THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL

I was a bit apprehensive about going to an Irish festival with my nemesis, Murphy, along but he kept his head down most of the time. Our ACC branch, the Gippsland Gypsies had organised a muster at Koroit for the festival and our ACC Great Ocean Roaders branch was also there for the weekend. The lovely little town had a distinct hue of green and was full of Irish activity all weekend, including a very colourful parade on the Saturday. Meanwhile, while exploring the coast west of Port Fairy recently, looking at a free camp near the sea, I came across a surprising sight: hundreds of boots and shoes along a fence by the roadside! The free camping area is where the Fitzroy River meets the sea and it looked a lovely place to spend a day or two if you have your own facilities, although there is a toilet a little walk from the camping area. I thought I ' d got to the camping area and was surprised to see a sign that said No Camping. It was the boat launching area and the quite large camping reserve was a little further on with a few shady trees and a view of the river.

The Australian Caravan Club has a Special Interest Group( SIG) called Lone Trekkers for members who travel on their own and they convened a muster at my place in the Victorian district of Illawarra recently. The weather was cold and windy, so most gatherings were in my lovely warm lounge room and the promised campfire wasn ' t lit until the last night when a couple of hardy souls toasted their fronts and froze their backs for a little while. Nine of us gathered for a weekend that included happy hours, a mystery tour of the lovely Grampians, a bacon and egg breakfast, a visit to Ararat that took in the view from One Tree Hill, the monthly market, the Chinese Museum and J Ward – formerly a jail for the criminally insane. J Ward was interesting but very depressing. Imagine the freezing cold cells in the winter and having to take all your clothes off outside the cell before you were locked in your small room with only a canvas‘ anti-suicide’ blanket on your bed!

See you down the track.

42 gorv. com. au