heading home

view from behind our van in Port Augusta (high tide)

Tuesday morning arrived and it was time for us to leave Pt Augusta behind and start our journey home.  We had enjoyed our time with our ‘water’ views through the back fence and the Flinders Ranges in the distance.  The weather has stayed cooler and the wind has been blowing a gale for the last few days as we set off down the highway towards Port Pirie.  There is plenty of traffic on the roads, maybe they are returning from their Christmas break so we are back in the thick of what we had planned to avoid.  After looking at the map yesterday and thinking about which route to take we finally decided to take the shortest and leave the roads to the working holiday makers with children who have to take advantage of this opportunity they have.

Port Augusta, Gladstone, Jamestown and down to Burra is our trip for the day.  We had stayed at Burra showground on our way up north and hoped there would be room again now.  Well to our surprise we were the only ones there.  A caretaker comes around each afternoon, or did before, so when they hadn’t arrived by 5pm we rang the mobile number and left a message about spending the night.  No body turned up so we had another ‘freebie’ and headed off the next morning towards Renmark on the ‘mighty’ Murray River.  As this route would take us into the Fruit Fly Zone again we had cooked all our vegetable last night and finished off any fresh fruit we had before passing the quarantine bin where all we had to ‘dump’ was the cucumber.  There was no inspection station so travelling east it is all on an honesty system.  Travelling west there is an inspection station before Renmark, soon after crossing the border into South Australia from Victoria.

Crossing through Victoria the road is straight and flat again giving reminders of the Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor.  We see miles and miles of harvested wheat fields with the occasional sheep paddock as we head towards Mildura.  The weather has warmed up again but we still haven’t needed to use the air conditioner in the car.   We had been checking out the Rest Areas along the road and as this is Victoria they are fairly all small, not the spread out areas that we had been using for the last few weeks.  These are more a like a small pull off bay so certainly not suitable for an overnight stop.  Finally just about 35km from Mildura we come across a ‘gravel dump’ off the road and decide to check it out.  Shade is there and of course the ground is firm and no chance of being bogged if it were to rain so we set up for the evening and enjoy the cool breeze blowing in the windows.

paddle steamer cruising the Murray River

the 'floating' week-ender

Mildura is a large town on the Murray River and there are house boats everywhere.  Lots of folks are camped beside the river and there are water and jet skiers enjoying the river.  Crossing the river takes us into NSW so it was just over 100km to cross this section of Victoria.  We had lunch beside the river and enjoyed watching the passing river traffic.  Imagine what it must have been like all those years ago when the barges travelled the river carrying wheat, wool and many of the supplies necessary for these communities.  From Mildura we headed south to Euston where there were large areas of vineyards under cultivation.  We have seen many vineyards however it was different to see these covered for protection from something. 

covered grape vines near Euston NSW

 Leaving here we turn more east and head towards Balranald on the Murrumbidgee and then on to Hay across the Hay ‘plains’. 

Hay plains

We have driven this road quite a few times however only once have we driven it at night.  This area is some of the flattest on earth and when there is a car coming towards you their headlights are visible for ages before the vehicle actually arrives.  We did spot some emus on this part of the journey but that is the only wildlife we have seen for quite some time.   Another showground stop is available in Hay for $15 with power, so we check in and enjoy meeting some other travellers.  Tomorrow West Wyalong and onto the Newell Highway to take us north towards home.  We should arrive early next week and then spend some time attending to all those tasks that just have to be addressed like, tax returns, doctor’s visits and eye tests never mind a determined clean and polish for both Bruiser and Destiny.  

Then we take off again to ……..