The Joy is in the Journey

Thursday 14th Nov The drive to Mt Compass this morning took us on meandering country roads surrounded by rolling hills. Five minutes out of town and on the edge of the highly rated golf course (top 40 in Aust) is the small caravan park with the biggest sites we have come across so far. The facilities are first class and the camp kitchen even has a pizza oven! To top it off there were birds diving in and out of the flowering proteas at the gate when we registered.  After some lunch and a load of washing we drove into town. First stop the Op Shop and what did I find? A fabulous pram in top condition but.... how do you collapse the thing? I asked the people in the shop but they knew as little as I did. If it wont fit under the bed I cant buy it. Next thing we have everyone offering advice but we were still getting no where. One suggestion was to wait until school was over and those mums would be able to do it single handed. Eventually I googled and there was our answer...

Monday 11th November We first came upon the Murray on 7th Oct at Barmera and have been following it up and downstream ever since. Today from Loxton we left it to follow the major road network. That took us through the wheat belt area and Karoonda where we found some more silo art and stopped to refuel.  Along the way we passed innumerable wheat fields stretching out between tiny townships that were once viable but no longer home to more than a silo.  We did however see both Bustards and Cape Barron Geese to keep us interested.  Eventually we pulled-up in Langhorne Creek setting up at Frank Potts Reserve, just on the outskirts of town. It's beside the Bremer River, which is unfortunately dry, but it's a lovely spot under shady gums with nice big grassy sites. Frank Potts was the founder of Bleasdale winery just beside us, which has remained in the Potts family to the present day. Perhaps we should drop in to pay our respects in the coming days. In the af...

Friday 8th November After stopping in at a caravan place in Mildura to pick up some supports for our awning we were on the road to Loxton. These supports will stop rain pooling on it and stop it flapping so much in the wind. Once again it's windy and unfortunately we are driving straight into it so it is going to cost us in fuel consumption.  But that wasn't the main concern; as we proceeded out of town a dust storm swamped us and we were forced to slow right down. At some points we were only able to see about 10 dotted white lines ahead and cars or trucks coming in the opposite direction were suddenly upon us before we had hardly even seen their lights. Gusts of wind up to 40 km/h were driving drifts of topsoil across the road and you can imagine what a struggle Eric had to keep the van travelling straight. The planned comfort stop at the Cullulleraine local store was almost skipped because the conditions were so bad, but on the other hand it was a chance to check on the se...

4th November While it is not officially a long weekend there are many people who must have taken an RDO or other leave today to make it a 4 day break with Melbourne Cup tomorrow. We took about 2 hours to get to Robinvale where I had found a likely bush camp site on the banks of the Murray down Pump Rd. Problem was we drove down Pump Road until we found a 'No Entry, Authorized Vehicles Only' sign. The turn to the right was closed due to a bridge under repair. With limited room to turn we made the silly mistake of driving ahead to the gates thinking we would have turning room. Wrong! That meant a long back up and then turning in the limited area anyway. Talk about compounding a mistake! Get out and walk it next time. Discouraging us from doing that was the heavy rain we had just driven through and the threat of more approaching. To say the skies were inclement would be an understatement.  On a happier note we haved moved on to the letter H in music titles. In town we found...

This morning we got confirmation that Jenni and Glenn are on their way to meet us. We followed the Murray Valley Hwy through Kerang township and on through the Kerang Lakes District which comprises a series of 22 lakes and swamps including Lake Charm, Lake Boga and Kangaroo Lake. The wetlands support large numbers of birds and again is recognised as an important Ramsar convention site. Some facts you may not know.....Kangaroo Lake is the birthplace of John Gorton and Burke and Wills passed through the area, crossing the Murray at Swan Hill, on their ill-fated journey in 1860. We didn't stop as it was hot, windy and the glare of the sun off the water would make birding difficult.  Arriving in Swan Hill we crossed the Little Murray, also known as Marraboor River onto Pental Island. Some people take cruises to islands, we drive to them it seems. We knew of this Holiday Park as we stayed here with the Cobram Junior Soccer Club for the 1997 Vic Country Championships. The camp is ...