We're Finally Away 17 - 29 April 2009

So, who would have thunk it!!!! We are finally on the road after Germany, death and near death in 2008.

On Friday, 17 April, we hooked up the van and headed for my niece, Danielle’s, wedding in Albury. Dan and David’s wedding on the Saturday was a great celebration and the Dalton’s whooped it up on the dance floor that night. Denis’ chest pumps put his straight man myth to bed and Sue as M.O.B. tore up the dance floor with great aplomb.

Sunday was spent with the family celebrating Frankie’s 2nd birthday before they all headed back to Melbourne. Saying goodbye to our babies, Fynn, Maggie and Frances and Cath, Jules, Pat and Fleur was very hard and there were quite a few tears. The rest of the day we spent with Sue and Trevor before hitting the sack very early.

Monday we hit the road around midday and headed towards Mildura. A very dry and unattractive drive. Not much can be said for kilometres of Mallee scrub. We made it as far as Deniliquin before deciding we needed 4zes or was that 5zes. Dull, dull, dull. Is anyone interested in the fact that 23 – 26 kilo lambs are selling for 133.9 cents per kg!!! Cooked dinner and went to bed. Up early and off to Mildura.

We spent 4 days in Mildura, the first just sitting and enjoying the sunshine. Wednesday we got the bikes off the back of the van and rode into Mildura to check out the shops and try to book into Stefano’s for dinner. We discovered that you need to book at least 1 month before, so we put our name on the waiting list for Wednesday or Thursday and were pleasantly surprised when they rang us less than 30 minutes later to say they had a cancellation for Thursday night. Wednesday was a beautiful day, around 26 deg, so I sat and read and Stephen did all the stuff that we hadn’t managed to get done before we left – putting up towel racks, filling water tanks, blah, blah, blah.

Thursday we drove to Mungo National Park in NSW, about 110 kms away. An interesting place, quite desolate, all the lake beds dried 18,000 years age, but has the most magnificent inland sand dunes known as the “Walls of China”. Took a guided tour with the local aboriginal land owners and found lots of fish bones ‘ay’ and old cooking fires ‘ay’ used thousands of years ago by the aboriginals. Of course our tour guides were very laconic ‘ay’ and had lots of tales to tell along the way. It was a dusty drive back along a long stretch of dirt road and we were thrilled to find the car filled with plenty of red dust on our return. Stefano’s was delicious and an enjoyable evening, even got to talk to the great man himself.

A very late rise on Friday – I think we are finally getting into the swing of things. Stephen spent the morning trying to block all of the ‘dust entrances’ with rubber from Clarks. We chatted to a lovely young couple who were camped next to us with a little baby. You wouldn’t believe it but he had an accident last year and broke his neck – does that sound familiar. He and Stephen traded stories before they left and the inclement weather arrived. We had a very, very late lunch at Trentham Estate, an antipasto platter and a bottle of wine. Yes there is no doubt we are definitely getting into the groove.

Saturday morning we packed up and headed for Burra in SA. Quite a pretty drive and ‘Sheila’, our Navman lady, decided to take us to Waikerie for lunch. This meant we were on a back road and were quite surprised when we got to the Murray and had to cross it on a ferry. Hmmmm!!!! As it turned out it was great fun.

Arrived in Burra early in the afternoon – the footy had only just started – so decided to continue on to Peterborough. So far the day had been both sunny and overcast but at Burra it turned feral with the temperature plummeting and the rain coming down by the bucket load. Let’s just say we are very happy to be in Peterborough safe and sound, however, we found that the van had sprung a leak at the junction of the wheel guard and the floor. We then, unfortunately, saw the last quarter of the footy and wished we hadn’t.

Up early and the weather is still foul. Pack up and head towards Wilpena Pound – Flinders Ranges. It is very cold when we arrived but I think we had missed the worst of the weather according to those who had been here for a few days. We took a walk in the late afternoon to Wangara Lookout and were rewarded with a wonderful view of the ‘Pound’. Monday we went for a ride on the bikes then a drive to Bunyeroo Gorge, Brachina Gorge and Aroona Valley via an unsealed road.

Tuesday we drove to Blinman. What an experience. They say that Adelaide is 10 years behind everywhere else but Blinman is 110 years behind. It has a population of 23 which swells to 50 when they hold a Progress Association meeting. Someone needs to tell them that they are failing badly. We bought a drink and sat on the seat outside the pub to watch the world go by. Unfortunately the world was standing still that day as nothing went past. The photo of the pub was taken from the middle of the main street and trust me, there was no way I was ever going to get run over. We have seen lots of roos and emus both alive and as road kill. We shared a fire with our neighbours and exchanged yarns over a couple of drinks that evening.

Enough for the first edition – just to say neither of us yet has any finger print marks on our neck, so all must be well.