Days 163-167 Mount Gambier - Hamilton, Victoria (19-23 Feb) Week 24 (6th month on the road!)

We crossed into Victoria inconspicuously about 15kms outside of Mount Gambier.  No fanfare like crossing the WA/SA border, no one to check if we were carrying any prohibited veges/fruit.  Although the only item we couldn’t bring in was fresh fruit but not including fresh fruit salad??  Work that one out.  An abrupt change in weather also reminded us we were in Victoria, cold, blustery and grey with fog forecast the day after tomorrow.  Yep, sure is four seasons in one day.  We are heading to the Southern Grampians.  On the way we stopped at a town called Casterton.  Casterton’s claim to fame is that is the ‘birthplace of the kelpie’.  Of course we had to stop here having our own.  The original ‘kelpie’ was born in 1871, her parents being a pair of black and tan collies imported from Scotland.  The female pup was called ‘kelpie’ which means ‘a malignant water sprite haunting the fords and streams in the shape of a horse’.  She was an ordinary collie to look at, long haired, black and tan, with lop ears that pricked up when she worked. Kelpie was swapped for a horse with the new owner called Jack Gleeson leaving the district to go to NSW.  On his way he was given a young dog called Moss.  Moss was smooth coated and jet black with pricked ears.  Moss was mated with Kelpie and the progeny created the bloodlines of the kelpie breed.  There is a walking trail around the town that has five unique sculptures depicting the life and times of the kelpie dog.  From here we continued on to Hamilton which is a town of 10,000 at the foothills of the Grampians.  There are lot of shops in the town (much more than Busselton) which is surprising for a smaller population.  We have noticed that the further east we are heading the cheaper groceries are, for example 1kg Woolies cheese regular price in SA was $8.99 and it is $6.99 here.  A cup of coffee in SA and Vic has cost no more than $3.50.  It is cold here we have had nights down to 6 degrees!  Too cold and the days are more like autumn not getting much higher than the mid 20s which is nice for exploring particularly if they are sunny. 

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