On the road again after four weeks and four days at Rockbank! We were still away by ten o’clock, half an hour before the required departure time. I did wonder when we arrived why this particular camp had a later check out time, however over the weeks of travelling in the city traffic, I would suspect it is to assist the traveller get out on to the road safely. Sundowner Rockbank Caravan Park is right on the edge of the Freeway, a road with relentless traffic coming at you from both east and west, and it is quite an ordeal to get across to the middle of the freeway, before launching oneself into the traffic heading for the city. I confess to shutting my eyes on several occasions rather than add to the driver’s stress, this more of an ordeal with a vehicle such as ours which cannot boast immediate acceleration, such as cars we have owned in the past.
Today was a holiday here in Victoria so the traffic was less frenzied; the trip out of the city via the Western Ring Road and on to the Hume Freeway was without event. We were soon out into the country heading north, expanses of grassland and avenues of gums, kangaroo corpses on the side of the road, sunny blue skies, all familiar as one travels through this wonderful country. As we travelled north, Mount Disappointment in the Kinglake National Park rose to the east, still scarred from the fires a couple of years ago.
Seymour lies one hundred and twelve kilometres to the north of Melbourne, beside the upper Goulburn River, a small rural town of over six and a half thousand people. We stopped at the Information Centre which is housed in the old Courthouse, built in the 1850s when the one hundred and thirty eight inhabitants demanded the services of their own courthouse. This we found quite amazing; imagine if every one hundred and thirty eight persons had their own courthouse! The courtroom and side chambers are now home to the local Art Society where there are a remarkable number of very good paintings, some for sale at realistic prices.
Across the street, we called into the old Post Office which is now a restaurant and art gallery operated privately. There are some lovely pieces of art for sale here too, however since we did not wish to order any refreshment, and felt uncomfortable browsing, we did not hang about too long.
The down-to-earth volunteer in the Information Centre made a call to VicRoads to confirm that the highway from Shepperton to Benalla was open, but that most roads further north from there were closed due to the extensive flooding still on-going. She also mentioned that there was a fair going on down at the river side, so after lunch we set out to investigate.
We were quite amazed to find so many sideshows there; we had assumed that all Victoria’s sideshow folk were at the Moomba Festival in Melbourne. There were also a lot of market stalls, selling food items, vegetables now wilted in the sun, clothes, hats, crafts and more clothes. The parkland beside the Goulburn River was just delightful despite the thick brown consistency of the river.
Returning to the town centre, we walked about the streets, surprised to find the newsagency open today of all days. We agreed that Seymour had a good feel about it and was just full of unpretentious folk, the sort of people you would rather have beside you during fire or flood events.
We left with the intention of parking up for the night at a rest area within ten kilometres of Seymour, but were unable to find it. We continued on north, now on the Goulburn Valley Highway, passing through Nagambie on the shores of a manmade lake of the same name. The river was dammed way back in 1887, making it Australia’s first water diversion project. As all irrigation reservoirs here in Australia, it serves a dual purpose and that was evident today with all the boats and activity on its shores.
Twenty kilometres from Shepperton, we came upon this rest area. It is wide, open, has modern clean toilets and best of all, a solid parking area. We are unlikely to wake in the morning to find ourselves bogged to the axles, which we can imagine might be a real concern as we travel through this flood ravaged countryside.
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