This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Monthly Archives: November 2021


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2009 Travels August 31

MONDAY 31 AUGUST     BENDIGO TO HOME     225kms

Grandson arrived at van to wake us up, about 7am. It was a cold morning, so we had a snuggle in the bed, with non-stop chat, until he had to go in for breakfast.

We left soon after the family departed for school and work. It would not be long before we had grandson to stay for the school holidays.

School holiday fun

Took the usual way home: Heathcote, Seymour, Yea – where we had a brief stop.

Through the areas ravaged by the bushfires of earlier in the year, there was some green, fresh shooting and growth, but not as much recovery as I’d hoped to see. Recovery from these fires were going to take a longer time than previously, as they burned so fiercely.

Reached home about 11.30am.

Everything was as neat and tidy as we’d come to realize was usual with the house sitters. The gardens were weeded, lawns mowed, pool sparkling clean, house immaculate.

Well, Truck finally did make it home. Sighs of relief all round – suspect I may have heard a quiet one from the machine in question, too. Now John had to sort out restitution with the mechanic – and find a new one!

We did some unpacking, then sat down to a lovely lunch – casserole and cake – made by our house sitter. They had already relocated their car interstate, with help from relatives. After a leisurely lunch, they were collected by a little limo, to be transported to the airport to catch their overseas flight. Next house sit – Denver, Colorado, USA.

We had been away just over four months.

Home again….

TRIP STATISTICS 2009

*  away for 131 nights

*  Accommodation cost $3054.40 out of pocket

*  Accommodation discounts: $136.60

*  Most expensive camp: Takarakka, Carnarvon Gorge: $38 per night

*  Cheapest camp: Lorne Station, Lightning Ridge: $100 a week

*  Longest stay: 4 weeks at Forrest Beach Qld.

No fuel/kms stats, because John accidentally deleted the record from his laptop!

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2009 Travels August 30

SUNDAY 30 AUGUST     COBRAM TO BENDIGO     195kms

Because we had a day to spare, today’s destination was Bendigo. Started this trip by going there and would finish it that way, too.

We got away early. It was a pleasant drive, again through flat farming country.

Stopped at the bakery at Elmore for an early lunch – pie and pasty for John, a sausage roll for me, which I would probably later regret when the usual indigestion set in. Daughter had asked me to buy her some jam tarts from there, for grandson’s lunch box, him being very fond of same.

As we came into Bendigo, drove straight to the White Hills football and netball club. We had been given instructions about where to find parking there for the rig. We joined daughter at the club house; watched the annual best and fairest counts, saw daughter’s partner and a couple of her family members receive trophies.

After that, took the rig on to daughter’s place and parked in our usual place in the driveway. We did not unhitch! But, even so, put some bricks behind the van wheels. I do not like that slope!

We went with daughter, to Castlemaine, to pick up grandson, who had spent the weekend with his father. John was feeling generous and said we would pay for a pizza tea. The shop we went to was rather upmarket. It cost $67 for three ordinary sized pizzas, plus a small one for grandson. And to think that I regularly churned out more generously topped pizzas, at home, by the half dozen, for visiting family and friends….

Grandson was so pleased to see us, and talked non-stop on the drive back to Bendigo. He was very good at non-stop.

An early night was in order – work and school for the family tomorrow.


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2009 Travels August 29

SATURDAY 29 AUGUST     GRIFFITH TO COBRAM     210kms

The morning was a bit colder, and rather gloomy. I felt the transition from tropical heat to the southern late winter had been a bit too abrupt.

Today’s was a routine drove south, over familiar roads, across the flat, irrigated plains of the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys, periodically broken up by irrigation channels.

By the time we crossed the Murray river at Tocumwal, into Victoria, it was raining steadily. It seemed fitting – a kind of welcome back to the reality of home.

Stopped at a roadside fruit outlet, not far into Victoria, and bought cheap pumpkins, strawberries and navel oranges. Some of the produce would go to daughter.

Having time on our side, for once, decided to overnight at Cobram. Took an en-suite site at the Oasis Caravan Park. $30. Hadn’t been here before. The ensuites were in an octagonal shaped central building, with the sites radiating out around that. Different. The layout gave more of a sense of privacy than the traditional rectangular one.

Unusual but effective site layout, Cobram

It was a pleasant park and seemed a nice town.

After set up, I went for a walk around the streets. John relaxed, watching TV and on the computer. Despite the rain threatening to start again, I managed a good long walk.


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2009 Travels August 28

FRIDAY 28 AUGUST     NORTH BOURKE TO GRIFFITH     530kms

Away again at 7am, now feeling rather apprehensive about the remainder of this trip.

We had driven this road so many times before that all I could say was that it was as usual. Flat, mostly. Scrubland. Cypress pine stands in places. Cobar was still there.

We tootled around in Hillston, for a while, trying to find fuel. Should have topped up in Cobar. We had never fuelled up here before, so didn’t know where to go. One outfit was shut for lunch. The other was an automated one – not too sure about that, so just got enough, after some fiddling around and censored words from John,  to see us to Griffith.

The weather seemed to be cooling down, as we came south, so it was a pleasant enough day for driving.

At the Griffith Caravan Park, we splashed out on an en-suite site, for $30. After the travails of the past few days, felt like a bit of indulgence. But the site was not particularly pleasant – on gravel, bare and utilitarian. The managers were not very amiable. We decided that next time through here, we should try somewhere else. Was there somewhere else?

Griffith site

We were not seeing our Griffith friends, who were away, but unhitched Truck and drove to buy fish and chips for tea. That cost $30, because we selected pieces of barra that were weighed before cooking. But it was a very nice meal.

Griffith was not an easy place to find one’s way around!


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2009 Travels August 27

THURSDAY 27 AUGUST     CHARLEVILLE TO NORTH BOURKE     450kms

We were away by 7am.

This was a route we’d driven several times before, through the semi-arid grazing and mulga country.

Refuelled at the usual place at the corner at Cunnamulla.

In an event typical of this benighted trip, we had another flat tyre, on the driver’s side rear – again – about 50kms south of Cunnamulla. That was the spare wheel we’d put on two days ago. We’d been carrying it as a spare, since it was repaired at Lightning Ridge. THAT repair didn’t last long!

Now we’d used both spares. It was not a nice feeling, to be going several hundred kms with no spare, through country where settlements were few and far between.

It was a relief to reach Kidmans Camp at North Bourke, mid afternoon, after stopping briefly beside the road to eat lunch, earlier.

Our site at Kidmans cost $26.

We unhitched, and John drove on into Bourke, to a tyre place. They found that the guy in Lightning Ridge had essentially wrecked the tyre, by carving off some of the edge beading! Why on earth would he have done that? John came back with a brand new tyre on the – solid – spare wheel. We mounted that on back of Truck, and put the split one on the van mounting. He’d fuelled up in town too.

Kidmans Camp was as lovely as always. They now had two swimming pools. I couldn’t get motivated to try either, but we went walking down the tracks to the Darling River. The river level was medium – had seen it much lower in other years.

We watched the tourist river boat return to dock from its afternoon cruise.

Lazed about for the rest of the day.

There was another wonderful inland sunset here.