Deniliquin to Hay - 115km

After shopping for groceries in Deniliquin this morning I reached Hay early this afternoon and set up camp at the Hay showgrounds.  The drive along the Cobb Highway was interesting - very flat dry country with cattle occasionally feeding by the roadside along the way.  The surrounding countryside along the Cobb Highway is known as the Long Paddock and extends from Moama to Wilcannia - a distance of 610km.  From the early 1840s it became the main stock route moving cattle and sheep from Queensland to inland NSW and is still used for moving stock today.

 

I rang Suncamper this morning and good news!!  I don't need a new circuit board because there are separate fuses for each switch behind the front panel of the control board.  I levered the front of the board off as instructed, and there were all the fuses.  I pulled the offending fuse out and replaced it with one of the spares I carry, and all lights and switches are now working again.

I am surprised that the auto electrician didn't know where the fuses were, but I'm happy that I avoided spending money unnecessarily.

I will definitely set off again tomorrow morning.  I think I will catch up on my washing and then it will be another lazy day trying to avoid the heat. The forecast for today is an expected top of 36 degrees.  Phew!!  I've had this heat.

Mathoura to Deniliquin - 35km

My movements for the next four or five days have been decided for me.  Unfortunately I overloaded the 12v power socket last night and lost half of my lights as well as the socket.  I checked the main fuse which was ok, so I took the front off the power board which revealed a circuit board but no fuses.

With everything shut down for the weekend in Deniliquin I was lucky to find an auto electrician this morning.  He checked the wires and came to the conclusion that something has blown in the circuit board which can't be fixed so it will need replacing.  Being Saturday I can't do anything now until Monday morning.  I will phone Suncamper in Sydney first thing and ask them to send a new circuit board by express post, which hopefully will arrive on Tuesday.

The auto electrician is going to put a fuse in the wire running from the power socket to the circuit board, so if it happens again it will blow the fuse and not wreck the circuit board.

In the meantime I have booked into a caravan park, and I must say it is nice to sit back and relax with the air conditioning on.  Since I left home a week ago the temperature has been in the low to mid thirties every day, and looking ahead at the seven day forecast there is no change expected.

Girgarre to Mathoura - 103 km

The gas ran out when the water was heating this morning.  I knew it was running low, so instead of using the small spare bottle I carry with me I packed up and headed for Kilmore.  I bought a refill at a camping store then headed North along the Cobb Highway and crossed the border into NSW.

I have stopped for the night at Mathoura which is about 40km North of the Victorian border.  I am camped in behind the Mathoura Bowling Club.  They have facilities for travellers including a dump point.  When I went to the main desk to tell them I was here, the manager offered free use of their toilets and hot showers.

Mathoura is only a small town - the main street consists of about half a dozen shops including a small IGA supermarket, so I will pick up some groceries tomorrow.

The heat seems to be never ending.  The last few hours have been spent sitting under a large willow tree either dozing or reading.  When the sun goes down I think I will see what's on the menu at the bowling club for dinner - hopefully they will have salt-n-pepper calamari on the menu.

I haven't thought about where I will head tomorrow.  The constant heat is really starting to get to me, so  I may spend a couple of nights at a caravan park so I can plug into power and use my air conditioner.  

After a good night’s sleep (a welcome cool change hit about 6pm last night), I wandered over to the supermarket this morning only to discover it had closed down. There were a couple of other small shops, but they were also closed. Apparently the local Heinz factory shut down last year leaving 400 workers out of work, and it is obvious after wandering around the streets here that this once thriving little community is slowly dying.  Unfortunately, it is a sad reality that this is happening all too often in small country towns throughout Australia. 

It is getting hotter as the day goes by.  I'm cooking in the Cobb later on, so I hope it doesn't get too hot.  

I have been talking to a couple who have pulled up in a 40ft bus with car in tow.  They come from Queensland originally but have been on the road full time for eleven years!   It's amazing the number of people I have met who have sold up everything and live on the road permanently.  I don't think I could ever do that.  I like having the security of knowing I have a home to come back to.  

Tuesday 19^th February

Once again I am having trouble connecting to Telstra, so will transfer later.

I went for a drive out to the Goulburn Weir after I left Nagambie.  There was a nice shady park with seats, so sat under a tree and had late lunch about 2pm.

  From there I headed for Rushworth State Forest with the intention of camping for the night, but although it was a lovely spot it was so isolated that I didn’t feel comfortable staying over night.

I then headed for a little town called Girgarre (population 185) and found a lovely little camp spot right on the edge of the town next to the local park.  

I left my camp spot by the river and I am now parked in the main street of Nagambie - a small town with a lake which is well known for its rowing regattas, and more recently as the home of the very famous race horse 'Black Caviar'.  Unfortunately I can't buy anything today because all the shops and businesses are closed.  Apparently the power has been turned off for the day so every one has closed their doors.

I went for a wander along the street and was admiring an old police station / court house circa 1870.  There is a large water tower in the centre median strip which is gradually being covered with creepers.

17^th February Melbourne to Nagambie  -  212 km   (no phone signal so will be transferring this when I can)

I stayed in my van at Brad’s overnight and finally left about 11.am this morning.   I reached here – Major Creek Reserve camp ground about 3pm and have set myself up at a pretty spot by the Goulburn River.  The actual location is 14km SW of Nagambie.  It is very hot, but there is a gentle breeze wafting across the water which helps.   This is a big camping area.  There are a few people here, but I can’t see them, I can only hear their voices in the distance.

Travelling along the Hume Highway today and looking at the brown countryside, was a stark reminder of how much we need rain – brown fields as far as the eye can see.

Although Oscar loves travelling in the car he gets very anxious and can’t relax. He hates going over any bumps, or cow grids, so today I gave him some Phenergan to calm him down.  I was a bit worried about giving him an overdose, so I only gave him 1 ½ ml.  He was definitely more relaxed, so next time I will up the dose to 2ml and hopefully he will actually fall asleep while we are driving along.

I will probably stay here for a couple of nights.     

18^th February

Woke up to another beautiful day beside the Goulburn River.  There is a nice breeze at the moment, so hopefully it will help keep the heat at bay as the day goes by.

I slept well last night despite the heat.  I have a little 12volt evaporative cooler which works a treat and I had it going for most of the night.  It was the first night sleeping on my new mattress and it was certainly a lot more comfortable than the foam mattress I had.

I went for a walk and crossed to the other side of the river this morning.  I had to walk over a very rickety old bridge that has seen much better days.  It looked very dangerous and I definitely wouldn’t have been game to drive across it. 

I discovered that most of the land on the other side of the river is owned by the Defence Department.  It was surrounded by two fences about a metre apart – the outside fence was normal farm fencing and the inner fence was electrified.   As I was taking photos I half expected someone to jump out of the bushes and confiscate my camera.  I have been hearing a lot of bangs through the day so it must be some sort of artillery range 

Today is going to be a lazy day – keeping cool with a cold drink and sitting under the awning with my feet up, my kindle on my lap, and watching the antics of the bird life on the water.    

Had great news this morning.  Chris, a friend I met through the The Grey Nomads Forum when I was up in Townsville last year, is going to travel with me.  She has a motorhome too, so it will be great fun travelling in convoy.  We haven't worked out where we will meet up yet as it will be 2 or 3 weeks before she is ready to leave.  

I am almost ready to go - its taking longer to organise than I thought, but should get away now on Sunday.  I will probably plan my route a little different to what I intended, and may head up towards Broken Hill which is where Chris will head for when she leaves Townsville.  I will just take it slowly and make up my mind as I go.  

 

Today I have been busy organising last minute things for my trip.  I picked up a new innerspring mattress which I had on order to replace the foam mattress in the van.  I tried it out when I made the bed and it feels very comfy - great for laying back and watching TV at night.  I also loaded heaps of books on my Kindle which should last me for a few months.

I think I'm on track to leave Saturday morning.  Washing all done, house clean and tidy and bills all paid.  Tomorrow I will do my food shopping and finish packing the van, and hopefully I should get away by lunch time.      

I started this blog mainly for myself so that I have a permanent record of my travels, and for my family and friends to follow my journey.   I am almost ready to hit the road, and plan to leave in a couple of days.

As an older Australian, in my sixties, if there are any single ladies or men reading this blog and wishing they could travel, but feeling too nervous, my advice is DO IT!  There are so many things to see and do and interesting people to meet, I am sure you will not regret it.  

I am travelling in a Suncamper 'Sherwood' motorhome which I bought when I visited the Caravan and Camping Show in Melbourne last year.  It is a fully self contained little motorhome built on a Toyota Hilux chassis.  It is easy to drive and fits in a normal car space which is very convenient when shopping, etc.  On my first trip last year I escaped the Melbourne winter and spent some time touring around North Queensland.   It enabled me to iron out any problems and to sort out what I would need to enable me to 'free camp', thus avoiding the expense of having to stay in caravan parks.

Having added solar panels,  and my one luxury of a satellite dish on the roof (for those long lonely nights in the outback), I am now ready to hit the road and start out on my big adventure.  My plan is to travel around the Eyre Peninsula, SA then across the Nullarbor to Western Australia.  I will then follow the coastline until I reach Darwin in the Northern Territory, returning home through the centre visiting Uluru, Coober Pedy and arriving home around September.

Fortunately, the wonders of technology makes it easy to keep in touch with family, and chatting on Skype is a great way to keep in touch.  I have a UHF cb radio which Brad (my son) installed for me, so it will be great to be able to communicate with other travellers as well as the road trains if need be.

I also travel with my little toy poodle 'Oscar'.  I have had him for four years since he was a six week old pup and he is a great little companion.  I love him dearly and he goes just about everywhere with me.   I have him clipped every couple of months, and was thinking of having him done before I leave when my daughter Sharyn, who clips her own big standard poodle, convinced me to let her clip him.  Well, his coat is now very short, and it did save me the expense of having him done professionally so I'm very grateful, but he does look very different!  This photo was taken before he was clipped.