Well it's been some time, but I'm back. A little over a week ago I came across a couple who had decided to camp with their "swish-bang" up at the footy ground. This couple, it turns out were from Holland, and were on a years trip around the world and Swanpool was an overnight stopping place. Well one thing led to another and we invited them to stay at our place, and we are very happy they have done so. They have traveled around the area quiet a bit using our place as a base, but today they are moving on. First to Hall's Gap and then to Adelaide where they leave Australia to go to their next stop, New Zealand for four and a half months, before going on to Canada. It will be a shame to see them go as it has been a real pleasure having them stay with us. We have learnt a lot, not only about them but also the land they come from, and who knows a trip to Holland is not such a pipe dream now.
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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.