Sadly there was no Blog for the whole of 2020, just a few cancelled holidays; with fingers crossed the holidays will be happening this year. It felt a bit strange packing the caravan and I had to remember where to put and find things. It was also a new experience applying for a permit to enter South Australia and then another one will be needed to get back into the state in which I was born! So strange.
In this trip I plan to visit silo and water-tower art in Western Victoria and Eastern South Australia, plus some places of interest along the way. I will be away from home until early June so plenty of time with not a lot of distance to cover, so it should be relaxing. My U3A cryptic Crossword Practice Group is still running once a week so I have planned camp stops on Wednesdays where there is mobile coverage, hopefully good enough to run the Zoom session.
I thought I needed to take a photo of the first camp on this trip to prove that I am not dreaming, I am really on holidays, so here it is.
Today’s trip was a leisurely couple of hundred K’s and everything seems to be working OK on the caravan after such a long lay-off, so that’s good. The first stop was a water-tower at Werribee, a small tower in a simple garden but impeccably maintained. The contrast between the original tower and the painted tower is massive. It shows how an eyesore can be transformed. The tower was built in 1914 and is 18 metres high.
This is the tower as it is now, it celebrates what was the major primary industry around Werribee using irrigation to grow vegetables.
The back of the tower was also painted with a platypus and a green frog.
I headed off to Fyansford near Geelong, but found that the cement silos had been demolished so it was off to the Lismore water tower. A small tower on the edge of town, only about 10 metres high and in the front yard of a house, which is now a cafe. It features two dancing Brolgas which are native to the area.
After painting the brolgas the artist returned 4 weeks later to “hatch the eggs” so he painted the chicks.
Tomorrow it’s off to Koroit for a few days to visit Tower Hill, Warrnambool, (Water Tower), Lake Condor and other sites in the area. It’s good to be travelling.
Yay, so good to see you are able to get away Russ. Enjoy and we look forward to reading more of your travels. Paintings are amazing.
Barb & Pete
xx
“On the road again..”, good to see your travelling once again Russ. Enjoy, and I look forward to the commentary.
It’s great to be away even if the weather is crap, but I’ve got the heater going and an electric blanket for tonight so I’m happy. The artwork is amazing given the scale of the artwork. Russ xxoo
Good to hear from you Chris or is it a nom de plume for Willy Nelson! It is good to be away and travelling again. Russ
Hi Russ
Good to see you on the road again!
We were in Geelong last week for an exhibitions by an artist called Rone. He is an internationally renowned street artist from Geelong who painted 3 silos i. Geelong. The exhibition included a cinema showing him painting the silos is 3 prominent people of Geelong which were amazing. I hope surely that these were not the ones that were demolished?
Happy travelling ???
Hi Rhon The two women I spoke to today about the silos told me about that exhibition in Geelong at the art gallery. It was the silos that he painted that were demolished according to the ladies. It is good to be travelling but the drumming rain on the roof at the moment may dictate another day at Lismore. Russ xxoo