About 3am I hear rain. I know the chairs, while under the van are hanging out. I race out and just chuck them further under, at least they won’t be saturated.
I need to get a beard trim, and forgot to go yesterday, They open at 8am, so after a quick shower I drive into town. It’s about 9am and they are still not open, the clock on the door say they open at 8, then I see a hand written note, we’ll open at 10:30, bugger, back to the van.
We finish packing up and drive out of the van park, down the main street and we can see the blue and red flashing lights that is the road block checking people. We’ve got the passes, so just to save time, we divert down one of the parallel roads. Here a cop has someone pulled over ahead, those flashing signs on the roof are saying “Covid Checks”, he pulls out in front of us, even he doesn’t want to be stuck behind a van. Again it will only be a matter of time before we’re pulled over.
We head towards Yarrawonga, just before town there is this campsite on the river, it has some mixed reviews. It’s been raining extra heavy as we arrive so everything is pretty boggy. We drive the track and while there are a few tourist vans around, there also seem to be a few people who live here. Some are in really old vans with annexes and what looks like outhouses, other are in tent cities. I’m surprised they are allowed to stay here. That and a mix of thinking what it would be like to have to live like this.
We continue on into Yarrawonga. I may need to stop going to border towns as the are more cops here too. We have some lunch (pretty average meals all round), but next door is a male hairdresser, so I duck in for my trim. It’s always a bit interesting to see peoples reaction when we reply “Sydney” to the question “Where are you from”, it needs a quick follow-up, “but we’ve been on the road for over 30 days!”
We drive over to the Wier, another border crossing! I kinda knew about Lake Hume at Albury, but I didn’t know about Lake Mulwala here. The Wier is huge, if you could call it that, when they’re this big I reckon they’re a dam. We walk out over the dam, the walkway is that slatted steel, so we can see the 15 or so metres to the river below, in the wind and rain, not my most favourite thing.
The couple of van parks in town don’t inspire me, so we carry on to Wahgunyah (another border town), there is a camp on the river here. We arrive, it’s OK, but not heaps of room, there is another road. We drive down this a bit only to see a homemade sign say “no caravan or camping, Private Property”, it’s hard to tell if that is the road we’re on or off to the side. I make the call to try and turn around here in a small driveway, not easy with the van on. I think I have a bit more room and thump, I’ve hit a concrete fence post. Bugger. Back to the main location and we do find a level site, comfortably enough away from the couple of other vans here. Maybe not the best we’ve had, but given the weather it’s not too boggy. I survey the damage, I’d hoped I might have hit it with the spare, but nope, the toolbox has this new dent in it.
Some Gnome action 
Caitlin Drawing 
By the river. new scars in the toolbox 
The Bridge to NSW in the background
We make coffee and enjoy the surrounding, the guy in the next van comes over for a chat (again the first question is “where are you from” looking at the NSW plates). In the end he’s a nice bloke and on for a bit of a chat. He’s trying to get to Queensland, but is waiting a few days to see what restrictions might come in. That’s part of the problem in planning. Restrictions might start today, but often they apply to people who have been in a certain place over the previous 7-14 days, so unless you’ve got a crystal ball, it’s really pot luck (of which we’ve had a big pot so far!)
The rain eases, I can’t seem to get the diesel heater going, so we have a small fire. Caitlin spends ages outside drawing, she’s really loving it, but we’re really surprised she stayed outside for so long. We make dinner an oven affair, any excuse to get some warmth in the van (but we’re not using it for space heating, honest). Under the blankets it’s nice and warm, so it not a huge sacrifice tonight.
We’re still not sure what our plans are, I’d like to stay away for at least 1 more week, but then I think everyone will want to go home.
The photo of the timber pier makes me wonder if the water level is very low otherwise why would you build something like that for no reason.
Love the campfire, must be hard to find dry wood with all the rain.
I think it is that high to handle floods, sure the river is probably a bit low. That and as that is land level they brought the bales of wool in and lowered them onto the paddle steamers and barges.