The Murray and Beyond

Good news to start the blog with; our windscreen finally got fixed. It was a late job but at least we didn’t have to drive anywhere unnecessarily. We left Robinvale and the table grape farm early in the morning heading towards Echuca and particularly somewhere on the Murray River for the night. Last time we were down in Victoria before Tassie, the Murray was overflowing and many of the townships were completely isolated. On the way along the Murray Valley Highway we saw some pretty unique things.

 The sheer amount of water along the roads was amazing especially around Kerang where a whole kilometre of road has been washed away from the recent floods. Both Dave and I loved Echuca which had a outback yet modern charm about it highlighting the old Victorian style hotels and town hall architecture. That night we camped at Christies Beach right on the Murray River which did require a 4WD to get into with all the massive pot holes and puddles which Dave couldn’t keep out of. One day it’s going to bite us in the arse when a puddle decides to conceal its true dept and we both go flying into the front dash. The campsite was very insightful; we could see the previous height of the River on the embankment but generally the site was quite peaceful. We had a roaring fire, cool breeze, and a beautiful sunset over the Murray. One issue, I attempted to get some washing up water from the river and didn’t realise how bloody muddy it had become. I stepped one foot onto the beach/sandy muddy area and fell in up to my knee. Sigh, you may never know how difficult it was to get out without using my other foot and all the while Dave is laughing up on the banks. Good supportive help.

The next morning we cruised through town and made our way slowly to Bendigo where Ebony, Dave’s awesome friend from Fitness First had arranged for us to stay at her parents place. We were spoilt rotten; these lovely people welcomed us into their home, feed us, kept us warm and very dry (pissing down rain outside), and even gave us a bed to sleep on. It was such a horrible night with constant rain and wind we felt so luckily to have this treat.Plus, I really enjoyed the hot rods both Jan and Colin had done up..the roar from the engine is intense; somehow I was expecting fire to come out the exhaust. I would like to thank Ebony and her family for such a welcoming afternoon and night. Thank you again to Jan for the cheap oil and to Brooke for her excellent hospitality.

The next morning we had a full ‘to-do-list’. Did an oil/oil filter change on the car and got extremely black hands and arms but nothing a little Degreaser can’t fix. Went Opp shopping for some jeans and long sleeve cotton shirts for the farm; Dave was easy but I did manage to find a Sass and Bide pair of brown (very outback) extra long pair of jeans for the lovely price of $5.99 from St.Vinnie’s. Very happy with my awesome deal! Also attempted to buy some leather boots for the farm as well but found this a little more challenging. Dave’s got a too bigger foot to fit any Saddlery shoes and the work wear boots are too wide for his size. Ebony’s sister Brooke was able to help out and give Dave a pair of Blunderstone tie up steel capped boots for free (curious of her unknowing partner). So that was one down, one to go. I’ll back to ya.

After all that we drove onwards down to Daylesford and stayed in an old asteroid crater at Mount Franklin Reserve which was very cool and 'eary' at the same time. All around us were big green pine trees which for most of the night made a ghost noise whenever the wind blew.