Glenrowan and Castlemaine

We left Canberra and reluctantly headed south, to more cold weather. We had a conversation one night during our stay in Canberra and I suggested going back to Perth via Broome where the weather was a lovely 30 degrees every day! Craig was so tempted by my suggestion that he looked up how many kilometres it would be! But we wanted to do a lap. And we wanted to stick to our rough plan. And we needed to see my family who were in central Victoria. And Broome was a long way away! But geez we were tempted to turn around and go back north!

From Canberra we drove to Gundagai to see the dog on the tucker box. 



We then headed to Glenrowan and came across this fantastic little park.

We loved it so much we stayed two nights instead of one.

Glenrowan was our coldest camping night yet, with temperatures dropping to -3 over night. We have hot water bottles, blankets, sleeping bags, doonas and a heater in the camper. If we stay zipped up all night, we are actually pretty cosy. But the second you step outside you know about it!

Next day was icy cold. We spent a few hours at the local pub (which had a wood heater) and had a $15 parmi for lunch. The kids enjoyed colouring in and Craig and I sat back and relaxed. Gotta love a country pub! We then had a look around the streets, visiting the Ned Kelly museum and the siege site.

We left the next morning and headed to Castlemaine; to spend the week visiting my nana, uncles and cousins. I lived in country Victoria for the first 12 years of my life and have visited every couple of years since then. Castlemaine is a beautiful place full of gold rush history. But you don’t appreciate the old buildings and heritage until you don’t live there.

The town is full of memories for me. Everywhere I turn is nostalgic.

My old house that used to be cream but is now partly blue, my old school, the little milkbar where I got bags of lollies from. The park in the middle of town where my brother, sister and I used to go play in. The shop my uncle and I got hot chips from. Walking the same footpath my mum used to walk along, pushing me in a pram, 32 years ago. My nana’s house with its little cottage kitchen where I used to bake cakes. My grandpa’s house with the big iron pot he used to cook his dog’s food in. The neat lawns out the front of my other grand mother’s house.

Very little changes. I’m happy to visit but I’m always happy to leave.