Everyone was up early after another cold night and we were on the road by 0800 leaving Narrandera to get over the border to Mildura by mid-afternoon.

The first leg of the journey followed the Murrumbidgee for part of the way through farmland – almond trees, cotton and grains as well as very flat, barren landscapes punctuated by the odd tree here and there….

We stopped at Hay for fuel and a coffee at Robertson’s Hot Bread Shop which was very busy with the Saturday morning rush meaning that the stragglers Klaus and Beryl had a lengthy wait for their coffee… due to the fact they had previously had a lengthy wait at the petrol station as Matt had blocked up both bowsers by parking in just the right spot to prevent Klaus reaching the second bowser….

Nevertheless, we all enjoyed the coffee in the sun accompanied by the local mice who were having a field day in the garden next to the outdoor seating.

The group headed back to the vans but were delayed somewhat by Gordon and Trev who went to the local amenities and were gone an extended period of time – enough said!!

After loitering outside the local hotel – another fine country pub – we all headed out of town….

stopping momentarily to take some pics of the painted silos commemorating the local armed forces…

Travelling along the Hay plains was great this time – no wind at all and an amazingly clear day… Rose and Dave led the way between Hay and Balranald and alerted us to the many emus along the way.

One particular group walked casually out in front of Gordon and Kerry who had to apply the brakes quickly – the emus did not blink an eye and just strolled across at their leisure!

Next stop was lunch in Balranald in the local park….

where Kerry was able to demonstrate good hygiene practices to Gordon by rinsing their cups under suitable water!!

We drove on to Mildura going past more farmland and vineyards and crossed the Murray River into Victoria.

We were staying at Apex River Caravan Park and so all checked in there and went to find our sites.

Gordon had some issues getting onto his site and took so long that Dave had a slight accident waiting to get onto his site… or that was his story to Beryl….. however more came to light later to explain the “mishap”…

Rose did a great job guiding Dave onto their site – she gave better hand signals than a police officer on point duty however Klaus could not resist coming in for the final command to “stop”!!

After a slight hiccup with a screen door that would not come free (Branch gave them some leeway and did NOT assist), Rose and Dave settled in to setting up camp….

Dave was seen “cleaning” his water filters and assured everyone there was “nothing to see here” however Branch smelt a rat… and the distinct markings on Dave’s jeans indicated that there had been some water released under pressure from an unknown location….

Despite Dave’s dodgy earlier explanation to Beryl blaming Gordon’s delay in getting his van parked for his wet jeans, Branch soon discovered that somehow Rose and Dave had a hot water issue which had caused the release of water under pressure when Dave went to investigate… and found they had calcification in their hot water service which meant it refused to work unless they did a 3 hour purge of the system… Branch went over to inspect but was not welcome and so did not assist and left them to their 3 hour cleanse…

After enjoying a coffee….

we all cooked dinner and then gathered after tea in the cool of the evening…

Dave was still nowhere to be seen – and was located finalising the cleansing process…

which fortunately for them worked – and now they were back online with hot water…

Well… tomorrow is another day!