Wycheproof. Vic.

[Pickles2]

We live in Melbourne, but we've just spent 5 days in Wycheproof, in the Victorian Mallee,....a GREAT 5 days.
Initial reason, was to celebrate Australia Day, which we've done for the last 5 years in "Wyche"..great "Aussie" ceremony in Centenary Park, local awards, school children sing etc, preceded by an Aussie BBQ, and of course ya get to meet many locals, farmers, business people, "ordinary" residents, all eager to meet you & have a good chat.
Second reason was to attend the "Quambatook Historical Machinery Harvest Day", where vintage farming machinery is demonstrated,....plus,...maybe more importantly, one has the opportunity to talk wiith some of the older "fair dinkum" farmers, who tell it like it was in the old days.
Interspaced with that were "Pub Dinners" in the two Wyycheproof Pubs, and more good conversation with the locals,...and the highlight?,...one evenning we're walking back to our motel from the Pub, and one of the leading lights in Wyche pulls up in his car alongside us, and invites us back to his place,..we got there at 7.30, left at 12.30!!
Is there "life in the bush"?....there sure is, and some very genuine Aussies.
Pickles.

[loanrangie]

Been a while since i have been out that way but country Vic is awesome, spent many a time as a kid with dad dragging us around looking at vintage cars all over Victoria.

[Homestar]

I generally stop at Wyche when I'm driving to and from Mildura - always found it a lovely town but never stayed there, nor seen a train in the Main Street, but I live in hope. :)

[pop058]

My off-sider and I have just come back from building a new shed (thats what I do for a crust) for the family that owns "Wycheproof" Cattle Station abit west of Mount Larcom (Qld).

Out of curiosity I asked where the station name came from and was told the original family moved up here and named the station after their home town in Vic.

[Mick_Marsh]

I generally stop at Wyche when I'm driving to and from Mildura - always found it a lovely town but never stayed there, nor seen a train in the Main Street, but I live in hope. :)
I've been on a steam train travelling up the main street. I think I took photos.

[Pickles2]

I generally stop at Wyche when I'm driving to and from Mildura - always found it a lovely town but never stayed there, nor seen a train in the Main Street, but I live in hope. :)
I love trains too Gav, & at this time of the year, & particularly as a result of the successful harvest this year, there is a lot of grain to be moved, so there's quite a few trains down the main street.
Problem is, ya don't know when they're coming, and they mostly travel through wyche during the night.
We stay in the Motel which is on the main st, Calder H'Way, right on the railway, and the first thing ya hear of the train, is the siren, normally around 3am, as it comes down the main st, but there's no way, I'm getting out of bed at that time to see it, so we just lie in bed listening to it rumbling by.
One time we did actually see it, we were in Wyche & the train came down, & a local said "He'll probably stop the train outside the cafe & grab a pastie, which is what happened,..the driver stopped the train, ran across the road, into the cafe, and then back again into the engine, & off He went!
If ya're going through Wyche now, make sure you stop at the new bakery "Bakery on Broadway" recently opened & operated by local ladies to wide acclaim,...on the LH side, if ya're on the way up to Mildura etc.
The Mallee is a great place, & there is some real joy there at the moment, with the results of a great harvest.
Pickles.

[350RRC]

I love trains too Gav, & at this time of the year, & particularly as a result of the successful harvest this year, there is a lot of grain to be moved, so there's quite a few trains down the main street.
Problem is, ya don't know when they're coming, and they mostly travel through wyche during the night.
We stay in the Motel which is on the main st, Calder H'Way, right on the railway, and the first thing ya hear of the train, is the siren, normally around 3am, as it comes down the main st, but there's no way, I'm getting out of bed at that time to see it, so we just lie in bed listening to it rumbling by..............


.............Pickles.

Geraldton in WA used to have the same deal. Grain train ran basically along the top the beach right past the hotel I was staying in, at 3am.

DL

[justinc]

We always go through there on our way to the Flinders Ranges, love the Mallee country!

Jc