Knowing it was a travel day, we were up and at ‘em pretty early, packed the car (we have that down pat now), and hit the road. Maz had suggested we stop at Yea – yep, I’d never heard of it either – but we thought, ‘why not, it’s about half way to Wangaratta’. Great call, Maz. The drive was a really pleasant one along main country roads, but few major highways. We passed through Yarra Glen and recognised the names of some other towns along the way. Gary points to most signs and says ‘they have races there’. We travelled about two hours to get to Yea.
We arrived at Yea and stopped at the first sign of toilets which turned out to be the old railway station converted into community rooms, and very successfully too. It was then on to search for coffee for Gaz. Maz & Kev were a bit behind us, having stopped to wash the car and van, so we pushed on ourselves and didn’t wait for them. Yea was really busy as hundreds (it seemed) of bikers had stopped for a break. We eventually found a café that was not packed and it was great – Mint & Jam, it’s called. Best Hedgehog slice, toasted ham, cheese, and tomato sandwich and coffee! But the most entertaining thing was the local free paper that was on offer to read – what a classic – the stop was worth it just for that. The lead story was the recent heart attack of the editor and therefore the reason why it would not be published next week. Also, the 8 hour electricity outage that stopped it from being published last week … I laughed … a lot. One whole page was dedicated to the last Rotary meeting!
Anyway, after our café experience, we found the Y Water Discovery Centre on the edge of town – a combination tourist information centre and wetlands area with great walks. We spent about an hour there – it was fabulous and a great way to break the journey.
Back on the road and we had been going for sometime when we realised the air conditioner was no longer working … and it was 31 degrees outside. Oh no, not since the 1970s have I experienced the wet t-shirt look as I peeled myself out of the car when we finally arrived in Wangaratta about another two hours later. We found an air con specialist, explained our plight, and begged him to help us. It was now Friday afternoon, before a long weekend (here in VIC), and he wasn’t keen to have a look. After some (let’s face it) pathetic begging, he agreed to have a quick look, though he said he couldn’t imagine what could possibly be wrong with a late model car’s a/c. We popped the bonnet, he fiddled for 5 seconds, started the car and the a/c worked perfectly. Once again, we looked like morons – this happens often. Things don’t work and then they do! What is the go with that? Anyway, all good, it’s working … and we need never see that man again … and Gaz slipped him enough $ for a few beers so he could forget us quickly!
With a cool car yet again, it was on to the caravan park that is located on an island where you can walk across a footbridge and be in town. The place is packed (long weekend) with lots of noisy children … and we are right next to the pool. Thankfully we haven’t yet heard any Marco Polo … fingers crossed. I had a quick swim to cool off and then we met with Kev and Maz to walk into town in search of dinner.
We found an awesome restaurant – Ricardos – beautiful Italian food and gelato. We then played some more Euchre where Maz and I regained our pride. Discussing our plans for tomorrow, it was decided we will go our own ways as Gaz and I have never been to Beechworth but the others have. But first, it’s Saturday, so that’s another Parkrun!
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