Mildura to Clare
Waking amongst the general rumble of a caravan park, we packed the van and trundled off into town for a walk along the mighty Murray River. The plan was to then partake of a scrumptious breakfast sitting somewhere above the Murray just taking in the ambiance.
The walk went particularly well ,being more of a stroll with no destination. We happened upon a garden put together in honour of a famous local council bloke or something like that. It was apparently a scented garden. Try as I might I could not smell a thing.
Returning to the Rowing Club for breakfast on the deck, we sat, chatted then looked at the menu. Thank god the Ambos got there in a hurry, for both of us needed resuscitating. $41 for a couple of sausages, a bit of bacon and a couple of eggs overlooking a muddy creek. And I thought Noosa was unrealistically expensive. We left hungry.
Up town we located a genuinely good café. Great breaky at a decent price and lovely staff to deal with. What’s not to like. Well, a lot actually. Mildura has dress shops. G likes dress shops. Our departure was delayed significantly. G purchased a few pieces that would assist in her summer wardrobe; apparently. I was not to upset as one of the dresses has a lovely checked print so can be re-used as a tea towel when it gets old. Value was definitely there.
Not long after we entered South Australia from Victoria we encountered quarantine bins on the side of the road. Basically you get to ditch your fruit and veges into a long drop fruit toilet before heading to the offical inspection station up the road.
The inspection officer was a really decent lady. She had a look inside the van, commented that it looked brand new and left us to our day. The encounter even included getting to travel under a Dunlop Tyre bridge just like they used to have at the old Surfers Paradise Raceway when I was a kid.
Heading out towards Renmark, we encountered little until we arrived. A cracker narrow bridge across the Murray accompanied by a lovely park made our brief stay worthwhile.
A list of less than memorable towns flew by unit we pulled up in Morgan for a pic of a church and a getting desperate wee. Upon returning to the van I noticed the weather strip running the full length of the van on the left side was dragging on the ground. A quick inspection revealed something (probably a rock) had flicked up from the van tyre and knocked the head off a screw that held the bottom of the strip to the van frame. Without the head the strip was free to pull out of its runner and fly free.
Nine well selected swear words later, I had the weather strip remounted, and my order for another role of hundred mile and hour tape submitted. I decided tomorrow was the appropriate day to fix it properly.
The next town to take our attention was Eudunda. A village pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with not a green stick of grass to show, for some reason had the cheapest fuel we had seen for a thousand ks, and a couple of amazing silos to match. Thankfully the fuel was cheap as we had been battling 50km/h headwinds all day making the fuel gauge drop dramatically. Panther was sucking over 20 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres. I thought this was bad until a Mitsubishi owner told me a bit later his used that much on a good day. I love how another’s misery makes me feel so good.
It’s incredible how quickly the landscape can change as we travel. Literally one hill after Eudunda the entire world was covered with knee high barley crops creating a truly beautiful spectre. Ancient cottages perched on hills completed the moving picture perfectly.
Our day ended as we skipped through a number of little towns close together before finally coming to rest about six kilometres south of Clare.
I’m told the next couple of days are visiting wineries. No doubt I will be driving and G drinking. I wet my pants in anticipation!!
Looks like a good time being had by all 😌💕 Have fun all those wineries Gen… very jealous 😉🥂🥰