The Final Silo

The night was clear at Sea Lake and the night sky was very different to the one you see in the city.

In the morning we made tracks for our final silo of our tour at Nullawil.  We thought this was also one of the best.

We decided to finish our ramble at Boort.  It is a small town on the shores of Little Lake Boort and Lake Boort.

We set up on the shore of the lake and went to see the sights.  The coffee was good.

The big attraction in the area are the sculptures constructed entirely of spanners!

Silo Art and More

 First up today was a return visit to Brimm.  We had wondered how it might have changed after four years weathering but it appeared in remarkable condition.

Then on to Rosebery and Lascelles.  These three have all used the original surface and texture of the silos as part of the art.  In our opinion, a successful approach.

Woomelang decided on a different approach.  They painted mobile grain storage mini silos around the town together with corrugated iron art installations.

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They also displayed one of the original shearing sheds of the area.

The area is obviously cropping country with huge flat paddocks that stretch to the horizon.  The trip on to Sea Lake took us through much of this sort of farmland.

The final visit of the day were the silos at Sea Lake where they had taken a slightly different (almost panoramic) approach using their group of silos.

The pub called after a long day.

Evening Calm

 We have seen a couple of very peaceful evenings on the Wimmera River next to the van.  Last night was beautiful.

Wandering in the West

 Despite the evening calm on the Wimmera River, the place is alive with Little Corellas that yell and scream at each other half the night!

Our next visit was to Mount Arapiles that (in Pre Covid times) attracted climbers from all over the world.

The attraction of climbing sheer cliffs was a little lost on us but the scenery was great.  Continuing on we went to the village of Goroke to see their silos.

Then across the Little Desert to Kaniva for another silo and to see their “street sheep”.

The town had plenty of good quality eateries so lunch was not a problem. 

The return took us past the Pink Lake that was clearly having an off day as is was very pale.  We hope it gets better soon.

Across the Wimmera

 Leaving St Arnaud, we went to Rapanyup we had visited some years ago.  The street sculptures were in good shape.

However the Silo Art had started to deteriorate.

As has the old railway station.

On to Murtoa to fulfil a long held wish to visit the Murtoa Stick Shed.  This was built (virtually by hand) in the 1940s to house a surplus of grain that had resulted from a bumper harvest and the war effort using up available materials.  The poles were Mountain Ash from the Dandenongs.  The structure was built to last only 10 years but with heritage listing and conservation efforts it is still in good shape.

Then we moved to Horsham to set up beside the Wimmera River and to look around the town.

Off We Go!!

 The time has finally come when we can get away in the van  again.  We decided to have a look at some of the country towns that had joined the Silo Art trail and added street art as an inducement to visit.  First up was St Arnaud although the ulterior motive was to chase up a little extra detail on the family history.  It is an historic town that grew out of the gold mining boom in the mid 1800s.  The town was named after a French Field Marshall of the Crimean War

Now the town is more to do with the agricultural sector.   There are some enterprising locals who have worked up the street art in the town.

We managed to find an excellent restaurant that had just reopened so we had en excellent evening meal to kick off our adventure in the west.

Around the town, there are remnants of the past gold and silver mining era.  The old open cut mine remains but the deep shaft mines are now closed.

The area is surrounded with bush and some of the areas have been fenced off to preserve some of the native vegetation.  It is a harsh environment with some very hardy plants.  Trying to live off this land would have been no fun.

While we were in St Arnaud, Claire had a chance to catch up with some of her relatives.  Her great grandmother was born here and it had a special place in her mother’s history.

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