It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon and it’s 35 degrees. It’s going to get hotter before the end of the day. Where once I would have been trying to find a cool place in the shade, today I’m sitting at the table inside my van, with the air conditioner running and I’m thinking…. “you know, this is ok”.
Our lives have changed a bit in the past year and I’m still trying to get used to it. Most people we know say to us that we’re lucky and they wish they could do the same. But until you take that step, you’re not really sure if you’re lucky or crazy. At the moment, we’ve been living in the van for 7 weeks but have only been on the road for a grand total of two and half. It still feels like we’re on one of our annual holidays - not that this is how life is going to be from now on.
I guess we’ll get used to it and things will start to settle down, but the old “planner” in me is still trying to work out where we’re going next before we get to where we are today. “No spreadsheets!!” I was told by a friend before I left - “just go with the flow”. I’m trying!!!
A quick recap on the past few months.
We made our decision earlier in 2017 to make our dream a reality and we started making plans. The house would go on the market at the end of the winter, so the months prior to that were spent getting it ready for sale. We knew it was a great property, but when we had over 50 groups through on the first open-for-inspection, we were over the moon and as expected, it sold in quick time. Settlement day was at the beginning of December.
To get ready for settlement we had “the clear out” - selling almost everything we own. We had a massive garage sale in late October. What a weekend that was!! I don’t remember ever being so tired at the end of it, but we did manage to shift an awful lot of “stuff”. Thanks so much to all our friends who came to help, buy or just support us.
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| Just some of the "stuff" on offer of at the garage sale |
I finished up at work at the end of October, which left us five weeks to get rid of the rest of our “stuff” or sort it to be stored. I was running my own little online business, madly selling things through various online sites and the neighbours watched as every day someone pulled up in the driveway and packed another “treasure” into their car. Thankfully I had taken that time, as if I’d tried to do all that, and work full-time, I think I would have fallen in a heap.
So come the beginning of December, we were all packed up - things to go into storage (not much) had gone, things to be sold or given away had gone, Rhemus had been delivered to his new home with Matt, Nat and the kids and we hooked up the van and hit the road. All the way to Pakenham!
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| Our spot at McGregor Views Resort |
We were so lucky to have friends who had offered us space in the corner of their garden for a month while Doug finished up work. He had elected to work until Xmas time and I had a bit of casual work to do back at my old workplace, so it was really convenient to be able to stay with Darren and Allie. It was more of a resort than a garden though and we were extremely comfortable, living in the van and enjoying their beautiful garden.
We had a lovely time over Xmas and New Year with family and friends - just the way we had hoped to spend it. Then it was time to hit the road for real. On Tuesday 2 January 2018 we hooked up the van and started on the first leg of our indefinite journey. “Coddiwomple” - (verb) to travel purposefully toward an as-yet unknown destination. That was us. Except we did know where we were heading.
We had planned to catch up with our friends, Leanne and Paul, for a spell. They had been travelling for the past 7 months and it would be great to hear all their news. We headed west through Victoria, heading for Rocklands Reservoir and a lovely camp spot called Glendinning. When we arrived we were a bit disappointed at what camp spots were available - it was Xmas holidays after all, so it was going to be busy. But we turned down a track and travelled a kilometre or so along and came to a beautiful clearing beside the water, which we had all to ourselves. Great!! We set up and settled in. The weather was perfect and Leanne and Paul arrived at lunch time the next day.
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| Our first campfire |
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| Sunrise on Rocklands |
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| Early morning camp |
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| A visitor to our camp |
We spent a great couple of days there, just relaxing and catching up on each others’ news. Our plan was to leave on Friday to move on a little, and to meet up with Ian and Tracey and Bella. They were spending a week with us. The weather forecast was to be very hot - in the forties for a few days - so the decision was made to make for a cheap caravan park, rather than bush camp. It would be safer from any potential fire hazards and also we could hook up to power and get the benefit of the air conditioner. Bella’s criteria also was that there was somewhere to swim.
So we headed for the little town of Harrow, in Victoria’s west. It’s a gorgeous little town in a secluded Valley, a little bit stuck in time. But the locals couldn’t be more friendly, the pub did excellent food, and we had a great spot to camp beside the river where we could sit in the shade and swim in the beautiful clear water.
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| The Glenelg River beside our camp at Harrow |
We arrived on the Friday, and several locals we spoke to told us about the funeral that was taking place in town that afternoon. “Poor Gary”, “Drank himself to death”, “It was to be expected”…. Gary wasn’t too popular but everyone showed up at the pub afterwards and it was a great night with good company!
Sunday saw our group of three vans move on, stopping in Horsham for supplies, then following the Silo Art Trail northwards. The increasing number of decommissioned silos that have been adorned by various artists is growing, and so are the number of visitors now flocking to the area to see them. They’re bringing a bit of life back to these struggling farming communities and it’s great to see. They are all different in their styles, but all equally impressive. We followed the trail from Rupanyup, up through Sheep Hills, Brim and Rosebery before heading to one of our favourite camp spots - the banks of Lake Lacelles in the little town of Hopetoun.
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| The silo at Rupanyup |
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| My favourite - the Sheep Hills silo |
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| Rosebery silo art |
Again, we knew it would be busy, but we took our chances, and managed to get a great spot on the banks of the lake big enough for all three vans to have some room. So this was going to be home for the next few days. There was a few ski boats on the lake, but they made for good entertainment as we sat back and watched or swam in the shallows. It was a beautiful spot.
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| The best way to cool off |
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| Friends |
We spent our time reading, talking, walking, swimming. One day we finished the Silo Art Trail, heading north again to Lascelles and Patchewollock before doing a loop back to camp. So all six silos ticked off.
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| Lascelles silo art |
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| The silo in Patchewollock |
Paul and Leanne had to unexpectedly leave us on Wednesday and Ian, Tracey and Bella headed on to Port Arlington on Thursday. We had originally planned to move further north then too, but with temperatures forecasted to be hitting 40 degrees again both days, we decided it was safer and cooler to stay by the lake for another couple of days. Oh well, there were worse places to be.
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| Lake Lascelles - Hopetoun |
When we did finally move on, after a week at Hopetoun, we headed north again towards the Murray River, finding a beautiful camp spot in the state forest at Nyah. Just enough room to get the big van through the trees and set up on the banks of the river. The weather was cooler a bit, so we could enjoy a little fire in the evenings and Doug couldn’t resist the urge to play with trees again.
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| Dinner on the pig! |
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| Keeping himself fit |
From Nyah we started following the Murray eastwards and drove through the largish towns of Swan Hill and Kerang before stopping for the night in a lovely little town called Cohuna.
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| Victorian/New South Wales border at Swan Hill |
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| Swing bridge over the Murray |
This time our night was spent on Gunbower Island on the banks of the Gunbower Creek. The Gunbower Creek breaks away from the Murray River near Torrumbarry and re-enters the Murray River near Koondrook. It forms the western boundary of Gunbower Island, with the Murray bordering the eastern boundary. We were reliably told by the lady in the visitor centre that Gunbower Island is the largest inland island in Australia.
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| Gunbower Creek - Cohuna |
Our journey continued eastwards, following the Murray most of the way. We went through a little town called Nathalia, which hosts the Barmah Forest Education Centre. We decided to take a look inside on our way through and were very impressed with the centre and its staff. It told of the formation of the Ramsar-listed Barmah wetlands and of the old farming industries that used to thrive in the forests - everything from cattle to plume-collecting to leech farming.
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| Beautiful 3D floor in the centre |
It was another hot afternoon, so we headed back towards the river at Tocumwal for the night. We first checked out the camping at Apex Beach, but it was uncomfortably crowded and noisy, so we back-tracked and spotted a clear area big enough for us, with no-one else in sight. The day was capped off by a great dinner of nachos, cooked in the Weber - first class cuisine.
We’d looked at the weather forecast, and Wednesday through to Sunday were again going to be in the high 30’s or early 40’s so we decided to alter our planned tour of the Murray and head to cheap caravan park to avail ourselves of power, water and a swim. We decided to head for the little town of Yackandandah; a heritage-listed town from the gold rush days. It’s very quaint and quirky. On the way we passed through the towns of Corowa (stopping at the whisky distillery and chocolate factory of course) and Rutherglen.
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| Pity it wasn't full - Corowa Distillery |
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| Working out how to get one out without being seen |
We have now set up under the shade of a huge oak tree and there’s the cool waters of the Yackandandah Creek to cool off in when we feel like it. We walked into town this morning and did a tour of the main street and had morning tea at Gum Tree Pies. I have to give them a plug, as Doug says it’s the best pie he’s had since arriving in Australia - high praise indeed!!! We’re here until Saturday, then I’m not sure where to next. I’ll get the map out tomorrow and have a look and I’ll try not to give it too much thought.
Honest, I will.
