Week 13 - Crossing 3 states

Hello from the South Coast!  This week we have travelled through South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.  Next week our trip ends when we roll back into Canberra after 14 weeks on the road.  We will all find it pretty hard to be in one place for a while and will need to jump in the car on weekends to go for a drive to feel normal!  I can't say that I am looking forward to fitting out the girls in uniforms ready for Term 4, or cleaning the trailer and car and all the contents of both (Gibb River Road dust just doesn't go away over time!) but there is a sense of excitement in the idea of "coming home".  This post will be the second to last one - I will post again for the last time at the end of next week with the activities from this week coming and the (hopefully) uneventful trip up the Clyde (if we go that way).  We have spent this week dodging rain and also Fruit Fly quarrantines.  We have lost count of the number of stops on the side of the road this week to eat all our fruit and veg before hitting the borders.  This has been made interesting by our choices to switch over and back across the Murray via free car ferries and our diet this week has been primarily fruit and carrots.  Every day I would think we were out of the fruit fly restriction area and would buy more fruit and veg, and then the next day we would change our minds and go a different way and have to stop for a fruit break to eat all the produce!  Only had to give away a couple of potatoes and some chinese greens so we did very well considering.  The other challenge this week was the time changes from state to state.  Just when we have got used to NSW/Vic time zone, daylight saving has kicked in here in NSW/ACT so we have lost 2 hours coming from WA, lost a further 30 minutes coming over from SA, and now lost another hour with daylight savings.  Talk about time running away.....

The girls at Orange World in Mildura

Here is the week that was our last week.
Monday - We left Adelaide and drove up into the Adelaide Hills.  We passed through Birdwood and ended up in Mannum.  We took the car ferry over the Murray River up to Swan Reach.  We got on the car ferry again at Swan Reach (because it was fun!) and drove to Waikerie.  We decided that it was quite good following the Murray River and decided that we would keep doing this for the rest of the week.  We crossed the border into Victoria after lunch and pulled up in Mildura for the night.  The concrete slab site that we were allocated was a little challenging but we have become smart about how to set up now so it wasn't long before we had it sorted.  This van park was fantastic with a wonderful camp kitchen and a gate that leads through to a fantastic bakery (vanilla slice to die for) and the big shopping centre in Mildura.

Tuesday - Today we went up the road 110kms on dirt to the Mungo National Park.  A fascinating park that we are glad we visited.  There had clearly been a lot of rain here in the days before we arrived and the park roads were OK in most places, but the mud on some tracks was deep, sloppy and sticky.  We didn't get bogged, despite the potential, and the car was just filthy when we left.  Mud just kept flicking off under the wheel arches for many km's on the way back to Mildura.  Despite this it was a gorgeously hot day with a top temp of 33 degrees.  We saw the biggest snake we have ever seen in the wild cross the road in front of the car - very long, very black, snubby nose and wickedly fat.  Mal swerved to miss it but with the dust behind the car and the one way track it was impossible to tell if it pulled it's head in and we missed it or if it suffered a fatal head injury under the Prado tyre.

Mungo sand dunes

Wednesday - Woke up to steady rain after a very mild night with trailer windows down and sleeping in Tshirts.  Breakfast was looking a bit hard in the rain so I bundled everyone into the car and got Mal to take us to Macca's for breakfast - big treat.  At least there is a Macca's in Mildura!!  After stocking up afterwards at the bakery with many yummy items, we headed to the wharf to have a ride on the paddlesteamer Melbourne.  We travelled up the Murray and went through Lock 11.  It was great for the girls to see how a lock system works and to understand the weir system on the river.  We have had many discussions since with Rachel about the water delivery on the Murray and the consequences of irrigation, government restrictions on water usage, farmers needs, town needs and impacts on wildlife.  She certainly understands that it is not a black and white issue!  We visited Orange World and toured an orange farm.  We drank orange juice that has a taste we will never forget - just so good.  We drove to Wentworth to see the junction of the Murray and the Darling Rivers and to end the day, we visited the second largest hedge maze in Australia and got totally lost trying to get out.  When we finally emerged, it was 5.30pm, everyone else had gone home and the lady manager was standing waiting for us with the keys to lock up in her hand!  It is a very hard maze and we had to resort to many tricks to know where we were, where we had been and where we needed to go next.  Our campsite had filled up heaps on our return in readiness for the Country Music Festival so we found ourselves surrounded by Country music fans - and many hopeful performers!  The camp site put on an impromptu concert and anyone who wanted to perform could have a go.  We stayed until the heavens opened and then scarpered to our trailer to settle down for the night.  We all lay in the tent chatting to the sound of the rain thundering down outside contemplating a wet pack up in the morning.......

Rachel and the Paddlesteamer wheel

Thursday - Woke up to a very cold and windy morning - but at least it was dry.  Packed up and headed to the bakery for more supplies before hitting the road to head for Swan Hill.  We detoured to visit Woodsies, the big gem shop and jewellery factory in Mildura where the girls watched the jewellers making rings.  Most of the rest of the day was spent driving through very heavy rain to Swan Hill.  We made lunch and ate it in the car as we drove which is not something we have had to do very many times.  It was a despondent band that rolled into Swan Hill at 5pm to pouring rain and the realisation that the camper trailer was going to be a very hard option for the night.  We have all loved living in the trailer and will miss it when we get home.  Sadly, we trundled down the main street deciding what to do when we saw a little motel called the Jane Eliza and knew it was meant to be!  We checked in and marvelled at the luxury that comes with a motel room.  White towels, private bathroom, flat screen TV, door, glass windows (you get the picture I am sure).  We took a drive out to the stockyards and watched the sheep being loaded for the abbattoirs and Mal caught a huge Murray Cod - photo below.  Pizza for dinner washed down with the last of the vanilla slice.

Too big a catch to fillet so we had pizza instead!

Friday - Visited the Pioneer Village Settlement and the girls had a ball. It's a re creation of a riverbank village from the 1800's and even in the cold windy conditions the girls made the most of it.  We just about had the place to ourselves as the Swan Hill Agriculture show was on that day too.

Riding along in my automobile - 1924 Dodge at Pioneer Village, Swan Hill

The weekend - we have spent the weekend dodging the wet and cold weather and have arrived on the South Coast in time for the end of the Long Weekend.  We are all well and the girls are enjoying having time to play a little more now that we are back in known territory.  It will be good to have a few days on the coast to get used to being homeish before we come home properly.  We spent a day in Albury which we  really enjoyed and have put it on the list of places to go for a camping holiday in the future.  There is a fair bit to do there and we were unable to do it all in the time we had there.  It was wet and cold there too which makes outdoor activities a little more difficult!

The good, bad and ugly this week.  The good was being in Mungo National Park.  We saw so much wildlife and climbed the most enormous sand dunes there - a very humbling experience when you realise it has seen human habitation for 2400 years.  The bad was having to dodge wet weather all week.  While it didn't really change our plans it does make movements between the car, the tent, and camp kitchen, the bathrooms all a little more hampered.  Drying washing becomes harder too as you fight for a dryer in the laundry..... The Ugly - The Casey Chambers hopeful at the Mildura camp site.  Lordy me - that girl could do with some vocal lessons.......

Our last picnic lunch - Mungo National Park

Love and homeward thoughts,
Jane, Mal, Rachel and Eloise