SATURDAY 18 AUGUST     SWAN HILL TO GOL GOL     227kms

The day was still cold, but there was less wind and rain.

Before breakfast, I took Couey on a run in the park lands.

Packing up was a bit faster. It really was much easier than it had been with the van.

Couey was not happy again, with the moving Bus, but the anxiety remedy did seem to dull her reactions. It was interesting that she was quite happy to be in the bus when it was in living mode, but upset as soon as she realized it would be moving again. She would totally happily go in and out of Bus, when camped, but once it was all packed up, had to be cajoled with treats to get on board.

We stopped at a servo in town for fuel – with me watching out the side window to make sure the correct nozzle was selected! Diesel was $1.399cpl, 76.4 litres went into the tank for $106.89.

John parked Bus near the servo and I went off to buy papers, and a chilli pull apart loaf that would be for lunch. As I walked away, could hear dog barking…..

We took the Murray Valley Highway. It was pleasant driving, much of it through irrigated farmed land. The road paralleled the Murray River, though only in a few places was it actually close enough to be visible. That made sense – a road too close to the river could flood.

I was forming plans for a future, more extended trip through these parts, that would see us camping in bush sites along the river – away from caravan parks. Given the Driver’s increasing dependence on TV and the recent, hospital-acquired addiction to the computer game World of Warcraft, separating him from plug-in 240volt power might be a dream on my part, though.

We stopped at a rest area in Robinvale for lunch. I was able to easily access butter from the fridge, for our pull apart loaf, and prepare it in Bus. Very convenient. After that, we went for a walk along the main street and bought take away coffees.

As we were driving out again, just before the river bridge, noticed a pleasant looking caravan park on the river bank. We agreed this looked like a town we should come back to for a few days of exploring.

Crossed the river at Robinvale into NSW and continued towards the Mildura area that way. This meant that we came into Gol Gol without having to go right through Mildura first. Much easier.

Booked into Rivergardens Caravan Park, where we had stayed before. This time, our en-suite site was a much better spacious one, across the other side of the park, tucked away by the side road to the river. We paid $33.30 a night, after chain discount. The park had new owners who had only been there for nine months.

After setting up, took Couey for a walk along Carramar Drive, the road with all the lovely homes that front onto the river. There had been a couple of new places built since we were last here in 2010. The road had a really wide, sort-of grassed verge on one side, so dog did some free ranging along there.

Later in the afternoon, a group of motorbike riders moved into the nearby cabins. Then some local bike riders arrived – could tell they were local because they weren’t carrying gear like the first ones. They all congregated for a social event in the camp kitchen. We were a bit concerned that this could become a rowdy Saturday night, but they were not too noisy. About 8.30pm, the local riders departed, and all was quiet. We should not have been so quick to stereotype.