After Christmas with the family and helping our Daughter relocate to a new place in Warrnambool we decide to head north-west to the country town of Hamilton. Its one of those places that makes you feel welcomed from the start of your stay.

The locals are friendly and seemingly happier than most places and there is a genuine bustle around the centre of town. A walk through the town centre leads down memory lane with shops that hold stock from eras well past. There’s even a “Disposal Store” that has way too much in it to perform any type of stock take.

Hamilton is also a great spot from which to launch your day trips being at the bottom end of the Grampians. There are several sets of waterfalls, albeit limited by the lack of rain, such as  Nigretta and Wannon which are easy to get to and have good vantage points. There is also the three peaks near Dunkeld which rise from the flat farming lands and can be seen for miles.

If you are keen enough, like we were, you can also make a day trip down to Mt Gambier and along the coastline to Portland, Cape Nelson and then back inland.

Our last night in Hamilton is highlighted by a knock on the caravan door from the park manager asking if we’d  join them for afternoon drinks. Why not? There’s always time for a G&T and a chat. So we head a couple of sites over and find a gathering of people for a photo shoot and filming for the 259th edition of Caravan and Motorhome On Tour Magazine. We join them and Fred, the star of the magazine, and will now have to look out to see if we made the cut!

After a few days in Hamilton we return to Terang to say our goodbyes before heading to Tasmania. Just after we arrive we are told by local dairy farming friends that they are about to spread fertilizer over their maize crops using a helicopter. We haven’t seen this in action before so head down and watch these amazing people work as a well oiled machine in windy conditions. Saves a lot of time doing it this way.