Part 8................ 2 days to home

 We were up early and departed Wodonga, bound for Bendigo. We were planning a catchup with another quilting friend in Bendigo, and had booked into the Big 4 caravan park. There were no plans for being tourists in Bendigo. Maybe that could be another trip for another day??

The countryside was now flat heading across country, and this was the first time in almost 3 weeks that the sky was cloudy and gloomy. 

We had been so fortunate to see blue sky and sunshine every day so far. I know that the farmers, and even the town people would love to see some of that wet stuff fall from the sky in the southern part of Australia which has been very dry.

We stopped for a rest stop in a little town, which I can't remember the name of now, but it was by the Goulburn River.

Just by chance we saw a sign further on which pointed to silo art, so we took the turn and this is what we found!! It was just amazing and in the little town of Colbinabbin. It was a very popular spot and we enjoyed lunch in the van while we were there. 

There were many signs placed nearby telling stories of the people and town's history which were interesting to read.

After checking into the park and setting up, we found where Alison lived and enjoyed a lovely catchup time. Alison is another longarm quilter and Statler owner and has visited The Sanctuary and Number Eight for many retreats over the years. Our conversation lingered long enough for us to go out for an evening meal and keep chatting. 

It has been very special to catchup with quilting friends, cousins and Barry's friends while touring this great country of ours.

It was another early start Friday morning for our last day and the journey home. As we had the whole day we decided to go via Murtoa and visit the Sticks shed that we had bypassed on our trip over.

The Murtoa Grain store (the stick shed) was constructed in 1941 as a solution for grain storage during the World War 11 grain glut, when exports were restricted. Hessian bags and cornsacks were also scarce and a storage solution was needed. Work commenced in september 1941 and the store was ready in January 1942, after 4 months construction time!! It was built from 560 timber poles (56 rows of 10) which support a corrugated iron roof. The shed is 270m long, 60 m wide and 19 m high. The first grain was delivered in Feb and by June was filled with 3,381,600 bushells which remained undisturbed until April 1944.

This is an amazing building and the brochure says......."it evokes a giant, serence cathedral of unmilled timber poles and from certain angles resembles a forest of trees"......

We were impressed at how fast this building was erected in an era of manual labour and makes one wonder if the world has really made progress at all?

This is the Murtoa painted silo. I found it difficult to get good access for a good photo, so this is an aerial photo from the internet. 

From Murtoa it was another 2 hours to home, with a short rest stop at Nhill.

And here is the map showing our last 2 days, from Wodonga to bendigo, and then Bendigo to bordertown and home.

That sums up our 21days touring around. I think I need to find a large map of Australia and mark each trip on it???

I will be back soon with another update of the 2 weeks since we arrived home.

Blessings 

From Jude