We have delayed the Grand Tour until May to give everything time to settle down and hopefully we’ll have a new Federal Government by then that’s actually focussed on people rather dollars…
So… Once again COVID-19 savaged our Grand Tour plans by mutating into the Omicron variant and closing borders. Also didn’t help that the newly unelected premier of NSW, Typhoid Perrotet, chose the ‘let it rip’ approach to pandemic containment. So our February take-off date has once again been delayed until were confident that state borders will be open and COVID is less of a threat. No doubt we’ll end up getting Japanese Encephalitis from the mozzies in Victoria…
Recently one of Jo’s schoolfriends said she and her husband were going to travel around Victoria for the month March so we decided that we would get used to the van again by taking a two-and-a-half week trip in Victoria and meet up with them in Bright. That will get us home at the end on March and give us a month to pack up the house and get ready for the Grand Tour. Our Victorian Break will take us via:
- Holbrook (1 night)
- Shepparton (3 nights)
- Castlemaine (7 nights)
- Bright (4 nigths)
- Gundagai (3 nights)
Our nephew and his wife passed through and stayed with us in February having started their six+ month caravan trip around Australia. You can view their travels by clicking on => Facebook or => Instagram. They’re on time constraints so they’ve gambled a little more than us but so far everything seems to be working for them. They’ve just crossed into Western Australia along the Nullarbor. Makes us feel a bit itchy to get going (May’s not too far away).
Anyway… onward toward Victoria… Currently listening to Peter Fitzsimons‘ audiobook version of “Eureka”. His telling of the Eureka Stockade rebellion in the Victorian Gold Fields of the late 1800’s. Particularly relevant as we head to Castlemaine which is nestled in between Bendigo and Ballarat in the heart of gold rush country. Can also highly recommend from Peter Fitzsimons:
Our Route
Trip Posts
Victorian Break Trip Stats
Here’s our trip details that help us get an idea of the costs and effort that will be involved in our Grand Tour trip later…