First posted on December 29, 2012
Here we go again, all the better for it being quite unexpected and much less planning than usual. Mind you, luckily there was some planning and booking – I arrived at the only motel in Culcairn to see a ‘No Vacancy’ sign out the front. But prior to that …..
The night before departure friends Jenny & John fed me a nutritious and delicious dinner, setting me up well for my little road trip. Significantly marred by our taking leave of each other as John headed for an emergency doctor’s appointment. Unfortunately his self-diagnosis proved correct: shingles. Poor thing.
I aimed to leave by 9.00am with the hope of being away by 10. Finally hit the road at 10.30 and drove 310km for the day. Being the Saturday between Christmas and New Year there was plenty of traffic about until turning off the Hume Freeway to the Olympic Highway, not far short of my destination. But it all moved along smoothly.
I was planning on lunch at Wangaratta but my tummy was telling me otherwise so I turned off the Hume at Benalla. Salad sandwich (no onion), mince tart and coffee did the trick. Then the search for a loo. Found at the tourist info centre. The centre is at the edge of a lake looking across to an art gallery that looks well worth a visit, as do the botanical gardens behind the gallery that I’d passed on the way into this rural city. But that’s for another time. However, the tourist info centre was much more than a loo stop. It’s also home to the museum of the local historical society. There’s a Ned Kelly exhibition with some significant memorabilia. But what delighted me were two clothing exhibitions: wedding gowns from about 1850 to 1980 and race-wear (Melbourne Cup and the like) covering a similar period. An unexpected pleasure, the wedding gowns being every bit as good a display as that which I saw at Bendigo gallery a couple of years ago. Outside the TIC was a sculpture affair that looked quite faux Gaudi, not that I’ve been to Barcelona.
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| Benalla Art Gallery |
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| Gaudi-esque |
I rejoined the Hume and went straight through to Culcairn, by-passing Albury-Wodonga.
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| En route to Culcairn |
Small country town pretty much sums it up. A quick drive through (even at 50km/hr) and you’ve seen it. Not much more than I’ve seen from the train 20-30 years ago! I stopped by the info board to work out where the motel was. 500m away. And would you believe it, I got breathalyzed! Welcome to town!!! I got settled into the better than average motel then went for a walk around town.
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| Trains still operate through Culcairn |
I called into the pub to check what time they did dinner. Enough to make me hope there was somewhere else but there was one admirable feature – fabulous windows. I’m a sucker for beautiful glass.
The town has a lovely looking swimming pool complex but nothing that I could find by way of a park to relax in. So it was back to the motel to read (the creepy Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn) for a while before Mass at the ‘modern’ (built very shortly after Vatican II at a guess) St Patrick’s church, followed by pizza for tea.
And so ended Day One. It’s the longest time I’ll have driving in one day so the rest should be pretty relaxed really. Perhaps no bad thing that I won’t be racing around like a headless chook. Especially as it’s warm and will get warmer!
I wonder if I’ll hear trains during the night? …. Yessss
The town has a lovely looking swimming pool complex but nothing that I could find by way of a park to relax in. So it was back to the motel to read (the creepy Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn) for a while before Mass at the ‘modern’ (built very shortly after Vatican II at a guess) St Patrick’s church, followed by pizza for tea.
