Thursday - Day 9 - 4 May 2023

It was another busy day on the Silo Art Trail, starting from Horsham. We didn't even have to leave town before we saw our first Silo Art; the person who served me at the Pharmacy told me there was a silo near her place (just down the road) which had been painted a few months back - so following her directions, we arrived there in a couple of minutes. We were stunned by the Black Cockatoo and the mural depicting the rescue of Jane "Duff" and her two brothers in August 1864 who had been lost for 9 days on the edge of the Little Desert after being sent out by their mother to find firewood. They were eventually found 10km from home, after having wandered for about 100km - in a large circle, thanks to the efforts of three black trackers who were brought in after the "whitefeller" search ended after a rainstorm washed out the children's tracks.

During their time in the bush, the older brother kept climbing trees trying to see Mount Arapiles, hoping that would help them get their bearings. We passed by Mount Arapiles today and it was quite impressive, rising high above the surrounding territory - if you're close enough, and if you can get high enough in the shrub that would have covered all the area way back when the kids were lost.

As we left Horsham today the odometer read 2668 km - and we added a few more hundred kilometres before we pulled in to Dimboola for the night. Today saw us at Edenhope (for bird murals), at Goroke (silo art - birds), Kaniva (silo art - birds; Sheep Art Trail) and Arkona (silo art - the invisible man with tennis gear). We are absolutely in awe of the talent and expertise of the painters of the silo art! The attention to detail is stunning - and that they can keep the perspective of the work as they wrap the bird/person/whatever around a rounded silo is nothing short of stunning! To see shots from today - click this link. 

One of the issues we have at motels is having enough light so we can move around non-familiar rooms if we need to get up in the night. At the motel last night we were offered to test drive a new device they are looking to put in their rooms - it was a Bauer twin wireless phone charger with adjustable night light and alarm clock radio. We liked it very much! Sooz wants to get one just for the night light - which really did the job last night - although I kind of missed sleeping with the bathroom light on.

I'll have to look at our route for tomorrow because the two-day itinerary I worked out the other night is done. We're due in Sea Lake for tomorrow night - and we have a couple of silos still to see on the way - so I'll look to see if we can stay on B roads - the C roads aren't that bad, but the B roads are definitely better. We were on some C roads today and we definitely had to do "two on two off" with some of the trucks that came belting down the roads towards us.  

I have been meaning to say that I am very impressed with the promotional material available for the Silo Art and surrounding towns.   It makes planning your trip much easier! 

It was good seeing wind farms in the distance today - although I really would love to see them close up.