A disturbing night and a new day
On returning from a walk we found new neighbours had arrived during our absence. Three 4WDs were parked in the “Day Visitors – No Camping” area, with their owners ensconced in blokey banter around the fire place while enjoying a beer (or two, or three). It looked like they were set for a lengthy session of chit chat. Our only hope was they would fall into a drunken stupor early in the evening and leave us in peace.
As darkness descended there were no signs of any drunken stupor sending our new neighbours into a peaceful sleep. They were pretty quiet, though, and we retreated to the comfort of the Tvan. Later in the evening our neighbours had friends arrive and join in ‘the conversation’. At one stage an aerosol can was tossed into their fire, going off with an explosion that would have been heard for some kilometres. That seemed to spur them on and the music volume was cranked up, along with the volume of the conversation. The early morning did deliver a fitting revenge, though, as three large flocks of cockatoos started on their way to greener pastures with a deafening serenade that had the tired and hungover campers up and about much earlier than they might have hoped for.
Yet another clear morning greeted us as we emerged from the Tvan. The slow movements from those who had been up until all hours kept us amused as we enjoyed breakfast. We set off back to Avoca for a bit of exploration and to search for geocaches to add to our growing tally of ‘finds’. The town was displaying more evidence of the rural decline, in terms of places and shops to purchase – many looked to have been closed for some time. Property prices in the Real Estate office suggested there were a number of bargains to be had if you wanted a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with 7 vehicle garage on 161 hectares.
Avoca itself paid homage to the vast number of Chinese drawn to the goldfields during the 1850s gold rush. A Chinese garden was accessible just off the main street beside the Avoca River, with a traditional pagoda the centrepiece of the landscaped area.
Our return to camp took many turns, as we went on a geocaching-inspired exploration of the back roads and sleepy villages. One detour took us deep into the Kara Kara National Park hills, to a place that went by the strange name of “West of London Lookout”. The track to the peak was a single lane, steep in places with plenty of tight corners to negotiate. Two vehicles were spotted parked well off the track, partly obscured by trees. It was our guess they belonged to prospectors wandering the old diggings with their metal detectors in the hope of uncovering their ‘fortune’. The views from the lookout gave some perspective to the area we were exploring.
On returning to camp we found our noisy neighbours were packing up and moving on to the upper campgrounds. Woo hoo! Hopefully we would be in for a quieter night. We also found a vehicle and older style caravan parked in the middle of the track above our campsite. A dust-covered older bloke crawled out from under the caravan to explain that the tow bar had broken and he was removing the entire draw bar to take it away and get it fixed.
His travel buddy joined us later in the evening for a chat. We got his abridged life story but, given his age, the abridged version still went for some time. He was from Leeton in NSW, where he had lived with his wife until 30 years ago when she passed away while waiting for a suitable donor heart for a transplant. Since then he had hit the road, exploring many corners of the country. He enjoyed a fish and did a bit of prospecting in his spare time. In the evenings he would watch movies on his iPad, tucked away inside his caravan.
We enjoyed the peaceful evening around the camp fire without the presence of our recently departed 4WD friends.
We plotted a course home that avoided retracing our steps, driving via Maryborough and on to Castlemaine before joining up with the Calder Highway for the run into Melbourne. An attempt to stop at the grand old Maryborough Railway Station café / bar was foiled by a ‘private function’ that had the entire facility booked out and closed to the public. Lunch was eaten in Castlemaine before completing the final leg of our journey, arriving home in time to queue for fuel at Costco, unpack the Prado and Tvan and get the washing done.
The 4 days away felt like many more. We had lost track of the days, helped by being off-grid in terms of the internet and most news services. We got a break from the covonavirus reports and the uncertainty that was growing around the world.