MELBOURNE TO SHEPPARTON

Welcome to our Christmas holiday to the Goulburn Valley! With chauffeured pickup from home, we are transferred to meet our O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours coach and crew.  We’ll make a stop for morning tea enroute to Nagambie, where we join the Goulburn Explorer for a 2-hour cruise through Lake Nagambie, heading downstream towards the historic Kirwans Bridge. Whilst on board, we enjoy lunch and a wine tasting of some local wines. Back on dry land, our coach will be there to greet us to continue on to Shepparton, home for the next four nights.

OVERNIGHT: Quality Hotel Parklake Shepparton, SHEPPARTON

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It’s a gentle start today - there is a park across the road for anyone who wishes to stretch their legs after breakfast, or transfers will be on hand to take anyone who would like to attend a Christmas Day church service before we sit down to enjoy a delicious traditional Christmas Day lunch at the hotel.  This afternoon, we’ll take a drive to Picola, where we can view the Picola Silo featuring a magnificent depiction of the Superb Parrot, on a backdrop of the Barmah National Park. It was painted by Jimmy D'Vate. These silos are fully operational and are on private property. However, they can be easily seen and photographed from the road.

OVERNIGHT: Quality Hotel Parklake Shepparton, SHEPPARTON

LARGE ARTS

It’s quite amazing to think that agricultural storage spurred on the idea of creating the largest outdoor art exhibition in Australia! Started in Northam WA in March 2015 with the painting of the first wheat silos, other states and communities soon took up the call recognising the benefits such curiosities would bring to small communities struggling with the aftermath of drought, bushfire and now a pandemic. We’re going to see some great examples of these large artworks over the next three days. We begin in the small town of Tungamah, where the silo features much-loved Australian wildlife. Includes the iconic Kookaburra, pink and grey Galah and sulphur crested Cockatoo. Not far from here is our next silo, St James. Artist Tim Bowtell, depicts a mural of Sir George Coles, the founder of Coles supermarkets who was a local to the St James township. In Devenish, see Cam Scale’s artwork representing the changing role of women in the military – a First World War nurse and a modern-day combat medic. Our last silo is in Goorambat – a Barking Owl, which is critically endangered. Here we also visit ‘Sophia’ representing the female aspect of the Holy Trinity on the wall inside the Uniting Church. Each silo has a different artist and a different story. We’ll have lunch in Benalla before we are joined on the coach by a local expert for a tour of the city’s famous street art. Artists from around the world were brought together to paint murals on bare walls, some over three stories high.

OVERNIGHT:  Quality Hotel Parklake Shepparton, SHEPPARTON

MORE LARGE ARTS!!

Paying homage to the strength of the dairy industry in Greater Shepparton, Moooving Art is an ever-changing public art exhibition of life-sized 3D cows. These bovines are scattered throughout Shepparton and surrounding towns in public gardens, playgrounds and businesses and are full of colour, spunk and personality. With over 90 in the herd, we’ll be bound to spot more than a couple today. We now make our way to Tatura and the Tatura Irrigation & Wartime Camps Museum. The Museum houses a unique collection based on 3 main themes: the History of Irrigation in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, the Local and Family History of Tatura and District since white settlement, and the history of the seven World War 2 Prisoner of War and Internment Camps and the Garrison and Hospital which were established in this area. There’s also a wonderful mural on the side of the museum. Next we’re off to Colbinabbin where artwork features across six silos. Artist Tim Bowtell’s work depicts five different scenes from varying times through the town from the early 1900s to the 1980s. We have lunch in the small town of Rochester, provided by the Rochester Historical Society, after which we have a chance to look around and take in some of the amazing wall art. Each year the town hosts the Rochester Mural Fest where artists are invited to compete and display their murals. These murals stay in place for 12 months and are dotted around the town. Making a stop at the GrainCorp silos is a pleasant surprise as we view the artwork. Features a brightly painted Squirrel Glider and an Azure Kingfisher. Moving on to Tongala, the town features over 40 murals, mainly located along the main street. Financed by a grant from the Tongala Community Bank for the materials, with local artists volunteering their skills and time making it a community project. Last stop for the day is Kyabram, to view The Kyabram Water Tank, painted by Jimmy DVate and completed in March 2025. The water tank mural highlights the wetlands at the Kyabram Fauna Park, a crucial tourism and environmental feature of Kyabram. Featured on the tank is the Eastern long necked turtle, the Golden Whistler and a Red-capped Robin which has been brought to life on the side of the tank. Also featured are other birds, animals and insects which include a Yellow crimson Rosetta, a Major-Mitchell's cockatoo, a Plains-wanderer, a spotted-tail Quoll, a Blue skimmer dragon fly, a Brolga and a Bush stone-curlew.

OVERNIGHT: Quality Hotel Parklake Shepparton, SHEPPARTON

SHEPPARTON TO MELBOURNE

Time to head home now, to catch up with family and friends to talk about our wonderful adventure in the Large Arts! We stop for lunch in Marysville then continue home where, as always, our chauffeurs will be on hand to take us straight to our door – all part of the O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours superior service.