The Wedding

One of the main reasons for us coming to Melbourne was to go to Andrew & Madeline's wedding.

Now Andrew has never been one to doing things by half !

He flew Madelaine & some friends to New York from London where they live to propose......

So I guess that he turned up in a Ferrari spider should come as no surprise !!

The Bride & proud Father walk down the aisle..
Taking the vows.
Signing as Mr & Mrs Paranthoiene for the first time.....
Hand in hand together...
I don't think this is an Aztec wedding head dress!
The beautiful bride by candle light.

A toast prior to cutting the cake.
And off they danced to the beginning of their new life together......

Man Shed

Friday the 13th.

Where do I begin?

When I was working at the 4WD & Adventure Show in Perth, one of the guys on the New Age Caravan stands was a chap named John. He lives at "the back of the Dandenongs" in Melbourne. What do you do? says I. Just the Caravan Shows & I'm retired!

The conversation went on, " I've got a bit of a collection of historic racing cars"

Well my alarm bells went off, "can we come & have a look when we're in Melbourne in January?"
Off we went to an "undisclosed location" at the back of the aforementioned Dandenongs.

Past Puffing Billy's bridge.

Well this is a MAN'S SHED.

I've got a mate @ Ferrari who rings me up occasionally & says send me some money!

In this case Nikki Lauda's steering wheel.
I know a guy @ Phillip Island, he rang me up & asked if I wanted a Honda practice bike?

These are used by the GP riders to "get their lines" & are usually destroyed ?????????????

For those of you interested double click to blow it up & check out the welds, superb.

This is a V8 Peugeot made by a bloke in Australia who wanted more power in his 403. So he grafted 2 four cylinder 403 motors together,hmmmm. Perfectly reliable, every few years Peugeot rings him up & asks if they can buy it off him for their museum.

The little black car in the bottom left was the world record holder for " tethered racing cars", model cars that were timed racing around a pole on a wire, in the days when people couldn't afford to race real cars. This little dude was timed @ 113 mph.

Garrie Cooper of Elfin fame,one of Australia's pioneer racing car manufacturers, produced some of our greatest racing cars in all types & classes.

These two Formula VEE's are his first & last of the class....

Alison behind an immaculately restored MG M type that was little more than a pile of rusty bits.

Do you know where the name "Petrol Bowser" came from? the little red one on the right was made by Bowser in Canada & was the first Petrol Bowser! bet you didn't know that!

This little silver car was used in the 1998 REDEX re-enactment, can you imagine 2 guys sitting in this flogging their way through the bush???

" the car was fine but the driver & navigator needed attention" was the comment in the press after the event.

A cabinet showing the development of the racing helmet, up to Jean Alessi's aerodynamic helmet.
This is a scale model of a F1 Ferrari with a quad bike motor, that a loving Grandfather, in Canberra spent 3 years building for his grandson.

His daughter said he's not having that, I don't want him to get involved with racing cars, get rid of it !!!!

I said to Alison on the way back "I'd have shot the daughter!"

And this is John's first Billy Cart which he raced down the Black Spur!!!!!????? We had just come down that road in Toby & Turtle, all I can say is bloody hell!

John thanks for a fantastic morning......

Hopefully we'll catch up in Perth at the next Caravan & 4WD show.

Heaven. Gods Country Part Two

After leaving Bright we headed for Mansfield.

We headed up to Mt. Stirling near Mt. Buller for you non Victorians.

First stop was Bindaree Falls, a little path down to the back of the falls gave a lovely perspective through the mist.
Then on to HEAVEN, this has been the top of my "Bucket List" for many years.....
If you hadn't guessed this is Craig's Hut, that was built for the Australian movie "The Man From Snowy River".

It has been rebuilt twice since the movie, last time in 2008 having been destroyed by fire in 2006.
Is that Sigrid Thornton on the verandah?
Because that sure as hell isn't Tom Burlinson!!!!!!
Another view of this fantastic Aussie Icon...
A delightful picnic lunch with my lovely! What a back drop & yes I did turn around after the photo, how could I not want to feast on that view!!!!
A bit further around Circuit Road was the track to Razorback Hut.... this is a real mountain hut.

God's Country

We drove on to Dargo in the High Country, we found this perfect spot out on Two Mile Creek just out of town.Next morning back into town for the obligatory shot by one of Australia's great pubs.

Unfortunately there wasn't time to hang around, so a quick coffee over the road & UP we went into "God's Country".
The fires had been so servere that most of the trees had been killed & the saplings were coming on.
I had stayed here at Gow's Hotel site 29 years ago & had planned to stay the night, but it was a bit too overgrown to be comfortable, beautiful none the less.
Alison doing the "High Country Hustle" or was that just a horse fly?
We pulled up for lunch at this piece of heaven.....
Apparently they are trying some cattle up here again. It seemed to work for a hundred years or so......
We drove onto Bright, one of our favourite spots in Australia. But the "inn was full" so a quick call to Karl & Sylvia, had us camped at their place.
Backing onto the Ovens River, it doesn't get better than this....
A little bit of pruning by Karl soon had Turtle nestled amongst the trees, with his 2 Citroen's for company....
A lovely meal was cooked & a few good bottles of red to thank them for their hospitality.

Paul's Place

A view back towards Paul's side of the valley from the Strzelecki Ranges.Two of Paul's boys showing us who's boss!
This little fellow was just born yesterday.
We left Turtle at Paul's, and headed down to Loch Sport on New Years Day to have 3 great days with Judy & Peter.
Not many photos but a fair bit of eating, drinking & great conversation..... a little bit of fishing, or should that be "feeding the crabs"
Then back to Paul's for one more sunset before moving on.......
But time for one more walk with Big Brother, in the morning before we left, another crisp Trafalgar dawn.

Walhalla

Another bit of my "Bucket List" was to ride the Walhalla Train. As a youngster at school our hiking club had a weekend around Walhalla, and the old train line was mooted for restoration.

A group of dedicated enthusiasts have restored the line to the Thomson River.

Alan & Alys drove down to Paul's, and with Mum in tow off we went.
Mum, Paul, Alan,Alison & Alys "all aboard".
This magic little line meanders along Stringers Creek to the junction with the Thomson River.

In its day it was considered one of Australia's greatest engineering feats.
Give or take a few there are 35 bridges on the line back to Erica.
Mum had a lovely day.
The town itself has undergone some careful & loving restoration.....
The "Three Stooges" ! ??
Judy & Peter (more of them shortly) had at one stage thought of buying this building to restore.

Windsor house is now a B & B, and in need of a little more TLC. Peter later told us that it went for $82,000 !!!!!! Hmm.
The Rotunda has been restored to it's former glory & was the entertainment centre of Walhalla in the late 1800's
You never know what you'll find as you walk along the main street. This looks like a lovely old Kombi.....
Looking down into the town it's hard to imagine 4500 people living in this area!
On the way out of town we stopped at the Thomson River bridge & walked out onto the rail bridge. There had been a land slide under one of the last bridges & the train couldn't get into the Thomson Station.
A beaut day was had & a great memory has been enhanced......