Victoria, we're back

  While it rained through the week we took the opportunity to preview online some of the artists attending the Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival - they'll get the chance to enjoy a famed  'Wang hang' this coming weekend. The organisers have had to instigate a wet weather contingency plan due to the continuing rain which is not expected to stop until the following week. There will be no outdoor stage this year but six indoor venues and another couple of options on the Sunday. We are looking forward to seeing Thando, Fiona Boyes, The Black Sorrows, Horns of Leroy and Ali McGregor to name a few.  On the Friday night we attended the official opening of the festival at the Wangaratta High School PAC followed by The Continental Party featuring Rob Susz (top left) who describe themselves as a down-home, funky, blues and soul combo. They were good and set the scene for the rest of the weekend. For the life of me I can't think who Rob reminds me of, but one day I'm sure it ...

  Eric shot this beautiful photo of the full moon rising above the ridge from our front verandah. All the wind and rain has dealt a terrible blow to so many Victorians and we feel particularly sorry for the Echuca Community.  They were still awaiting the peak as I typed this, 10 days after the rain began. We were so keen to purchase there, and now feel we've dodged a bullet. We're hoping the news is good after all the effort to create the sandbags and levee but how do you keep positive if you are on the wrong side of the wall? We registered 70mls in the rain gauge here over the 3 big days and it continues.....  The only damage we found at Kate's place was the material of the cover over the second vehicle in the carport has given way after what looks like many years of good service. It revealed a gold car with club registration and on further investigation its a 1967 Ford Cortina Mark1. We'll have to ask Kate more about it when we next chat, but in the meantime we purcha...

  We moved to the property   on Kelly Gap Rd   on a day of continual rain, but despite that, we are very happy to be here. The property was originally 300 acres which once belonged to Jim Kelly, Ned's brother. He was never part of the gang because when they formed he was already in jail for misdemeanours of the criminal kind. The family home is a little further along the road though not much remains; apparently history buffs have souvenired even the chimneys, brick by brick, over the past decades. In recent years Kate subdivided and now lives on 30 acres of her original property in her new house, which like the first one, is completely off-grid.  We are learning as we go but have found the home cosy and easy to manage. The house is clad in custom orb, just like our Tiwi home, and well insulated. The floor is polished concrete. The solar power and battery system provides the electricity but on days of low light due to cloud-cover there is a back-up generator. Wat...

  Look at that sky! The mighty Murray is full and flowing in all its glory. There has been so much rain in the last few weeks the banks have been breached and much of the forest is inundated with water. You can just about hear the red gums breathing a sigh of relief.  We have crossed over it a few times to play golf at Corowa, in fact we have signed up as Country Members of the club. Its only 10 mins away, 40mins from Wangaratta, and a beautiful course; close to the river and features many fabulous trees lining the fairways. Check out the girth of this one. The first time we played, we met up with the couple playing ahead of us. Turns out I used to play pennant with Ruth at Cobram and their son was in Eric's class at the local school. Small world.  We fitted in a few more rides but had to dodge the pretty regular showers. The rail trail in the last post has this clever signage at the railway station in town. You'll note how flat the rail trail is, that's just how I like m...