Today was the first day of our 2017 “Up the Centre” Adventure. Our planned ultimate destination is Darwin, and then we’ll see what happens from there.
Ready to Leave Home
With everything sorted at home, we headed off after peak hour along the Eastern Freeway and made our way to Lower Plenty, where, at the civilised time of 10:45 am I was breathalysed ! Passing with flying colours we made our way to the M80 Ringroad and then to the Calder Freeway. We had a very good run and stopped for our first break at the Calder Park Service Centre, after only travelling for just over an hour. Bertha was dwarfed by some of the other visitors in the carpark.
Calder Park
It was a great drive on the Calder but when we turned off the A790 just north of Ravenswood we really felt that we had left civilisation and were well and truly in the country. By going this way through Marong we bypassed busy Bendigo.
Heading for Marong
Our next stop was the very pretty town of Bridgewater. After purchasing some supplies at the Bakery, we drove around to the free camp at the recreation reserve where we stopped for lunch.
Bridgewater – nice old pub, post office and bakery
Refreshed, we headed north passing through Inglewood which was much bigger than Bridgewater and had some very interesting buildings. We both commented that we would love to just spend some time cruising around this region and spending more time exploring each of the historic towns.
Views of Inglewood
As we approached Wedderburn we found ourselves in thick smoke. We soon found the source of this unpleasant smoke – it seems that the farmers around here clear their paddocks by burning off. Luckily for us it started to rain which immediately cleared the air and made life a bit more comfortable.
Burning off
The results of burning off paddocks
We soon arrived at Charlton, which is another attractive and historic small country town, with a great Caravan Park/Free Camp complex called The Travellers’ Rest. Imagine, 3 nights on an unpowered site by the Avoca River for $10.00. Powered and en-suite sites are also available. After setting up we donned our rain-coats and had a good look around town. The art-deco Rex Theatre is a standout. Walking by the river we came across a statue of a swaggy carved in a tree trunk.
Charlton’s “Travellers’ Rest” area – right in the centre of town
Views along the river at Charlton – popular fishing spot.
The Rex Theatre and the carved Swaggy
Coats hung up to dry, we enjoyed a delicious meal inside Bertha while giant moths attacked the doors and windows. Hilarious!!
What a great start to our adventure. Now to work out where to go tomorrow!
Shorty's RV Adventures 
Good to hear your on the road again, would have liked a photo of your site at Charlton, might catch you we are planning on leaving today and heading your way.
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Hi Shorty and Ann,
Great to see that you have started another adventure. Can’t wait to read about all your adventures.
You beat us by a couple of days to start your trip.
We will be officially ‘homeless’ by 2:30pm this arvo, Our settlement is due then.
Enjoy yourselves and keep safe.
Frosty.
http://www.frostysausssieadventures.com
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Hey Frosty, you going full time on the road, or planning another home base?
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Hi Wendy,
We have sold up and bought an apartment at Labrador, so we are close to our boys and their families and we can watch the grandkids grow up.
We will still travel and when not travelling, we will store the fiver.
Frosty.
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Frosty,
great news! If you are living near the family all the year, that will really free your winters for travel! Good thinking……..
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Hi Frosty,
Great to hear from you again. Hope settlement went through without any hiccups and that you are in fact “homeless” and stress-free!
Hopefully our paths will cross again somewhere on the road.
Cheers,
Shorty & Ann
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Settlement went through. All good.
We are now ‘rich’ and homeless.
Our paths may cross if you are doing the Sunshine and/or Gold coasts on your way home.
Frosty.
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Look forward to reading about this year’s adventures! Yes – the Travellers Rest at Charlton is a great place to stay. Dog loves the river! Last time we only overnighted there, but said we must go back and use it as a base to explore some of the area.
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