Self guided Victorian Painted Silo Trial

Sorry about being so long since the last bog post. It just became too much for a while and I needed some time out from blogging, esp since I don't seem to be able to do it on a iPad. COME ON APPLE, pull your finger out and make it accessible for bloggers.

Also we had to be home based for 6 months whilst Rob underwent a medical trial and some rehab, which sadly was unsuccessful

But I am back now with one of the best self guided tours for you to do in western Victoria. Yes, the original Victorian Painted Silo Tour. It really is worth making the trip. Chuck in a few camps a long the majestic Murray River like we did when we started at Riverglen or a cruise on the same river and you've got yourself in for a real treat.

Robbiebago in front of one of the painted silos

What are the Painted Silos?

We first heard of the painted silos through Rob's weekly watching of the ABC show Landline. From this I researched it a bit on Google and found this page to give an excellent background to this story.

Silos have been an integral part of the countryside since time immortal. However changes occur and many are now standing defunct with no real purpose, just a reminder of days gone by. The Painted Silos are a fairly recent phenomenon bringing in tourists to see these decommissioned wheat silos that have been transformed by artists. The original one was in Brim, Victoria. Each artist paints a story about the people of the region. Set on such a large scale and in such unique rural settings, they are just mind blowing. Painted silos are now popping up across several states and I am sure they are all great. We hope to get to see them all in good time.

Australia's largest outdoor gallery

You could do the 200km trip in one day like Dawn did only she started from the south at Ararat. But hey, if you've been following us for any length of time, you would know that we like the slow living approach and we like to take advantage of freedom camping along the way. We don't mind paying for accommodation but the freedom to come and go at whim without pre-planned booking is just the way we like to live. 
 

Map From Beyond The Horizon's blog shows where the silos are in Victoria

We have come in from the north and east having spent a couple of nights freedom camping at Woomelang before camping right on the water's edge at Lake Lascelles at Hopetoun where we met up again with our friends, Gary and Joy.

Where is the Silo Art Trail?

In a nutshell, the Painted Silo are in the Wimmera Mallee region of Western Victoria, Australia. Eh? Head 140km almost directly south from Mildura on the Murray River and you arrive at Patchewollock which is the northernmost of the Victorian silos at the time of writing  (2018).

Detailed Map of where we went to view the silos

A: The Northernmost Silo at Patchewollock

As mentioned above we were camping at Lake Lascelles so we car pooled with Gary and made the 30km trip north to Patchewollock. Here you see the gigantic work of  Brisbane-based artist Fintan Magee of a local lanky sheep farmer.

Right next to the magnificent painted silos is the wonderful corrugated Mallee Fowls. What a wonderful added bonus.

Rob & Michelle in front of one of the Mallee Fowls

B: Lascelles

This painted silo was completed by Rone who wanted to capture the essence of a couple whose family have farmed the land for 4 generations. Though they are on the same silo, you can't get both images on the same photo.

C: Roseberry

The silo art work here depicts a young woman with a sheep and a horseman with his steed.
Painted by Kaff-eine a former lawyer now full time street artist wanted to capture the relationship between the people and their animals.

 

D: Brim

Guido van Helten has started something with his 30metre tall silo sepia painting of 4 'typical' local male residents painted across the 6 cylinders of the silos. Though its not meant to be a painting of specific people but a representation of the people in the Brim district.The ABC link goes into a lot more detail. To get the best lighting on the silos for your photo is just before sunset when the sun is full on the silos casting virtually no shade. Just as well there is a camp ground right on the lake there. It is not free camping but it is so cheap that it is awfully close to it.

E: Sheep Hills

This would certainly be the most colourful of the Victorian Silos on this trip and as such would probably be my favourite. It depicts 4 indigenous people against a starry sky. This silo was painted by Matt Adnate.

The magnificence of this cant be captured on photo.

Look at the reflection in the eye.

I'm totally blown away by the detailing Matt has put into these paintings. Just look at the reflection of the landscape within this boy's eye. 

F: Southernmost of the Painted Silos is at Rapanyup

Last but by no means least. These ones are on a huge steel silo which is different to the previous concrete ones. The artist, Julia Volchkova, chose to paint 2 young sporting kids from the district.

Well that concludes an epic trip around the Victorian Painted Silos. It is certainly something to add to your bucket list.

But Wait! There's more!

Now there are more cropping up around Australia and I hope we will get to see them all but I doubt that anything will beat seeing these the first time. We did however see one more at Coonalpyn in South Australia, but I will leave that for a future post!

Lake Lascelles is a top spot

Lake Lascelles in Hopetoun is an absolute oasis in the Mallee country. Parts of the foreshore, closest to the town is for paid camping with power and even quirky cabins which I will cover a bit later in this post.

We free camped on the eastern side of the lake, which is the free camping area and within metres of the lake's edge. We met up again with our friends, Gary and Joy here. They have a huge 30ft bus style motorhome, towing a large trailer and they can easily fit here.

Room enough for big rigs as well as medium ones like ours on the right :)

Hopetoun is about 400km (5 hours) from Melbourne and 200km south of Mildura. It is only a small community with about 600 people, but it has everything you need as far as supplies go: an IGA, a service station, pub, butcher, bakery, pharmacy and a decent cafe. The people of this town are very friendly and welcome visitors into their small community with open arms.

Lake Lascelles

The day before we turned up, our friends who had arrived before us, witnessed a wedding being held on the other side of the lake to them. Even the water skiers stopped their pleasure craft out of respect for the actual ceremony. Yep water sport is a popular activity there but it never became a noise issue while we were there for which we are grateful. Instead it provided light visual entertainment. The bird life is abundant as would be expected near permanent water. There is also a permanent Black Swan in resident who might visit your site.

Michelle with our visitor

The Black Swan wanted to enter Gary"s Joy

We used this camp site as a base and from here we went for a drive to Patchewollock where we saw our next painted silos. We were also pleasantly surprised to see lovely corrugated birds there too. Our trip took in approx 140km round trip.

I mentioned earlier that there is a powered camping area. It is relatively low cost being $15 dollars per night and are based on an honesty system with random checks, as is the hot water for showers. One also has the Mallee Bush Retreat accommodation area. What a fabulous place for group camps. The buildings are built from local materials like wood, stone and corrugated iron and have a marvellous rustic feel. It is a fantastic complex and offers unique accommodation for a very moderate prices. They also have shimmering Silo Cabins up on stilts, with wooden windows. If I lived in Victoria and wanted to take a group of kids or young adults camping then this would definitely be a high contender.

All in all we only spent 3 nights here at Lake Lascelles and we thoroughly enjoyed the relaxing time here. It is definitely a place I would visit again next time we are in the area. Thank you Hopetoun.

I'm standing at the water's edge to take this photo

You’ve aced it Cohuna

Cohuna would have to be one of the best town based free camp sites anywhere. Well that's my opinion of course. So exactly where is Cohuna? It is situated on the banks of Gunbower Creek, n important branch of the Murray River just 65km north west of Echuca on the Murray Valley Highway.

The lovely water fountain and if you look at the enlarge image you can see the fish sculpture behind it

Obviously it really depends upon what you are looking for from your free camp of course.
Some might prefer the peace and quiet of the open country with hardly a soul in sight. Others want a busy little town with a half decent shopping centre.

Looking from the town side across the river at the free campers on Flora Park

At the moment this little town has grass underfoot which we have found to be rather rare on this trip. We also have water views from our doorway as we are alongside the weir which directs water up the various irrigation channels.

Grass not quite so green but still it is grass and that is the town across the water

All this is within walking distance to the town shops. So how’s that for a free camp?

Sunset across the Gunbower Creek from the campsite

A very generous 72 hours stay allows us plenty of time to relax and explore the town and surrounding area. We believe towns would benefit a lot more by allowing longer stop overs. See our post on this topic here.

A short drive takes you to many areas

So what is there to see in the area? 

Well the camp ground itself is located on a separate island, Gunbower Island which is claimed to be Australia's largest inland island. It has a water frontage of 130 kilometres and is mostly covered by native forests and wetlands. Tent camping, picnics, fishing, boating, birdwatching & bush walking are all common activities on the island.

Along with some friends, we went for a long drive around the island. We didn't really appreciate the island though as it was very dry. It is hard to imagine it as a wetlands from our drive around the area. It is just so dry here as just about everywhere around western Victoria is at the moment. We could see that we really could get bogged during the wet season, however a bit more green colour to be seen would have been appreciated.

A pelican is one of the birds found in the wooden statues

Another thing we did was to use Cohuna as a base and go for a pleasant drive through the countryside and we ended up at Koondrook where we were pleasantly surprised my the wood carving trial we discovered. Timber was a important industry in this area and the town recognizes this through the wood carvings depicting important people and the bird life in the area.

Just one of the  many wood carved statues around.nearby Koondrook

Cohuna, Victoria, in my book you’ve aced it! I will be back time and time again when we pass through this way.

Free camping at Woomelang

One of the beauties of free camping is that you might be stopping in an area you might otherwise skip. If it is adjacent to a  town or village then it is quite likely to be an important aid to its survival. Please don't forget to the locals and visit the local shops and businesses.

There’s a free camp here that asks for donation for clean toilets, with a hot shower and powered sites available. A nice bricked fire pit with seats is on site too. It is a small park only suitable for maybe 4 vans providing the drivers are considerate. Any large rigs eg 12m long bus types can easily park on the street frontage in front of the toilet block. You can still hook up to a water tap. The power might be more difficult as the power is close to the centre of the parking/camping area.

Here this town is doing is quite tough with the general store, the petrol station, as well as the usual fire brigade and op shops are manned by volunteers. What an awesome community spirit this town has. They were so very friendly too as I found on my walks around this little town.

We’ll stay put a couple of nights and enjoy a brief respite from our travels.. It is also a good place to be based for reaching the northern end of the Victorian Painted Silos Trails, which we'll showcase in a separate post just on the painted silos soon.

The first of the silos from the northern end

I love the opportunity to sit back and relax whether it be doing some crafts, reading a book or catching up on my internet and blogs. What was a delightful joy was to meet a fellow crafter who camped there on our 2nd night. She creates hand felted fabrics and showed me the divine jacket she had made. She also crochets whilst her husband drives. A pity I didn't get any photos.(It was too dark for my photographic skills)

Free camping at the historic river town of Echuca

We rocked up to the Rotary Park on the Campaspe River in Echuca just before the hot winds came. It’s sad as it is so dry and dusty everywhere for hundreds of kilometres even along the river. The whole region needs a good steady down pour of gentle rains that can soak in rather than flood or famine which seems to be more the norm these last 10 or so years.

The Campaspe River runs alongside the free camp at Rotary Park

We had visited Echuca late in 2014 but just as day visitors and we went to a few of the museums in the town. We covered these in this earlier post of our visit there.

One of the other campers were flying a kite up near the horse paddocks

We are starting to notice that Autumn has arrived at last. It was a cool to cold night but the days are absolutely lovely, reaching a comfortably warm 25 or so which is just perfect in my book.

Echuca was an important river port town in it's heyday with paddle steamers plying their trade up and down the river. It was also a major crossing point for transport over the border into NSW esp for stock.

Paddle wheelers still go up and down the Murray River

We enjoyed a walk along the esplanade at the historic Port Echuca. I love seeing the old time crafts and machinery.

Old style sits alongside more modern style woodworks

Old steam engine

I was also beguiled once again by the mini port barrels (fortified wine variety). I wanted one the last time we were here and I still yearn for one but my blasted practical financial sensibility just couldn't justify spending that much money for a barrel. It's one of those things that to me makes for a terrific birthday present: something you really want but for whatever reason you wont or dont buy it for yourself.

Port barrels available right on the wharf at St Anne's Wine Cellar.

On a previous visit we had chips in the lovely park adorning the port. This time we visited a award winning fish and chip place for our light meal but we were sadly disappointed with our fare. Don't get me wrong, it was OK, ordinary even certainly nothing spectacular. Sometimes it is better not to have any expectations and then be surprised when it is fabulous, no matter whether we are talking about food, experiences or even people.

A panoramic shot of the Murray River (dble click to enlarge)

Click on any of the photos to enlarge the images if you're interested esp the last one - the panoramic photo.

Tocumwal

Tocumwal is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, right near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River which is why we visited it.

Tocumwal Town Beach Campground offers low cost camping right on the sandy banks of Murray River with basic facilities including toilets (BYO paper) and cold showers and potable water. A caretaker comes around each evening to collect the small $5pp fees. The site is reasonably flat and accessible to caravans, motorhomes, campers, and big rigs with area suitable for tents. It is a dusty ground which when we visited was a bit of a bother when the wind popped up or a inconsiderate driver drives past too fast.

Town Beach is less than 1km walking distance of the small shopping area. A small monthly Farmer's Market is held in the town park.

Whilst there we called our fellow motorhome friends, Wayne and Nini who live nearby to come and join us for morning tea. We introduced them to Gary and Joy who are traveling to the Painted Silos Trail with us.

Each evening we were entertained by the noisy Corellas. This video is not even a quarter of the show. Enjoy! 🍷

Riverside Free Camping near Rutherglen and it's Wineries

About 7km west past Rutherglen or 70km west of Albury, is Stantons' Bend. It is a fabulous free camping area that is certainly very popular on long weekends. As it happened there was a state side long weekend the weekend we were there.

It's a big area with lots of riverside camping spots though understandably these were mostly gone by the time we rolled in. Stanton’s Bend is a large reserve accessed via Moodemere Road off the Murray Valley Highway.(Its mostly a dirt with a bit of corrugation but at about 4km of dirt road, it's not that long or bad if you go slow and our friends in "Gary's Joy" a 30ft bus with a huge trailer could gain access.

Gary's Joy is some 18m long (38ft?)

I wouldn't try going there in wet weather as the roads would be quite muddy and thus potentially boggy also it is well known to flood in heavy rains. Once in through the gate, follow the main track which loops around the river with dispersed bush camping along the river. It is grassier about 700m further west but it is also more overhanging trees and more populated as the 'beach' area offers easier foot access for people esp those with kiddies. We choose a mostly sunny spot a bit further away from other campers and thus about 30m from the river which we could still walk into.

On the Monday we drove with our friends into Corowa where we saw a few vintage hot rods that had come up for some rally but we missed the majority much to Gary's disappointment.

 

We couldn't leaver Rutherglen without visiting at least a couple of wineries. I opted for 2 that also did fortified wines as I just love a good port. We tried some of the other wines, with all of us having different preferences as to which type of wines we liked best. I came away with a White Fortified Wine from Stanton and Killeen for something different to 'just' Port. I also picked up a gift for our son whose birthday was approaching. If you're reading this Allan, its not a bottle so don't get your hopes up, but Happy Birthday anyway!

The days are pleasantly warm to hot and happy hours shared with our friends were a part of every pre-dinner ritual with a couple of games of Sequence following dinner a lovely way to welcome the evenings. I also got to spend some time in "my outdoors crafts room". Meaning I love to craft under the shade of the gum trees. To have a view of the famous Murray River is just  an added bonus.

Sock Monkeys & Dolls

My Sock monkeys and dolls are available through my facebook page www.facebook.com/platypuscreations1.

Just one of my sock monkeys

 
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