the 5th March 5 vans set off for 24-day trip to Victoria. After overnight stops at Jugiong and Holbrook we set off for Beechworth after the requisite stop at the bakery.

Beechworth offered everything we hoped for. The Lake Sambell Caravan Park offered good facilities and the unpowered sites we booked were positioned on the banks of a beautiful peaceful lake. This provided an amazing spot for morning tea, happy hour, relaxing with a book or just watching the sun go down.

Town was a 5min drive or an easy 10min walk around the lake. Beechworth offered numerous sightseeing venues including the Gold Museum, Historic Goal, (I enjoyed this tour) Mayday Hills Asylum and I would recommend the Last St Brewery tour.

The Last Street Brewery has been in operation since 1872 and after a short hiatus was taken over by a passionate young couple and turned into the business it is today. The owner took the tour and his enthusiasm for the business shone through. We finished the tour with a sampling of cordial, soda’s, beers and spirits.

Beechworth also offers several wineries and some amazing lookouts and waterfalls, and the Beechworth Bakery is worth a visit or two.

Next stop was Bendigo where we stayed at an amazing park at Marong Caravan Park which is 17kms west of Bendigo. The park proved to be quite impressive and a great base for sightseeing in the area. The food at the pub was good; there is a small golf course and about 10mins down the road an impressive IGA with a Coles supermarket under construction nearby.

We were all impressed with a visit to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, an area of land dedicated to interfaith harmony, architecture, art and culture set in beautiful landscaped surroundings. You could easily spend a few hours wandering around and longer if you visited the vegetarian café.

Like Beechworth, Bendigo provided numerous tourist destinations. The group enjoyed a trip from Castlemaine on the Gold Fields Steam Railway to Malden where we enjoyed lunch in the pub and then wandered around the historic gold town before we travelled back. Some may have had a little snooze the way home and I was pleased when the train stopped at Muckleford because I had taken the group to somewhere no one had heard of.

We caught the hop on hop off Talking tram through Bendigo, which was the best way to see the city and absorb all the history.
Our stay in Bendigo was enjoyed by all.

From Bendigo it was on to Ballarat and more history. We arrived there on St Patricks Day and as there was strong Irish history in this city, we felt it was appropriate we found an Irish Pub and partake of a Guinness and see who could split the G.

The walking tour of the town, a visit to the Eureka Museum and a trip to Lake Wendouree and the amazing Botanical Gardens completed our sightseeing.

Umbrella Alley was a favorite of ours, even though it seemed to serve no other purpose than to make you smile.

Next on the Echuca, with a slight detour on a dirt road for one of the vans. We would have stayed at the same park we normally stay but it was very busy as it was long weekend and there were a couple of caravan groups. It was so hot at Echuca we all took advantage of the swimming pool.

The second day started with a delicious breakfast, followed by a leisurely cruise on a paddle steamer.

Our visit to Echuca ended with a game of golf and a pleasant evening stroll through the main street of the port, checking out their local drinking venues.

The caravan park at Corowa was interesting with plenty of space, but the lake side sites were next to a lake that hasn’t seen water in a long time, there was no camp kitchen, and we had rain there. Corowa seems to be struggling to survive, with the golf club only open a two days a week and a couple of pubs closed with many shops empty.

The last two days at Gundagai were enjoyable with a game of golf and a meal at the pub on our last night. We shared lots of laughs and even though fuel prices were rising daily on the way home, it didn’t dampen our enjoyment of what was a great rally.