ellesheart

I visited Grafton in 2006 and found it a splendid place to visit. The Jacaranda Festival celebrating the thousands of exquisite flowering jacaranda trees are an integral part of the image of Grafton, and their flowering is celebrated every year in one of Australias longest running flower festivals.In fact grafton is always looking green and lush with over 6500 trees planted in and around the town.
Grafton is rich in colonial history being first discovered by Richard Craig an enscaped convict.There are still many wonderous Colonial and Victorian public buildings and private residences and Historic homesteads in grafton standing today as a gentle reminder of the past and a large number of these are classified by the National Trust including the especially Notorious Grafton Jail. There are many galleries in the Grafton region and it also has a large number of art and craft groups, including fine arts, doll making quilting, woodwork, embroidery as well as speciality shops and studios. The first white settlers to the area came via the mighty clarence river and today you can hire house boats, enjoy all watersports, fishing, or laze about with a yummy picnic and there are dozens of small towns and islands along its banks to explore by boat. ( I want to do this on a houseboat soon.) Susan Island,is interesting to visit in the daytime with rainforests to explore and beautiful places to relax, but nighttime proves just as much if not more interesting because Susan Island houses the largest fruit bat colony in the southern hemisphere and if your game, dusk is the best time to see these curious animals as they leave the colony in search of food.There are many national parks including The Gilbraltar Range and Washpool which are both heritage listed.

I passed through the town of Bendigo in 2006 for a short period of time on a trip through central Victoria. The town of Bendigo is described as the centrepiece of Victoria and is a vibrant place where you can absorb many different forms of local and historical art. There is so much variety in the culture, food, and wine available to experience and heritage experiences are rich. Large impressive timeless Victorian buildings stand proud along many of Bendigos wide sweeping streets. They are remanants well preserved of part of the rich history engrained in Bendigo. This town emerged from one of the world’s most exciting gold rushes and it is recorded that more gold was found here between 1850 and 1900 than anywhere else in the world. The city of Bendigo was built on the back of this gold and the impressive buildings and grand monuments and parks stand along wide streets as a constant,lasting, and defining reminder of this rich heritage. There are still many treasures to discover in Bendigo and if you are interested in Australian History this is a fantastic interesting place to go and well worth the visit. EnJoY LoVe eLLe xxx

I loved this little place and it was for me the end of my Great Ocean Road trip prior to working my way home inland through Victoria and back to NSW. Port Campbell is a beautiful seaside village very small but very friendly. This place is attractive and scenic and located on one of the most majestic coastlines in Australia at the western end of the gorgeous Great Ocean Road. Port Campbell is a sleepy and quiet fishing village a great place to relax and unwind.Despite this it is in close proximity to some of the finest coastal scenery and world heritage areas such as the Twelve Apostles. This makes it a fantastic place to base yourself for further exploration and day trips into the surrounding areas. Its cliffed coastline is windswept and rugged and the village itself is set on a natural gorge at the mouth of Campbells creek. Massive temperatures and weather changes are common here and it is not unusual to end up in a jacket after a morning of summer heat. Port Campbell has a small number of motels and restaurants where you can get a fabulous fresh highly recommended seafood platter, a pleasant beach and jetty and beautiful natural surroundings. Located approximately 281 km from Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road I can safely say that this place is well worth the trip and a treasure to visit. EnJoY LoVe eLLe xxx