CARAVAN ADVENTURES: Winter Getaway. Sale, Nowa Nowa and Buchan Victoria

Deciding to go away mid winter turned out to be a very good decision, and 4 days into our trip we have seen nothing but clear blue skies and sunshine. Chilly nights of course but we are warm and cosy in our caravan.

We are once again heading up the east coast, this time taking it leisurely and staying at different places and discovering there is lots more to see and do.

We spent 3 days in Sale just pottering around and after many years of just driving through this pretty regional town we were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the stay at the Sale Motor Village. The park was virtually empty with only a couple of other grey nomads brave enough to be caravanning in winter. This park can boast about having great heaters in each shower cubicle so that was definitely a perk. They charged $27 per night plus power, we used $14.50 of power during our stay, fortunately we could afford to be warm and grateful for our little heater.

Catching the rainbow at Lake Guthridge Sale

We visited my Auntie, Ilma Bryant (Caple) who lives in Aged Care in the town, we had a nice afternoon chatting and reminiscing about the family and the past. Time has taken away lots of her memories so it was nice to see that she is surrounded by many photos of her loved ones as well as being well cared for.

A wonderful man , a volunteer with a passion for all things aviation was our personal guide at the Sale Armed Forces Museum so a pleasant couple of hours passed there. The museum is divided into 2 sections, first was mainly RAAF and has displays of memorabilia, photos and lots of planes. We viewed all this along with some amazing and touching stories.
The other section contained exhibits from the Boar War to the present day conflicts in the Middle East which was all respectively and well presented.
The Sale Museum was our next stop and by contrast quiet small but did have some interesting exhiits and we did learn a little about the history of Sale.

The historic Swing Bridge built in 1880 was a worthwhile visit. It can be found at the junction of the Latrobe and Thompson Rivers. This unique bridge designed to swing open for shipping to and from the Port of Sale, enabling Sale to become a major inland port. The bridge built of cast iron is 61 metres long with a central swing span of almost 46 metres. The bridge is classified by the National Trust. We were fortunate to be able to see the bridge operating as it has only recently reopened after a vandal attack and a repair cost of $165,000.

The Historic Swing Bridge in fully closed position

Bridge open to enable boats to continue up to the Port of Sale

Next stop was to be Bruthen but we missed the caravan park so pushed on to Nowa Nowa and found a very unusual vintage park complete with home made vans and playground toys. It sits beside the stunning Nowa Nowa Gorge and is described in the brochure as a caravan park with personality and million star accommodation. It certainly is a quirky place to stay, the owner and residents are friendly and helpful. I wouldn't mind if the bathroom was a little less vintage however it is clean and functional with lots of hot water.

They really do have a million stars.

Old wooden railway bridge over the Nowa Nowa Gorge

The Gorge looking towards the bridge

Boggy Creek continues under the main highway
Hanging ropes show where the swimming hole is.

We camped at the edge of the gorge

Nowa Nowa Caravan Parks camp kitchen

Nowa Nowa to Buchan took us about half an hour so we were in the perfect position. We drove through forest opening up to farmland as we got higher. I was surprised there were so many houses in Buchan, there is also a Hotel and other food outlets there. The caravan park looked ok, it was run by Parks Victoria and there were quite a lot of people there.

The caves were spectacular as always and will be forever as they are now being looked after and monitored by Parks Victoria so should be accessible to future generations.

Exercise done for today.....