Log 26-04 Hay

Well, here we are running around, Libby working every day at her first aid, missing all the events that she would like to go to. Meanwhile I've been going to seminars, attending workshops, playing disc bowls, all boring stuff.

With all that is happening at home & the impending baby we have decided to cut the rally short & left on Saturday morning.

Driving back by the same path we came as it's the shortest way home we stopped first at Underbool, this time the pub was open as it was after 4:30, we had a couple of rounds & a great chat to the publican & a couple of locals. It's great to see a country pub at work, each time the door opened the publican would look up & put a drink on the bar & the local would sit down & have his drink. After watching this a couple of times we asked if we were sitting in someone’s chairs, we were told we had the 'tourists chairs'.

Underbool is a great stopover as it costs nothing to park, $3.00 each per shower & $10.00 if you want power.

Up early, we headed on to Balranald for a refuel & morning tea, then onto Hay, did a bit of shopping & stayed the night. It is still very cold & although we haven't had much rain there is water laying everywhere. We haven't picked tomorrows stop yet, we will see how far we get.

The volunteers

Girls day out

Helen, Pam, Libby, & Vic at the ball

At the ball

Ball again

Underbool pub

The bar & publican

Hay freecamp

Log 21-04 Rally

Here are some of the photos from the rally

Unity College

The Forcourt

The Sail official happy hour site

Where Libby worked

Inside the main auditorium, morning tea & entertainment

setting up our toilets & shower block

Happy hour for some volunteers

Log 19-04 Murray Bridge

After a quiet day at the caravan park on Monday we moved into our new home for the next 12 days.

Unity College is set out like a university, a main auditorium, admin buildings, various buildings for classrooms, all in park-like grounds with lots of open undercover areas, benches in little clusters, sports fields & various courts spread around. From the main gate to where we are sited is about 3/4 kilometre, a distance that we were soon to become accustomed to walking as we did it several times a day.

Tuesday saw us getting in, setting up, being inducted & generally finding our way around. As Wednesday was a lay day for us we drove to Swan Reach (about 115K's) for a nice pub lunch overlooking the Murray. I was a glorious day of around 26º so we chose an outdoor table (Lulu could sit with us) & watched the boats ply the river as well as the car ferry going about it's job. A very large paddle steamer also moved of from the jetty for a cruise but we couldn't get a photo for the trees. A leisurely drive back through some colourful little towns rounded out a very nice day.

Thursday to Saturday were spent getting to know our neighbors & visiting people we had met previously. There was a dinner for the volunteers (& their partners) on Thursday night to help people get to know each other. It also rained  Thur & Fri almost continuously so a lot of time was spent sitting in the van watching telly.

Saturday saw the influx of all the first timers, about 80 vans, & the meet & greet team showing the around. Today, Sunday, is the day all the other vans arrive starting at 8:00 AM. We went for a drive at about 10 o'clock to pick up the Sunday papers & the row of vans lining up to get in stretched about a K back into town. We heard later that it was 3 o'clock before everyone was in. This was their welcome to the 29th Anniversary Rally. The temperature today never got above 12º & Liz was on duty as first aide from 1:00 to 7:00 so we skipped the evenings entertainment.

Looking back at the Murray near Nilldottie

View from our lunch table at Swan Reach

Sorry, attempted to add extra photos but only succeeded in losing some of the originals.

Log 12-04 Murray Bridge

Well, another week has passed all to rapidly, on Modday, Stone the Crows was wrapped up with the finals of all the events, handing out of prizes & a final night of great entertainment. We packed the van ready for a fast getaway Tuesday morning.

Although weather was dry as we left Wagga, we soon ran into rain on the highway, it must have been raining for some time further West as the ground on both sides of the road were covered in a sheet of shallow water which spilled across the road in a few places. Pulling in for fuel at Naranderah we also had a nice hot cup of coffee & a bite to eat. We stopped by the Murrumbidge River for the night in a great free camp spot at Hay intending to do some shopping but it was wet, cold & miserable, 11ºC at 1:00PM. There was no TV reception either so we played games & read f or the rest of the day & evening.

Wednesday was still cold but dry & sunny & we pushed on to Balranald for fuel & food before proceeding to Ouyen for the night, after a walk around town & some lunch we decided to travel a bit further to Underbool. We actually stopped at the wrong rest area to the one we had picked out & were we glad we did. Power if we wanted it, hot showers & a quiet area opposite the pub, a bit disappointing  to find that it was closed till 4:30 so we had happy hour with some other vanners that had stopped there. Leaving a donation in the box we took off next morning for Murray Bridge & once again stopped for fuel at Pinnaroo, just on the SA side of the border.

Arriving at Murray Bridge just after lunch we booked into Murray Bridge Tourist Park which had a special on for CMCA members for the rally. It was time to catch up on the washing & getting some of the mud off the car. This done we went into town for food & settled in. Next morning we walked around the park & found 3 other vans that we had been at Numurkah with. 2 had to leave Friday arvo as they were volunteers for the initial setup.

We took the car to Hahndorf to do some sightseeing in this very German town, had a german lunch in a cafe & bought a few trinketts. The number of tourists that visit here must be very large as all the cafes, restaurants & pubs were full of people as well as window shoppers, we spent about 4 hours in town then drove back to MB just in time for happy hour with Pat & Lyn. Another load of washing tomorrow & then just have a lazy day.

Sunday, several more motorhomes have arrived at the park & town is full of RV's shopping, sightseeing. We intended to visit Old Sailem Town today but the weather, although not raining, is against us so it's a morning of nothing & then some disc bowls before happy hour.

Tomorrow we will ready the van to go into the rally.

Wagga's fairwell to the crows

Murray Bridge c'van park

Looking down on the marina from the park

The marina guards

A truly tranquil place

Log05-04 Wagga

Leaving Numurkah, we travelled a whole 50k's to Cobram, Vic. Just outside the township on the banks of the Murray we stopped at a camp spot called 'Dead River Beach', despite the name it was a beautiful piece of countryside, it was so peaceful that we decided to spend some time there (together with about 10  other vans). It had a golden sandy beach & clear water to swim in. Every morning & evening a flock of about 100 cockatoos would start their raucous cry to let us know the time, kangaroos would come down to the water for a drink on the opposite side of the river & there was even the odd emu.

Each day would drive the 5K's into town to buy supplies &  explore the area, Cobram is a very modern town boasting a Woolworths, Mitre 10, Beds-R-Us & other major town outlets. It was a bustling little metropolis. There were lots & lots of flys but this was offset by no mosquitoes. At night you could go koala spotting with a flashlight & the roos on our side of the river would come out to play.

Some days we took trips to other towns in the area such as Tocumwal , Finley & Berrigan where there was always time to stop for a coffee. The only drawback to the campspot was the abbatoirs about 2K's away, sometimes we could smell the blood & guts of the slaughtered animals, it  was only faint but it made Liz a bit nauseous.

After 6 days we decided to move on to the town of Lockhart, there are no free camp spots in this area so we booked into the local caravan park for the next few days. What a surprise, it had a manmade lake on one side & town was on the other, there was grass underfoot (without burrs so Lulu was pleased) & the amenities were like ensuites with toilet shower etc in the one room. There were several of these spread around the rounds & they were immaculate. A half hour walk was enough to walk through town & back including looking in all the shop windows. There are also several scenic tourist spots near the town.

Galore Hill

Rest area, tootool

Showground gates, posts look like wool bales

The Rock

Queue waiting to get into festival,
we were in a similar line in the next street

Piano virtuoso

Liz playing bowls

Disc bowls under way

A wet market day

Same day, after lunch,
Stoning the crows

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