THE DILLONS HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING

Murtoa is a small town in the Wimmera Wheatbelt region of western Victoria.

According to the latest census figures, 865 people live in the town, which was once a thriving community at the centre of the wheat industry in Australia.

The Murtoa Stick Shed, as it is known colloquially, was built in 1941 when the wheat industry Down Under was thriving.

It was built as a grain store as there was a wheat glut in the country, and with the Second World War in full flow, there was a need for stockpiling.

Previously known as the Murtoa No.1 Grain Store (not quite as romantic), the Stick Shed is a cavernous building that is 265 metres long, 60m wide, 19m high and could hold about 92,500 tonnes of wheat.

A shortage of steel meant that the shed was constructed using 560 unmilled lengths of Mountain Ash in rows of 10.

This was covered by more than 150 tonnes of a corrugated roof. The wood structure allowed the building to last for more than 75 years, allowing for the normal stresses of extreme weather and winds.

It truly is an amazing building, which some have christened the Cathedral of Wimmera. While it is empty now and merely a tourist attraction, to have seen it full of grain at the height of its working powers would have been a sight to behold. Even empty it is a wondrous sight and certainly big enough to hold the whole of the town at once (sadly).

We visited the Murtoa Stick Shed on our way out of town on our way to Castlemaine, a fair-sized regional town on the edge of the Victorian goldfields.

VIVA BENDIGO

Joy and I had now decided that staying longer in towns was the way to go, so we stopped for a week in Castlemaine, which included the Anzac Day holiday weekend.

Bendigo is a big regional town that was at the heart of the Victorian gold rush in the mid-19th Century.

A town of around 101,000 people, Bendigo is Australia's 19th largest city and reminded Joy and me of the old country.

So many of the buildings were colonial in style, with parts of the city having names such as Charing Cross and Pall Mall, no wonder we fell in love with the place (except for the cold!!!!!).

Another reason why Bendigo was such a hit was its also the home of an exhibition honouring the King of Rock'n'Roll, Elvis Presley.

The Bendigo Art Gallery was home to memorabilia from the original Gracelands (Elvis' Memphis home) collection.

From old photographs and school reports to motorcycles and Elvis's favourite car, to the King's most-liked jumpsuits from the Vegas era, this collection had everything for diehard Presley fans.

We stayed for three or more hours looking at the Elvis memorabilia and could have stayed for longer. We were certainly all shook up, and it took days for me to stop singing Return to Sender and Are You Lonesome Tonight, much to Joy's chagrin.

The exhibition had only been opened by Elvis' widow Priscilla Presley weeks earlier, so it had her stamp of approval. We recommend everyone, even non-Elvis fans, take a look when down Bendigo way ... uh ha ha.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

We were not far from Echuca (below) on the Murray River, so we decided to call on some friends to help celebrate Joy's birthday.

A good few days were spent relaxing, and we also took a quick trip (400km there and back) to Mildura, also close to the NSW border on the Murray.

There we paid a visit to Fossey's Gin distillery and sampled three of the local brews. We liked them so much we tried three more. It was Joy's birthday, after all.

We stopped off for some waffles (a rare treat as Joy is still keeping me on my health kick). These weren't your standard waffles, mind you, and we would definitely hunt them down again if we ever get back that way again.

THE HIGH COUNTRY

After a good recharge of the batteries, we left Echuca behind and headed for Albury/Wodonga -towns like Echuca/Moama twinned on either side of the NSW and Victoria borders.

Albury is another fair-sized regional town, which we also liked a lot. We stayed at the showgrounds for two nights before heading for the hills... the Snowy Mountains, to be more precise.

Khancoban was constructed to house workers involved in the Snowy Mountains Scheme, Australia's largest engineering project, designed to provide hydroelectric power and water for irrigation.

The campsite was superb and located on the shores of Khancoban dam. Being in the foothills of the mountains, it was also cold, but as we were about to find out, not as cold as some parts of the area.

Our destination was Cooma, the gateway to the Snowy Mountains. This took us along the Alpine Way, one of the world's great road trips.

We arrived just in time. Another month on and we could have needed snow chains for our vehicle.

The road is only 110km in length but feels longer because of all the twists and turns.

We also stopped off in Thredbo, a ski resort at the foot of Mt Kosciuszko, mainland Australia's tallest mountain. Neither of us had seen snow in Australia before, but there was a small flurry, and as I said earlier, you could definitely feel the cold.

Thredbo was a small but picturesque place, and at the height of the snow season would be packed. It would be good to return to see it in full swing. The place had a feel of a French alpine town with all its chalets, and it would be great to see it full of people enjoying the apres-ski fun.

GAOL TIME

Cooma is not only the capital of the Snowy Mountains, but it is also home to the Cooma Correctional Centre Museum.

Joy and I took a tour of the museum, which is a tour through the old jail and a trip through history and Australia's convict past.

Our tour guide could have been an inmate as at the low-category correctional centre, some inmates are used for that purpose, but instead, we were shown through by a prison guard.

It was a fun and informative couple of hours of what life was like for those who came over on the First Fleet and those who are incarcerated today.

We even found out that Australian international rugby league player Jarryd Hayne was once an inmate following his rape committal.

The cold was getting to us now, and we decided the coast was now where we should be. So we upped sticks and headed for Ulladulla, about 50km north of Batemans Bay in New South Wales.

Our campsite was just a short walk from town, so we managed to get our steps back up again, and the harbour was a perfect spot for me to throw a line in.

It was the first time in a while I had fished, and this time I got lucky. I caught two tailors and lost a couple more, and they were big enough to take back for tea.

The rain has set in for the last two days, so fishing has been put on the backburner for now, but hopefully, it will break, and I can catch some more before heading further north towards Jervis Bay and surrounds.

Keep your eye out for another blog very soon.