Following the Mighty Murray

 Delayed enough, time to get back on the road and head for home. The car is due for a service before completing the 3500kms to get home so thats booked in at Mildura in a weeks time.

Until then its relaxing at beautiful camps like this.

Denniliquin - on the Edward River, ( very near the Murray), onto Piangil , and yes if you have been following us this is one place we have stayed before, its the origin of the photo of the cross stitch I have been working on for the past 15 months, which I can quite happily say is finished.

Next, off to Nyah, fill up the water tanks and get some washing done, another spot we are re-visiting, however, amazing what you miss the first time around, like these painted timber statues depicting characters from a past long forgotten.

Indigenous shearers, mostly women, very apt with their shears.

And the story of the first (and only female paddle steamer Captain) Also owner of the PS Kookaburra, now sunk at this site.

Completed my next crafting project

I cheated, it was a paint by numbers.

Then off to Mildura and a car service.

Settled into a nice camp right on the banks and made some new friends.

Then, oh shit.   We have a broken RH  rear lower control arm pin, Les had noticed a clunk on sharp turns and asked for them to investigate but didn't quite expect this.  Not covered by warranty as we have had a GVM upgrade, (also anywhere between a 2 -6 week wait for the part) so off we went to Pedders Mildura, could be 5- 10 days to get the part, so hopefully sooner, and here we sit. We are lucky that we are still able to drive the car, but carefully, avoiding sharp turns and potholes.

Well we got to know our new friends really well and they us

Nearly thought he'd jump onto Les' lap at one stage.

We moved camp once as needed water and more sun but just up to the opposite bank.

Of all places to be stuck this was pretty nice, but since we had spent a week here last year we had done most of the touristy things.

Its still nice to watch the houseboats coming and going and the Paddle Steamers rolling up and down.

This one is for sale if you have a spare million $$

Although I compare this to "the Blocks" Daylesford homes for $3M and think I would prefer this and fit it out as a home. 

Something new however was the RAAF open day at the Mildura airport where we got to see the (Red Stunt planes) cant remember what they are called, in action.

And on the way home we passed all the hotrods arriving for a hotrod convention.

And then finally 15 days later the part showed up. Yay, finally, we can head North and home. 

So, the original plan - Head up to Menindee Lakes and spend a couple of days exploring this region then follow the Darling River up to Bourke, cross the highway here and into Brewarrinna and up to Goodooga to the Artisian hotbaths, cross the border at Hebel and then decide which way to head home, although I am hoping to spend some time around Carnarvon NP, has all gone by the way side as it will take too long to get home going this way (remembering we have now spent just over 2 weeks of our travelling time stuck here) So....... refiguring the way home is a bit of a challenge, but we will work it out, stay tuned.....

Settling back into life on the road

After leaving Adelaide we just went a short distance through the hills and found a pleasant donation camp at Tintinara, besides a man made Lake. Beautiful for the night, and yes the heater seems to be working alright.

From here a skip, hop & jump over the border and down Lake Taylor near Horsham. Yes, we have stayed here before, but knew there was plenty of room as school holidays are about to start.

Spring is in the air, all the Canola is in flower and looking bright and wonderful for as far as the eye can see. Still not seeing much sunshine, but we live in hope.

Then a one nighter at St Arnaud (again), and over to Shepparton where we are booked into a van park as we need to leave the van unattended so we can pop into Melbourne for a couple of days.

 

We ended staying in Shep for a few more days enjoying a bit of sunshine and walks around Victoria Lake, and along the Goulburn River.

It was also here we watched the AFL Grandfinal. And what a fantastic result.

🦁🎉 

Now into Cobram, and the weather is coming around. (Not before time)

We decided to see out the rest of the school holidays here, a beautiful spot and close to friends to share a drink or two.

                                                         Plus koala spotting each day

Oh it's a hard life.

Pictorial diary of our month in Adelaide

Ducks in the backyard, yes it was the weather for them

Storm damaged rock wall down at the shack

And a few less steps

St Peters Cathedral visit

              Grace & I visit Gumeracha

       Back home in Cairns all but briefly.

Then back to Adelaide for Grace's op, all went smoothly and healing well. After having the van in storage for a month, she's back out on the road ready to head off on the last leg of this adventure.

Bitter sweet

 We've been feeling a little flat this week and not much to report.

On departing Jamestown made our way into Tarlee, 

which has some interesting WWII history, we were planning to do some wine tasting through the Barossa but with not much solar coming in (Brrr....), we opted to head into Kapunda and onto power for a night, get batteries up to full before parking the girl up in Adelaide while we appreciate the time we have with family and friends.

So with that I have farewelled Les as he flies back home for a short time, with me to follow shortly.

                                  It's Jetstar not a UFO, a UFO would be Grace's way home.

And that's the end of this leg of our trip for a few weeks. See you on the flip side when we head out again. Not sure when....

Bush camps and camp fires

 A little sad to be leaving Leigh Creek, Parachilna Gorge is still closed, as is most of the Flinders, so headed further South. Not going via Port Augusta this time, decided to follow in the footsteps of RM Williams and following the route of his pioneering adventures.

                                                   Goodbye Flinders, maybe next time.

Our first camp, thanks to Wiki, was a creek side bush camp near Carrieton. Beautiful spot, and even though the creek was dry, there was evidence of recent rains by how green everything appeared.

Plenty of fire wood and perfect weather for sitting around a fire. And yes, at last, Les has got the drone flying again, and I managed to cook up some camp oven damper.  

Ended up staying here for a few nights as even though it wasn't far off the road, minimal traffic made it extremely peaceful. Had one other van come in for one night whilst we were there but apart from them didn't see a soul.

Drove further south along the RM Williams Way mid week and camped near Pekina Dam Reserve just on the outskirts of Ororoo. Did a short hike through the reserve to find some hidden gems in the way of 19th century poetry, and early 1900 engineering feats. Another camp fire at this camp, a free camp on private property, thank you to whoever allows that, great idea.

Pekina Dam

And finally for this week we ended up at Jamestown, a fitting end for the week as it was the birthplace of RM Williams and we have camped at the Robinson RV park behind his memorial. Have access to water here so have done a few loads of washing to get rid of that camp fire smell that permeates through everything.

                                        Jamestown, a beautiful town with so much history.

                We are camped bottom right in this photo, overlooking a very green sheep paddock.