There were a few heavyish showers this morning but they had stopped before we set out on our day’s adventure. First stop was Lake Hume, about 15 min away, where we had hoped to get a coffee – nope. There was a caravan park there masquerading as a resort which did allegedly have a café, but this was deemed to be ‘too risky’. Although not confirmed, I assumed this was in relation to the potential standard of the coffee rather than a concern about general safety. We spent about half an hour wandering around and over the Hume Dam which was spectacularly spilling quite a bit of water. I got some great photos by half climbing a concrete wall and then holding my arm out whilst precariously balancing the phone to get just the right angle. I was so impressed with myself. I then walked on another 10 metres or so and got the same shots through the steel bar fence that was obviously placed there for the convenience of visitors. Oh well.
Our next
destination was the Bonegilla Migrant Experience, only about 10 minutes away,
where we had hoped to get coffee – nope. This time there just was no coffee. Cold
drinks and ice creams … but no coffee. We met Lutz, one of the volunteers, and
he told us about his family who stayed at Bonegilla back in the 1950s. It was a
very interesting story – they were German, and his father had fought in Russia.
None spoke English but they settled into Wodonga after his father got work
there. The camp was really big and could house 9000 people at a time. We
watched a couple of videos and toured through various buildings that are still
there. The rest of the camp was dismantled in the 70s. There were lots of
personal stories depicted with written displays and videos. It was very
interesting and an important part of our cultural history. Gaz watched the
first video but then found a nice shady spot to wait for us while we trekked around
the camp. I was really happy to have visited here.
After some
discussion, we decided to swap our next two destinations as the boys needed
(you guessed it) coffee! We were to go to the Bandiana Army Museum on the way
to lunch at Wodonga but could not chance that this facility would be able to
provide coffee up to the required standard. I should mention at this point that
I don’t drink coffee. Anyway, it was decided it was time for lunch anyway, so
we headed into the old railway station at Wodonga and found a lovely restaurant
called The Goods Shed which was housed in what looked suspiciously like a goods
shed, opposite the old railway platform. We sat outside in the shade, and it
was very pleasant. We ordered pizza, beer and … coffee. The pizza was great and
the overhead sprinklers that showered us with mist were nice too, though they
were a bit excessive on occasion. At times we struggled to see our companions
across the table due to the mist/fog and even at one point I started to imitate
a foghorn just to catch their attention.
At this
point it was realised that the museum closed at 3pm and it was after 1:45pm.
Kev & Maz decided to make a dash for it and get back there while Gaz &
I opted for the more leisurely option of returning back home for a rest. Upon
their return Kev and Maz advised that the Army Museum was quite interesting
with lots of big tanks and things all in a massive shed. It’s actually on an
army base so you need to sign in, get a pass etc. Anyway, they enjoyed it but
said they only spent 30 minutes or so there. Gaz bought Kev a tiny Picnic bar the other day and has been hassling him to eat it for days. After demonstrating with a magnifying glass (that he mysteriously thought he needed to bring) he convinced Kev it was very tiny and Kev finally agreed to eat it. Thank goodness - now we can all get some peace!
It was Kev
& Maz’s turn to cook dinner and they outdid themselves with yummy prawns
and salmon with veg. After dinner, the Euchre was back on with (of course) a
1-1 tie – Maz/Pen v Gaz/Kev. It’s still even stevens! Quoits saw Maz take the
honours in a tight race that saw her last throw take the lead over Gaz. And to
cap things off, we played a new game of Celebrity something or other with
special rules from Kev & Maz that apparently bear little relation to the
original ones. Anyway, it’s a bit like Taboo and was lots of fun. Lots of
laughter. It was then time to start packing as it’s a travel day tomorrow.
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