Day 2 – Carrathool (Hay) to Wentworth

With the heater on all night it’s toasty warm in the van,  maybe a bit too stuffy, so we’ll need to remember to leave a window open next time.

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There is the lightest of fog around.  While we slowly pack up, the kids play with some of the kids from the other group.   Caitlin loves to make new friends.  By about 9am we’re ready to hit the road.

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After about 50km we pull into Hay.  Being Sunday, it’s really quiet, a lot of the shops are closed.   The Bakery is closed so we stop in at what seems to be the only café open.   The Kids order some banana bread, we go for the Bacon and Egg roll,  now this is going to sound odd, but these must have been the greatest B&E rolls I can remember in an awfully long time.  I ate mine outside, it was like bacon on a stick and then when I hit that yoke, oh it was like heaven,  Justine was inside enjoying hers’ just as much and as she came out she agreed.   We banged on about these rolls for at least 10 or 15mins.  Seriously even though I was stuffed I was so tempted to go back for seconds…..

A quick photo of the local silo art, nice, but we have seen better.

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After Hay we really start to see the Hay Plain,  gee at some stages it really reminded be of the Nullarbor.    While some might call it boring, I love this type of country.   Only downside, we must have a westerly headwind, as our fuel consumption is the worst I’ve ever seen on tar.  Ah well, when you’re dragging around a caravan this is the price you need to pay.

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Into Balranald for a pit stop, again out here being Sunday, everything seems closed.  Nice town though, and they a number of sculptures around, and they seem to like frog sculptures

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Along the road there starts to be these signs about fruit and quarantine,  I thought it was in preparation for SA, but no, it is for the upcoming Sunrasia area, only trouble is, it is very unclear what is OK and what is a problem.  Do we need to dump now or is this in warning for SA.

Another quick pit stop at Lake Benanee, while a bit close to the highway, it looks like a great camping spot, maybe another time.

Past the turn off to Mildura, We can’t take the risk of being in Vic before we head across to Remark.  Tonight we’ll head to Wentworth.  We drive past the Murray and as we enter town we drive over the Darling.  Looking forward tomorrow to see the two meet.

There is a free camp spot right on the Murray just down river from Lock 10.   We pull in and the area is huge, it must extend for about 1km so we find a nice quiet stop right beside the river.  We can hear the water flowing over the weir.   After a bit of a walk around Justine get’s the kids rods out and they throw a line in.   The kids last nearly an hour, no fish, but only one lure lost.

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We get the fire wood ready, I post yesterday’s blogs.   Dinner off the Barby and we eat around a great fire.  Maybe one of the best in ages.   As the lights go out, while we think we can see the lights of Mildura, there is a great view of the stars tonight.

The kids and us tell stories around the campfire, a really good day all round. 

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About 350km today, more tomorrow, but we’re booked into a caravan park at Port Elliot so it’s less important about when we arrive.