18 April 2017 / leggypeggy

Town names don’t get much better than Yackandandah

autumn, bicycles, cattle, cycling, farms, gardens, landscapes, Melbourne, motel, scenery, trees, Yackandandah

Some of the Black Angus herd kicks up their heels

Trees in Yackandandah start to turn

Poor John and I are off on another adventure—this time to Flinders Island off the northeast coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania.

We’ll have a week there visiting the tourist spots and staying with Graeme, who normally looks after our house while we travel. We’ve been sidelined this time while he housesits for his niece.

So what’s this about Yackandandah?

We decided to drive to Melbourne to catch the plane to Flinders Island. It would be more economical than flying because of the Easter holidays. More importantly, it would give us a chance to stop on the way to catch up with Chris and Robert, two of our travelling companions on our second South American overland trip in 2013.

A couple of years back, they bought the Yackandandah Motor Inn (in Victoria) to keep them busy in a sort of retirement. As if they didn’t already have enough to do running their nearby farm!

A view from the backyard of the farm

Lily

Gumnut flower

Red calla lily

Green calla lily

What a great reunion. In between them running around checking in and attending to the needs of guests, we managed to have drinks and nibbles, a trip to the farm, dinner in the Thai restaurant across the road, and a walk around Yackandandah to admire its transformation to autumn.

It was great to see the farm with its beautiful garden (see pics above), scenic rolling hills and friendly herd of Black Angus cattle. Most of the cows have had their calves, and they were curious to check out Robert in the field. Just as we were leaving, Mother Nature flashed us an amazing sunset that vanished within minutes.

Yackandandah sunset

Curious

Now we’re in Melbourne in an overpriced (for what it is) hotel. Earlier this afternoon, we were all checked in for our flight to Flinders when the unthinkable happened! We were booked on the wrong flight. Luckily our bags were quickly retrieved.

Stay tuned tomorrow, or for whenever I have another internet connection, to find out what happens next. Not sure what internet, if any, to expect on Flinders.

In Yackandandah

Spring rolls at Grace’s

In the meantime, I can highly recommend a stopover in Yackandandah. There lots to do and see in and around the town, including some fun shops. The whole area is extremely popular for cyclists. Robert and Chris are avid cyclists (mountain bikes) themselves and can give lots of advice. Thanks fellas for a sensational time. You can bet we’ll be back.

P.S. Please share if you have ever had your travel plans go belly-up? It might give us a laugh and will probably make us all feel better.