For me I think one of the best surprises I have found whilst traveling was the Elvis Presley house, Whyalla. This hidden gem is not known about by many people. The owner, Peter Bleeze is a self confessed Elvis fanatic. His house filled with only Elvis souvenirs is a true monument to rock’n’roll. And he lives it. Yes, he also has neighbours like you and I.
Each room in his house has a theme and each item a story. My husband and I were fascinated. We spent hours there listening and asking questions. Peter had been collecting since he was young and has been to Gracelands on more than one occasion.
“There is no Elvis product that they don’t make.” Peter Bleeze
Peter was very specific as to the time we were to arrive. This was so we could hear his Elvis clocks ‘doing their thing’ on the hour. He states that he has the only Elvis themed shower curtain in the world.
I loved his two door 1961 gold Cadillac the same as Elvis’s which he drives around Whyalla. It felt amazing to sit in.
He has also brought blue suede shoes from the same company as Elvis.
Hearing his stories was extra special to me as Elvis died on my 15th birthday. The fact that he even had his own hound dog really made me smile.
For anyone who is not aware the #AtoZChallenge is held every year in April. Bloggers are challenged to chose a theme and write a post everyday except Sunday. The posts start at A and go through until Z. The other fun part is also blog hopping and visiting new and friends blogs.
During this years #AtoZChallenge I will share with you some of the interesting things, places and people I have discovered as I travel the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
I hope that you find my theme interesting. Australia is a very unique and varied country that can be very different. It is not unusual to hear the phrase “only in Australia.” On our travels in Truby (our blue Iveco truck and her red slide on camper) we mostly visit small towns. Nearly all are filled with history and have found some way to reinvent themselves using creativity. At the beginning of the day it is not unusual for us to have no idea what we will find on our journey. I love it. I hope that you find my selections interesting and that they give you an insight into our Australian culture.
For any of my #weekendcoffeeshare friends who are also joining in the fun I will attempt to keep up with your posts. Thanks for hosting Natalie.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about our trip to Windsor a few weeks ago. Our purpose was to win a trip to Disneyland. I had won a golden ticket in a chocolate bar just like Charlie. Winners were then registered and put in a lucky draw barrel. By attending the special event, if we won we received extra spending money. Why not we thought. The local lolly shop held the event. All 40 staff were dressed in Disney costumes and acted in character. Unfortunately, we didn’t win but had a great time anyway. By the way Mickey sends his love.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how pleased my husband and I were to find an old fashioned All You Can Eat Pizza Hut. These are rare in Australia these days. However, when our kids were little we would often go and celebrate our special events at the local one near our home. Just being at one always brings back many happy memories. We were also pleased that the pizza and salad bar options hadn’t changed much in the last 30+ years.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I am enjoying blogging again. Not only writing and creating the posts but also blog hopping. I love visiting other blogs and seeing how they interpret the same themes. I am really looking forward to joining this years A-Z blogging challenge next month. It will be my 4th time but for the first I am the most organised this year.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how pleased I was to discover the cause of my hip pain. It has been going on for about 5 years. Initially, it was thought to be osteoarthritis, something I couldn’t do much about. Fortunately, it turned out to be a form of bursitis and was fixed by a simple cortisone injection. I love being able to walk without a limp again.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about our work Paint and Sip social last year. It was a lot of fun. Our theme was The Grinch. He was fairly easy as we could trace him rather than draw him freehand. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning and despite a few sips, I think my painting turned out well. Me being me of course had to change his background colour from black to one that I made up myself.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world?
Getting back to blogging means reconnecting with Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge. (CMMC) Each week she has a theme. As its the 4th week of the month the theme is about a chosen letter contained in a word. February’s letter is W or X.
When I pondered these letters, the first thing that came to mind were the very cute toWel animals we found in our room on the cruise ships. They are adorable. I loved them. They are created by the amazing hospitality staff. On Carnival they were changed every day. Sometimes they left the old ones but sometimes they ran our of toWels and had to change up the old ones.
On P&O we were only occasionally given a fun surprise.
My favourite day on Carnival was when we woke up and went to breakfast to find the whole pool area covered in toWel animals. They were everywhere. Unfortunately it was raining so many were wet but they still looked great.
I loved them so much I bought the book on how to make them. My plan is to surprise X and any future grandchildren when they visit.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that my virtual coffee dates are very similar to my real life coffee dates. I love them but they are often a long time coming. That aside, I was happy to see that Natalie is still hosting our #weekend coffee share. Thank you. I find it welcoming to catch up with old friends as well as make new ones. I was surprised however to realise today that I had been MIA for nearly 12 months. How quickly that time has gone. I am hopeful that 2024 is the year that I get my blogging act together.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am still working 3 days a week despite giving a lot of thought into retirement. It’s weird. I know that I am ready but part of me doesn’t know who I am when I’m not a mental health nurse. At present I am on long service leave and not missing work at all. We have a few big trips planned for the next 12 months so I am thinking I have about 18 months left in me. Who knows, whichever way it goes I will definitely be taking Dolly Parton’s advice.
“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
If we were having coffee I would tell you that my husband and I have become cruisers. Last year we went on 2 cruises to various parts of the South Pacific. Our first one was to New Caledonia and Vanuatu onboard the Carnival Splendor. It was a lot of fun. We visited Noumea, Mystery Island and Lifou.
In October, we joined The Mutiny On The Bounty cruise with P&O’s Pacific Adventure which followed the journey of Willliam Blythe. During the cruise we visited places associated with the mutiny including stopping for half an hour on the exact spot it occurred. We also stopped at Norfolk Island, Nukualoka and Vava’u (both part of Tonga) as well as Fiji’s Dravuni Island and Lautoka.
We found both cruises very relaxing however we were very unhappy with P& O’s food. It was lacking inspiration, very repetitive and you had to pay for choices such as pizza and burgers. Both of which were included on Carnival six months earlier.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that X (our grandson) turned one a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend the day with him as he was in Japan with his other grandmother. Despite this my daughter and I celebrated in our own way. We had Australian party food, party pies and sausage rolls as well as our family favourite cheese dip. Unfortunately, hubby was away minding X’s rabbits. To add to our enjoyment we had a few celebratory drinks and watched Shrek 1 & 2.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I lost my mother just before Christmas. Unfortunately her death was a long goodbye as her body slowly shut down. Like every thing she did in life, her death was in her time. Looking back I think it is very interesting that my first and last visit to the nursing home were on the night shift. At least the first time I was returning her after a family celebration.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am continuing to enjoy my creative side again learning more about my Cricut cutting machine. I Love it when the items I design turn out well even if they aren’t perfect. My favourite things recently have been personalised chocolate wraps, my glitter baubles wall chart using our Christmas family colours of the last 20 years. Last year was Ice Christmas – white, silver and pale blue. I also created the gift boxes for the table settings. To complete this I also learnt to create stickers.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world?
Truby Travels is a new post series on Inspiring Max based on our adventures in Truby (our slide-on camper named Ruby and our Iveco called True Blue.) It will replace the older series Ruby Tuesday.
One of the first places we visited was Magnetic Hill, Orroroo. This tourist attraction is free and unique and gives the feeling of travelling backwards up a hill. Hubby and I had a lot of fun playing with it. We went up and down the hill many times because we could until someone came along to spoil our fun. It was fascinating to us that despite our heavy vehicle it did feel like we were rolling up hill.
Although we had never heard of them before, magnetic hills are found around the world. Australia has 4 of them. They are special and come about because of the local lay of the land. They are formed when the horizon is either curved or you can’t see it. It is an optical illusion.
When we got to Magnet Hill the sign asked you to turn off your ignition, put your car in neutral and take your foot off the brake. We were told steel cars go up the hill while aluminum and plastic cars go down.
Photos courtesy of Orroroo government website as we were too busy playing to take photos.
We loved the giant magnet that they have added to the roadside to help explain the phenonium.
Magnet Hill really was something to be seen to be believed.
During our holiday in Truby we free camped. In fact of the 28 days that we were away we only stayed in a caravan park 4 times. For my husband and I this was a very new experience. We were taught the rules and how to go about it by other family members who had been doing it for decades. For anyone who doesn’t know what I am talking about, free camping is stopping anywhere to sleep the night that costs you nothing.
Sometimes in Australia there are designated free camping places. These are the ones my husband and I are comfortable with. However, there is a whole new world out there that we are only learning about. Some of the places we have camped recently include:
Beside lakes and rivers
Bush carparks
By the side of the road
Empty carparks
Industrial areas
Lookouts
On the grounds of motels/pubs with the owners permission
Picnic areas
Private land out of sight of the public
Once I got over the initial anxiety of whether we could or couldn’t park overnight somewhere I loved the experience. On one occasion when we were camped in a lookout the police did a drive by. Rather than ask us to move on they waved so we settled in for the night.
We can never hide very well
Now I am counting done the days till we can hit the road again to find more hidden gems.
I love Californian Redwoods. So when I saw that there was a small plantation of them in Australia I was so excited. My previous Redwood experience was in Rotorua, New Zealand.
Redwoods are the world’s tallest trees. They were planted in the Great Otway National Park in 1936 as an experiment. They have totally thrived here.
I find it so peaceful standing under these majestic trees. They are so straight and just keep going into the sky. They are a tree I can’t resist the urge to give a hug. The forest floor under Redwoods is also very different to anywhere else. It is always only filled with fallen Redwood leaves as nothing else seems to grow there. I personally find this a beautiful sight. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon when we visited so I couldn’t spend hours with them. I would have also loved to have camped next to them but this was prohibited.
The Murray River is Australia’s longest river and it divides the Victorian and New South Wales states. Echuca is a city on the Victorian side and Moama is its sister city on the New South Wales side.
Founded in 1853 Ecucha was once Australia’s largest inland port due to the river trade. Paddlesteamers were very busy going up and down the Murray carrying people and cargo, mainy redgum timber and wool. To honour the city’s history, Echuca has built a Discovery centre around the old port.
The original paddlesteamers have been brought back to life and today are used for tourism. Unfortunately, for us we visited Echuca on a long weekend. This meant the paddlesteamers were fully booked. Never mind, next time will do.
The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre was amazing. We spent hours emersing ourselves in a forgotten time. Learning about life in the early days of Echuca. I loved that they have rebuilt the original wharves mostly using the original timber. They are 3 stories high. This is due to the various changes in river depth and so at any level the cargo could unload. The flood marker below gives an indication or the river levels. During our visit the levels were low.
The scary thing for the river crews was that if the river level dropped too much the paddlesteamers became “stuck” and couldn’t move until it rained and the river levels rose again. This often meant waiting it out until the snow melted or the rains came.
I love the displays and horse and buggy that was giving rides through the precinct.
Wow I can’t believe it’s April tomorrow. Where has this year gone? For me, over a month was spent travelling around regional New South Wales and Victoria in Truby. (Our Iveco and Slide-on camper). It was our first trip and we had a great time exploring our country and learning about the grey nomad lifestyle. Despite being nearly 60 most of the places we explored I had never been to before. We found many interesting places, history stories, hidden surprises and the amazing natural beauty of Australia.
Initially our aim was to travel the Great Ocean Rd one of Australia’s and possibly one of the world’s most iconic roads. It was truly breathtaking. For our remaining two weeks we made it up as we went along and had a ball. We drove over 4500 kilometres.
Whilst travelling I decided the best way to share my experiences is by again joining the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This is a world wide blogging challenge that I first joined in 2015. It will be the fourth time that I have participated and each time I have grown as a blogger. The goal is to post every day in April except Sundays. Most people have a theme that connect their blog posts. This is only half of the challenge however. The other equally important part is to visit other blogs and connect through commenting. I love it and have meet some amazing people on my journey and am hoping to meet many more this year.
