Journey home

We left Mildura on Thursday morning before it got too hot... the plan was to break the trip home into 2 stages so there was no real rush. Not a lot to see on the journey... our lunch stop was down some dirt road near some deserted looking grain silos at Mittyack between Ouyen and Sea Lake. We played some frisbee and kicked a ball around in the dry, cracked dirt in order to allow the kids to burn off some energy. It had turned more muggy than hot, with rain in the distance.

Continuing on we arrived in Charlton mid afternoon, just over half way between Mildura and home. We decided to stay there the night - in a unique 'caravan park' that is a series of 8 ensuite sites behind the main street of town known as 'Traveller's Rest'. We paid for the night and got a key from the East Charlton Hotel around the corner - this unlocked the power box and ensuite. It was like a home bathroom - quite luxurious after 34 days of caravan park amenities blocks!

The kids played in the playground, part of the 'Traveller's Rest'. The Avoca River runs through Charlton, and actually has some water in it at the moment. On the banks is one of the Commonwealth Games fish... the broadbill swordfish of Kenya. I wonder what happened to the rest? I know there's one at the Ringwood Aquatic Centre.

We went for a walk up and down the mainstreet of town which was not all that exciting. We all enjoyed showers in our ensuite after this. At dinner time we went to the East Charlton Hotel... it's a bit of a tradition to go out for dinner on the last night of a holiday for us. The kids looked great all cleaned up and dressed up with some gel in the hair.

The night at the 'Traveller's Rest' was interesting... it was a warm night and we were the only ones there, so we felt a little vulnerable! Some local drunks staggered noisely by at some ungodly hour but paid no notice of us fortunately.

An easy pack up Friday morning as we did not unhook the car and we were on our way after another play in the playground. Jeanette dropped off the ensuite key at the corner butcher... who just so happened to have won awards for his sausages. So she got some to take home to cook tonight.

Refuelled... (gas)... we've only gone through one tank of petrol on this trip! The car is giving us around 270 -290 km's for a tank of gas with the van on the back... pretty good return as we don't get more than 350 km's when not towing.

Had a quick playground stop in Marong, with some icy poles from the caravan freezer as it was another warm, muggy day. The Calder Hwy is impressive now once you get south of Bendigo so we made good time. Pulled off at Kyneton as there's a nice Apex Park near the northern entry to town. It also has a playground... we've lost count how many playgrounds we've road tested on this trip! The park also has the original Kyneton Mineral Spring, under an old rotunda. The kids loved pumping the water which is meant to be very good for you... had a taste, and it was revolting! The 'Kyneton Springs' flavoured drinks we got in Berri were much nicer!

After lunch and another play, we left on the last leg towards home. Sitting at some traffic lights, just 2 km's from home, Zac asked... 'Where are we going for the next holiday?'

It was nice pulling into the driveway. The kids were excited too, and enjoyed seeing their rooms, all the toys they'd missed and soon had toys out and everywhere. Daz unhooked and spun the van around... unpacking can wait. Jet got some essentials from the supermarket and we enjoyed the award winning Charlton sausages cooked on the BBQ. They were very nice too! Just before bed Ethan put together a quite insightful sentence (very good for a 2 year old... and it summed up all our sentiments I think). 'I enjoyed the holidays, but I missed my home'.

So where to next? We've got a few days at Cape Paterson just before Easter and we're planning our 3rd annual winter trip to Merimbula.

We hope you've enjoyed following our journey. We've had a great time. The kids really impressed us with how well they took to caravanning for 35 days. We covered over 3500 km's in that time and packed a lot in. They've obviously learnt heaps... Zac still reminds us what stalegmites and tites are... there's nothing like getting out there and experiencing things!

Day 32 Mildura

Kids slept in till 8.45 this morning......it is going to be hard work getting them back into the normal swing of things when we get home. Ate breakfast about 45 minutes later - what a lazy morning. This morning it was off to Orange World.. We rang them to find out when their tour group times were and the first one for the day and the most practical one for us was beginning in about 40 minutes so we really had to get moving. It was only 8 minutes down the road but we still only made the 10.30am tour with a few minutes to spare.



Our tour with "Uncle Brian" commenced with him singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the kids and then singing a song he had written all about Mildura to the adults. Uncle Brian is a bit of a bush poet / musician as he accompanied himself with the guitar. Orange World still has that quirky/fun/family feel to it that it did five years ago.

We all hopped into his orange tractor with orange trailers for a trip around the orchard. There are ten thousand fruit trees on the property and only 4 people pick the fruit. Impressive! They have a range of oranges, mandarins, avocados and a few demonstration trees such as Shaddocks (the world's largest orange from China - good for marmalade but not much else), a few limes, a bizarre looking fruit called Budda's hand and a few more lemon varieties.

It was interesting to note that the reason apparently that many people buy the Californian Navel Oranges is that they maintain their nice orange colour and do not go greenish like some Australian Navel Oranges do. The reason the Aussie ones go a bit greenish is to protect themselves from the sun but they are still sweeter and juicer than the American ones. As the majority of the market buyers want nice nice looking oranges they settle for the imports, which is pretty lame, and it is forcing many farmers off the land.

At the end of the tour they showed us the grading machine they use and gave a demonstration of an easy orange peeler. We have one of these from a previous visit and it works quite well.

Back inside we found orange gelati to try - Ethan and Gemma were fond of the taste of Jeanette's!!! (As usual! - they are really seagulls in disguise crying "some", "some" whenever food appears)

Home for lunch and naps - only Gemma managed to have a nap - the boys were just wriggling in their beds. Headed up to the pool for a swim where the wheels fell off Ethan's little red wagon and he came back to the van and had a little nap with Darrin. Jeanette stayed with Zac and Gemma at the pool where they had a lovely time floating about.

Dinner and back to the pool again. Back to the van again where they polished off 1/4 watermelon between them in no time at all. Showers, clean up the van and bed.

In an effort to try and get out of the van park before 10am we have already packed up some of the inside stuff and Darrin had already hooked up the car. Will see how it all goes and what time the kids wake up!!!!

Day 31 Mildura

After Berri we had nothing planned other than to arrive at home in the next few days. Decided last night to head for Mildura and take the little people to Orange World (The Big Orange in Berri was closed down and had been for quite some time) Darrin and Jeanette had been to Orange World on The BIG TRIP - 2004 and enjoyed it. So it is off there again for us.

After packing up the van we set off. Kiddies travelled reasonably well for the first hour and a half and then went nuts for the last twenty minutes but there really was no place safe to stop on the side of the road. A few rest stops but with big trucks whizzing past every few seconds it was not the place to let kids out. We pushed on to Mildura and stopped at Lock 11 for a picnic lunch and got to watch the Lockmaster send three houseboats on their way and the PS Melbourne on a tour. Ethan and Zac thought this was really interesting. Gemma thought it was her civic duty to round up all ducks in sight.
Arrived in New South Wales to stay in the park we had visited before at Gol Gol. Set up camp and just spent the rest of the afternoon hanging about camp. Zac and Ethan had a lovely time driving trucks in the sandy dirt and just doing their own thing. Ethan enjoyed some chill time on the bed driving his toy cars around.

Gemma and Darrin went for a walk to check out the grapevines next door.
Visited the pool in the afternoon for a quick dip - it was rather fresh but they loved it.
Back to the van for a dinner of left overs, a play in the park, showers and bed. This park is rather noisy at night compared to other parks as people catch up after a day of speed boating on the river.

Day 30 - Berri

A much better nights sleep for all last night! Headed off to Renmark this morning - a nice little town located right on the banks of the Murray River. Went for a walk along the paved area running from the visitor information centre to the top end of town. Was great just to be able to walk along and enjoy the view.

Through the visitor information doors you can access PS Industry and have a wander around her. So the kids enjoyed looking at the paddlesteamer - some of the fun areas like the steering wheel were out of bounds but it was good just to look about. The 'Industry' only runs once a month to get her old steam boiler going!

Back into town to grab some bread rolls to go with our picnic lunch at the Monash Adventure Park. A great kids playground with some different things for them to try their skills out on.

Zac very impressively and with Darrin's help walked the tightrope - about 15 m. Very proud of him!!! :-)

Ethan climbed the tall crooked tower (with Darrin's help) and waved to us from his perch at the top.

Gemma just had a blast running around and trying out all the slides multiple times.

Home for nap time (Ethan just did hand stands in his bed for an hour!!!????) and when they awoke we set off to the Berri Direct Factory - we thought that maybe this would have been a little more like the SPC factory in Shepperton and had some items at very good prices, however much of it was equal to supermarket prices so we found a few little things to try and left it at that.

Back at the van park you can hire two seater bikes for 30 minutes - we had seen them on our first day here and the kids asked if we could have a go. As they were not too expensive we hired one for thirty minutes and took turns in taking each of the kids for a ride around the park. Lots of fun but hard work too.

Dinner done and we got some packing up done ready to move on tomorrow. Then off for a walk along the banks of the Murray at sunset.......our last night in South Australia.

Day 29 Berri

The kids all slept well last night despite the wind and our very noisy and inconsiderate neighbours carrying on till well after midnight. Gem woke up for Mummy cuddles later in the night and slept the rest of the night in our bed holding Mummy's hand.

Was still quite windy this morning as we set off for Loxton Historical Village. It is rather like a small Sovereign Hill styled village but is not gold rush based but set in the farming late 1800's to early 1900's. We all enjoyed looking around and for a while had the whole place to ourselves. Even when others arrived we never bumped into them.

The kids started out playing on some old toys - tricycles, old styled see-saws and an odd sort of peddle driven roundabout. Ethan and Gemma especially like the old trikes.

Then it was a wander through the main street with a barber's, bakery, printers (see pic of boys trying on their printers hats), fire station, church, mechanic, police station, lockup, general store etc.... There was quite a few bits and pieces of old machinery around including an old steam train which was set on track that used to run through the area including the old train station and ticket office.

Darrin, Zac and Gemma tried out the old "time out" stocks and lock up cell. Gemma thought it was funny where as Zac was not so impressed.

On the way home we stopped off at Lock 4 to show the kids the Lock system but unfortunately there was no boats needing to pass though. Ethan and Gemma fell asleep on the way back so we put them straight to bed and the rest of us had lunch and then naps.

Once all were up and fed we just hung about the campsite and visited the park. Dinner, bike riding, showers, milos and bed.

Thursday 14th - Saturday 16th

Hi all, it has been a busy couple of days so here is a catch up of the last few days.....

Thursday......

Drove up to Berri in the Riverland area. Felt a little like travelling through the outback with the flat landscape and the scrubby bushes. About 70k up the road we stopped at Morgan for lunch - a small town right on the Murray and at one stage was the busiest inland port in SA. Had lunch then went for a wander to the old wharf and around the old rail relics.




We were surprised to see that 1) the river was an odd sort of milky green colour and 2) the river was quite full at this town. Water is being held back in the loch system.

Another 105 kms and we found ourselves in Berri. The 'Riverside Caravan Park' is quite green and quiet - we though it would be packed. Swam in the pool, had showers and bed.


Friday

A warm day - Jeanette went for an early morning walk along the river edge - again the river here is the same milky green and very full. Apparently the minister for water resources in SA has her seat in this area and does her best to make sure the river is full here. If you go down to loch 1 you can just about walk accross the river according to locals.




Came back and had breakfast - we made egg and bacon muffins on the BBQ. Hung around the van for a while and then decided to go to the pool. Splashed about in the pool and then things took quite a turn for the worse. Gemma had been splashing at the edge of the toddler pool which was no deeper than her chest then she must have slipped over in the water - (something she has done a few times and just stood herself up again) and for whatever reason did not get up. Darrin was watching the kids play and had seen her standing up playing and when he turned back no more then just a few seconds later saw Gemma under the water. He grabbed her and she was breathing ok but she was a bit blue around the lips and chin and quite pale and floppy. Jeanette came back to the pool and we decided to call 000 just to be sure and thinking that they would come and see her say she was fine seeing as she was breathing ok and it would all be good. The ambos decided to take her to Berri hopsital just to be sure. At Berri hopsital - she was looked at by several medical staff, x rayed and blood tests were done, they decided to air lift her with the RFDS to Adelaide! The X-rays showed some water in her lungs and they didn't want to take any chances and the local hospital was not equipped or staffed to deal with this... so off to Adeliade for a stay overnight... Gemma slept the whole way in the plane. In the CECU they kept a close eye on her and on Saturday morning said she was fine and could go home again. So a long (4 hours) bus trip back to Berri to cacth up with our boys! We missed them. A freak accident and some very relieved parents and brothers and a lucky little girl.



Meanwhile back at the ranch Darrin and the boys had bounced on the jumping pillow and had been for a nice sunset walk on the Friday. On Saturday they climbed to the top of the old water tower in Berri for a view of the town, the river and across the flat lands to the horizon... no hills or mountains in sight. After this they drove to nearby Monash where they have an 'adventure park'... this began in the 60's as a 'normal' playground and steadily grew. At one time it had all sorts of challenges and equipment, but public liability and insurance wrecked all that and it was made 'safe'. Today it is bigger than your average park, has a maze and some larger than average play equipment.



Back in Berri and all together again - YAY!!! :-) We decided to go out for tea - no one could be bothered cooking - and then take the kids off to a surprise we had found out about. At the local pub Ethan chocked on his noodles and threw up in his dinner!! So back to the caravan to change him (Life is never simple with kids!!!) So then off to our surprise........the Cobdogla Irrigation and Steam Museaum which tonight had a little diesel train doing a run through the vineyards at sunset. For the princly sum of $4 for each adult we all enjoyed a 1/2 hour ride through the vines. The kids all loved it and so did we. Had a look around all thier old machinery as well including a 27 tonne steam traction engine. These steam engines were built in pairs and would roll at each end of the field with a long plough between two of them. They would also dig dams the same way and pull a large scooper. The second steam engine is in Swan Hill.



Zac entered a colouring competion at the caravan park a couple of days ago - He won FIRST prize!!!! He was given a toy Ferrari racing car, an icy pole and three lolly pops! YAY ZAC! We are so proud of you.

Day 25 - Burra

The rain stopped overnight and we awoke to a cool but sunny morning - a great day to go exploring. Burra was once Australia's largest metal mining site. The copper mine once known as "The Monster Mine" commenced in 1845 and ceased in 1877.

We began our day at Redruth Gaol built in 1856 for male and female prisoners. It closed in 1897 and was then used as a girls reformatory till 1922. The film 'Breaker Morant' was largely filmed around this area and the gaol featured in it several times. We all enjoyed looking around the cells, yards, kitchen and admin areas.

Then it was off to see quaint old miners cottages - they are built in rows rising up a hill and are all joined up. There are several examples of these cottages around the town. All are privately owned now so you could not see inside.

Next stop was Hampton - a deserted old town where all the building are in rack and ruin - most of them are more down than up. Long golden grass creeps all around so you needed to be careful where you walk.

Off to the smelter - the ruins in the brochure looked really interesting but had long since fallen down and there really was very little to see so we did not hang around too long. On route to find lunch we stopped off at the miner's dugouts - there was a massive lack of accommodation so many miners dug out simple one or two room huts in the side of the river bed. Many children lived here too in these damp and horrid conditions. In the late 1850's there was 153 deaths due to small pox, typhoid and diphtheria. Really sad to wonder how these people managed and a wonder not more succumbed to illness when there was 600 of these dug outs in 1851.

Headed off to the local bakery for some yummy hot things for lunch and back to the van for naps.

While Ethan and Gemma slept - Darrin and Zac headed off into town to look at the old lolly shop and market museum. The shop had all things old and interesting - the scary thing was that I remember using some of these things at Auntie Evelyn's home when she still lived in Hare Street, Echuca. When they came back, Zac enjoyed it so much he wanted to take Mummy with him so we walked into town and back to the museum, then off to a couple of second hand bookshops and then to the butchers and home again.

After the others awoke we set off on the rest of our journey which was to go and find an old cottage Darrin had admired in many brochures and was also on the cover of a Midnight Oil album - we found it and took a few photos.

Back to our journey around Burra and it was back to the actual mine - a bit more to see here and it gave us some great views of the town. The kids enjoyed climbing in old mining trucks and looking at the old machinery. Even got to go into the old Powder house where they stored the powder for rock blasting - the powder was stored in a smallish room with two lots of VERY thick walls. It used to have sheepskin on the walls to reduce the risk of a spark sending the whole lot sky high.

To finish off our trip we let ourselves into the former police lock up and stables - Ethan was quite interested in where they tied up the horses as there was still some rope there.

Home again and Darrin took the kids to the park while Jeanette made dinner. Kids enjoyed ringing Nanna and Grandpa to say they started the day in Gaol and finished the day in the police lockup!!!