Big Trip 2026(1) Day 1 - Getting Into The Swing Of It

 Welcome to my 2026 big trip (Part 1).

For those of you not caught up with my 2025 shenanigans (or for me rereading this in 2035, forgetting what happened 10 years ago) I had open heart surgery back in April 2025.  This was to replace my enlarged (and invreasingly dodgy) aortic arch with a synthetic one.  Recovery was a bugger and any significant road trips in 2025 were ruled out.

2026 originally looked promising with a big trip in March, however ongoing health concerns caused a bit of a loss of confidence in traveling far and wide.  I reconsidered doing one big trip for this year, and instead will break the trip up into two halves – half now and hopefully half at the tail end of 2026.

“What was the full trip going to be?” I hear you all ask.

The plan was to drive along the coast lines and borders of Victoria – heading down along the Great Ocean Road to Nelson in the west, then up through to the Northern point near Mildura, then following the Murray down to the Alps, crossing those mountains till we hit Mallacoota in the far east, and finally following the coast line until we get back home.

The new plan is to head straight up to Echuca, on the Murray, turn right and complete the second half of that trip.

This time around, I wasn’t going to be traveling alone. I had Nick to share the driving, as well as navigate and ensure that I don’t do anything stupid (maybe that's a mutual thing).

Here he is.

That's Nick, helping pack the car

 This first day was a fairly short drive covering a lot of roads that I had driven before.  The plan was to reach our cabin in Echuca at the earliest time possible, and then explore the tourist precinct.

First stop was morning tea, in Seymour.

Those who read my blog for the previous trip in November 2024 will remember I undertook a pie review everyday (well, most days).  I will be continuing with that challenge this time. Nick has agreed to undertake a similar challenge, with sausage rolls.  Details of our reviews will be at the end of each blog.

After buying the aforementioned food we drove to the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk in Seymour.  This was an extensive outside tribute to those who fought in The Vietnam War, with every Australian participant named on a series of panels.  It sort of makes sense that a memorial like this is located here, given that the Puckapunyal Army base is located nearby.

 Brief stop at Murchison to meet the locals.

Murchison local

 Lunch stop was at Kyabram. Neither of us were particularly hungry so we had a snack and took the opportunity to stretch our legs before heading the last 40km to Echuca.

Accommodation is at the Four Seasons Caravan Park. We have a spacious 2 bedroom cabin for a cost under $100.

Tea tonight was at the Star Hotel in Echuca. I’ve eaten here a few times before and have never been disappointed.

Fish & Chips. Chicken Parma

Turning now to sport, it was good to see the Kangas win their first game of the season.  After many years of disappointments is it too soon to start hoping for something better?

Food Review

The first review today comes from Gaffney’s Pie Kitchen in Seymour. You have to appreciate the confidence from a shop that has expanded to two, with the second one in Heathcote.  I’m not sure which location was the first one.

Nick’s review of the sausage roll was that it tasted very similar to the (excellent) sausage rolls made by the original Flying Tarts (our local bakery in Pheasant Creek). Score 8/10

 I started my pie quest with an unusual creation – The Chicken Parma pie.

This was a very ambitious pie that almost worked well.  Large chunks of chicken breast with a special “parma” sauce, with some melted cheese on top.  I think there may have been some bacon according to the website, but wasn’t featuring in my pie.

Conceptually I think it ticked all the boxes necessary for a parma experience. It just didn’t rate highly for me. Maybe I wanted a more tradional pie, and that’s my fault for choosing something different. Score 6/10

 Today's Album - Midnight Oil 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

Nick has allowed me to play 1 album per day. Normally we drive listening to audio books and podcasts.

Kms Travelled Today 255 

Big Trip 2024 - Day 21 (Final Day)

 The very warm temperatures overnight unfortunately meant a poor night's sleep.

I needed a kick start, which I got, overlooking the great 'Bidgee River.

That's Murrumbidgee River, for you non-locals

And on to the final stretch.

The landscape from Willcannia to the Murray River is an almost unending expanse of flat land. Which is why the land around the Cobb Highway is also known as The Long Paddock.

This started off as a stock route in the 1800's. It's now been transformed into a tourism route, with stories told on panels at stops dotted throughout the route, together with a number of sculptures.

I did stop off on most of these, I really did. But it was very hot, and I didn't linger too long at any of the panels. Also no photos of this. Sorry.

I was still on the lookout for water tower/silo art. The town of Mathoura did not disappoint, and for the first time ever, I saw one of these works of art in the middle of its creation.

The artist in question is called Dulk, from Spain.

The lunch time spot was over the border in Echuca. Here I managed to deal with two of my projects on this trip, a pie review (see below) and a visit to a distillery.

 

As always, it would have been rude to not try some.

From Echuca it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive home, one that I had taken many times before.

Not too much to say about this final leg, except for the Silo/Water Tower art in Rochester,

and in Colbinabbin. This was particularly impressive as it was spread out over 5 separate structures.

I'm home now, and starting to reflect on the last three weeks.

I had three major destinations that I was keen to explore - Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and Broken Hill. I can confirm that a) I loved these towns and b) I did not spend nearly enough time in any of them. They will all be worth a revisit, though maybe not on the same trip.

I was keen to visit distilleries along the way, and I think this had been achieved with distilleries in :

• Kangaroo Island
• Port Lincoln (West Coast)
• Gumeracha (Applewood)
• Broken Hill
• Echuca

I explored artwork in the country, which included:

• Art Galleries
• Murals
• Silo and Water Tower Art
• Sculptures

I saw a large chunk of the coast line of South Australia, as far as Ceduna.

I was fascinated by the changing landscapes, from coastline to hills to red desert to bush to plains.

I (re)learnt my limits.

And as an added bonus I caught up with some friends in Wallaroo.

My souvenirs included 1/2 a car of gin, dozens of photos, this journal, some fridge magnets, a couple of tshirts and some wonderful memories.

Now, where to for the 2025 Big trip?

PIE REVIEW

The final review is from a bakery that is situated in Echuca, as well as 7 other locations in Victoria. It's the Beechworth Bakery.

The pie today was the Beechworth Steak Pie - $6.50 (I think)

Now after the major disappointments over the previous couple of days I was looking forward to finishing these reviews with a high class pie.

The verdict?

Unfortunately is was a bit meh.

I don't think the crust was all that tasty and that detracted from the overall pie taste. The filling itself was OK, but not fantastic.

I was a bit disappointed in the end. I think I expected more.

So, what does the leader board look like at the end of all this?

6. The Egg and Bacon Pie at the Port Augusta French Hot Bread

This breakfast pie was well seasoned, well cooked and was very tasty.

5. The Sausage Roll from Ardrossan Bakery

Yes it's not a pie. Get over it. A juicy, meaty sausage wrapped by a tasty, flaky pastry.

4. The Standard Pie from Elliston Bakery

This was anything but a standard pie. A small bakery in a small town on the Eyre Peninsula has no business creating pies that are this good. And yet it does.

3. The Brisket and Jalapeno Pie from Macs Oven Foods in Broken Hill.

The very right combination of meat and heat. 

2. Tomato Steak and Bacon Pie form Meningie Bakery

The inclusion of tomato and bacon on the pie would have been an absolute winner, except for the pie that actually won.

1. and Winner The Slow Cooked Beef Pie with Mushrooms

The biggest pie eaten on holiday and with the tastiest filling and the tastiest crust. A very clear winner.

Podcast of the day: i enjoyed yesterday without a podcast and extended it out by another day. There is only so much talking you can handle whilst driving.

Total km travelled : 5,706

Good night

Big Trip 2024 - Day 20 (Heading Home 1)

There comes a time in every holiday when all the things you wanted to do have been ticked off and all that's left is the getting home bit. That's what it felt like today. 

From Wilcannia the trip home should take about 8 and a half hours of driving or 800 km. I can't do that in one day so it means I will be home by Saturday afternoon.

Before I left Wilcannia I missed some street art that I really needed to include in my entries. 

River us our Heartbeat. Water is Life.

Wilcannia sits alongside the Darling River. Whilst this river system had been used to ship goods to towns along the river, that was a long time ago.  Studies have shown that the Darling River is drying up and that climate change is the big culprit. If the Darling River disappears, then so will towns like Wilcannia.

After leaving Wilcannia I hopped on to the Cobb Highway which was to see me through to my stop tonight in Hay.

The Cobb Highway was named in honour of the Cobb & Co stagecoach companies, operating in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

From the time I got on to the Cobb Highway to the time I entered Ivanhoe (160km or 1 1/2 hours), I did not see one car, truck or any other vehicle. And only one house, which appeared unoccupied.

What I did see were plenty of these.

These are cattle grids. There is not much fencing out here and cattle are free to roam wherever they want.

The cattle grids are designed to restrict their movement between properties. 

Between yesterday's dirt road travelling and the Cobb Highway today, I would have driven over 150 of these.

Other highlights of the morning's travel included:

• Tumbleweeds. Real tumbleweeds, as you would have seen in old timey Westerns. The wind would carry them quickly across the road. The first couple scared me, as I couldn't avoid them. When I worked out what they were, I calmed down.
• Lizards. Big lizard activity as well as "big lizard" activity. Two monitor lizards that scurried off the road as I approached.
• Emus. They weren't terribly scared of the car.

• Goats. Many, many goats. Feral. You could say they were in plague proportions.

It was good to see human activity when I reached Ivanhoe. It's interesting to compare and contrast the 1 general store, 1 pub Ivanhoe in outback New South Wales with the affluent suburban Ivanhoe in Victoria. Chalk and cheese.

After a bite to eat (pie review below). It was on to Hay - about 2 hours driving. The only thing of note were the toilet signs in the tiny town of Booligal.

Due to the severe heat I had limited my stops along the way, so consequently I was able to arrive in Hay a couple of hours earlier than planned.

In my quest to see all of the silo and water tower art around the country I found a great specimen in Hay.

Last leg tomorrow. I should get home by late afternoon.

PIE REVIEW

I was appreciative that, although Ivanhoe didn't have a bakery, their general store was selling hot pies.

What I was less appreciative of was that the pies were heated through the use of a microwave oven.

So it is that I bought the Mrs Macs Angus beef pie ($6.50).

The pie is a little bit larger than your standard 4'n'20 pie. It actually looks quite impressive from the outside.  However looks can be deceiving for the crust tasted just like you would expect a microwaved pie to taste.

So the first mouthful also got me some gristle. Luckily this was the only evidence of this in the pie. The rest of the filling was actually pretty tasty. The crust caused me to mark this way, way down.

This was marginally better than yesterday's pie.

Final results tomorrow.

I had someone ask me whether I normally eat pies. Truth is that there have only been a couple of bakeries I will normally buy pies from - Buck's Country Bakehouse in Yaark is one and Flour Flower Bakery in Kinglake West is another. And after this holiday's effort of eating a pie every day (excluding Port Lincoln) I think I am going to stay clear of pies for the next year or so. 

Have I put on weight with all this pie eating? I don't think so. I have been keeping track of my "steps" and my average daily is significantly more than at home. I'd like to think the extra walking was keeping the extra calories in check. But that might also be wishful thinking.

Podcast of the day: After 19 days of podcasts I decided to change things up and avoided them today. A day of music instead. 

 Total km travelled: 5,228