1785 km Round Trip to Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show 2009

1785 km - aka Road Trip - to Bendigo and back.

I left at 4.30am, Thursday, picked up daughter at 5. We shared the driving. Next stop, Suttons Forest Maccas for brekkie, filled up the car at Yass and had morning tea. The Hume Highway had it's upgrade going for 125km before the Victorian border from Gundagai, slow going, 40, 60, 80 and 100 through that section, but the Albury bypass was so sensational, too early to stop for lunch, and unfortunately - we "forgot" to get petrol.. oops, we had flashing empty light into Glenrowan Maccas, where we filled the car, then ourselves. Then I managed to drive to Benalla, Shepparton and made it all the way to Elmore before I cracked. Couldn't go any further, so Loz had to drive the rest of the way to Bendigo.

We found mills in Bendi, .. first the flour mill, so we can safely say we certainly found our Bendigo mills alright! The wonderful Wooly wone was on the OTHER side of the railway line. The bargain room had some lovely mohair .. sock wool (family have ordered some) and some luxury - which I was actually wanting and was luck to get on the next day.

Next Day: Friday: We wandered along to the show. We said our Rav names at the main gate and got our Rav discount entry $8 each. First thing was to get a coffee (of course) visit some of the lovely stall holders and consult the map to find Sarah Durrant's stall. She said she was bringing in some Knitpick cable connectors - $3 - must have and I also bought some harmony 3.00 and 3.25mm points - I resisted the yarn, but will keep her in mind for my next sock buy. I also wanted to thank her for the lovely thing she did for her Kinglake customer, who lost absolutely everything in the fires. Sarah got her entire order together and presented it to her. Sarah also told me she is running a knitting group at Kinglake with generous donations from Collinette and some others. A wonderful, wonderful lady indeed.

Then some of the other things I saw: some spinning, drop spinning, an Ashford loom, the Wearable Art fashion parade, with lots of young Aussie designer's woolly goodies - such a lot of talent and so interesting to see. Oh, there's more: the buttons, ugg boots, indie dyers, the alpacas, wool, wool everywhere wool, alpaca, Pear Tree yarns, Sarah Durrant, Wooldancer, drum carder, fleece, roving, Stockpile socks (bought a pair for ex husband's birthday next month). Sheep - the real ones, with woolly legs, sheep, and sheep dogs in the sheep trials - see the movie Babe for more the general idea. Wonderful wonderful wonderful, seeing the dogs, fly across the paddock round up the sheep and put them in their pens.

I wanted to buy something a little bit different, not commercial, I mean, I ended up buying some natural Tandara (I think if white suffolk sheep). It's a lovely soft yarn and I got enough to do a vest. gorgeous and I haven't seen anything like it.

After an exhausting day (for me) at the show, we decided on another trip to the Bendi mill, where I bought some mohair similar to the one Loz got on Thursday, and they had some underweight Luxury out - YIPPEE I got what I actually went for.. oh joy, Oceanic, Lake and Ice. but in 8ply. We took ourselves off to the Foundry pub for dinner. Can't beat country cooking and then an early night.

Off to Wangaratta on Saturday. The Visit to the Mill Shop was great: full to the brim with woolly stuff. We Bought Heaps! quite a bit of remnants for $27.50 a kilo and some messy bits for $10/kilo, some for a bit more. I could have walked out with a lot more, of course, but kept it down a little bit, after all it's a little car and we are big people and we can come back next year for another visit. I particularly liked the 4ply for play with on the machine and I wont have to worry how many times I will need to rip and redo to get myself on the right track. Carol from the shop says they are bringing out some more sock wool soon and also some in 8ply. Goody, I will give her a call in a little bit and see if she has any oddments for me to try. (edit: they are actually making it now - no samples yet)

Last but not least, we got to the motel just before 2. Both of us had had enough - sore assorted limbs, a relaxing time watching DVDs, resting before heading home on Sunday. I drove to Albury, Loz to Tarcutta, me to Yass for lunch then Suttons for arvos, then Loz to her home, then me to mine. It's the furthest I've been able to drive for a long time and now I've posted this, I think it's time to hit the bathtub and have a soak....

I'll just get my tea....