^rad^'s adventures driving across the great dividing range

Day 1 - Saturday October 15th, 2005

Departure from Adelaide at 0600

The route is carefully planned, the goal - prove a road exists which isnt on any map!
why - I have no idea, but I like maps!

Setting out early turns out to have been a good plan...cause the road which I still think must exist, is nowhere to be found. Some 400km from Adelaide we hit the dirt roads

Driving on a dirt road, I decide to find the camera and take a photo, whilst driving at 100kmph.

So the road I hoped to find across the South Australian and Victorian border, which links 2 dead end roads...remains to be found.
In total the detour was about 100km and there were a few contenders for the road, the best chance was sandhills and signs saying 'road closed'.

The adventure is only just beginning though, after crossing into Victoria back on the highway after the 100km detour for no good reason, I decide to drive back to the other side of the mythical road and see if I can find it from the other end...still no dice
To compound matters, I get lost again, and end up back on the highway once more a couple of hours later! Total detours to date - 200km!

Some time later, I reach the planned destination, Bendigo, a gold rush era town in central Victoria...however due to my awesome planning, there are no motels at all with vacancies, today is the annual Bendigo horse racing carnival.
Driving onwards for 2 more hours I finally arrive at Shepparton - famous for canned fruit (really, thats their claim to fame) and check into the fanciest Best Western in town.

Shepparton actually seems quite nice and I am keen to walk to dinner, it soon becomes apparent people in Shepparton like cows.

2 Cows hanging out by a lake - there are hundreds of these cow statues all over Shepparton painted in weird colors, the best part is - theres no beef industry in shepparton, only canned fruit


Spidercow! Look close and you can see Batcow as well

Dinner was at the local 'club' which is a feature of all country centres, a legal way to rob old people of their savings by offering cheap meals and slot machines.

Day 2 - Sunday October 16th, 2005

Shepparton to Bright

Before departing Shepparton its time for a walk around the lake by the hotel, perhpas some canned fruit will be found.

View of the lake...fascinating im sure


Near the man made lake is this river, it looks a bit like a serial killer disposal point

The drive to Bright is very picturesque as you drive in between mountains, I like mountains.
I have no advance accommodation booked in Bright, so upon arrival its time to look around and find something decent...

This row of cottages is good, available and cheap!


Heres my cottage, its very yellow, and has a full kitchen, bedroom, dvd player, indoor pool, jacuzzi, gym, butler and hot water

In the afternoon I visit a hedge maze nearby to Bright, it is old and quite large, the hedge is at least 10 feet tall, theirs bridges and tunnels and you have to find items etc. It takes about an hour and I didnt take any good photos of it, sorry!

Dinner is pizza, I like to try pizza in different places...it wasnt that good, the accompanying salad was better also it rains which makes the walk interesting.

The threatening sky failed to prevent me walking to dinner, wetness ensued

Day 3 - Monday October 17th, 2005

Bright - Victoria

Time to go find some mountains!
But first, an eerie fog has descended over Bright.

despite the fog/mist/noxious gas, its still Bright, hence the name


more of the same


A better shot

Whilst waiting to go I quickly took some pictures of the cottage thing, you may recall that it is bright yellow.

The kitchen area - in case you are too cheap to go out to dinner on your holiday


The chief of all dorks, relaxing, posing...


Bonus shot - no more pictures of the cottage I promise

Nearby to Bright is Mount Buffalo, not a very high mountain but made of solid granite and with walking trails all over.
In Winter it is possible to ski on it, but it is not an actual ski resort, it was however the first skiing place in Australia, built in the early 1900's.

The drive up the mountain is great, and some fools are riding bikes up the mountain - it takes nearly an hour by car going as hard as I can, so these bike guys are insane.

View from the top of mount buffalo, it is a little hazey spoling the view a little, or maybe making it better!


Another view of the Owens Valley below


Yeah, more of the same


Dork on a ledge!


A more arty shot, the river, rocks, the valley through the gap...art


I call this, 'rocks with water' prints are available at the lobby


I climbed over several safety barriers and managed to take this shot as I plummeted to my death, luckily spidercow followed from Shepparton and was able to save me


View from a different part of the mountain

On top of the mountain is the chalet, which is an old hotel, cafe, restaurant etc. It is very large and quite impressive, and also yellow! must be the color of choice for places where theres mountains.
Inside you can get poor quality scones and coffee, or stay the night if you wish, theres interesting things to see on the walls, such as how many people plummeted to their deaths carrying the building supplies to the top of the mountain, how many toes have been cut off due to frostbite etc.

Mount Buffalo Chalet, in all its yellowness (and green)


The gardens surrounding are quite impressive, you can play croquet if you wish


I backed over these birds as I left


A view of the mountain from the bottom, despite being in Victoria who ever owns the fence prefers to call it Littoria, perhaps cause theres a lot of litter.

After returning to Bright its time for lunch so I venture into the town and am impressed that they have 2 supermarkets, which are almost next door to each other, owned by the same parent company and nearly identical on the inside. I always like to check out supermarkets of different regions cause I am a boring person, both of these identical supermarkets are of high quality with many imported foods, reflecting the tastes of the rich Melbourne based holiday makers who would tend to go here on holidays.

The main street of Bright


Another view of the same

The afternoons activities are to walk around Bright and visit many of the open gardens. It seems if you live in Bright you must maintain a massive garden, host lectures on gardening and invite people to walk through your garden.

You get bonus points for having a stream through your garden


A flower tree always impresses, the higher the better

Dinner tonight is at a German Pub, I have some sort of steak on a pile of something with some sort of caremelised something as a sauce - typical restaurant fare.