06 Heathcote Show

Today is Show Day in Heathcote, a small town of around 2,800pp situated on the Northern Highway about 110km north of Melbourne depending on wind speed and direction.

It is also Melbourne Cup Day, and Rekindling has just won the Cup as I write this.

However the Cup was not the point of coming here. With a bit of effort and focus I managed to sleep in a little while - it was cool and cloudy this morning - then spruced up and headed off to the Heathcote Show, a few km south of Glen’s bush block.

Easy parking on a side road, then $10 entry.

First in the gate were the horse competition rings. Five of them I think (possibly six - some of the signs were a bit small and distant for my old man eyesight) for the different competitions. Beautiful looking horses.

Wandering right along, I came across some people minding their own business. Now given that I have been through the citizenship operation (exactly one year ago today!), don’t accuse me of stereotyping Aussies, but … who am I to judge?

After scolding myself for displaying my quasi-foreign bias, I discovered that they were watching the sheep dog trials.

Seriously clever dogs (and handlers!). Could have watched them for hours. Well, for at least several more minutes.

Then it was off to the livestock pavilions. The first was the sheep and goat pavilion.

The merino sheep - resplendent in full wool coats - were down the other end getting some attention from the judges. The nearest goat was pleading to be taken for a walk …

Then off to the poultry pavilion. Sounded like a scene out of The Music Man.

Nearby was the obligatory petting zoo for little kids.

I had to move on quickly - I had skipped breakfast and the exhibits were ... beginning to look a lot like luncheon.

So, off to the Lions Club stall for an egg & bacon sanger. Hit the spot and sort of nudged aside the image of those exhibits on the BBQ. For a little while.

A large coffee, then back to the dogs. Whereupon I tried to channel that canine intelligence - with little or no success. Self-improvement using role models never really worked for me. But those sheep started to look quite tasty, so again I moved on quickly …

There was a little collection of old cars. Four Morris Minors similar to Elsie’s. Plus a Morris 1100 and a couple of ring-ins - a Rover 3.5 and a Borgward Isabella.

Then a couple more pavilions. First the Wool Pavilion …

… then the Arts and Crafts Pavilion with quite a number of competitions:

Baking ...

THE MOST IMPORTANT COMP OF ALL ...

Needlework ...

Knitting ...

And school participation ...

Then out to the community sites …

Including one for Cameron …

And finally Sideshow Alley

And that was it.

A bit of fun. Not huge. Cloudy and a few spots of rain. Very enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the next show on Saturday 11th at Echuca just up the Northern Highway.

Be seeing you!

05 Going with the flow

The electrical work on the van took a couple of days longer than I was hoping (got it back Friday instead of Wednesday), but the guys at Pitstop just off Somerton Road were great. Straight up advice, and set up to achieve what I wanted despite my technical ignorance. So now I have plenty of storage and a gas/solar/battery/charging setup that should last nearly a week away from modern conveniences.

You can just see the solar panel on top of the caravan. Of course the canopy I had fitted earlier last week - on Halloween which explains some of the monstrous driving in the city - is cavernous and should handle everything I want to pack.

Inside the van, the electricians installed the controller for the solar panel …

This has a display that cycles through battery temperature, battery voltage, solar panel voltage, and current.

They also installed a 12 volt DC to 240 volt AC inverter …

So now I can recharge my laptop, phone, bluetooth speaker and shaver, and watch TV for a few hours each day.

The fridge runs off 240V when in caravan parks, 12V when driving, and gas when parked away from a power source. Problem is that a gas bottle will last about a week (still to be tested) and costs $30-ish to refill, which is an expense I really don’t want. So I had a quick chat with the auto-electrician and might get a second solar panel, second battery, and a more efficient 12V compressor fridge. Sometime next year, perhaps, no worries. That’ll be a hit on the capital but would pay back within a year or two depending on how much travel I manage to do.

So I went to the pub Friday evening and was talking to Terry about my cunningly adjusted plan. I was half way through my itinerary (had to forgo my planned Saturday at Dookie Show because I didn’t have enough time to prepare & pack after I got the van home on Friday) when Terry said “Hang on, Glen’s [his son] got a bush block near Heathcote”. So Terry got on his phone, called Glen - who was at his weekender bush block, and arranged for me to stay there for a few days.

That’s where I am now, parked on Glen’s bush block - 8 acres. Yesterday I unfurled both the canopies and set up the table and chairs. Just in time for the clouds to come over and gusty wind to pick up. I left them out for the afternoon but furled and folded in the evening. Just in case.

Cooked my usual one pot wonder (but forgot the onions and artichokes) and used a bit of lean pork. Didn’t work as well as chicken but good for a change. So the gas cooktop works nicely, as does the new sauté pan. Might need to rethink the cooktop if I get rid of the gas fridge (although I’m guessing the gas would last a long time if it is only supplying the cooktop).

So Glen’s bush block had been used by a Greek community group and has some features left over from that time. A few metres away from the van is a concrete boat.

That’s a real chimney and there is a fire place inside the wheelhouse. 

The building at the back is a toilet, shower and laundry block - it all works - with two large rainwater tanks. There’s a large dam behind the amenities block.

Just to the right of the amenities block are two wood-fired ovens.

Looking down the hill from the van there’s a kids’ play area.

Just behind the play area on the right is a second dam.

Those two ducks are the survivors. The mallard is the original. Then they got a goose and the two got on very well, but the goose disappeared and Glen found the duck pining over a a pile of feathers. So they acquired two muscovy ducklings. One of those disappeared so now there are two survivors. Apparently at night they stay on a concrete water feature in the middle of the dam, away from the foxes. You can see the ute and van up the hill on the right.

The low building behind the dam once held five barbecues. Glen has converted it to an open kitchen and lounge room. Very comfortable.

Up the hill from that building is a flat open area that was used for traditional bands and dances.

And further up again is a small collection of concrete statues.

Behind that eagle is a small chapel. Glen is renovating that to become a small weekender.

And that completes the tour.

The wind is picking up so could be in for some uncomfortable weather for the Heathcote Show tomorrow.

In the meantime I am figuring out how best to arrange myself and live in the van and ute.

Be seeing you …