Deloraine was bigger than I'd expected; we walked along the river banks
and back up through the town on Sunday afternoon.
We spotted 3 op shops (thrift shops/ charity shops) which gave us 3 reasons to have a look around the town on Monday morning.
After 'doing' the shops we headed back out to Westbury. Here we checked out some ancestry for a friend, hopefully we have established a contact which will prove useful.
Then we visited "Pearns Steam World".
The Pearn family has been farming in the area for many long years, the 3 brothers Jack, Verdun and Zenith never had any sons and the family decided that the farm machinery should go into a museum and it's a very good museum too.
We even had a couple of trips around the site on the little train.
We chatted to the volunteer at the museum and mentioned Andys Bakery down the road, we got a few details: When he first started Andy didn't charge motorhomers to stay, he was happy for them to come to Westbury, and of course they ate at the bakery. Often he would take out trays of scones for them, and the place would be packed. Then he sold up to his brother and nephew, unfortunately he sold the name too, much to his regret as he is now embarrassed by how it's being run.
After lunch, not at the bakery, we left Westbury, back through Deloraine on to the little village of ElizabethTown. Our destination was the Ashgrove Cheese Factory.
They have painted cows in their grounds (unlike the Margaret River ones these have not been vandalised).
Now this is a big operation and the cheeses are available Australia wide. We had a tasting and confirmed our choice of the Wild Wasabi as a personal favourite. (since then have found the Blue Bite and that's very good too).
Then it was back down the highway a short step before turning off along side roads and onto Railton.
"The town of Topiary"
Apparently there are over 150 topiaries in town; some very large and spectacular, some still growing.
Our overnight stop was in the motorhome park there and we'd just pulled in and parked when another van arrived. It was Annie, (and her whippets Connor and Clancy). Annie lives in Darwin but is travelling for a few months, we were parked near her in the Hobart showgrounds. We had given her our email address but that zero causes a bit of confusion and she'd had difficulty getting through to us, it was great to see her again.We had a long chat over a coffee before heading into our 'homes' when the sun went down. Here in Tassie there is no warmth left in the air or ground once the sun goes down it's cold. We've had days where we've got sunburnt but at night we still need the duvet on the bed.
The next morning we prepared for the long drive to Sheffield, "The Town of Murals", 11 kms away.
En route we got a call from Werner and Mary, they were leaving Mole Creek and heading for Sheffield.
We parked up in Sheffield and before too long we spotted them coming along the main street, they parked up and just then we saw Annie drive into the car park. The 5 of us headed off to the bakery for coffee and morning tea before splitting up to do our own things. We don't know when we'll see Annie again as she's sailing back to the 'big island' on Saturday. Werner and Mary were off to Railton and then coming back to overnight with us, at the motorhome park in Sheffield.
We walked around, checked out most of the murals, buildings and shops before heading out to the recreation ground and the motorhome park. We got a spot on the grass and 'bagged' a space next to us for Werner and Mary (not that anyone else came along.) Another time we're glad of our 'bi-lateral' awnings, the thermometer in the van was reading 30degrees. There may not be shade but we do have a lovely view of Mt Roland out of the van window.
Werner and Mary arrived and we had afternoon tea, which ran into happy hour, which ran into dinner and all too soon the sun was setting and it was 9.00pm!
The next day we all sat out for morning coffee, the time ticked away towards midday and commonsense prevailed - we were all going to stay another day.
Mary and I left the boys talking and walked into town. We checked out each and every shop, yes I spent money! A pink 'hoody' and a silver bangle! When we got back the boys had moved their chairs just a little, to keep in the shade. Then it was 3.00pm - almost happy hour and a repeat of the night before,but tonight we went in for dinner at 7.00pm.
That night there was a fantastic sunset so I was back out with the camera..
The next day, Australia Day, we went our separate ways. Werner and Mary heading off to a beach somewhere and we ambled over to Latrobe via the village of Wilmot. On the way to Wilmot we passed through 'The Promised Land', a small farming community. There was a large Christian Brethren community near Sheffield and they named the area, others around are Paradise, Nowhere Else, Garden of Eden and The Nook.
Wilmot is 'Home of the original Coles Store'. we stopped in for a coffee and sausage roll - a very uninspiring place, a wasted tourist opportunity. It's not really enough just to have a sign saying that it's famous, there has to be something else on offer doesn't there?
The store was owned by George Coles from 1910-1921. His son started G.J.Coles & Co in Melbourne. The story goes that he was friends with the Slater family who ran the store in Sheffield and he told them that he wanted to open a store in Melbourne with nothing selling for more than two shillings and sixpence. The Slaters couldn't be persuaded to invest - hence the title of the mural on the side of Slaters Store in Sheffield - 'The missed opportunity'.
From Wilmot we drove up to Latrobe and checked into a lovely caravan park. We've got a shady spot next to the fence and it's nice and quiet. Apart from the sounds of the Australia Day fair and local sports competition opposite, and the helicopter rides flying over - it's a great Australia Day in a country town, a really nice sunny day, beauty mate!!!
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