The sun rose over Will’s Beach Shack as we packed up and attempted to leave early.

Gordie decided to try out his awesome pumping system to top up his water tanks from the jerry can…. loud exclamations were heard across the campground as a fountain erupted out of the inlet valve spraying water everywhere. It seems the valves are so tight and efficient that it was not easy for the pump system to push through them – Branch was still snoozing while all this unfolded….

After a quick prayer by Klaus for safe travels, we were on the road and not too far down the highway Kerry noticed what she thought was a wobbly TV antenna on the Loveday van… a potential Branch moment from Gordie’s perspective however a quick inspection showed that it was all OK – just a “normal” wobble.

As we continued on Trev suddenly recollected Dave saying the evening before that he had a quarter of a tank of fuel so felt no need to fill up when we did as it would do about 200kms…. A quick radio check to the Wells by Trev uncovered, as Rosie put it, that the fuel gauge was on the “last stick” (about 1/8 tank left) … an even quicker check by Clare on the fuel app revealed that it was about 40 km to the next fuel – Dave then revealed that they had 21km left in the tank!!!!

So, we pulled over almost immediately in a convenient gravel pit in Coorong National Park – Branch had been riding on the front of the Pearl like a hood ornament so maybe the extra weight had sucked more fuel????

Anyway, Trev drove off with 2 empty jerry cans and Dave in the hope the nearest service station was open and had diesel – the next servo after that was 75km away….

While we were all waiting, the Bottomless Barista got out his generator and fired it up to make us all a decent coffee…. after a few hiccups with the generator not coping with the draw of power from the barista’s up-market machine we were in business…Kerry replaced the BB as the machine responded well to her gentle touch….Klaus ensuring he was supervising the production…. Until a park ranger drove up and “kindly” reminded us we were in a national park and generators were not permitted. Klaus in his best official voice explained the situation and the ranger let us continue.

It was not too long before Trev and Dave returned with the fuel, Branch kindly assisting the re-fuelling of the Pearl.

We got underway again and Dave made it to the Meningie Service Station to fully fuel up. We drove past some interesting scenery in Coorong NP – salt pans, lakes including a pink lake, sand dunes and scrub – a real wetland area.

Through Meningie and past Lake Albert, we turned off to Wellington and waited to catch the vehicular ferry across the Murray into Wellington itself.

More beautiful old SA buildings lined the banks and were scattered across the farmland as we drove south toward Victor Harbour. The land was increasingly fertile with vineyards, cattle and sheep farming making a change from the more arid area between Coorong and Wellington.

Pulling into Victor Harbour, Branch noted a couple of issues with the Hunter’s Lotus…. Seems a pole had jumped out and damaged the side on the way out of Will’s Beach Shack unbeknown to him…. Also, a drawer had flown out and made a slight mess – not sure how it happened but Branch was on to it…

Anyway, we had a quick lunch at a bakery in town and then continued to Rapid Bay. By this time, it was starting to rain, and the area was increasingly hilly with windy roads…Klaus almost lost the Weiss Lotus on the hill driving down to Rapid Bay but gained control at the last moment. The view looking toward Rapid Bay would have been spectacular if it had not been for the rain and mist.

Wayne, the caretaker at Rapid Bay Campground, instructed us over the phone to park in a grassy spot in a wagon train configuration. The campground looked great despite the weather and the bay was beautiful with high hills on either end and a long jetty at the south end.

We parked and started setting up when a cry came from Dave as he opened the van – a “Branch Moment” had occurred in the Wells Snowy – Branch came flying over to be greeted with the view of the entire pantry contents all over the floor and in the stairwell… the slide out pantry had slid out indeed creating havoc inside the van. We had not been over any rough roads, so it was a mystery as to how it flew open…maybe the same troll that had entered the Hunter van earlier and dislodged their drawer. Anyway, the pantry mechanism was trashed so McGyver came to the rescue once everyone was set up and disassembled it. A repair job once we return home to reinstate some new shelving and door was the final solution.

The afternoon was spent in repair mode with Gordie needing assistance from several others to sort out the drawer runners that needed fixing but he finally had success.

Klaus and Beryl were relaxing in their van – no repairs needed there – but it came to light later that they had a freezer door fly open and some contents on the floor – no mess or damage…must have swung open on that last bend when Klaus nearly lost it!!! Branch had missed this one – but was determined to keep a closer eye on the Weiss clan.

Sunset arrived as the rain stopped and a spectacular rainbow appeared down the north end of the beach – which brought out all the cameras. The water was a beautiful aqua blue which contrasted with the pink and orange sky…

We had dinner and Rose went to wash up – she suddenly reappeared clutching her hand – she had dropped the stovetop down on her finger (very heavy!) and it had cut her finger deeply and bruised the nail – extremely painful. Into the Loveday van and out came the first aid kit…Rosie was regretting wearing her white shorts which now had a lot of red on them – even though she was in pain she managed to make a joke of the shorts and was very brave. On closer inspection it was deemed the cut would need some stitches, so we Googled the nearest hospital – back at Victor Harbour a 40min drive – so after some Steristrips and a pressure bandage Trev drove Rose and Dave to the ED. We all cleaned up and waited around for news.

The hospital was great – after 4 stitches and instructions on how to care for the wound they were on their way back to camp. Branch was waiting to provide some much-needed comfort to Rosie – he had kept a low profile earlier as he does not cope well with too much bodily fluids but now the bleeding was under control he was back on deck.

After a very eventful day everyone including Branch were grateful to crawl into bed…