day 7 - thursday

Today we are based at Mannum and have been for a drive up to Walkers Flat. This is one of the areas where the big red cliffs of the river give a magnificent sight. We crossed over on the ferry and returned to Mannum in time to wander down the street for coffee and cake - seems to be a daily habit developing....trying to find the best bakery on the Murray.

This afternoon the weather has remained stormy with rain and wind so I curled up in bed with a book. Ron sat out for a bit and retreated into the van when the weather got too bad.

Some photos will follow when we have better internet.

day 6 - wednesday

Moving day today and we had the challenge of putting everything in its place and developing a routine for how to prepare for travel. I thought everything was connected and ready to go and discovered the pop top had not been put down!

We quickly realised that nothing goes to routine, everything needs to be set in place and even then things go wrong. When connecting the power connector plug to the van we kept blowing brake fuses. We managed to change every spare blue fuse and the problem was not resolved so it was a call to RACV and then the wait - so we put the kettle on and pulled out our ipads and filled in the next half hour until a very friendly man from RAA arrived. He had a bit of a fiddle with the connector and suggested we stock up on fuses until we discover the cause! The brake lights were working and we were on our way.

It had been raining most of the morning and we planned only a short drive to Mannum so we arrived there in time for lunch.

Tonight we are in a modern caravan park that is quickly filling. We are beginning to see the masses of grey nomads on the road and are looking with interest at their setups and trying to learn some tricks of how to manage this caravan experience.

Ron has found some more tv channels and so is relaxing on the bed with the remote in hand.

Rain and hail is expected tonight and we hope it clears tomorrow so we can put the boat in the water.

day 5 - tuesday

Today was the day for a walk around the sights of Murray Bridge. We picked up a tourist map from the 'i' place and played tourist. We wandered and drove around looking at the highlights and that took a little over an hour!!!!! Well it is not a very big town and everything is shut - open for tourists on the weekend. So we wandered the main strip and had coffee and cake. A drive down the main road, found Bunnings so we took a walk through. Then it was back to the van and time to prepare tea. Ron has set up the telly and the only station is SBS. Must be some way to get it working better.

A few more people have been arriving in the park as the long weekend and school holidays approaches. This park is particularly used by weekenders from Adelaide. The many permanent sites have a huge variety of watercraft - seems to be the place to be for water skiing.

day 4 - monday

We begin our Murray river experience by heading down to Goolwa to stand at the mouth of the Murray - the point where the river ends and flows out to see.

The road from Murray Bridge to Goolwa is through the farmland along the river. We drove around the western side of Lake Alexandria,passing mostly dairy farms and some crop farms. As we neared Goolwa we went through some hills and down into the port town on the edge of the Lake.

A coffee and pie from the bakery and a walk around the main tourist sites before driving out to the barrages. These were concrete construction built in the mid 50's to hold back the fresh water.

Here we discovered a family of seals resting on the jetties in the centre of the river. It was a cloudy day and they were looking for some sun. There were a few swimming in the water and rolling around.

The drive to the Murray mouth was out on Hindmarsh island and a short walk to the sandy beach and we were able to look out to see the river mouth in the distance.

On our return trip we crossed the river at Wellington on a ferry to look at where the river meets the Lake. A short dirve to Tailem Bend and we were able to cross back to the other side of the rivewr on the 2 ferry for the short drive back to our caravan park.

day 3 - sunday

We felt the cold in the early hours but snuggled under our doona. As they day was breaking I opened the window blind to look out on the foggy mist over the water. And for the new little while watched the sun rise and the mist disappear. It was really beautiful and a little memory picture because it was way to cold to get out and snap a shot.

Breakfast in our chairs looking out over the river....we are on holidays!

We travelled into Adelaide today today visit Jez & Heather and enjoyed some time with them and some good food. Jez has come quite the cook! and Heather does a good job backing him up and cleaning up after him.

We arrived back to our van after dark and time to curl up again to keep warm.

day 1 and 2

Our goal was to get to the first MacDonalds for coffe without incident. The Maccas on the ring road was our first stop for coffe and muffins at about 11 am and we were on our way.

We settled for a shorter drive on our first day and after 4 hours arrived at Dadswells Bridge in country Victoria for the first night. We were able to unpack and set up the van before settling on for the night. On the road again our next day our aim was to make for Murray Bridge.

A stop in Horsham for coffee and the Australia's best Vanilla slice gave us a chance to buy a few things we had not prepared for.

We pulled into the caravan park late afternoon. No dramas on the road and the van pulled really well. As expected the petrol usage has doubled......$$$$$$

We are in a quiet little park with our view across the lawn to the Murray river. We are on holidays and ready to explore the Murray river from the mouth to as far as we can go in 4 weeks.

to van or not to van

After much discussion and lots of looking, I finally found what I was looking for. A small caravan, modern enough to be light and have some convenience and comfort for 2 people. I had been researching the trading post for a little while and had visited a few places to look at some cheapies.

You would think that if you were advertising a van for sale that you would at least clean it up!

Ron had been a little hesitant. Spending money on something that would sit for the larger part of the year. So I have encouraged him to say it does not need to sit! It is up to us to use it whenever we can. With long service next year I was keen to see that we can manage to live together in a tight space and to make sure we had it set up well before we left on a long journey.

With the purchase made and the trip to motor registry complete the van was parked in Amey's yard as our current home is unsuitable for van storage. We became van owners part of the new grey nomad generation planning for our first trip!

We began to discover then that this chosen course comes with cost. Fitting electric brake outfit to the car.......$$$$$$$$$

The first outing was to venture to the garage to have the underneath checked out and make sure the brakes were working. We were reassured by the mechanic what a good little van we had. He was very helpful with lots of little hints and Ron began to feel more confident.

That confidence lasted just a short while as he managed to wipe out the side of the van on the mechanics bumper bar...so it was off to van hospital for repairs. Thankfully I had taken out insurance.....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The mechanic suggested that even though it was a small van some level ride bars would make driving so much easier. The van man said the tow bar would be safer if we had a heavy duty tow bar......$$$$$$$$ and the level ride bars you should buy these ones as they will be good for any size van you trade up to and they are the safest and easiest to use on the market......$$$$$$$

We picked up the van the day after our holidays started and threw everything into the car and off we went. We were on our way!