I just can’t wait to get on the road again… who sang that?

With a Canberra forecast of high winds and 8 degrees max and wind chill in the minus somethings, we were very keen to make a start on the first leg of our journey which will culminate in Geraldton, WA, from whence we shall turn around and come home.

With a Canberra forecast of high winds and 8 degrees max and wind chill in the minus somethings, we were very keen to make a start on the first leg of our journey which will culminate in Geraldton, WA, from whence we shall turn around and come home.

We finished the last-minute packing of the van, and John, Jen’s cousin, popped around to help and also to join us for a while and maybe lunch at Jugiong.

The day did indeed seem promising with rainbows arcing the sky and suggesting a bright day of travelling. But as we rolled along the Barton and then Hume Highways, the buffeting winds made their intent clear, so we took it very easily, punching through the gale at around 85 clicks, our little Suzuki rolling easily along behind, and John and Jenny at the rear of the convoy..

We pulled in to Jugiong around lunchtime and headed for the George Foreman Hotel. Is it “Foreman?” George something or other – my memory is not as sharp these days. The only table was adjacent to a pot belly stove which glowed red from the fire within. I was sitting with my back very close to it, and when one of the chefs came near, I think I heard him say to one of the waiters “Give him 20 minutes and I think he will be ready to carve.” I certainly felt like I was being slow roasted. Luckily I escaped that fate when our lunches arrived and we escaped to the cool air outside.

Over lunch we decided to change plans, as with bad weather forecast for several days, there did not seem to be much point in our original plan of spending a couple of days at Swan Hill and exploring the Murray there, and it was still quite a way to go to Jerilderie. Wagga Wagga was just an hour away so we decided that Wagga, then Balranald, Mildura, Renmark and a couple of days at Clare would see us arrive at the first key point of the journey, Port Augusta on 15 August for a couple of days celebrating Jenny’s birthday. We are reliably informed that Clare has the second most highly-rated Indian restaurant in Australia, so our plans include testing that assertion.Heading west from the Hume Highway at Tarcutta brings the familiar landscape of the Riverina – rolling plains, orange soils, saltbush scrub, and nearer the Murrumbidgee plain, Yellow Box and Cypress and the Red Gums. Further west and heading south, the plains flatten out to like a billiard table. Folks from the Riverina never really escape with Murrumbidgee water or even channel water in their blood.

From Narrandera we traverse the Hay Plains, which is now very much home ground for me, but alien for Jenny. We swept past Tubbo Station which had its own memories. 

Tubbo’s shearing quarters was where Presbyterian youth (PFA) went for Easter camps, and held some good memories. We managed a photo, but have pinched a better one. The Hay Plains used to be all sheep stations, but these days the paddocks are scarred with massive channels carrying water from the nearby Murrumbidgee for the cotton and almonds that have replaced the sheep. It makes me very sad to see our scarce water being used this way.

We arrived at Balranald Van Park adjacent to the Murrumbidgee on Saturday.  My Suzuki handbook instructs me to start the car engine about every 300 kilometres or so to help lubricate the gearbox. I did this at Wagga, but at Balranald the engine could only offer me a very reluctant rattle, and a refusal to start, indicating a flat battery. I have been very suspicious of this battery for some time and at a recent car service asked the firm to check the battery. They said it was fine! Still not convinced I took the car to a battery specialist a couple of days before we left to get it checked under load. “All good” I was told, and I was persuaded, as Battery World are in the business of selling batteries and would hardly let a selling-opportunity coupled to a confused and grey-bearded old codger, go by unrewarded.

NRMA came by but did not have any batteries so we have pressed on to Mildura where I will get one on Monday.

By chance our neighbour at Balranald had an almost identical set-up, but he was towing the 4-door Suzuki, not the 2-door that we have. In all other respects the same vehicle specs. So naturally our conversation turned to towing, and cars, and electricals and batteries. He has a “dead-man switch” that enables him to isolate the battery from anything drawing on its store of charge. I will look into that as when towing, you are drawing a low but constant current which is why batteries seem to fail.

Anyway, we are in Mildura as we write and will get things fixed in the morning.

One thing we had completely forgotten about was the restriction on taking fruit across state borders. The Victorians and South Australians seem particularly fussy about letting alien fruit across state lines. Our foreign Canberra lemon tree still had a massive crop despite our attempts to give fruit away and of course our fruit would be most unwelcome. I had juiced about 50 lemons, before leaving, so we have plenty of juice, but we still had a dozen lemons, some tomatoes, berries and all manner of fruit and fruiting vegies in the pantry. With threats of fines and imprisonment we thought it best to dispose of the evidence, and just shy of Mildura had an early and rather fruity lunch. We squeezed the lemons so still have plenty of juice. And then we did not see any inspectors, so… But we still have to cross into South Australia on Monday!

Mildura is a very pleasant town, cosying up to the banks of the Murray. We arrived mid-afternoon and took ourselves for a walk to find a coffee shop, tried to resist a small cake (failed) and then an afternoon nap.

Well, we are on our way, not without drama, but safe, and looking forward to meeting our friends very soon.

Thank you for coming along and sharing our journey vicariously. We shall try to make it interesting, but not too alarming.

Bill and Jenny