SATURDAY JULY 13     MULWALA

The morning was grey, cold, with drizzling rain.

Dog woke me at 8am. Suspect she may have been fed up with the snoring, too. Anyway, she wanted out, so we paddled off to the gravelled area at the side of the park and I gave her a ball chase. Put her on the lead to walk around the park. As we got closer to the foreshore, she really wanted to head for the lake, so we would need to watch her carefully from now on, now that she knows there is a giant sized “puddle” over that way.

It was too cold and damp to breakfast outside, as I prefer.

John got going mid-morning and after his breakfast, we set out in the car to go “into town”.

But first, drove slowly through Kyffins Reserve, adjacent to our caravan park. I’d read of this place as a popular camping area, for fully self-contained rigs, as there are no amenities provided. Could see why it would be attractive, in the warmer months, combining waterfront and bushland. At this time of year and in these conditions, there was only one lot of campers, newly arrived, setting up by the water’s edge. Optimistic people, I thought. It was evident, from campfire remains, that the No Camping edict in sections of the Reserve, had been ignored. The selfish minority in action again.

The main shopping precinct for the twin towns is Yarrawonga, so it was back across the bridge over Lale Mulwala. John’s priority was to find somewhere to buy a TV cable. That accomplished, drove around, looking, getting a feel for the place. Looked at the weir which dams the Murray River and hence forms Lake Mulwala upstream from it. Saw caravan parks that looked alright and would be more central than where we are set up. In the warmer months, I suspected our park would be dominated by the fishing and watersports/boating fraternities and not a peaceful place to be. So, if we were to return at such a time, think we would seek out one of the town parks to stay.

Lake Mulwala bridge

Had to go to Woolworths to stock up on fruit and vegies, having not brought any from home due to fruit fly restrictions. John decreed he wanted meals of ham steaks, skinless franks, and hamburgers, so I bought up the makings for those. No one will ever accuse him of healthy eating!

To a bakery for lunch rolls – rather a disappointing lack of interesting options there. Then, complete with the Saturday papers and a new Caravan Parks guide book to replace our outdated one,  it was back to camp.

While I made up the lunch rolls, John tried to get the TV recorder to work. No luck – the new cable was no miracle fix.

Although the rain ceased late morning, and the ground around our site progressively dried out, we largely stayed inside for the afternoon, as it was still really cold. I read. The dog slept. John spent more time fiddling with his TV set up but eventually decided that the TV and the new expensive recorder might be incompatible with each other – one a Kogan, the other a Panasonic. I could not care less.

I did venture out for a walk around the park, and took some photos of the lake.

Lake Mulwala at the caravan park

Cooked the skinless franks for John’s tea, which he had hot dog style inside bread rolls. I had some salad.

There was a really nice camp kitchen near our site. I took our washing up over there to do – easier than in Bus.

Our site with improved weather

Football watching on the TV for John after tea. I read some more and went early to bed, to try to get to sleep before John and the commencement of his snoring serenade.