Well what a really great weekend, lots of good company with some 'new' people joining in and enjoying their time with us all. This year the weather was perfect with lots of sunshine and evenings that were not to cool. The kids were able to take advantage of the lake, swimming and using the truck tubes and canoe. There were crayfish and trout in both the lake and creek which kept some of the kids' feet up of the bottom of the lake. The family, those who bothered to go, had a splendid time, as usual, I particularly liked catching up with the newest member, Bree, such a sweetie!
As usual the surrounding hills got a real work out with intrepid explorers, both young and old enjoying the quiet (except for the cockies) and seeing all the bird life and the koala and kangaroos. The venue is just perfect with sleeping for 103 in a variety of room combination's, a big kitchen and dinning room as well as the large deck area.
This year we had extra visitors that included some family who had not been before plus some friends of family, who had a great time also. The catering arrangements this year were changed, but there was still lots and lots of food in many forms, yum!
I believe this is a great venue for the family get together, maybe a little too far for some, but it has everything for families. Peace and quiet for the oldies, plenty to keep the youngsters occupied only the teens might find it a bit 'daunting' the fact that they have to do things without electronic help or fashion shops!
I look forward to the next time at Charnwood.
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Travelers towing caravans around Australia should think twice about going to Benalla with their caravan. For more than ten years my partner and I fought to have the town allocate caravan parking areas for tourists, in the end there were two such spaces allotted, 'in a busy car-park'. It was pointed out to the relevant authorities that the spots are to small and to hard to park all but the smallest caravans. The caravan spots are some 300 plus meters from the present 'tourist information' building, never ideal for the elderly or in-firmed.
Another major problem facing caravaners is the fact that the council does not police the two caravan spots, but allows 'all and sundry' to park in these two spaces. It would appear that touists are not encouraged, in fact I have heard 'from the horses mouth' that the council didn't deem Benalla to be a tourist destination, and so didn't need to put in place any tourist infrastructure.
We have also tried for many years to have a tourist bike path put into place to join up those already in place,and being built, in other areas of the North East of Victoria. And the answer has consistently been 'we are not a tourist destination' or we haven't got the money. The Victorian Government has, over the past years, poured millions of dollars into other areas of the state for the very same type of bike paths as we have been wanting for Benalla.
So whilst there is a wonderful man-made lake in Benalla and other splendid tourist destinations in the area, think twice if you have a caravan or wish to cycle around the area.
Caravaners are generally a very astute group of people, and if the are not made welcome they 'go somewhere else' to spend their money. Benalla is missing out on an enormous amount of tourist dollars, and rightly so. So as I said, think twice before making Benalla a stop over.