After a long day it was an early night for us - 9.30pm we, all three, were snoring. So no-one was more surprised than I to wake this morning and see it was 6.33am! A full nights' sleep is a rare thing for both Shane and I but there it was. Waking after a good night of sleep and feeling refreshed. Thank you holidays.
We were very thankful to have power for the night as the last time we checked it was 5 degrees at about 7.00pm and have no doubt it dropped well below that overnight based on the chill factor this morning.
What an awesome little campsite, and despite not having access to the amenities due to not being able to raise the caretaker on the phone, we are fortunate to have a great little shower and toilet to make the experience very civilised.
This was the view from my door this morning!
Not in a huge hurry we set off a bit after 10.00am and stopped to take a look at the old Beulah Railway station on the way out of town.
We decided to continue north to Mildura rather than west over the border to Pinaroo, trying to get as north as we can as fast as we can for some warmth. Poor Miss Kitty really felt the cold last night, no thanks to me who shaved off most of her hair before we left in an effort to make the whole maintenance bathing schedule easier. And while I did think about bringing a dog coat for her, somehow that missed the list.
From my many years of showing dogs and coming to the Mildura shows, the huge tower always used to be a source of relief in those days, the knowledge that Mildura was looming and the trip was finally almost at an end. Passing the Red Cliffs ground brought back some lovely memories of days gone by.
I don't know what it is about dead trees but they have always fascinated me. I find them beautiful in a tragic kind of way. There was a stretch of the road today that was surrounded by them, but there were some absolutely amazing single trees I would have loved to photograph if only there had been somewhere to pull over. Shane did manage to snap a few shots on the run.
It is interesting how different people are in their approach to their holidays. For us it's always been about the journey and what we see along the way rather than the focus being on the destination. I'm also conscious of the fact that these areas are highly populated by kangaroos and emus and frankly if it's going to be my misfortune to hit one towing a caravan, I'd rather do it at 90km/hr than 110. And each to their own, but we were blown away by Mr & Mrs Imina Hurry who flew past us at a barely appropriate part of the road having to spend some time on double lines in order to achieve first place to the border. I slowed down to let them get through but you have to keep asking yourself why people are surprised when accidents happen.
The SA border has to be the most understated transitions I think I've ever seen. There is nowhere to pull over and no warning it's there. Blink and you'll miss it! It passed by in a blur captured only by chance, and with that we passed out of Victoria and into the South Australian leg of our journey.
Being aware of our first crossing into SA via this route - having replenished groceries in Mildura 3 years ago and having the whole supply of vegetables (ones we thought were OK) confiscated, we were ready this time having brought nothing that wasn't frozen with us. Welcome to Yamba. With the inspector looking in almost every cupboard and reassuring him that we had learned our lesson the first time, we were on our way again in no time. Not so lucky for Mr & Mrs Imina Hurry who had reached the inspection point well before us and as we were preparing to drive away I watched another inspector carrying several bags of fruit including bananas, oranges and mandarins while Mr H was reaching into his back pocket for his wallet to pay the $350 fine! We can only wonder how the conversation went in that car when they finally left Yamba.
Passing through Renmark a little further down the road offered a few opportunities for personal growth with their narrow bridge and further narrowed lanes for bridge works as well. Towing a van that is about 2.7m wide when the sign says maximum 3 doesn't leave a lot of room either side. I personally find chanting the words "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God" the entire length of the bridge works for me. We're in one piece so obviously it works quite well.
Tonight we managed to reach our original planned destination for day 2 - the Overland Corner Hotel. Clearly I didn't do my research that well as Mondays are the only night of the week that the pub isn't open which was disappointing as we had hoped to have a meal there. But the freecamp is a great little spot.
And so here our day ends with a nice late afternoon relaxing outside, a bit of free range time for Miss Kitty in the pen and new nightime PJ's which have clearly been given the paws up of approval. And just in time too as the forecast for tonight is ZERO. Thankful for hot water bottles and warm blankets.
398 km
Total - 760 km
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