We left Cowes on a cloudy and rainy day. Our plan for our first day is to head to Marong – half way between Cowes and Mildura. Should take 4-5 hours with the caravan, so on the way, we wanted to visit Pa and Lucy to break up the journey.
We have our leaving routine down pat now. During our four previous trips (Wonthaggi, Morwell, Melbourne and Portarlington), we’ve created and refined our checklist of items to check. Caravan: gas off, windows closed, everything off the benches… check. Car: mirrors checked… check. House: Windows and doors locked; water off… check.
After almost scratching the caravan the first few times through the gate, we now remove the back gates whenever the caravan goes through them. It’s a little more hassle, but much better on the nerves. A recent purchase was two small CB radios which we bought because the car’s engine is so loud it’s hard for me to hear Teresa’s instructions from the driver’s seat. Much better now – no yelling and much calmer nerves.
We set off around 11am (about an hour later than planned) and headed for Melbourne.
It was good to see Pa and Lucy again. Teresa had baked them a rainbow cake and we tasted some before we left. Yummy as always.
We completed our trip to Marong uneventfully and arrived in the caravan park just after 4pm. It’s a great park – plenty of space. They kindly placed us up the back away from everyone else and the amenities block.
However, they have a caravan club booking too and the park was almost full. Until now we’ve been in caravan parks that were mostly empty – Winter doesn’t lend itself to caravan living in Victoria. So tonight will be a challenge. Hopefully Teresa will be okay with other people in relatively close proximity.
Tired but happy, we spent our first night on our big adventure!