Cold weather... warm welcome

Day five of the trek to the centre

Today was our third day in lovely Echuca with our travel buddies, John and Julie. The caravan park here is really good (the Discovery on the river at Echuca) A fabulous camp kitchen... last night Chef Ian cooked fish, and we shared the table with 8 travellers from the Central Coast and Dubbo, who are also heading our way.

Ian and Anne

 

Julie and Anne

Today we went on the only authentic paddle steamer, the Alexander Arbuthnot at Echuca for a VERY chilly ride downstream. Alexander Arbuthnot (or “AA” as she is affectionately known) is special because she is the last paddle steamer to be built as a working boat on the Murray River during the riverboat trade era.
We had a smile as the engineer heated up his chunky soup on the edge of fire box.

Lunch for the engineer

Beechworth Bakery... great vegie pasties

When we disembarked we headed straight to the Beechworth  Bakery for the second day in a row. Yesterday we met up there with friends Alan and Cathy (from Tamworth) who have come to town especially for my library talk! Today the pies and pasties and huge coffees warmed us up before we headed to the collectable shop in the old part of town. An Old Timer knife that Ian collects (at a bargain price)  and two original edition Enid Blyton books added to the goods to take home.

The car was lighter however after a fabulous afternoon at the library where I sold some books and enjoyed the interaction with a wonderful audience.
 https://www.facebook.com/CampaspeLibrary Regional Library Service made me very welcome.

Home to the caravan park and Chef Ian cooked a hot chicken and potato curry to warm us up. Barman John was in charge of the flagon of port that somehow made its way into the shopping today.
Another great day in pretty and welcoming, albeit cold, Echuca!
Tomorrow we make our way west.

Sunset from the camp kitchen

How to cope with the cold

So we're from the coast and we aren't used to the cold. AT ALL!
Did we cope? We did!

Today:
 I found an awesome second bookshop that had TWO Annie Seaton books... Whitsunday Dawn and Daintree and some fabulous 1930s historical books on Alice Springs  that now belong to me (research gold!)

Today:
 we learned:

• a fan heater in the caravan works wonders for keeping warm
• as does a singlet, many jumpers, a coat and a beanie
• a tasting of liqueur muscat before lunch was VERY warming, as was a purchase of a pretty bottle of said muscat
• the crazy three on our trip went for a SWIM while the one sensible person (me!) observed.
• We visited the Port of Echuca, called into the library to prepare for tomorrow's talk.
• Found a warm camp kitchen to cook dinner, drink wine and rum, and meet fellow travellers.. one of the best parts of touring

Tomorrow... the library talk at Echuca

Today in pictures:

Mad travellers in 12 degree temperatures!

Tomorrow!

The mighty Murray

St Anne's Muscat

The highlight of my day!

Heading west and south

On a brilliant sunny (but chilly) morning on the last day of May, we set off from our beachside home, heading off on our latest adventure.

Our two goals:

1.  Have a fabulous seven weeks exploring parts of our wonderful country that we haven't seen before
2. Gather research material for my 2021 contracted novel East of Alice.

At Wellington Caves Day 2

Snow clouds?

We headed south for three hours before turning west to the Golden Highway. Conscious of the long distance we had to travel on our first day (680 kilometres) we warmed up with a quick coffee as we refuelled at Raymond Terrace and then a couple of hours later, had a banana each for lunch as we travelled west.

SES muster!

Our first stop was the Wellington Caves Caravan Park for a quick overnight stop. Ah, a very nice park, but we weren't expecting to see the 1000 State Emergency Personnel to be camped around the park (in flimsy tents on a freezing night.) I suppose if we'd got locked  in the van or the amenities block, there were plenty of rescuers on hand! They were there for three days of simulated cave rescues. We were tired and it was too cold to cook outside, so creamed corn on toast and a very early night completed our first day on the road.

The Learys and the Careys

The following day we turned south and travelled through previously unvisited locales: Parkes, Forbes and West Wyalong heading for our destination of Coolamon, where we caught up with friends I had met n a Trafalgar tour of Europe three years ago! A great afternoon was spent and the Aussie Rules local derby and then a night at the local pub. My dinner of merlot infused beef ragu with gnocchi and parmesan was the best meal out ever!

The Murray River at Tocumwal

Keeping warm with Julie

Up the next morning and through previously unexplored territory, excited to meet up with our travelling buddies, John and Julie, in Echuca.  A pretty drive on a sunny day to the Victorian border where we had our first sighting of the might Murray river at Tocumwal. We set up camp and then headed into explore Echuca. Another lovely meal in front of the fire at the Shamrock hotel topped off a great day.  We met two fun locals who were full of interesting stories:  a nuclear physicist and an accountant who have promised to drum up business for my library talk on Tuesday! 

Day 3: We have woken up to steady rain but that will not deter us from exploring Echuca! 

Stay posted.