Jase and Jess

We set out early heading for Bendigo via Ararart and Maryborough, we did the long and (arse numbly) boring bit first, not stopping until we hit Maryborough.

A quick cuppa, and some very tasty baked potatoes, and we were off again.

We made very good time, but at this point Betty was in desperate need of a new front tire, we found a Yamaha dealership in town without much hassle, and while waiting for the tire to bet fitted, wandered round the city. We found an information center, based in an ancient building who where extremely obliging in helping us find our way to our accommodation.

Bendigo really is a beautiful city, gothic churches, giving way to modern buildings, where old architecture and new buildings coexist without hassle.

With the tire fitted we made tracks to our accommodation destination, “just 20km out of town” at Lake Eppolock.

There were a few problems with this situation;

1. There is no Lake; the drought had affected it badly and it had dried into a stagnant water pond almost 5 years ago.

2. the 20ks out of town amounted to over 30 Kms

3. The caravan park we were staying at was a shadow of its former self, in its death throes it was thoroughly dried out. With the lake missing so was the business, and there were no other guests besides us.

After paying for our cabin and securing a key, we set off to check out the cabin amenities and discuss what we were going to do next. After checking out the cabin, which was actually quite nice, we found that we couldn’t drink the tap water.

We walked around the site, trying to glimpse the “Lake” and decided that the situation wasn’t too bad; we’d get dinner ingredients at the on site shop and settle in for the night.

This is what Lake Eppalock has been reduced to.

The shop sold Coke, biscuits and ice-cream only, this was the straw that broke the camels back. We decided we couldn’t stay in such a depressing place, repacked our bags and rode to town for something more accommodating.

We found a fantastic room at the Best Western, right across the road from a great little Bar/Bistro, we ate well, watched a couple of movies on pay TV and climbed into bed ready for the next (boring) stretch.