Today we did the short drive from Beechworth to Yackandandah to call in on an old family friend. Bill was unfortunate to get polio as a child and had calipers and crutches for all of his life. Bills problems did not stop him enjoying a full like though and he traveled extensively in Australia and overseas and made many visits to Tassie. I had not seen Bill since just before we were married. In the last year Bill has been unable to support himself properly and has been confined to a wheel chair and a home. This has been a difficult time for him as he has lost his freedom and independence now, as he has always lived independently.

He seems some what settled in the Yamaroo Hostel but he is still has a sharp mind and most of the people in there are suffering from dementia and memory type illnesses but there are a few interesting characters by the sounds of it including a 92 year old engineer who worked on the Snowy Scheme and a guy who trained at Benalla in Tiger Moths. Bill recalled as a kid growing up with all the Tiger Moths flying about as he was near this training school. We spent the morning with Bill so hopefully we brightened up his week with somebody different visiting him. He was pretty keen to get to lunch as I think all these places run on the meal clock so we headed off after an enjoable morning of stories on both sides.

Yackandandah had a lot of old buildings being from the gold rush era around 1852 and we had a walk around town and lunch at the bakery. There was an interesting art exhibit at the end of town. The artist had used engine, lawn mower and car parts to construct these amazing artworks. There was a huge dragon out the front that dwarfed Sharon and you could see camshafts, gears, mower blades and bike chains welded into it. It was an amazing bit of kit. Photography was banned inside so I can’t show you any of the other stuff but there were huge metal orchids, caterpillars, hedge hogs, ants, and non descript sculpture pieces. The large pieces would have weighed a ton (literaly). A smaller dragon inside was $10,500 so the one out the front would be as much as a car I guess.

Must have a forklift nearby to move it?

Hand detail

Beechworth

We wandered aimlessly for the rest of the afternoon looking at a scenic drive, old bridge and waterfall before driving to just outside Mansfield to the Blue Range Camping Area. We are the only ones here and it is very peaceful and quite except for all the bird life and frogs. Sharon wiped up a scone mix and we had these scone pikelet type yummy things with heaps of peanut butter and jam. We even have a small campfire tonight. Tomorrow we will head up to Buller to start that adventure for the next 5 days then we will have 2 days to get back to the boat and home. Time is really fling by now.

Yum

Getting the nightly blog done by the fire tonight, Sharon on FaceBook