Sweet Wayfaring

The end

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 09:33:00 +0000

I retire from the workforce this week and to celebrate have decided to retire my current blogs and start afresh with a single consolidated blog - My Bright Field - to record the delights of my new life adventure.

If you are interested follow me over there. I will still be Sweet Wayfaring and collecting Royal Hotels. The delights I discover along the way will appear together with my gardens and towns where I live.

Royal Hotel - Ganman

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 11:20:00 +0000

And I wrap up this trip with the Royal Hotel at Ganman.

Royal Hotel - Grong Grong

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:19:00 +0000

But wait, no trip is complete until a Royal or two has been added to the collection. This one is at Grong Grong.

Trains

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 11:14:00 +0000

Trains, old and new, are another favourite with us so we checked out the Goldfields Railway before heading back home to Lawson.

Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:10:00 +0000

At the Read Heeler bookshop in Echucha their thing is dogs.

Begonias

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 11:08:00 +0000

With me begonias come a close second to roses. The begonias in Ballarat are awesome.

Book Now

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 11:05:00 +0000

Over the road from the rose gardens in Bendigo, a beaut second hand bookshop.

Rose gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 11:03:00 +0000

I am not sure which obsession is greater with me ... books or roses. Either way I loved the rose gardens in Bendigo.

Brown paper packages

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Back at the van with all our packages. It's a bit like going on a shopping trip in Tokyo.

Hill of Content

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 10:57:00 +0000

I loved the Hill of Content bookshop. I am wondering however whether it is 'con-tent or con-'tent.

I will settle for the latter.

Wise owls

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 10:54:00 +0000

I was trying to explain to hubby which one was the Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookshop.

It's the one with all the owls, I said. I don't remember any owls, he replied.

He must be blinded by the book selection. There are owls all over the place.

Train to town

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:49:00 +0000

Waiting for the train to arrive. We are on our way to Melbourne to check out the bookshops.

Chandelier

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 10:44:00 +0000

When I was furnishing our 120-year-old home I frequented antique shops. Now I am trying to downsize to a 60-year-old home I don't do it much anymore. But the Restoration Barn in Castlemaine was pretty special. I love the chandelier of old lamps.

Bookshop tour

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 10:34:00 +0000

Back in April we took a tour down to Victoria and camped at Castlemaine for a few weeks. We chose Castlemaine because it is nice town with a caravan park near the botanic gardens but more importantly it is central to quite a lot of small towns all with bookshops - so I am calling this our Bookshop tour.

This is Stonemans in Castlemaine.

Updated Royals

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 11:40:00 +0000

Royal Hotel Durban South Africa

I have updated the Royal Collection at last! We now have 130 Royals including a recent contribution of 10 Royal Hotels from South Africa.

I have seen 96 of the Royals myself, just a few more to go to reach 100.

Lawson to Clandulla - the end

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 06:57:00 +0000

We spent one night at Lawson, where the daffodils were beginning to bloom, to unpack the van then headed out to Clandulla where as expected the wattle welcomed us home.

That's the end of this trip, I hope to retire before we set off again.

Gundagai to Lawson

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 06:52:00 +0000

From here is was a quick drive along fast familiar highways to home and I began to think of yellow things … the canola just beginning to flower, the daffodils I expected to find in my garden and the winter wattles welcoming us home.

Gundagai exploring

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 06:48:00 +0000

We were having a coffee at the bakery and I noticed a sign on a hotel saying it was a Cobb and Co coach stop. That got me wondering if there was a hidden Royal Hotel in the town. A quick google revealed not that hotel but this derelict one as the former Royal.

Gundagai

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 06:45:00 +0000

We decided to stay a couple of nights at a favourite campsite by the Murumbidgee River and nestled between the wonderful old wooden bridges at Gundagai.

I am hopeless at taking iPhone photos, that's my finger in the shot.

Lockhart to Gundagai

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 06:41:00 +0000

We planned to stay in Lockhart for two days but it rained all night and the next morning the creek outside our van door was looking like this so we decided to move on.

Lockhart

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 06:38:00 +0000

I was keen to visit Lockhart, having seen it very empty on Christmas day last time we were out this way. It's a tiny bit busier on a wet work day.

Tocomwall to Lockhart

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 06:34:00 +0000

We found this wonderful old Royalish Hotel in Urana.

Tocumwall chasing things

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 06:33:00 +0000

We stayed a few days at Tocumwall, delaying our inevitable return home.

Down by the river we found this mural and asked a young man who photographing the flood whether he was chasing Pokemon (the craze had just begun at the time) and he said no but his mother-in-law was up in the bushes stalking one.

The Latter Day Saints missionaries said they would prefer to talk to people than catching Pokemon but it turns out their phone wasn't capable of it anyway.

My phone only chases email and I was getting tired of the rigours or working travel.

Tocumwall

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 06:23:00 +0000

Sadly it was time to turn North and head home. At the border we saw the Murray for the last time on this trip. There had been so much rain the river was up.

Castlemaine Exploring

noreply@blogger.com (Joan Elizabeth) — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 06:17:00 +0000

From Castlemaine we explored Maldon. It's all old gold towns in this area. If you look carefully at the window below it says Royal Hotel … yay my first Royal for the trip, though just a Fergie (former Royal).