Melbourne mini silos ...

Federation Square had an exhibition of mini silos, so we showed Nissa those as part of playing Melbourne tourists for the day.  (We just posed with replicas of those that we had visited in real life).

We had never been to the ACMI during our Victorian era, so had a great time there playing with the many exhibits.

We saw a few other favourite places, bought salt samples (no stock from Pink Lake but we found others to try) from an upmarket spice shop in The Block arcade and generally strolled about till our legs got tired - then ubered to Toorak.

Nissa came back to our room and later we all dined at Romeo's, which was an excellent finale.  

Nissa was set to road-trip with us for the next week, which was a wonderful bonus to our holiday.  Nick re-packed some of our larger gear when in Broken Hill and had further refined organisation since, to ensure space for Nissa and her bag.

Coonalypn and Kaniva silo art

We planned to drive just under 700 kilometres during to day.  There was time for quick stops along the way.  Coonalpyn was about two hours from Adelaide, so a good spot for a break and a look at their silo art.

Coonalyn's silos were the first to be painted in South Australia and were completed in March 2017 (when we were just new QLDers).  They were painted by Guido van Helten, whose work features on the Brim silos (the first in Victoria to be painted).

We made a trip to see the Brim silos in 2016 when they were still quite new - and that experience sparked other silo art visits.

You can read about the Coonalypn silos, here.  Kaniva is about an hour and a half drive, "closer" to Melbourne.  We made a quick stop there also.  The sun was quite bright by that stage, so we didn't have the best viewing conditions but really liked the colours and artwork.  (There's more detail about the Kaniva silo and the site's history on this page).

More silos!

We had an awesome time playing tourist with friends in Melbourne. We got to see and do so much - it was a brilliant week!

After dropping them to the airport early in the morning, we returned to the apartment and packed up our gear for a more leisurely departure just before the usual check-out time.

We were heading for the NSW South Coast and Nick had planned a full day's driving to get there.  Benalla seemed a good lunch stop and in checking for a cafe, I discovered a nearby silo.

I'd seen photos of these silos but hadn't given much thought to whether we'd be able to visit.  Even when we got our lunch, I was only expecting to see the first one.

Nick spotted a mud map at Goorambat that showed the location of several other silo sites. We deviated from our original plan to visit Devenish, St James and Tungamah.

The silos we had previously visited in Western Victoria were no longer in use so access to them was open. These sites were on active rail-lines, so were fenced off to provide safe areas for viewing.

Since visiting in mid-September, Sobrane has undertaken more work beside the kookaburra.

Each site had a donation tin and I used my gold coin collection to give evenly to all the communities.

Winton Wetlands was the last stop on our detour.  It took a bit to find what we were looking for but we enjoyed the drive.  If we had longer, we would definitely explore more of the area.

Guido van Helten was the artist who painted the Brim silos (the first we visited in 2016).  The water tank at the Wetlands is another of his wonderful works.

Info about the Silo Art Trail in Western Victoria is here.  A map of the North Eastern silos is here.

Highs and silos!

When Nick first suggested driving down to Melbourne (where we were holidaying for a week with friends), I wasn't keen. As I thought more about the drive though, I saw the potential for an inland road trip.

It was just the two of us, so we drove in the red car - with the back seats down to hold more gear.

Our adventure started early on the day of departure - cos Nick was booked for an eye injection after night-shift.  In the circumstances I was the driver from home to Moree, our first night's stop.

Soaking in the thermal pools had been high on my wishlist.  We had an extended wallow not long after arrival and I managed a quickish dip the next morning also.

We hadn't booked accommodation beyond the first night and our half-plan for the next night was altered around morning tea time on Day 2.  Plan B saw us heading to Rochester (after our excellent Finley bakery lunch break) to view two more silos.

While ordering our award-winning pies at the bakery, the lady serving us complimented me on my camera and suggested we view the mural in one of the town's sidestreets.  We're glad we did!

The Brim silos were painted during our "Victorian Era" and we visited them in April 2016, only a few months after completion.  More silos were painted after those and we viewed them in December of the same year - as a 750km day-trip!  I was aware of other silos being completed after our relocation to Queensland but hadn't considered we'd get to see them on this trip.

Nick suggested the detour to Rochester and we were super impressed with the beautiful artwork there.  The sugar glider had been painted on the concrete silo while the kingfisher was on a metal tank.  Those textures increased the impact of the two subjects.  The glider almost seemed to have softer fur, whereas the kingfisher's feathers were more crisply defined.  Both were gorgeous!

Wet wanderings ...

It was still wet when we woke and started thinking about breakfast. Our first choice was cereal but that was packed in the trailer, whereas bread and eggs were in the cabin so we opted for boiled eggs on toast instead!

There wasn't much to pack up and we were back on the road a bit after 10:00am.  As we looked at all the huge sheets of water along the way, we were very pleased we'd slept in a cabin!

The distance from St George to home is 470km - and it rained heavily most of the way.  We saw many soggy emus and roos but not much else, although we did make a quick detour to Thallon for a glimpse of their painted silos.

It was raining and cold at Thallon.  Bandit was not at all impressed to be called out for a compulsory walk!

We rolled into Goondiwindi for a late lunch, opting for some very good takeaway.  Given all the rain, we ate in the car but crossed into NSW to do so - just for fun!

The trip home was uneventful - lots of water, some wildlife and a few loo stops.

We stretched our legs at Milmerran (during a break in the rain), gave Mr Dog a walk - and admired the lovely bottle trees.

There was another stop at Toowoomba, to buy lunch items cos Vaughan would go back to school in the morning.  Elmer the Gold also had a morning appoint-ment, to be fitted with improved suspension - which would make him taller and more like his predecessor!

750km Sunday Silo Sojourn!

We loved the Brim Silos earlier this year.  They were absolutely awesome!

My images from the trip have featured on our 2016 Christmas cards as well as in our 2017 calendar and photo diaries - because you can't have too much of a good thing!

Since we visited Brim in April, two more sites have been added to the Silo Art Trail - one at Patchewollock and another at Sheep Hills. (I've kept track of their progress via Facebook).

Nick works shift-work and we try to make the most of his rostered days off.

He and I were planning activities for his next break when he commented that we should do a day-trip to see the silos. (The round trip would be close to 750 kilometres).

Due to school term, we planned for Sunday departure - which meant leaving shortly after Nick returned from a full 12-hour night-shift.

Erin and I shared the day's driving between us.  We left at 7:42 am and didn't return till 10:52 pm, so it was a huge day!  Was it worth all the effort?! Yep, it was brilliant!

We stopped for breakfast at Beaufort.  From there we drove to Ararat, detouring into Green Hill Lake cos I could see water sparkling from the highway!  The lake had been very dry during our stay in 2014 and then completely dry in April - so it was wonderful to see it really full!

The Sheep Hills silos had only just been completed the week before we visited. Such amazing detail. Just beautiful! There is a story here and you can Google Adnate to see more of his work.

We stopped quickly at the Brim Silos for a few more photos (and admiration) before driving to the Brim Weir Pool for a BBQ lunch.

Erin did some great sausage sizzling and we were quite impressed that the town had provided paper towels as well as scrapers to aid clean-up!

Patchewollock was close to 90 km away from Brim.  I drove while Nick and Erin dozed.  Vaughan looked up from his book when I queried the type of the bird on the yellow signs but didn't recognise the picture.

Further along we saw more signs that identified the bird silhouette as a mallee fowl - warning us to be careful as the birds made their mound nests in the area and were oblivious to traffic!  I was a bit sorry we didn't see any - though we did like the huge corrugated iron sculptures near the silos.  (As Nick walked behind one a fast pigeon flew out from the tail end, which was funny)!

The silo at Patchewollock was the second to be completed but furthest away from us, so we viewed it as a finale (of the three sites but not our day).  You can read about the work here, which gives the story of the farmer and the artist.

We made our way home from Patchewollock, following the same route we had come - with a few detours.  I checked my map at Hopetoun where there were signs indicating "Lake" without any distance noted.  As it happened, Lake Lascelles was only a short distance down the turn-off and we spent some very pleasant time by the water.  Vaughan paddled, we watched ski boats doing laps and basically enjoyed our late afternoon tea while sitting quietly.

The sun was low by the time we reached Ararat.  We managed to order takeaway just before our chosen shop shut for the night - and then ate our hamburgers, fish and chips on top of the One Tree Hill lookout as the sun set - which was an experience on my wish list.  Serendipity!

The Wimmera region was experiencing a bumper harvest and we saw lots of farming activity during the day.  Huge hay bales were being stacked in massive groups, non-painted silos were being filled and there were grain bins and other machinery on the roads.  So much to see!

We were tired but very happy campers by the time we finally arrived home - 15 hours and 10 minutes after we'd set off!  Nick had been up since 3:30 pm the previous day, so slept magnificently.  The rest of us were pleased of our beds also. What a magic day!

Brim-ful of awesome!

I belong to various photography and caravan/camping groups on FaceBook. Those memberships inspired our visit to the hay sculptures early last year - a splendid outing.

During December and January there had been a number of photos posted, showing the Brim silos being painted. Back then, I had no real idea where Brim was but I was keen to see the silos in real life.

I checked distances recently and while it is possible to travel to Brim as a day-trip (after all we visited IronFest as a very full day's outing in 2012) Erin suffers motion sickness more acutely now, as a side effect of her current medication.

We decided to travel to Brim from our Dadswell cabin (a distance of 113km one way, vs 280km from home).  Our pace was laid-back.

We left later in the morning, stopped for groceries at Horsham and then had a sausage sizzle at Warracknabeal before heading to Brim.  We passed through some lovely countryside and enjoyed the drive.

The silos were awesome!  Just amazing.  I'm so glad we took the time to see them.

Guido van Helten has done other work in Australia and overseas.  I'm hoping we can visit some more of his wonderful portraits.  (Check his website for photos).  There is an excellent short clip of the Brim silo project, here and an ABC article, here.