Tuesday 10th March - Dunkeld
Weather report - 9.3 last night and upto 26.8 during the day. Yes we still have the doona on the bed. We went for a drive today through the Arboretum, which is a living collection of the world's trees. Lots of different trees here with name plates to allow for identification. They have a driving track around it as well as walking tracks around the lakes. They were doing roadworks whilst we were there, but we still managed to see most of it. In the grounds are the Fitzpatrick and Sons sawmills. This equipment is amazing, when you can see what they do with large trees. There are also two large carved animals and also a timber workers hut, restored but waiting for authentic parts for the inside. Dunkeld is named after a town in the Scottish Grampians. Timber has played an important part in this town's development. The beautifully maintained main street has old buildings with plaques describing the original building. For example, the Caravan Park is set on land that was called Victoria Park. Here the local tennis courts were, until they were moved to Memorial Park, where they are still used today. The first public monument was to Major Mitchell, unveiled in 1914. We then went for a short drive into the Grampians. Along the way we saw an emu, which luckily ran away from us as he was a big old man emu. It was a pleasant drive with the mountains on either side. If we had more time we would have done a round trip to Halls Gap and back. Beautiful scenery and beautiful weather. What more could you want? The local store doesn't have a lot, but at least they had some grapes for me. A wonderful day.