Continuing the free camp theme we arrived at the Lions Park at Huntly, an outer suburb of Bendigo. It's basically a rest area on the side of the Midland Highway but with clean toilets and tap water it satisfied our requirements . There is probably room for six rigs here and it's vacant when we arrived so we took a prime position.
We drove into town and visited the very impressive tourist info centre located in the grand old post office building. Stocked up with brochures we returned to the van to plan our next adventure. However I began to feel the signs of impending sickness and so layed low for a few days, foregoing the chance to do much sightseeing. I did have an interest in a visit to the underground gold mine but baulked at the $200 price tag.
One evening we treated ourselves to a late afternoon cinema session. With Shaka safely inside the ute parked in the lengthening shade we went to see 'Birdman', which had been receiving rave reviews. Tomoko has a bit of a thing for Edward Norton so she didn't need much encouragement. The experience began well with me finally achieving my goal of getting a frozen coke at the movies. Once seated in the theatre we were pleasantly surprised to have the theatre to ourselves. It felt like our own private viewing. That was until an eldery lady of ample size entered and positioned herself a few rows in front of us. With both legs hoisted on the seat in front of her she started typing a message on her smart phone just as the movie began. It was very distracting and somewhat annoying and I gave her the benefit of the doubt until moments later she picked up her phone up again to continue her conversation. I was straight onto it this time, politely but assertively requesting she put the offending item away. She begrudgingly acquiescenced and we enjoyed the film without further distraction. The movie itself... yeah it was entertaining and Tomoko got to see Eddie starkers so we gave it 3.5 stars.
The rest area seemed to be a busy point of call. During the day it was regularly visited by people using the facilities. At night it was quite noisy with clatter of passing trucks. One evening there were even a couple of hoodlams larking about, making noise and generally being a nuisance. We are beginning to realise that while free camping is beneficial on the wallet, you feel a lot more exposed to the undesirable elements.
Early morning on the day of departure I visited the restroom and spied a black spider crawling up the side of the toilet. I bent down closer for a closer look and the low light illuminated a large red stripe on its back. It was pretty big for a redback and I saw it as a welcome sign for us to move on.
We journeyed 100km to the town of Seymour. We knew nothing about the town other than the caravan park had good reviews on Wikicamps. This and the promise of a hot shower was enough for us to abandon free camping for now. The park itself is a pleasant one and we get a good position with views of the Goulburn River. With the Australia Day long weekend looming we decided to pull up stumps here for a week. Our neighbours, a family of Samoan teenagers from Melbourne, noticed my 'Manly hates you too' sticker and we talked about the NRL for a bit. It's warm and I mentioned that I might go for a swim in the river later. They gave each other a questioning look and one of them in a serious tone asked me if I wasn't afraid of the crocodiles. Apparently someone had nailed a novely "No Swimming - Beware of Crocodiles" sign to a tree and they took some convincing that it was extremely unlikely for crocs to be residing in Victoria. I seemed to have assuaged their fears but the next day I jokingly taunted them about the prefered feeding times of crocodiles and they were like "Are you serious"? They never did enter the water.
The first morning I noticed some spots of blood on the floor of the van. Shaka has had an incontinence problem for a while now and it didn't take much investigation to find the culprit. An appointment to the vet is hastily organised for the afternoon. The diagnosis is unclear and he's given anti-inflammatories and antibiotics in the hope the problem will be resolved. It's another reminder that Shaka's time with us is limited and we lavish him with attention.
As we enter the long weekend the park fills up dramatically and our quiet oasis turns into a theme park, the nearby jumping pillow entertaining the kiddies for hours on end. It's all good and adds to the festive mood of the weekend. The three of us do a couple of trips to some nearby towns, the first being Nagambie. We visited the statue of Black Caviar, who was born nearby and there was a pleasant breeze coming off Lake Nagambie. On Australia Day we visited Yea and Tomoko packed a tasty picnic lunch to eat at the wetlands. Unfortunately, after exiting the ute we were set upon by a horde of wasps and after retreating to the safety of the vehicle we decided to have lunch in the park in the centre of the town.
Ok...I have to admit I've been harbouring a dark secret, going on 30 years now, that I have to reveal. I am a fan of Neighbours. Yep...thats right - Neighbours, and I am glued to the tele weeknights from 6:30pm. With this out there it should come as no surprise that I went on the official Neighbours tour. I caught the train from Seymour to Melbourne and boarded the bus at Fitzroy Street along with 2 other Aussies and 21 Brits (apparently it's unusual to have so many Australians on the tour). The itinerary was to visit Ramsey Street and come back to the Neighbours Centre to meet a cast member (past or present...according to the brochure's fine print). Luckily they were filming that day and we ended up going to the studio. We parked outside some sets - Dial-A-Kyle, Fitzgerald Motors & Grease Monkeys. After a while we were joined by Saskia Hampele who plays the character, Georgia Brooks. Well I must say I have a new favourite on the show. She was very friendly and down to earth (not to mention easy on the eye) and she signed autographs and posed for photos. We next visited Pin Oak Court (aka Ramsey St), took some snaps and returned to town. I had a really good time & it's comforting to know there's more of us fans out there.
I caught an early train to make it back for Shaka's follow-up appointment with the vet. He was still pissing blood and our concern was deepening. We decided to do some further analysis of his urine to get more information about his condition. While worrying, Shaka didn't look to be affected by his affliction and seemed healthy in himself.
The next day we continued our travels to Wangaratta. We spent a few days here highlighted by a morning outing to Glenrowan, the town where Ned Kelly was captured. I toured the museum and revisited the Ned Kelly story. Out the back of the museum was Kates Cottage, a replica of the Kelly household. There I found some talkative cockatoos and I had a conversation with them although the most they could manage was a 'hello cocky". I spent a fair time with them. Actually it was the highlight for me & when I moved to leave they put up a hell of a fuss, squawking & carrying on. They must really crave attention & I felt a little guilty when I left. Before we exited the town we visited the aptly named Seige Street, where the Kelly Gang's last stand occurred. Signposts mark the locations of the key events and if I closed my eyes and squinted a bit I could almost image the gunfight going down.
During our stay in Wangaratta I received a call from the vet with Shaka's test results. Again, they couldn't really give a definitive diagnosis but mentioned he did have some abnormal cells. I got the feeling they suspect he has cancer. At Shaka's age we decided not to put him through a lot of invasive medical procedures so we plan to monitor his condition and pray for a good outcome. Our next stop is Lakes Entrance on the Victorian coast and our hope is that the sea air will do him some good. Until then...adios amigos.