'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 26-02 homeward bound

Victor harbor was our next stop, just 60K’s from Cape Jervis. The waterfront was all parkland with cafes, boutiques, take away shops & masses of tables lining the footpath. Just off-shore was Granite Island with a long bridge joining it to the mainland which we had to walk of course. After lunch the inevitable shopping & we decided to stay the night at a local c/van park.

We then proceeded on to Goolwa, where the Murray meets the sea, checked out an old paddle steamer we then moved on to McLaren Vale & checked out a few wineries before stopping at Hahndorf, a little tourist type town with a German theme & the main street lined with food & gift shops. Finding a shop that sold kransky & sauerkraut rolls, we stopped for lunch. After lunch we moved on to Murray Bridge but decided not to stop there & so proceeded to Swan Reach where we parked at a nice gravel pit on the banks of the Murray. Murray Bridge is a very small town with lots of great old houses all in very good condition. It has a pub that overlooks the car ferry that crosses the river.

Next morning we boarded the ferry for our trip across & then drove on to another riverside stop just West of Renmark where we stayed for 2 nights. A beautiful spot where we put down the yabbie trap, fished & read books. We stayed for 2 nights & no, we just got snagged all the time & only caught a couple of small fish in the yabbie trap. The only small blemish on this place is the squadrons of mosquitos that strafe us repeatedly at dusk & when they go, along come millions of tiny insects that we are at a loss to keep out.

When we were about to leave I checked the tyres & noticed that the right rear looked a bit down so we drove into Renmark (6K’s) where we saw the inside rear was dead flat (2^nd time for an inside rear wheel), but as it was Sunday I had to change it myself. We did a tour of the city & it is so attractively laid out. Extremely wide streets, gardens down the middle, really green grass & the Murray flowing through. After a look around we left for Mildura, it was much the same. We stopped there for 2 days & it was at another riverside c/park. There were houseboats, private boats & the paddle wheelers plying the river at our doorstep. On day 2 we took a paddleboat cruise down the river, we went through lock 11 which dropped us 3.5 mts in 4.5 minutes. We cruised down level 10 for a while before returning to the lock & being raised up the same amount . Very hot nights & difficult to sleep but otherwise fantastic.

Travelling on to Hay we stayed in the showground for the night, primitive but O.K. Since getting to S.A. & now NSW we are running into a bit of rain, not constant, but showers or a downpour for a while then clearing. We’re just not used to it. Hay is a typical little country town of 2600 people, nice wide streets with shops as they should be, strung along each side of the main street.

The route we’re taking now avoids having to travel through Sydney, instead taking us Northward through the plains & then cutting across the ranges North of Newcastle. We’re doing this for two reasons, one, Telarney & Corey have moved to Miswellbrook & we will pop in & see them & two, We’ve bought a folding boat that folds down to 10cm thick & has brackets that enable it to be stowed along the side of the van. It is at Newcastle so that suits us fine.

Calling into Forbes, we love these country towns, we found a mixture of old & new architecture and a stroll along the main street was well worth it. We stopped at another van park for the night with lots of lovely grass under our feet, it was nice to walk bare footed through it.

For our last night we decided to stop at Wellington, our map showed the turnoff just North of Forbes so, not using the GPS, we headed out. After 20 or 30K’s we never saw a sign so decided to push on to Dubbo where Wellington signs were plentiful but it meant backtracking so our stop was back in old faithful Dunedoo.

Pulling into the van park brought back memories of losing our parrot there last year, they were a mixture of both sad & happy, sad at the loss & happy as we thought of all the help the townspeople there had given in trying to find Lexie.

It was only 180K’s to Muswellbrook so we had a late start & a leisurely drive for the day, had a look at the township & then drove to Telarney & Corie’s house. As they were still at work we pulled out our chairs & sat on the front lawn reading, to wait their arrival. We spent 2 nights with them before pushing on for home finally arriving around 1:30 P.M. That last day’s drive seemed longer than any other.

So, I guess, that’s it till next time only we both agree that it won’t be a years traveling.