Month: October 2016

Day 11: Whispering Wall / Adelaide

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Wow, this park is amazing! The toilets are first class – recently renovated and cleaned often. There aren’t too many other vans and the managers are very nice.

Teresa was fine today, so we decided to extend our stay here for a whole week. We’ll move on next Thursday 27th. There is a hot rod show on this Sunday, so the park will likely fill up over the weekend.

It rained half the night and most of the morning, so we took the opportunity to rest. I still can’t get a good night’s sleep with rain on the caravan roof yet, but I guess that will come with time. Teresa slept right through.

Once the weather cleared after lunch, we headed out to the Whispering Wall. The Whispering Wall is a dam wall finished in 1902 to provide water for Gawler and other northern country areas. It’s called the Whispering Wall because the dam wall has a parabolic shape so sound waves travel easily from one side to the other (140 meters).

Whispering Wall. If you look closely, you can see Teresa at the other end of the wall.

We happened to be there at a time when almost no one else was there. I walked across to the other side to try out the effect. Teresa apparently had thought a lot about what to say, and chose a quote from a Sci Fi TV show I like called Red Dwarf. Unfortunately, the quote was too obscure and I didn’t get it.

It was quite amazing hearing Teresa’s voice come seemingly from the wall in front of me. We definitely didn’t need to talk loudly to hear each other. Normal voices were fine – although I suspect a whisper would not have been heard.

I had read that you shouldn’t tease a dog by calling to him via the wall, so of course I had to try. Teresa had Leo over the other side and I called to him. He excitedly tried to find me where my voice was coming from, but because I wasn’t there, he figured I was up top so tried to scramble back up the stairs. Teresa calmed him down pretty quickly.

Surprise Stream

Teresa wanted to pick up something from Target and I wanted to go to Bunnings, so we headed for Elizabeth next – a northern suburb of Adelaide.

Google Maps directed us to a dirt road that looked like a fire track, but was fairly frequently used as we saw a number of cars driving on it. We thought “We’re in a 4WD, let’s go for it”. Lucky we did, as we came across a beautiful stream under the road.

Random Stream

And of course, while outside, we needed to take photos of fluffy.

Fluffy needs a haircut

Elizabeth / Gawler

We made it to the other side of the fire track and shopped in Elizabeth and Gawler. Nothing really interesting to report here – seen one shopping center, seen them all.

The trip back from Gawler was quick – around 20 mins. We ate the last of Maria’s supplied meals tonight. Tomorrow, we start to cook in the caravan proper. So first stop will be a farmer’s market. We’ve seen there is one in Mount Pleasant, so that will be our first stop tomorrow.

Bonus pic: Our current caravan site.

 

Day 10: Mildura to Williamstown

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Today is moving day. Our plan is to leave Mildura at 10am and travel to our booked caravan park in Williamstown on the southern part of the Barossa Valley.

We woke up early and started packing the caravan. Interestingly while we normally wake up at 8am at home, we usually wake around 7am in the caravan. Must be because we go to bed earlier because we’re tired from the previous day.

Maria and Michael arrived to say goodbye just before 10am and we left pretty much spot on time. It was sad to leave Mildura – we had a great time there over the last week. We do know that with the caravan, it won’t be another 7 years before we return.

The journey from Mildura to Renmark was uneventful. Lots of scenery to see (if you like desert) and plenty of small towns once you cross the border into SA. Today was a hot day – got to 32 degrees, so we were thankful for the aircon in the car. Once we got into SA, we stopped at a supermarket to buy fruit and veg, and also stopped for lunch (kindly supplied by Maria).

We’re starting to enjoy having a fridge with us on the road, and being able to stop in a rest spot, stretch our legs, and have a nice lunch sitting down at a table.

Found another problem with the caravan today – the fridge doesn’t work from the car battery like it should. I’ll need to investigate this when we get home. Maybe a wire isn’t connected properly.

Barossa Valley

We crossed the Murray River again at Blanchetown then started working our way up the mountains towards the Barossa. We were thankful for the extra power of the Landcruiser towing the caravan up the long hills. I’m sure a Prado or other smaller car would have struggled.

I was also thankful for the stability a larger car brings. Because we were travelling slower than the speed limit, I let a lot of trucks pass us. They can sure generate some wind gusts when overtaking.

We turned left at Nuriootpa and onto the Barossa Valley Highway. This passes directly through the Barossa and has some wonderful old buildings and trees lining the road. It’s obvious they want this main thoroughfare to look great for tourists.

Lots of grape vines on the side of the road, plus wineries with tastings. Although we’re here for the food not the wine. In fact, Teresa remarked as we headed through the valley, we are probably one of the few people to be bringing our wine INTO the Barossa, with the bottles of Robinvale sitting in the boot!

Williamstown Caravan Park

We arrived late afternoon and immediately loved the caravan park. It’s a council run park just beside a football oval and nestled between trees and a lovely stream. The park wasn’t full when we were there – we had about half the sites to choose from. We asked for somewhere as far from the amenities block as possible, so they set us up on the far side.

We are concerned about the pine trees, so paid for only one night. If Teresa is okay, we’ll extend to early next week.

We have an even better Telstra Air connection in this park. We are about 100m from the public phone box with their antenna and unlike Mildura, there is no major highway between us and the box, so the signal won’t briefly cut out every time a truck rolls past.

Our first evening is a balmy 28 degrees and when we open the windows, we hear a lovely babbling brook outside.

Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow as well as a cool change. Time to get the winter gear out for another few days.

 

Day 3-9: Mildura

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We spent a whole week in Mildura! Highlights include:

  • Friday: Michael’s Birthday. Maria cooked up a storm for both lunch and dinner. We rolled out of the house that night.
  • Saturday: Trip to GolGol to check our alternate accommodations for a possible Christmas visit. A caravan park will be too crowded, so Maria suggested we stay out the back of the house they own in GolGol).
  • Monday: Trip to Robinvale to stock up on some biodynamic wine we both like.
  • The Mexican Standoff between Leo and M&M’s cat. Leo didn’t take too kindly to their cat – growling and barking whenever he saw her. The cat didn’t help matters by chasing after Leo whenever they were both in the back yard. Both a bit territorial I think but made for some good comedy for us.
  • The rest of the time, we spent time with Michael and Maria, or relaxing in the caravan park.
Michael’s 80th Birthday. Flowers were purchased by Teresa and Gabe; transported from Melbourne by Gabe and arranged by Maria. Cake (delicious) was made by Maria.

During the week, I discovered there was a Telstra Air hotspot right outside the caravan park. Because we are with Telstra for our home Internet, we are able to get free access to data via the Air hotspot until early next year.  So I hooked up our Caravan Internet to their wifi and voila! Netflix!

We were also treated to a parade of fellow dog owners staying beside us. There is a real ebb and flow in a caravan park. It fills up over the weekend, almost empties on Mon/Tue and starts to fill again Wed/Thu. Over our stay, we had 4 different caravans next to us, all with dogs. All lovely people from all around the country.

Mildura Caravan Park Site with bonus dog in the photo. From a time we had no immediate neighbours.

Other than breakfast, we only had two other meals in the caravan. The big test of the kitchen will come next week in SA.

Teresa coped really well, which is why we stayed the extra time. After the first day, she thought she might be able to continue to South Australia. After the second day, she was even more sure. So the third day we extended our booking in Mildura and made preparations for the next leg.

Our next stop is the Barossa Valley, so we spent some time researching possible caravan parks. We started looking around Nurioopta or Tanunda but David found a lovely park in Williamstown with a 5 star rating on Wikicamps (with glowing reviews) and a Telstra Air hotspot right out front. The description mentions pine trees, which we know Teresa can have issues with, so we booked for one night and decided to play it by ear.

After one last night of delicious home cooked food, we thanked M&M profusely and went to sleep Wed night prepared to wake up early and pack the caravan for the next leg of our adventure.

Day 2: Driving to Mildura

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The day dawned cool, but bright and sunny. Teresa was fine overnight. No smells to worry her.

I took Leo on a 1h walk this morning. I thought I’d tire him out so he’ll sleep in the car most of the day (which worked!). We walked around Marong (not a really large town). I’d driven past a lot of times, but never really explored the town.

We headed out around 11am all excited to get to Mildura.

Google Maps said the trip would take a little over 4 hours, but I figured with stops and our lower speed, it would be close to 5:30.

“Lower speed” I hear you exclaim. That’s not like you David! I guess I’m getting more mature.

I had researched that travelling at 90kmh is a lot more fuel efficient than at 100 so we had decided to travel at 90 wherever possible. Although that’s not so hard to do with a truck directly behind you. So I sped up to 100 or 110 until the truck was able to pass.

The cruiser handles wonderfully at 90 (and even 100) when towing a caravan. However, it feels a little skittish at 110 so I tried to stay below that as much as possible.

We also perfected the ‘nomad wave’ on this leg – waving at every caravan we passed. We’re mystified that our hearty wave is not always returned. We’ll see if holiday makers in South Australia are more friendly.

There was still lots of water on the side of the road around Charlton where they had the flood a few weeks ago. We’ve been reading about problems with muddy caravan park sites here and hope by the time we get to South Australia things there have dried out from their recent storms.

We stopped for lunch at Wedderburn, and had another break at Sea Lake. We’re on the lookout for caravan parks now, and saw some vans parked in the distance at the Sea Lake rest stop. Teresa too Leo to investigate and met a lovely woman who was staying there and told us all about it. It’s a council run park (on the honour system) and a pretty cheap rate for a powered site. If it wasn’t so close to Mildura, we would add it to our list of places to stay.

Teresa stated to feel drowzy from chemical exposure from the car in the afternoon. Even though we had one window slightly down, it wasn’t enough to counter the off-gas from the car. We figure it was the warmer weather that was causing the extra smells. Teresa: 0, Smells: 1

We finally got to Mildura around 5pm and settled into the caravan park (Big 4 Crossroads which is within walking distance of Maria and Michael’s). It’s been 7 years since we were last here, and while some things have changed (Teresa remarked on Big W, finally being in Mildura, and a new Coles supermarket), a lot is still the same.

I noticed the lack of fruit sellers on the side of the road. Michael said later that the council had banned them. And sure enough, when we crossed the border to GolGol, the roadside stalls were back with gusto.

It’s a nice caravan park. Big shady sites with lots of grass and the park is not too full either. We booked until Sunday (4 days) initially – again worried about Teresa’s ability to cope with the smells. We need to stay until at least Fri for Michael’s birthday, and Gabe (who drives up tomorrow) leaves on Sunday. We’ll see how we go.

We found the park through WikiCamps – a great app that lists all the caravan parks and camping sites around Australia and allows you to filter (our current filter: Allows Dogs). The best part is the user generated comments. Comments are crowd sourced – they are added by other users of the app. And because the park owner has no control over the app, you see lots of good (and bad) comments about a park. This park was rated good by most comments, and is pet friendly. Yey!

We were placed in the ‘pet’ section of the park with a couple of vans either side. No smells either, so Teresa:1, Smells: 1.

After setting up the caravan, we headed to Michael and Maria’s house, and I think they were as pleased to see us as we were to see them. They had both gone to a lot of effort to change their washing powder and not use bleach or other chemicals for the last month, and it worked because Teresa was able to be in their house with very few issues. Teresa:2, Smells: 1.

Maria had cooked a wonderful dinner, which we ate gratefully. We headed home early as we were both tired after two days driving and keen to get to bed.

Day 1: Pa and Lucy / Marong

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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.

Rainbow Cake
Two generations, and Leo.

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!

Mildura, South Australia and the Great Ocean Road

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Well, we finally made it! After years of asking for (and reading) travel journals from our relatives, we thought that we should return the favour and write a blog for our first holiday in quite a few years.

Our plan is to head to Mildura first for Michael’s 80th birthday, and play it by ear. If Teresa is able to cope with the caravan for an extended period of time (until now we’ve only spent 5 sequential nights in the caravan), we’ll head to the Barossa Valley to sample some of their excellent produce and then back home via the Great Ocean Road.

Timing? Again, not sure. We might end up having to come back straight after Mildura. If all goes well, we’ll be gone a couple of weeks.

We originally planned to leave on Monday, but I needed a little more time to finish some work, and the weather was a bit windy for towing.

We’ve spent the last few weeks preparing. The caravan is well packed. The car is ready to go. One day delay won’t matter – we’ll still be in Mildura in plenty of time.

It’s exciting to be able to finally go on a holiday after so many years. We are both looking forward to it.