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| 2020 |
2021 |
2022
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| 1.
Mallee & Mt. Gambier |
2.
The Flood
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 We
have just finished with this year's
Castlemaine State Festival
- a bi-annual event which runs for two
weeks. And, as usual, we went to a lot of
shows - a circus performance, various
concerts of classical, rock, popular, and
rap music. Some very good, and some which I
(though not necessarily most of the
audience) found disappointing. But that's
the way it goes!
We were very busy; and, just to cap it off,
Melbourne Opera was presenting Wagner's Ring
Cycle in Bendigo, 30km away. Being a little
bit of a Wagner tragic, we went to that as
well. (Many others we ran into there were
more tragic than me; coming from Queensland
and New South Wales to see it. One lady I
met was from Sydney; she'd driven down 800km
to see the first two operas, was driving
back to Sydney to work for the week, then
driving back down - again - for
the last two!) The Ring Cycle ran over two
weeks, with a performance each Friday and
Sunday; I'd say Friday and Sunday nights,
but the Sundays started at 2pm.
However.... I have to say, it was excellent
and was well worth seeing.
 (And
interesting to note that the Ring Cycle's
first Australian performance was in 2013,
thanks to a very substantial donation from
Maureen Wheeler, one of the founders of
Lonely Planet guidebooks, to enable it to
happen. Since then there have been at least
three other Ring Cycles staged in Australia
- and it appears that it is not losing its
popularity at all!)
Then - it was over. We found ourselves in
the unusual position of having time on our
hands, for the first time since retirement
18 months ago. So - with the Anzac Day
holiday pseudo-long weekend here with a very
good weather forecast - we went off in the
White House to the Grampians. Specifically,
to walk up Mt. Rosea; we had just received
an email from Auswalk with their "10 Best
Day Walks" in Australia. One was Mt. Rosea.
We've been to the Grampians many times, but
no-one has intimated that Mt. Rosea is any
better than anywhere else there.
It was a very good walk - really
varied, good views from bluffs and peaks,
lots of rock scrambling There were
a number of others doing it as well as us
(it is part of the Grampians Peaks
Trail) but nowhere near as many people as
the hordes down in Halls Gap. Thank you
White House for enabling a late decision to
go away on a holiday weekend combined with
being self contained making it possible.
Everything in Halls Gap was booked out, but
we found ourselves a very nice, quiet,
isolated spot to spend our nights in the
Devil's Garden State Park, 7km from Halls
Gap.
And - time on our hands won't be lasting for
long, because in May we go up to Arnhem Land
for two weeks, and then in June to Vietnam
and Cambodia for two weeks - before heading
up north, in July, in the White House for a
couple of months.
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