Well I’m posting this from Creswick. We’re the last ones left – that doesn’t happen often.
It’s Australia day today and the world was washed clean here after some gentle rain overnight.

We had 9 vans here for this rally and we took up sites 41-52 … we pretty much had the run of the place. We we’re a short distance to the amenities, but exercise never hurt anybody … unless you count slipping over while sprinting in the rain whilst busting for a wee…

Attendees at this rally were Tony & Lynne, Billy & Diedre, Alan & Sandy, Lloyd, Kitty & Lucky, Dave, Char & Jarmie, Fred & Rita, Brenda & Ian, Sue, Max & Sam and Anthony, Kellie, Blake, Hannah & Poppie. Since we were close to home for a few members we also had drop-ins from Jan & Pete, Judith & Peter, Danielle, Robert, Taylor, Shaolin & Damon.

The weather was lovely without being too hot from Friday, when most had arrived, until Sunday, when most left. There’s not much evidence of the floods here. The caravan park dodged a bullet … despite being on the banks of the creek the only casualty was the spa. Had the water gone only a smidgen higher then it would have encroached on the park proper, starting with the managers house. The lake behind the park is overfull, but the water is contained. Apparently they trained here for the 1956 Olympic diving as the lake is over 30m deep. There’s still a massive diving board here, but the water is currently too murky to even think about jumping in.

As far as Creswick goes, we didn’t find too much to do. Relaxing and having a chat is good. There’s plenty of history to be found though. We can recommend the local take-away which was quick and capable. Pizza’s, fish and chips, etc … they’ve got you covered. Creswick used to have a population of 40,000 with over a hundred pubs. Considering there’s only 2 pubs left out of those hundred and neither pub is capable of providing dinner for large groups … like 2 or more people … If those are the best 2 pubs remaining then it’s easy to see why the population has dropped to 3,000.

Managed to get the family out on Saturday/Sunday to do a few Geocaches. These never fail to turn up the most interestng places to discover. Old mines, unmarked walking trails, secluded billabongs, the locals secret swimming spot … the caches around here had all that and more.

I snuck off on Sunday night about 11:30 to head home for work on the Monday. The traffic was certainly better at that time. I was home by 1:15. Back up to Creswick on Tuesday night to find only our solitary van left on the grass. A rare quiet night in the van before heading home again about 11am Wednesday.

All up, a great weekend away in a Jayco.