One of the nicer things about the house is watching it slowly light up in the morning, as sunlight and shadows interplay. Packing up required an earlier start, and we were back on the road by mid morning.

The first dam of the day was a recrossing of the Eppalock Spillway.  It’s quite an impressive concrete structure and it looks like decades since there was any flow over it.  Through Heathcote, we turned onto the road to Nagambie, a pretty drive through the Heathcote-Graytown National Park. Forest gave way to open farmland, then wineries as we neared Nagambie.

This town was always a compulsory stop on any trip via Shepparton and on into NSW; the bakery was renowned, and the timing was always just right for a pit stop.  I bought a chicken salad sandwich for old times’ sake (very old times – the Goulburn Valley Highway has been bypassing Nagambie for years).  The town has reinvented itself as a gourmet and winery centre, with new resort style apartments springing up around the lake. We admired the display of Christmas trees.

Today was for exploring all sorts of things that we’ve spent our whole lives bypassing, always in a 110 kph hurry to get further up the road.  We took our lives into our hands driving over Kirwans Bridge, the longest timber bridge in Victoria.  It is one lane only with a speed limit of 20 kph, and two passing bays, giving sightseers a chance to pull over and look at the Goulburn River as it makes its way languidly north towards the Murray. Once on the other side, we made a closer inspection, and discovered that the bridge is actually well supported with concrete piles.  I would never want to ride a bike over it though.  Rumour has it that the bend was due to a dispute between the two neighbouring councils who are responsible for either end of the bridge.  It has in fact had several lives, being closed down on more than one occasion due to the high cost of repairs; the local communities have always been able to raise enough funds to keep it operating.  Without it, there’s a long drive to Murchison to get across the Goulburn.

We continued downstream, this time to the Goulburn Weir – our second dam. The spillway is interesting, being constructed from granite blocks rather than the usual rock.  One gate was open, with a good flow into the lower section.  We were able to walk across and get a good look at the modern electric motors which control the gates, and contrast these with the original winders and giant screws, which released the water back in the day.  The walkway also has a series of lamp posts; when it was built, the weir was illuminated with new-fangled electric lighting, and tourists would drive from all over in their buggies, to see this wonder.

It was time to press on, south to Seymour, which was our last chance to shop at a large supermarket.  Stocked up, we took the winding road to Yea, then on to Alexandra.  A short final stint with the Cathedral Range coming into view, and we were in Taggerty, our home for 3 nights.

Our accommodation is far simpler – just a 2 bedroom cabin in a pleasant caravan park beside the Acheron River (we don’t have a river view but we can see the nearby ranges).  We quickly made ourselves at home; it’s nice to know exactly where everything is, and to have lots of power points, reading lights in the bedroom, towel rails in the bathroom, and no stairs!

We explored Taggerty on foot, a task which takes under half an hour.  There is a general store, a hall, a small park, and a community centre that was previously the school; now with a thriving vegie garden.  We took the trail along the Little River, built after the 2009 bushfires as a community project.  Almost 50 homes were lost in Taggerty in those fires, the same ones that devastated Marysville and so many other places in Victoria.  I will never forget that Saturday when the temperature topped well over 40 degrees; then the wind changed during the night, and we woke to the terrible news.  So many of these small communities were almost destroyed; 10 years on they’ve rebuilt, only to have covid ruin their tourism for the past 18 months.

And in case you’re wondering about the third Dam in the title – we’ll be exploring around Eildon in the next couple of days.