We awoke to a rainy morning and after a quick breakfast and fuel stop we were on the road. It seemed the rain had followed us from the coast and while I am sure the farmers were grateful, we were really longing to see some sunshine….

Once we passed through Narrandera the sun came out as we travelled along the Hay Plain towards Hay. Pulling in at Hay to have some lunch, Rose and Dave noticed to their dismay that the bike covers they had bought in Goulburn were also not robust enough!!

After lunch Dave bought some extra tape and straps to do a repair of sorts and then we continued on our journey. There were some beautifully painted water towers in Hay – a tribute to local people who had served in the war.

As we continued on along the Hay Plain, the landscape was barren in some places and in others extensively farmed with wide irrigation channels and many differing crops of veges. We had let Gordon and Kerry lead from Hay as our next stop was Wentworth and their friends Dave and Barb’s place on the Darling River. Somewhere between Hay and Balranald we saw something fly off the top of the Lotus and so radioed Gordie to stop. After a brief inspection of the van, he discovered that the outer skin of his rear skylight had blown off. Not surprising in some way as the skylight was already cracked and crazed (a manufacturers fault awaiting warranty repair). There was no point going back to try and find it as it had already cracked in several places so we continued on.

One slight detour when Kerry’s GPS led us up a backroad through some vineyards at Euston…..

then we reached Wentworth at about 530 pm. Barb and Dave were well organised even down to where to locate each van so we could plug in safely to power.

Barb had prepared us a delicious dinner of peri-peri chicken which we ate on their houseboat moored out the back on the Darling River.

The 30 year old houseboat was beautifully renovated with 3 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and several lounge areas. Up top was a BBQ area, great place to eat and another lounge area. The boat was tastefully decorated with sculptures and artwork collected from all over the globe.

After dinner we all had a soak in Dave’s huge spa – a great way to end the day!