m. It's about a three hour drive away from Melbourne and Matt put me in charge of finding somewhere fun to stop along the way. I actually found quite a few things that would be fun to see. We decided on Locheilan Farm in Wunghu and Cactus Country in Strathmerton.We knew we found Lochleilan when we spotted a neon cow shaped sign. Bruce and Sue McGorlick established a small cheese factory on their farm after 30 years of milking cows. Until then, there we
re no cheese makers in the Goulburn Valley despite being the largest dairying area in Australia. When we arrived Bruce brought out several cheeses for us to taste. My favorites were the Wunghnu Soft which is a Camembert style and one of the new blues that Bruce is making. YUMMY!!! Sue let us know that Bruce was in an especially good mood because they just won the gold medal in Brisbane for their Kaarimba Soft. He even made the front page of their local paper.
re no cheese makers in the Goulburn Valley despite being the largest dairying area in Australia. When we arrived Bruce brought out several cheeses for us to taste. My favorites were the Wunghnu Soft which is a Camembert style and one of the new blues that Bruce is making. YUMMY!!! Sue let us know that Bruce was in an especially good mood because they just won the gold medal in Brisbane for their Kaarimba Soft. He even made the front page of their local paper. Bruce packed up our cheese purchases and was nice enough to
tell Matt and me a little bit about the surrounding attractions. We mentioned that we wanted to go to Cactus Country but Bruce recommended going there around November when all of the cacti were in bloom. He told us about Ulupna Island where tons of wild koalas lived. This was a perfect suggestion because on the drive up I was whining that I had never seen a koala in the wild. The cows were coming in and Bruce had to go milk them so off we went to try
and find some Koalas. We followed the signs until we found one going left saying 4km to Ulupna but when we got the the next sign it pointed back towards the right saying 5km. It was getting dark and the gas light came on so we decided to look the next day.
tell Matt and me a little bit about the surrounding attractions. We mentioned that we wanted to go to Cactus Country but Bruce recommended going there around November when all of the cacti were in bloom. He told us about Ulupna Island where tons of wild koalas lived. This was a perfect suggestion because on the drive up I was whining that I had never seen a koala in the wild. The cows were coming in and Bruce had to go milk them so off we went to try
and find some Koalas. We followed the signs until we found one going left saying 4km to Ulupna but when we got the the next sign it pointed back towards the right saying 5km. It was getting dark and the gas light came on so we decided to look the next day.We had a great night hanging out with Barry and Laurel. The next morning we headed to the strawberry farm to have breakfast with Laurel's sister and her family. I did not know we were going to the home of the BIG strawberry!! Australians seem to be big on their giant fiberglass tourist attractions. I have been lucky enough 
to experience the giant koala, the big arch of victory and giant Ned Kelly but have yet to see the big banana, big macadamia nut, big pineapple, big barramundi, big bull or the big cassowary. Trust me...the list goes on and on. The Big Strawberry restaurant makes every kind of homemade jam you can imagine.
to experience the giant koala, the big arch of victory and giant Ned Kelly but have yet to see the big banana, big macadamia nut, big pineapple, big barramundi, big bull or the big cassowary. Trust me...the list goes on and on. The Big Strawberry restaurant makes every kind of homemade jam you can imagine.After breakfast we all continued our search for Ulupna Island. We ran into the same problem with the signs being all screwy but forged on do
wn many a dirt road. We read on one sign that Ulupna was part of Barmah State Park so we continued on when we saw a sign posted for Barmah. From here on we were in a sign free zone but also in a beautiful forest of red gum trees. We came up on the Murray river which is the state line between Victoria and New South Wales. We decided to pop out of the car and see if there were any koalas around here. Not five minute out of the car and Laurel spotted the first one propped way up in the top branches of a gum tree. I don't have a great zoom on 
my camera and the koalas were WAY up in the trees so my pictures aren't so great but here they are anyway. We spotted eleven over the next hour. Most of them were sleeping but one guy was swaying in a branch grabbing on to another branch to grab some eucalyptus leaves. I was so excited. I have never been one for camping but I could have wandered around these woods for days. We did have to be a bit careful not to walk directly under the koalas since they don't exactly excuse themselves to the restroom. We never actually figured out where Ulupna Island was but found koalas so that's all that mattered.
wn many a dirt road. We read on one sign that Ulupna was part of Barmah State Park so we continued on when we saw a sign posted for Barmah. From here on we were in a sign free zone but also in a beautiful forest of red gum trees. We came up on the Murray river which is the state line between Victoria and New South Wales. We decided to pop out of the car and see if there were any koalas around here. Not five minute out of the car and Laurel spotted the first one propped way up in the top branches of a gum tree. I don't have a great zoom on 
my camera and the koalas were WAY up in the trees so my pictures aren't so great but here they are anyway. We spotted eleven over the next hour. Most of them were sleeping but one guy was swaying in a branch grabbing on to another branch to grab some eucalyptus leaves. I was so excited. I have never been one for camping but I could have wandered around these woods for days. We did have to be a bit careful not to walk directly under the koalas since they don't exactly excuse themselves to the restroom. We never actually figured out where Ulupna Island was but found koalas so that's all that mattered.It was a fantastic weekend getaway especially the koalas!!! We stopped for one more picture on the way home. This is really just a business that sells rock and gravel but it looked to me like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
