The Right Time

Mildura June/July Holiday - Part 5

I had already almost finished this post when Typepad decided to go pearshaped and I lost the whole lot - not happy!! :-( 

Anyway ...

The next morning we went on a Paddle Steamer Ride which was reall cool as it involved going through a lock as per the following diagram ... 

It was very cool (although it slightly "did my head in" lol) experiencing this! 

views along the river 

Entering the lock 

Lock gates closing behind us 

water draining

draining more 

and even more! 

 

gates opening

off we go 

views again

Mitchell got to steer the boat! 

including turning it around to head back! He got a really long turn as there weren't many kids. He loved it and still talks about it!! 

back at the lock

slowly filling up 

and up

and full so off we go

Flood level in 1956!!! 

Posting this before I lose it again!

Jen :-)

 

Mildura June/July Holiday - Part 5

After spending so long at the Gem shop in the morning we had lunch then headed off to find some caches, check out some period buildings and also check out the times that the Paddle Steamers would be running.

 

We enjoy looking at the old fashioned buildings some of which we may not have known about if it wasnt for the nearby caches! 

When we went to check on the time of the Paddle Steamers we saw a Channel 7 news van - they were there because this was the day that Mildura was switching over to Digital TV

A couple of photos of the Paddle Steamers

Jen :-)

Mildura Holiday June/July 2010 Part 4

The next morning we went to visit Woodsie's Gem Shop in Mildura.  

It's an amazing place with rooms full of gemstones made into all sorts of things and there's a tour which shows you gemstones from many different countries and different parts of Australia. There's also a cafe there. 

 

   

We all enjoyed doing the tour and looking at all the amazing gemstones and especially the ones that glow in the dark!! 

Mitchell bought a couple of gemstones and a genmstone cross (a black shiny stone of some sort lol) 

We then had chips and hot chocolate! YUM!! 

Jen :-)  

Mildura Holiday June/July 2010 Part 3

After visiting the Perry Sandhills we visited the PS Ruby which is being restored. 

Then we drove to the access point to the track that would take us to the cache that was at the junction of the 2 rivers.  On the way to the track we saw a Canoe Tree

Then it was over the first river to get to the track to the point 

It was a nice little track

Lots of interesting Tree trunks on the way! 

Mitchell right at the point!

Found the cleverly hidden cache after a little bit of a hunt and then took a couple more photos lol 

It was a lovely spot that we probably wouldnt have found if it wasnt for the cache! 

We went home for a rest and then just before dusk decided to find a couple of caches at the wetlands near where we were stayting and saw a lovely sunset! 

The 2 caches were easily found and then we enjoyed the sunset on the way back to the car



I loved the reflection in the mirror! 

On the way back to the Caravan Park the sunset suddenly got more colourful so we pulled over for some more photos. 

Back home for tea and board games and bed !! Snore..... lol 

Jen :-)

 

 

Mildura Holiday June/July 2010 Part 2

After having lots of fun getting the FTF in Wentworth we went back into the town and saw the garden dedication to Fergie the Tractor that saved Wentworth from Floods in 1956

We then went to the starting point of a cache nearby.

We had to work out the final co-ordinates using information from the Hawdons Ford sign.  We then discovered where the cache was ..... so close yet so far! lol 

It's a bit hard to tell from this photo but the cache is on the point of land where 2 rivers meet in the middle of the lefthand thired of the above phot (where the green marker and white sign are.  It is a point of land that has 2 different rivers either side of it.  So it was only 40m away but across the river lol !!!  However there was a track along to the point from further up the road so (later that day) we drove to there to walk to the point. 

You can see the point/division of the 2 rivers a bit better in the above photo. 

Mitchell found a great hiding place on the way back to the car...

Our next stop was the Perry Sandhills today so we headed off there next  http://www.wentworth.nsw.gov.au/tourism/view.php?iid=56

They were amazing and lots of fun!! 

Discovered some strange looking melons 

That we didnt eat lol!!!

We found the easy cache close to the car park and then explored the sand dunes 

I took 63 photos but I wont post them ALL here lol 

Sliding down the dunes

Sliding down on the cardboard boxes provided 

"Sand storm"

Close-up

We then walked to the other cache which was only 400m away but felt a lot longer over the sand dunes lol

After climbing up and down sand dunes it flattened out and had more vegetation 

After finding the 2nd cache we followed our footsteps back to the car 

It was a great spot to visit! 

Jen :-)

Our Mildura Holiday June/July 2010 - Part 1

Oh wow I took sooooooooo many photos on this Mildura Holiday and we absolutely LOVED it.  We had such a wonderful time there we stayed an extra night there rather than staying at Ballarat on the way home which was our original plan.  

Before we left for Mildura we (of course) checked out the caches in the area and discovered a cache that had been published for a few days but not found yet so we decided that if that one was still unfound on the Monday night when we arrived that we would head out to find it on the Tuesday morning.  

So we drove all day (it seemed like lol) with a stop for lunch at Bendigo at the pie place on the corner of the mall..... that place was there when Lisa used to live in Bendigo and we used to visit  back in our early 20's!!! Wow!!  Anyway we arrived at Mildura just on sunset.  We were staying in a cabin at a Caravan Park which we had found through www.travelauctions.com.au.  It was a nice little cabin and we had our own resident Possum lol

So the cache hadnt been found so the next morning we headed off to Wentworth just over the boreder to an absolutely gorgeous place ..... now there is some kudos when you get a FTF (first to find) on a cache especially in Melbourne lol so we were very surprised no-one had founds this cache yet and we were rapt to get the FTF but also loved the place where the cache was and as often happens with caching it was in a place we wouldnt have known about if iut hadnt been for the cache.

Here's our log for the find ..... 

 Found it

29 Jun 10

*****FTF*****
Ok it's official - we are mad FANATICS who drive 507.7km to get a FTF!!!!! lol That's not a typo - 507.7km! lol

How exciting though, really!! We looked at all the caches in Mildura and surrounds last week, preparing for our holiday to Mildura and saw this one hadnt had any finds on it so put it on our watch list. We arrived in Mildura last night after driving all day and logged on to the Laptop to see that there were STILL no finds so that determined where would spend our first morning up here lol!!! 

We were rapt when we found the cache and opened the log book to find it EMPTY!! WOOHOO!! lol 

Now to the area........... it's LOVELY!! We explored for a while with G&MMelb trying to make a bridge across the little river - semi successfully lol. We took loads of photos around this really pretty place and played pooh sticks off the bridge. It's a beautiful area and we thankyou for bringing us here!

Took your brand new TB and Wentworth Snow Dome
Left princess shower gel and bouncy ball

TFTC Stewbies 6, for a great morning and the thrill of a FTF, especially so far from home!!!!!

GJMMelb

So as you can see we were quite chuffed lolol 

Here's some photos from the lovely spot 

Mitchell making the river crossing

Balancing .... don't fall in; the water is icy!!!!!

Oooops the water flow is so strong it was moving the log! 

Moving the log back into place

Putting rocks into place to hold the log in place 

Last rock in place 

And over we go!!!!!! lol Mitchell had so much fun making this and testing it out!! 

We also took some other photos around this gorgeous area 

The water level was quite high so it appeared that trees were growing in a lake! 

It was just such a pretty place!

We set up the camera and took some family photos 

Mitchell took this one 

This was my favourite !! 

I made it into the banner for a while last year ..... anyone remember?? 

We then headed off to the Sand Dunes out of Wentworth ..... that'll be the next post coz there's lots more photos again lol 

Jen :-)

The last service :-( - June 2010

As I had previously blogged, Box Hill Church of Christ had it's 100th Anniversary in early June and in late June had it's final service at the Church 

We went along and Gary was playing guitar again 

It was quite an upbeat service with a couple of emotional times 

 

The Chinese Church that were purchasing the Church sang some songs 

 

Many people spoke and shared how the Church family had influenced their lives

Gary playing guitar for the Hymns

Flowers and pressies for the Minister

One of the banners that I made many years ago.  These banners were going to another local church. 

Mitchell on the old Church swing

A lovely day with more reminiscing 

Jen :-) 

 

Our next tricky cache camo - June 2010

After the success of our Back and Forth Cache camo we decided to try another type.  Gary and Mitchell gave me some plumbers pipe for my birthday!!!!! lol ..... This was because we were already planning this hide.....

So we covered the plumbers pipe with bark from a paper bark tree and then glued and screwed a piece of small bark to the lid of the pipe to make it look like a false branch of the tree.....

 
 
We had scouted around looking for somewhere to hide the cache and finally found a tree in a park in Vermont that fit the bill.  It also has a lake and a few tracks around the park and was a really nice place to hide the cache.  When we went to set up the cache we got Mitchell to bring his soccer ball so we weren't too suspicious looking hanging around one tree for a while whilst Gary was setting up the cache - he had to attach another little branch to the tree for our branch to sit over. 

So we played soccer and kicked goals through another tree which split into a V shape not far above the ground.

 
 
Cache in-situ

 
It's right in the centre of the photo (just in case you cant pick it out)

 
We have had to repair the Camo a few times as with a bit of handling the camo starts to come away a bit.

Recently Geocaching.com started a new sort of favouriting system whereby cachers can "favorite" a cache if they really like it and if they want to... some cachers dont use this system but we do as it is a way of congratulating the cache owner on such a good hide. 

We have been very excited that this cache has been in the top 3 caches of Victoria ever since this system started, with us being in 1st spot a few times and the lead changing many times over! We are currently 2nd (2 points behind the 1st place).  The other 2 caches are the first ever cache hidden in Victoria which has the nostalgia of being the first and a TB Hotel in Ballarat which gets a lot of holiday visitors so we are very chuffed!!!!

Here's a link to our listing ... where you can read the logs that people have written.  http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a4d829d7-e6bb-4577-8461-95150254d80b

Jen :-)

 

Queens Birthday Long Weekend 2010

We met up with the Dangerfields and the Hopkins at Badger Creek on the Sunday of the Queens Birthday Long Weekend.  It is one of our favourite places to go!

 
We had a BBQ lunch and this little fella decided to watch us!!!

 
We went for a walk after lunch (to find a cache of course!!!!!)

 
 
 
The girls posing nicely for a photo and M in the background probably about to fall in the water!!! lol

 
Back to the picnic ground we go

 
The 4 medium sized kids deciding they wanted to go via the fern walk which had steps so we couldnt take the pram down there

Gary being the Pied Piper with the middle sized kids

 
Esther, Desley and myself

 
Esther and myself

 

Monkey Mitchell

 
Jesse's turn

 
The group

 
Group shot No 2 .... Gary had to set the camera up and then carefully run to us !!!

It was a lovely day!!!

Jen :-)

June 2010 - Box Hill Church of Christ 100th Anniversary ... and closure :-(

Our old Church - Box Hill Church of Christ - had been slowly but surely shrinking in membership even before we left but continued on this way after we left and finally in early 2010 it was announced that the Church would close it's doors in June 2010 to allow for the celebrationg of the 100th Anniversary of the Church!!!!!  It was held at Box Hill Town Hall and there were hundreds of people there. 

Gary played in the band along with a few other "ex Box- Hillites" and they had a few past members singing in a little choir. You can JUST see Gary peeking out from behid the screen towards the right of the photo below

 

 
It was a great service with lots of reminiscing and also a catered smorgasboard lunch.  We caught up with lots of old friends that we hadnt seen for years.

We then went back to the actual Church to see lots of memorabilia (of which I had contributed a sizeable amount of photos lolol) and a light afternoon tea.  We again caught up with morte people that we hadnt seen in the Town Hall.  It was a lovely day and bitter sweet!

The final closing service was held 2 weeks later which we also attended... more about that soon

Jen :-)