Happy Easter!! The Easter bunny managed to find us, and we’ve enjoyed chocolate as part of our breakfast (as you do). Pretty chilly this morning, as I think it will be for the next few days.
We had all good intentions of getting on the road by 7.30am as we’ve got a big day ahead of us … it didn’t quite go to plan! We’re getting into the swing of camping again, and how everything needs a home, and the best ways to pack it all up again. Had a great night sleep in the camper! Matthew is sleeping in his own tent, which he sets up and packs away at each campsite.
We crossed a lot of borders today, which is unusual in a place as big as Australia! The most exciting sign was the one announcing we were officially in the NSW outback … I love the outback 🙂
To continue our journey to the Northern Territory we had to cross into Victoria for a couple of hours, and then finally crossed the South Australian border. As they grow a lot of fruit in these areas there is a fruit fly exclusion zone around Mildura, meaning you can’t have any fresh fruit in your car (a lot of vegetables also not allowed). Crossing the SA border there is a formal check point, and they check your car fridge for fruit and veg. Almost felt like we needed our passports!
The landscape changed a lot today. We had outback scenery, hours of open road, and saw heaps of emus. We passed towns on the Murray River with boat shops and billboards advertising jet-skis. One town we went through was having a water skiing race on the river. We saw vineyards growing grapes right up around houses, and we saw big open skies. It is certainly great to be back out on the road 🙂
We made a few too many small stops today (which too easily became longer stops) and by the time we rolled into Gulnare the sun was setting (which was absolutely gorgeous). It’s our goal to be off the road by dusk, and hopefully avoid hitting any animals. We had a near miss with a kangaroo towards the end of the day … which made us realise the car doesn’t pull up nearly as quickly with the camper attached.
After a couple of days towing we’ve realised trying to go the speed limit is using a lot of fuel! So the days have become a bit slower and a bit longer 🙂
Decided to try a donation camp tonight rather than a caravan park, and what a great choice it was! Run by one of the local community groups, our 3 groups set up around a picnic table and our own fire pit. Clean toilets and a hot shower on offer … donate whatever you think is fair. We soon had a campfire going, drinks in hand, and dinner ready. The moon rose as we were getting ready for bed – it was like a huge light had been turned on in the sky. It was fantastic!
