Once again, Frank you keep us all waiting for your next post. Very informative, just leaves you wanting to get the van and following in your direction. Safe and Happy travels.

Peter & Meta.

Enjoyed reading your story looking forward to more to come.

Sorry I've been slack and not posted here,

6th May
Brenda’s back is not good today, not good at all and causing her a lot of pain, so she spent the whole day in bed reading, she hates “wasting” a day as she calls it, but we have to take these days of rest, to be able to continue on with the trip. I spent the day pottering around, did the washing, didn’t bother with our washing machine as the caravan park’s machines only cost $2.20, then hung it out, took the dogs for a few walks along the river (Loddon not the Murray), and into the adjacent park. Being close to winter I’m amazed at the number of people in the park, of course there are the permanents, but also many people travelling, naturally nowhere near as many as up north at this time of the year, but on the road, we probably pass at least 20 other caravans every day and every caravan park we pass has a number of vans in it. The weather is better today with mostly sunshine and 22 degrees which is also what is expected over the next couple of day’s, tomorrow we will look around Kerang.



7th May
Brenda’s back was much better today so we were up and going for a walk by 9.45, I had a map of the town marked with all the historical buildings , 84 in all, and although we didn’t see them all, we managed to see quite a few in our 3 and a ½ hour walk, the towns primary school, some beautiful stately homes, the bakery, TAFE building (the old “London Chartered” bank) and the towns first water tower with a capacity of 25,000 gallons were just a few, all built in the Mid to late 1880s, there is a tale which says that when the tower was decommissioned and emptied, it contained a Murray cod which had found its way in as a fingerling and was now huge at around 8ft and weighing in at over 200lbs, the librarian assures us that she believes it to be true.
After our walk we needed some nourishment (and a rest  ) so we bought the makings of ham salad sandwiches and headed back to the van, I made lunch and Brenda opted for a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, after a little siesta we put the leads on the dogs, much to their delight, and headed along the levy bank to the town and back swamp, which is on the other side of town to the caravan park and behind the town oval, there have been a number of walking trails made following the river/swamp and it was a pleasant walk where the dogs were able to enjoy all the smells of the place as we enjoyed the sights, there are fish in this river of course and I haven’t bothered to even get the rod out, so the fish were taunting me by jumping out of the water, one even did it twice so that even Brenda could see it, ooh I hate fish  .
Unfortunately like everywhere else there are those who come here and leave their rubbish behind, some you can tell has been left by stealth campers, those camping here illegally, and some like old furniture, which can only have been dumped by some uncaring local, but all in all it is a beautiful place, before we realised it we had walked another hour and a ½ and it was time to head back having only seen about 1/3 of this swamp area, we returned to the van where we were glad to put our feet up and even the dogs collapsed on the bed, but I’m sure if either of us had said the word “walk” they both would have, once again been eager.
After a lot of walking today we decided to buy tea tonight and the local pizza shop got our vote, when we settled to pizza, a glass of red, water for Brenda, and a few episodes of recorded TV.



8th May
There was no rush to get out of the park, so it was nearly 10.30 before we were out of there and headed south east on the Murray highway, only having to cover about 90km today we sauntered along at 75-80KPH pulling over to let traffic pass as it came up behind us.
The landscape around here is totally different than in the last few days, the effects of last summer still evident in the tall brown grasses and weeds, but this is farming and grazing land so the paddocks are all green and even the sides of the road had a lush green look to them, there are more vibrant trees and irrigation channels criss-cross the landscape like a watery grid marked out, some paddocks even look like swamps and in one the farmer has had to abandon not only the ploughing, but even the plough where it bogged in and only the tracks of the tractor are left where it save the farmer from a long slodge through the mud.
Before long we arrived at Cohuna, and spent an hour and a ½ walking, the town is split by a manmade lake with beautiful lawns and gardens with the public toilets and visitor centre being the only building in it and then the main road and the town itself, on the other side of the lake is the recreation area, including picnic park, oval, pool and a bit further along the caravan park, this little gem of a town is full of charm and friendly people living a slow country life where no one is too much of a hurry to say g’day and stop to have a chat with one another in the street, after having had morning tea, at the bakery we were heading off again, only to stop at a park in Gunbower and have a spot of lunch, a brief stop and on the move again, as we were driving we came to a brown sign pointing to Torrumbarry weir, 8km away, so decided to go have a look, it is a large weir/dam across the Murray river and where most of the water coming down is held back, at the moment and for the last couple of years with all the floods and heavy rainfall there is plenty of water going through it, but we both became emotional at the thought that because of mostly this and a few other dams in NSW, many families and businesses in SA, went bankrupt due to the lack of water in the river and lower lakes of the Murray, many small towns suffered and may never return to the way they were and the Murray mouth was nearly closed, the SA government had to dredge it for 13 continuous years in order to keep it flowing, and in SA the Murray river nearly died as the wetlands were all dry and the birdlife moved on, had we not had the floods of 3 years ago in QLD and NSW, life to the Murray in SA would have never returned, although this is a spectacle when there is so much water, it is also a great danger to life further downstream, hopefully the governments, state and federal will implement something soon to stop this nonsense.
We moved on from there and headed for Echuca, to get to a designated roadside stop to pull up for the night, the stop didn’t “feel” right and was only about a kilometre from the edge of town, being only 3.30, we picked a camp spot from our book, Christies beach camp spot sounded good as there is Christies Beach only about ½ an hour from our place back home, so we punched it into our Navman and followed directions, thought it strange that it should lead us over the river, therefore over the border into NSW, but followed the directions and ended up in front of a lavish house, knowing that no one would open their front yard to be a freecamp we kept going to the end of the road and found a place by the river to pull up for the night, being a dead end road it looks more like fishing spot than a beach, and the river is stagnant at the moment so we thought we would be the only ones there for the night BUT before long a motorhome pulled up, both its occupants having puzzled looks on their faces and cursing the Hema navigator for bringing them to this spot, they too were looking for Christies Beach camp spot and were pointed to the wrong place, deciding that it was getting late they too stoped for the night, both of us hoping that no one else would be sidetracked by the navigator, as there is not much room here.
An hour or so later I cooked a chow mien for tea and as we were almost finished spotted a bull ant on the kitchen wall, then another and another, a closer look revealed a number of them coming out from behind the range hood a cupboard, the smell of the food must have brought them out, we then spent the next hour or so pulling everything out of the cupboard spraying, air and surface spay to kill all the ants, then wiping the cupboards and cleaning the contents before putting it all back, we had picked up the infestation at the caravan park where we had spent the last 3 nights, there was a bull ants nest not fat from us on the levy and as I had sprayed the caravan legs with surface spray, didn’t think too much about an invasion, a lovely day with not such a lovely finish, but a lesson learned.



9th May
I didn’t want to take the chance of having some left over stowaways left so, after breakfast I turned off the 12 volt power, disconnected the batteries and went to work on removing the range hood, luckily I did because we found more bull ants, over 100 over them at a rough guess, some were dead but quite a few were groggy from the surface spray but very much alive, I took the range hood outside and finished them off while Brenda took care of the ones in the van, after the clean up, I replaced the range hood and turned the power back on and we headed off into Echuca.
This is a major town, at a guess, the same size as Mildura and just as cosmopolitan, there are many tourist attractions here, including steam boat rides, museums, and so on, even a Holden museum which I was very tempted to go into, but as I said before this is a budget trip. We walked around the town looking at all the old buildings, of which there are a myriad especially the churches and being a major town this is where the cathedrals of the archdiocese were build, the architecture, once you know it, is fairly easy to distinguish, with the very English high pitched roofs for the Anglican churches, very similar for the Presbyterian with slightly different windows and wall lines and the unmistakably gothic architecture of the Catholic cathedral, the Masonic hall, being built by masons was grand with huge columns and rounded coins and the salvation army citadel, not far from it, a lot more plain in comparison, and looking more like a hall than a church, reflecting the way the army channels its funds to help the people rather than on grand buildings. Of course being not only a cosmopolitan town but a tourist attraction Echuca is filled with not only the large stores such as Safeway, Coles and Big W and we also noticed the big arches here, no getting away from fast food, but there are also a myriad of coffee shops, bakeries, souvenir shops and even a chocolate shop, having a chocoholic amongst us, that one didn’t get away, lucky for me because they also sold chocolate infused port, white chocolate infused white port, and a chocolate liqueur, which also didn’t get away as we both liked it, we had a late lunch at one of the bakeries and continued our tour leisurely making our way back to the van, picking up some meat for tea, as we had forgotten to take some out of the freezer, we then made our way to the “real” Christies Beach Camp spot following street directions NOT the Navman, it is a much better place than last nights spot, with a lot more room where at least 10-15 rigs could squeeze in and I’m sure in the warmer months there would be that number, although by the time we went to sleep only 4 other rigs were here, it is not a beach as we know it, there is a drop of about 3 meters to the water but it can be reached and the water is a lot clearer here than further downstream, I can see this a great swimming hole.
It was only 2.30 when we got here and after the excitement of “the hunt” last night and this morning, both of us felt like it was time for a sleep, after a short ‘Nanna” nap, Brenda went back to her Kindle and I took the camera and the dogs for a walk, I did manage to get only a couple of shots of birds, but they are very quiet in these parts, at about 4.30 I heard the call of Kookaburras and stepping out of the van, saw 3 sitting on a branch only about 5 meters from me, I was amazed that they just sat there as I took photos, but found out a little later that a local man often comes at 4 - 4.30 to feed them and parks where we are tonight, I guess they though tonight was meals on wheels night and they came for a free feed, there were at least ½ a dozen hanging around, but unfortunately I had no meat for them, and I don’t know what bread would do to them so I didn’t feed them, and they left soon after.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, but after last night who needs events, and after tea we settled to a bit of, Revenge, (TV show that is) before bed.

Just spent the chilly weekend catching up with your earlier blogs. Did it a bit backwards read Tassie then your 2011 trip then the 1st trip. Love them. My favourite part was when Kia was chased by the emu which was chased by you. I was laughing so loudly my husband & kids wanted to know what was so funny so I read it out to them. They joined me in my laughter. I'm now getting itchy feet waiting for my 5 week trip to the Red Centre only 18 more weeks. Your blogs made me even more eager to get going. Can't wait for your next blog to be entered. & as I always tell my friends who can't understand why I can afford to go on so many long trips, (with only my husband working & 4 kids) & weekend trips is you don't have to have alot of money, save hard & just pack up & go & only do the things you can afford. Nature is free, spending time with family is priceless & photos are the best souvenirs to keep those memories alive.

Hi Frank and Brenda, Its a great trip that you are on. We have done it in the opposite direction. Easy from here up near Wodonga. What a shame you missed the Holden museum at Echuca, it's fantastic. I have been there on several occasions. Have a think about where you are staying in the Albury/Wodonga region. The regional centres offer a better sense of ambiance. Eg. Beechworth, Yackandandah, Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga.

Keep having fun.
Kel

G'day Frank and Brenda,
Thanks for the read, you certainly know how to make us feel like we are out there with you. Keep up the posts, looking forward to the next one.

We are in the showgrounds caravan park in Wodonga tonight, $20 a night, power water, showers toilets, grass and shade (not that we're under shade we want the heat of the sun)I won't put any photos up as they are eating into my download, so I'll save them for the blog, you'll have read it so when it's up you can just go in and look at the piccies.
Frank


10th May
During breakfast we contemplated staying put for a day and getting our washing done and having a shower as the weather is beautiful blue skies and were expecting 22 degrees, but it would be a waste of time sitting here for a couple of hours and waiting for it to warm up enough, so we packed up, topped up the water tank from the Gerry cans as we always carry spare water with us, then headed off towards Cobram, having checked that there was a freecamp just on the outskirts of town and right by the Murray.
Once again we are travelling in mostly open grazing land, but unlike so many places where the land was completely striped, there are many trees left to add to the beauty of the drive, the road is not so beautiful and a bit rough in places, although this is a B road it is the major road along the Murray towns and does have a fair bit of traffic on it, including large semis, and because of that, there are truck ruts in the road that grab your wheels and move you around like a pawn on a chess set, a cheek tightening experience when you suddenly move about 45cm towards the left of the road at 90km per hour, especially when the shoulder of the road drops up to 10cm, in places, it could be quite a hair raising experience and dangerous to someone who happened to hit both at the same time, there were floods here a couple of years back and the worst places have been repaired, some places were only patched up and are already lifting, some work needs to be done soon before the road claims another victim, literally.
Where the road was good I was able to enjoy the scenery and it’s nice to see all those green fields, some of the paddocks are actually flooded while the one next to it is dry and used for grazing, one flooded next dry and so on, they are that way because of the thousands of irrigation channels that continue to criss-cross the country side, when you think about it all these channels must hold millions of megalitres and quite possibly are just as responsible for the plight of the lower Murray, as the large irrigation dams built to grow cotton and rice in a country not made for it, (shish, I’m starting to sound very political, aren’t I ) Off my soapbox now.
We arrived at Nathalia, a quaint little country town, no great tourist attractions here, but a sign at the beginning of town to mark it as an “RV friendly” town, these small towns are usually between larger ones (duh!) and have nothing in particular to offer the passing tourist, so usually miss out on the tourist dollars, they set themselves up as an “RV friendly” town with the aid of the CMCA (Campervan and Motorhome club of Australia), they put in a dump point where black and grey water tanks can be emptied, somewhere to fill up with water, usually close by, and somewhere to park caravans and motor-homes, there is a chemist in the town as well as a doctor, grocery supplies, butcher, bakery and fuel, all that is needed to be on the road, by offering these and often other facilities such as a budget caravan park or free-camping close to town, they hope that some tourists will stop for a day or 2 and spend a few dollars in town before moving on to the bigger towns, we often stay in these smaller towns, but today we only stop to look around and have a walk along the lovely park and do some window shopping, before moving on towards Cobram, we made our way to the camp and set up as soon as we got there got the genny out to run the washing machine and while Brenda was doing the washing I went back into town got some fuel and water, same back, got the choofer out and got the fire going to heat the water for our showers, then put up the shower tent, by now it was 2pm and time to have a quick sandwich before having a shower, feeling refreshed and almost human again  we went for a walk, as this camp is in a state forest, we got back to the van after about an hour, relaxed and spend some time reading and on the laptop, before having some left over tea and settling for the night

11th May
With this being a small town we didn’t have much to do today so we had a lazy morning, what are holidays for after all? So it was nearly 11 o’clock before we got into town, we walked around as usual but there are not as many old buildings here as in other parts of Victoria and although it is a smaller town it is very busy so we managed to “amuse” ourselves for about 3 hours, we headed back towards the camp but took a detour and went to the local “beach” and what a beautiful spot, huge river red gums shading magnificent lush green lawns, any greenkeeper would be proud to own, leading to a lovely sandy beach on the edge of the river, with a very picturesque high bank on the other side, a walk among the trees there, was just fantastic, there is the “Beach house” a cafe which was open with many people enjoying the view over a cuppa sitting at the tables. From there we turned left over the causeway, the river and border into NSW to arrive at a picture post card photo, of the Barooga street trees in their amazing autumn colours from yellow to orange, blood red and crimson amongst the still green trees with colours from other plants such as purple from a bougainvillea, made for a cocktail of colour to tantalise the senses, it really was a WOW moment, such as we have not yet seen on this trip, a little further along we saw that Barooga had a Botanical garden we didn’t have the time now to see it so at that moment we decided that, we would stay in the area at least another day to come back to walk in the garden, we headed back into the town to stop and take some photos and walked along the foot path, when we came up to the Hardware store which has a statue of a pirate out the front, why I’m not sure but there it is, Jazz on the lead suddenly went down low stretching his neck forward to smell it, his legs were ready to run in the opposite way, he had a sniff, growl, small bark then took a step backwards, jumped forwards barked again all the while not taking his eyes off this “stranger” whom he didn’t trust, we both stood there in hysterics at the sight of this ferocious little dog, protecting us from the big bad ..... he didn’t know what, Brenda had to actually go up to the statue and coax him over, which he did very dubiously, he sniffed at it from about 30cm away but wouldn’t go near it, that’s when I touched his bum with my foot, a prank he did not appreciate, and if dogs looks were daggers, I’d be dead meat, LOL, LOL, even on the return trip he went out on the road and faced an oncoming semi rather than be too close to that ....... whatever it was, it was the funniest thing we have seen for a long time and only later did I think, I should have filmed it, we headed back into Cobram and visited the information centre, which we usually do on arrival in a town but had been side tracked, to get an idea of what there is in the area and realised that at least another 2 days will be needed here and it’s a nice spot so why not, we headed back to the van where I got a fire going (in the choofer of course) Brenda cooked a curry for tea, after tea we did the dishes and sat back with a few more episodes of revenge

12th May
With nothing much planned for today we had another lazy start and after breakfast we headed off to Tocumwal for the country market. Tocumwal is a quaint little country town with not much going for it in the way of “attractions” so a country market brings into the town, some of the tourists to the area, the weather is mostly sunny but very cold at around 12 degrees but hasn’t disturbed the myriads of people from turning up, which proves that a country market, in fact any market, is always an attraction, the treasures on offer are that of almost any other market, with some fruit and veg, fresh food, doggy treats, clothes of all description, watches, jewellery and all sorts of bling, to doll yourself up, to the inevitable collection of old brick-a-brack which has been gathering dust in the back corner of some shed and the owner hopes to find a willing buyer for his old treasure, treasure hunters from near and far gather as one of the salesmen unravels his spiel about the latest and greatest knife sharpener, which will not only sharpen your butterknife but also you garden shears to a finely honed edge with only one stroke, then will slice through a ripe tomato (mind you he uses the same butter knife and garden shear over and over again and I’m sure if I did that with mine on my knife sharpener and only sliced through ½ a tomato before sharpening it again, the edge would be just as sharp) and the people stumble over themselves to get this wonder of technology as we walk on looking for a bargain, which doesn’t eventuate.
On our way back to Cobram we stopped at the BIG strawberry, a place which grows the berries, makes them into all sorts of treat and sells them to you at, well, more than we are willing to pay, I don’t mind paying a little more than ordinary for something special but, $10.50 for a pancake, a scoop of strawberry ice-cream, and a dollop of fresh cream, is ridiculous, I do mind being ripped off, then a family walks in and proceeds to look at all the souvenirs and food on offer with the man holding the small family dog under his arm, after it was pointed out to the manager she had words with him and he merely stood to the side, while people are eating as his wife went to the counter to by their selection, we left very soon after that, and headed back into Cobram and had a walk in the park and a look at the 1875 log cabin, which is part of the preserving the history of the town, Seeing as we hadn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, the cold got the better of us and we headed back to the van to have a late lunch and put the heater on, as I said before the sun is out but the temperature has refused to climb and the breeze is only adding to the cold, at least in the camp site, the trees are keeping the icy wind at bay, other than reading and talking to some other campers by the campfire, the rest of the day was spent in the warmth of the van, tomorrow we’ll be better prepared for the cold, as we face the Barooga botanical gardens.

13th May
Happy Mother’s Day
After I had finished writing the log, I cooked Brenda’s favourite breakfast, my version of French toast, with fair bit of sugar in the egg mix, once cooked I melt butter and sugar in the frypan and finish the toast in it, what is left is poured on the toast to give it a sort of candied toast finish, great for the teeth, cholesterol and weight watchers, but hey it’s a special day.
When I had tidied up, Brenda got sandwiches ready for lunch and we headed off warmly dressed, to the Botanical Gardens at Barooga, now these are not the sort of gardens one would expect of a major city but for a tiny country town they were fabulous garden, in fact the only one we have seen in a small town, walking at a good pace you could walk around them in about 5 minutes, but we took our time looked at most of the trees many deciduous and in autumn colours, there are a few nooks and crannies here and there as well as a couple of water features, complete with fountain, and a garden of flowers, which are fenced off, not sure if for safety or protection from vandalism, but with all the autumn leaves rolling on the ground in the breeze, over the lush green lawns certainly made for a beautiful stroll looking not only at the trees but also the birds in the park, there were a lot of magpies, obviously used to humans, as you could approach them while they were just above head high in the trees and they just looked at you without any hint of flight, they did however keep a close eye on our 2 ratbags, who naturally were on the lead, after a read of the plaques at the bases of the trees, on the commemoration stone and the write up about the park, which was the brainchild of 2 of the elder men of the town and were built with the town council’s and volunteer help just over 20 years ago, we had spent a good hour there, from there we headed back toward Victoria (a whole 3km away) and stopped in at a couple of state forest parks to have a look around. This area is full of tracks, not only for walking and cycling but also for cars, which lead to a lot of camping spots, it’s amazing that there are a few caravan parks around and so many camping spots along the river.
We then headed for the other place we had wanted to visit today, the Quinn Island Sanctuary, just a kilometre from our camp it is a 2 kilometre walk, on an island surrounded by the river, it has been set up with walking tracks to enjoy the natural flora and fauna of the place and although we didn’t spot any kangaroos, we are assured they are there, we did however, see 4 of the many koalas which live here as well as many of the birds including blue wrens, sulphur crested cockatoos (which are prolific in the area) and kookaburras, another hour or so spent on the island made it past lunch time and we headed into town to fill the jerry cans with water, we had wanted to have our lunch in one of the parks in town, but by now the sky was really threatening and had already dropped one shower so we headed back to the van to have our lunch, as the sun has hardly shone today the solar panels haven’t replaced much power in the batteries, so I got the generator out, fired it up and turned on everything I needed to, and since we had the power to spare even ran our small heater and enjoyed the warmth of it for a few hours, as the evening came I put some water on the heat and we had a wash before I ordered Chinese takeaway for Mother’s Day tea. It has been a good day, but more importantly, although she missed her Mum and having the children around, one that Brenda enjoyed; it was her day after all.

14th May
With no real rush to leave here I packed up the things outside, the choofer shower/toilet tent chairs, awning and such, while Brenda was tidying up the inside and doing the dishes, this is a great camp spot but I guess we have to leave sometime, by 10.30 we were making our way out of town and towards Yarrawonga 60km away, one of the low cost attractions around here is the Byramine Homestead, it is a working 1000 hectare produce and cereal farm with a small vineyard, in the middle of the property however id the 160+ year old homestead built for Elizabeth Hume, the widow of explorer John Kennedy Hume who was murdered by bushrangers at Gunning in 1840, she was only in her early 30s when her husband was killed. Being ones for looking at old buildings we couldn’t go past it and at only $5 a head it was worth stepping back in time to see this unusual British design home which was modelled on stately homes of India, the house naturally is surrounded by a veranda, the entrance, which is facing north, and main room of the home is octagonal with high ceilings, with a room with lower ceilings, leading from it at each wall except one which leads to a corridor with not only the master room off it but the meat room and the back door on the southern wall leading out to the cooks kitchen and living quarters, the house is so designed so that in the hot, harsh summers of Australia, as in India, the doors and windows were opened and actually drew air through the house to cool it, it is a heritage listed home and other than having a working kitchen (in the main room) where light lunches and Devonshire teas are prepared is not used as a home, the owners of the property live about 500mt away.
On leaving, Wade McPherson the owner, did tell us of a little winery across the road that is becoming famous for its Cobram cream, a version of Bailey’s Irish cream, with Brenda loving Bailey’s and me wine, we decided to go in, the Cobram Cream was nice, a bit too coffee-ish for Brenda but their 2004 Petit Verdot was really nice and I came away with a bottle of it at a good price. Back on the road we got to Yarrawonga at a leisurely pace and parked down by the Lake Mulwala foreshore and walked the length of the main street up and down, on the footpaths there are plaques where the old shops stood such as the blacksmith, butcher, baker, etc but have long since been replaced by modern buildings for modern times, not many old building still stand, other than what looks like to have been a bank and the shire building which still look to be no more than a hundred years old, Yarrawonga shares the border with the town of Mulwala in NSW, and we did a quick trip over just to check out the bridge between the 2 which intrigued me, it starts off at about a meter above water level on the Victorian side and is just a narrow 2 lane wooden bridge, then drops down to water level before rising to a steel structure at least 3-4 meters above the water on the NSW side, it really looks like the Victorians didn’t want to join the states at this point and only made a token effort, certainly a weird looking bridge, it was built however I think for horse and cart, as it is a very narrow bridge with no room for error and 2 semis would not be able to pass each other here, I doubt 2 cars and caravans would manage, after a bite to eat we headed off to Parola's bend on the river about 25kn out of town where there is yet another beautiful free-camp and we set up, being still early and the sun is shining, the temperature has climbed to about 18, we are even in T-shirts, we decided that though we don’t have much washing we would take the opportunity of the sunshine to get the machine out and do what we have, while Brenda was doing that, I put up the washing line and looked at the map for tomorrow, when Brenda was finished we went for a walk along the track and realise that about 600mt away from us there were other people in the camp which is about 1km long. Back to camp for some reading and taking photos of the trees silhouetted in the sunset and reflection of the water, before closing up for the evening, some left over Chinese tea and some TV before bed.

Thanks for that, as I've said before the whole idea of making my logs into blogs and publishing them was to insipre others to get out there and do it or be a help to them, you don't have to have mega dollars to be on the road, we are touring on the pension only, our rig is a 32yo carvan and an 11yo car, and it's considered young to some we've seen.
GET OUT THERE AND DO IT PEOPLE
Frank

And another couple of days

15th May
Parola’s bend is such peaceful place, although the road is only about 500mt from where we are, the traffic didn’t start till about 8, or at least we didn’t notice it, today there is not a breath of wind in the crisp morning air, a slight fog has settled on the lagoon in front of us and as the sun rises’ behind us, the trees casts shadows on the water allowing the small kingfisher to camouflage themselves on the reeds and small branches to lay in wait for their tiny breakfast to surface, in the distance some grey water birds wade in the shallow water, whilst in the trees the kookaburra laugh to mark their territory as the sulphur crested cockatoos screech their complaints to the world which is waking under yet another beautiful blue sky. After breakfast we pack up and are on the road at 9 am, very early compared to the last couple of times.
Some towns we stop at for one reason or another, others only glancing at the building and people as we go through, we have always travelled like this, if we are meant to stop we do, if we miss something, there’s a reason for it and we’ll see it another time, Rutherglen was such a town, though it looked nice enough, we just sailed on through to continue our journey to Wodonga, this is a much larger town than we thought and will need a couple of days at least here, so we headed for the showgrounds caravan park to set up, before heading out and having a look around, for today just a quick drive around to familiarises ourselves with the area, then we headed out to Bonegilla, and the migration museum.
When my family came to Australia in 1967 from Belgium, we spent one month here at the Bonegilla migrant camp, most of the camp has been taken over by the army, in fact where we the migrants were is now all army camp, only block 19, which was staff quarters still stands and has been restored, back to its “glory” days of the 50s and 60’s but as the whole camp had been modelled on an army camp the set up and buildings were the same as where we had spent that first month in our new country.
Other than Mum who understood a few words, none of us could speak a word of English, no one else around us spoke French, all only speaking their own tongues and only a handful with even the slightest grasp of a few words of English, we were divided into groups of people who shared a somewhat common diet, so northern Europeans were together in one block, Italians in another and so on, that meant that in our camp there were people from Holland, Germany, France (although not while we were there) Denmark and so on as well as ourselves, the whole camp was a babble of different languages which as a 12yo I couldn’t make heads nor tail of, the staff only spoke English, even the teachers, which made it nigh on impossible to ask a question, but I must say when you have to speak English you learn quickly, all this brought back some emotional memories and I rang my brother and sister to share the moment with them, after looking through the buildings which are open to the public, we left with one last look at a lifetime ago and headed back to the van, stopping at McDonald’s to hook up to the Wi-Fi and buy a new book for Brenda’s Kindle and a at couple of other places. Still early but with what felt like a full day, we showered and read till tea time, then with the sun going down the cold of night came and we settled in with the heater for the night.
16th May
We were out of the van, by 9.30 and heading down the freeway over the border and into NSW, Albury, to catch up with another forum member, she was working so had a coffee with her in her break and put yet another face to a name I have been speaking with for a few months, it was nice to finally “see” the other person, after a good chat we headed back into town to have a look around. Spotted an information Building right next to the grand building that is the Albury train station and went in to get some info, after having a look around the station we walked the main street to look at many other buildings, dating back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, including the St Patrick’s, Catholic church with its unmistakable Gothic design but unusual rounded dome on the belltower instead of the sharp pointed one, it looked to me out of place next to it was the primary School which looked to be almost as old, the church was open (which is unusual in these days of vandalism) so we went in t not only look, but give thanks for a wonderful trip so far, as most churches of the era it is designed in the shape of the cross with a plain but beautiful altar at the head, the confessionals were at the tips of the arms and of course the entrance at the feet, inside, the high ceiling being all timber, the Gothic arches, the stations of the cross and the statues of saints including of course St Patrick and of the sacred heart and Our Lady, looked to be a carbon copy of all Catholic churches of times gone by but still a beautiful church. We strolled down to the botanical gardens, but were disappointed to see the “no dogs” sign, they looked magnificent but we were not to see them from the inside, with that we headed back up the other side of the road and stopped in a couple of shops looking for a burner for our heater, we were directed to a larger camping store back to where we had come from, but were able to have another look as we went along a different route, now way past lunch time we stopped for a bite to eat before going into the shop, got what we needed to and headed back toward Wodonga, noticing a couple of places to visit tomorrow, back to the van by 4.30 to start getting ready to win the day down, a long day with a lot done, it’s going to be very cold tonight so the heater on and settle in.

the next lot

16th May
We were out of the van, by 9.30 and heading down the freeway over the border and into Albury, NSW, to catch up with another forum member, she was working so had a coffee with her in her break and put yet another face to a name I have been speaking with for a few months, it was nice to finally “see” the other person, after a good chat we headed back into town to have a look around. Spotted an information Building right next to the grand building that is the Albury train station and went in to get some info, after having a look around the station we walked the main street to look at many other buildings, dating back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, including the St Patrick’s, Catholic church with its unmistakable Gothic design but unusual rounded dome on the belltower instead of the sharp pointed one, it looked to me out of place, next to it was the primary School which looked to be almost as old, the church was open (which is unusual in these days of vandalism) so we went in, to not only look, but give thanks for a wonderful trip so far. As most churches of the era it is designed in the shape of the cross with a plain but beautiful altar at the head, the confessionals were at the tips of the arms and of course the entrance at the feet, inside, the high ceiling being all timber, the Gothic arches, the stations of the cross and the statues of saints including of course St Patrick and of the sacred heart and Our Lady, looked to be a carbon copy of all Catholic churches of times gone by but still a beautiful church. We strolled down to the botanical gardens, but were disappointed to see the “no dogs” sign, they looked magnificent but we were not to see them from the inside, with that we headed back up the other side of the road and stopped in a couple of shops looking for a burner for our heater, we were directed to a larger camping store back to where we had come from, but were able to have another look as we went along a different route, now way past lunch time we stopped for a bite to eat before going into the shop, got what we needed to and headed back toward Wodonga, noticing a couple of places to visit tomorrow, back to the van by 4.30 to start getting ready to wind the day down, a long day with a lot done, it’s going to be very cold tonight so the heater on and settle in.

17th May
After waking to a very cold morning, that saw ice on the car, we were out of the park by 9.30 and back to Albury to exchange the gas burner we had bought yesterday as it was the wrong one, on the way back we stopped at the Gateway island village, a great place set up with visitor information centre, a cafe and a few artists studios surrounded by parklands, apparently the place is used as a farmers market on weekends so it would be a bustling place, today only a few tourists and some locals enjoying the walk around the parklands as we peruse the art works on offer, some great timber craft, jewellery, scarves etc, and of course the paintings some good some left you scratching your head.
At the visitor info we found out that there isn’t a historical walk in Wodonga so we parked the car and walked along the streets looking at the shops and the bronze sculptures along the footpath some subtle, like a pile of books left on the corner of a wall, or a bag full of teddy bears, or there was a old “leather” lounge chair with a tray, bottle of champagne and 2 glasses it only took us about an hour to walk, as we were walking in one of the arcades we met up with Chuck, a member of a caravanning forum we had met a few weeks back at a gathering in Crystal Brook in SA. When we got back to the car we drove around the suburbs for a short while just getting the “feel” of the place, then headed back to the van for a bit of R and R we have had three full days and need a rest, LOL, LOL,
Had a quiet afternoon, washed the car (sort of) and the van, filled the tank and Gerry cans and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around.

18th May
Although we had a rest yesterday, the last 3 busy days have caught up with us and Brenda’s back is playing up, we are leaving but not travelling far, with that, and having woken to a frosty morning where even the grass is crunchy under foot, we took it easy packing up, when I was just about done a local bloke called past and was very interested in our set up and free-camping, he and his wife normally travel once a year up to the QLD covering about 300km a day and book ahead in caravan parks, but with the ever increasing cost of van parks they are very keen to try free-camping and want to set up their van for 12v power, by the time he finished it was past 11 o’clock.
I finished up and hooked up the van then we headed off, the first rest area on the Camps book, was just that, a rest area on the side of the freeway, we stopped there for lunch, a nice spot but with so much traffic, being the main freeway between Melbourne and the eastern states, there’s no way we could stop overnight, so early in the day. We picked another spot which looked a lot more conducive to our needs and headed for that, although it is 26k out of our way it seems to be the only one not on the freeway, we got to “pioneer bridges” 2km from Everton and realised we had made the right decision, a beautiful spot next to the Ovens river, full of large deciduous trees which have just lost all their leaves, leaving a rustly carpet of dry leaves all over the ground, almost deep enough to cover the dogs so that when they run through it all you can see is the top of their backs, and run though it they did, like a couple of little puppies who have just been given a new toy chasing one another, swishing left and right, darting back and forth, they were having more fun doing it, than we were just watching them, the leaves were also deep enough to hide holes in the ground and cover them up, so every now and then one of the dogs would disappear into an explosion of leaves to emerge like a jumping, speeding gazelle, out of the hole and continue on with the chase, the leaves were also deep enough, unfortunately, to hide a dead fish, which Jazz found while I was taking pictures and thought it a good idea to rub himself all over it, I considered, for a moment, just throwing the little bugger in the river but thought heating water and an impromptu bath for him the better way to go, there is NO WAY he would sleep in the van as he was, there is one other rig here and later a 4WD pulled up and the people set up a tent, the rest area is next to the road but the traffic is very light and stopped by 8.30 – 9 O’clock so after that there was only quiet and the occasional rustling of leaves blown around in the slight breeze of the crisp night air, leaving us to enjoy and very peaceful starlight night.