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We started by going north of the Divide and into irrigation country to the town where I lived for 10 years (from 6 months to 10 years and 6 months). You can really pick when you've hit the irrigation country - suddenly the earth goes from being the grey-yellow colour of parched wheat to green. And the channels are - of course - lined with trees and rushes. Probably where the snakes hide.
I found it really funny what I did and didn't recognize in the town - I never knew there was a pub on the main street (well more than one actually), but I recognised the tennis courts and the local swimming pool. Which just goes to show which features of the town played a role in my family's life... I didn't recognise our old house - they've put a second storey on and put up new fences - but I did recognise the tree in the front yard. In fact I recognised that from half way down the street. They've landscaped around that too, and there's no longer a tree house in it. Probably not that surprising, given that it's well over a decade since they bought the house! :-)
The house was closer than I remembered to the Primary school where I went (Dean found this hysterically funny, and kept rambling on about me having little legs) but the school itself hadn't actually changed that much. Some new buildings, but the quadrangle (where I was from prep-grade 2) and the two separate classrooms where I did grades 3-5 still remained. A new car park - apparently there were teachers flats there, but I don't remember them. And they'd cut down most of the peppermint gums that used to line the fence - but they were getting on when I was there so I suppose they probably had to.
And of course there was a little kid trying out his new trailbike (under the watchful eye of his dad) on the oval - some things never change...
The milk bar across the street from the school has finally given up the ghost and gone under - a pity, as I would have liked to have bought lollies there out of sheer nostalgia. Getting to/from the milk bar didn't involve crossing any roads, so I used to wander up there a lot.
My kinder - which also didn't involve crossing roads to get to/from where we lived - now has shadecloth everywhere. I think I'm from the generation mostly likely to die of skin cancer... :-) Other than that the 1950s "infant health" style building hadn't changed a lot.
After wandering around the town with me attempting to navigate to half-remembered places for a bit (turn right! No, back there!) we pressed on to Wangaratta, start of the Alpine Highway, and stayed the night there. Wang's a nice town. We found somewhere to have tea (I give the place less than six months as it's got a very similar menu to but substantially higher prices than the La Porchettas down the road) and then walked around the town in the warm darkness for a bit. Found the competing Catholic and Anglican churchs (Wang is, I think, a head office for the local area within both churches) and the competing schools attached. After getting mildly lost for a bit (we were still in Wang, and could hear the Hume Highway traffic) we finally made our way back to the motel and I started looking up Alpine region tourist brochures.
I found it really funny what I did and didn't recognize in the town - I never knew there was a pub on the main street (well more than one actually), but I recognised the tennis courts and the local swimming pool. Which just goes to show which features of the town played a role in my family's life... I didn't recognise our old house - they've put a second storey on and put up new fences - but I did recognise the tree in the front yard. In fact I recognised that from half way down the street. They've landscaped around that too, and there's no longer a tree house in it. Probably not that surprising, given that it's well over a decade since they bought the house! :-)
The house was closer than I remembered to the Primary school where I went (Dean found this hysterically funny, and kept rambling on about me having little legs) but the school itself hadn't actually changed that much. Some new buildings, but the quadrangle (where I was from prep-grade 2) and the two separate classrooms where I did grades 3-5 still remained. A new car park - apparently there were teachers flats there, but I don't remember them. And they'd cut down most of the peppermint gums that used to line the fence - but they were getting on when I was there so I suppose they probably had to.
And of course there was a little kid trying out his new trailbike (under the watchful eye of his dad) on the oval - some things never change...
The milk bar across the street from the school has finally given up the ghost and gone under - a pity, as I would have liked to have bought lollies there out of sheer nostalgia. Getting to/from the milk bar didn't involve crossing any roads, so I used to wander up there a lot.
My kinder - which also didn't involve crossing roads to get to/from where we lived - now has shadecloth everywhere. I think I'm from the generation mostly likely to die of skin cancer... :-) Other than that the 1950s "infant health" style building hadn't changed a lot.
After wandering around the town with me attempting to navigate to half-remembered places for a bit (turn right! No, back there!) we pressed on to Wangaratta, start of the Alpine Highway, and stayed the night there. Wang's a nice town. We found somewhere to have tea (I give the place less than six months as it's got a very similar menu to but substantially higher prices than the La Porchettas down the road) and then walked around the town in the warm darkness for a bit. Found the competing Catholic and Anglican churchs (Wang is, I think, a head office for the local area within both churches) and the competing schools attached. After getting mildly lost for a bit (we were still in Wang, and could hear the Hume Highway traffic) we finally made our way back to the motel and I started looking up Alpine region tourist brochures.
