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The Night Train
A couple of times, when I was a young boy of around six or seven, we caught the red and silver overnight Overland train from Melbourne to Adelaide to visit my grandparents. The family would have a compartment to ourselves, a couple of bunk beds, a tiny shower and toilet. Once I brought my first…
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Home sweat home
“I wish we could live here!” said Alex of the Schaller hotel in Bendigo. Unfortunately all good holidays come to an end and it was time for us to return to Sydney. It’s a pity because I was certainly enjoying our stay in Bendigo and there remained plenty for us to see and do. The…
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Bendigo slow
After days of driving and training long distances today was a more local affair. It wasn’t planned to be that way, as I was hoping to spend at least half of it on the steam driven Goldfields railway between Maldon and Castlemaine. But B wanted to go horse riding and a suitable place was located.…
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Open in Melbourne
We had rough plans to spend a day in Melbourne on this trip. They crystalised when a colleague mentioned that you could buy reasonably priced passes to the outer courts of the Australian Open tennis tournament. B loves her tennis and Alex is learning so it was great timing on our part, however unintentional. Rather…
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The Sovereign Hill Minor
The gold rush continued today with a trip down to Sovereign Hill at Ballarat. After an argument with the GPS we eventually found ourselves heading down the A300 to that city. It really is a pretty route through the countryside and historic towns. Many views were like out of a classic Australian painting. I feel…
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Shocks and holes in Bendigo
Shirefolk like to live in holes in the ground, at least according to The Hobbit. Although this particular hole was definitely more suited to Durin’s Folk. It even ran with dragons’ blood. After some very tasty pizza at La Porchetta we retired to our motel in Albury for an early night. Prior to falling asleep…
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Gunning for Albury
As we approached central Albury I switched stations on the car radio and was greeted by some Bryan Adams. It could have been 21 years ago, when B was studying in Albury and I was a too frequent visitor. Next up was Belinda Carlisle’s Summer Rain, a song that has accompanied so many important moments…
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North and South in 2014
After last year’s frenetic journeys around Asia 2014 felt more sedate. There were few new places, mostly consolidation and the completion of railway lines. Alex started school, so our travel had to work around school holidays. Flights were marred by a returned fear of turbulence as I encountered more bumps in the air. But there…