More storms to the west near Deniliquin
moving east
Drove
to Jerilderie
Camped overnight at Jerilderie at Roadhouse
on Friday
THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT WHILE THE PICTURES LOAD
Day 45
Friday 1st
January 2010
Click on the pictures for larger versions
We slept really well in the cool night after the storm.
I was up early to clean up any wet camping gear and then pack up.
The tent campers hadn't stirred as we left.
It was a really pleasant drive to our next stop,
Daylesford, where we were to have
brunch with Judy's Argentine friends, Raquel and Julio.
Raquel was Judy's
roommate when she was doing her nurse's training at the
British Hospital in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Judy was born in Argentina at the British Hospital. Her
family, who were British, left in the
Peron era in 1955, as it was getting too dangerous to
live there, as they were "foreigners".
After moving to England and USA for a few years, they
were transferred by the company her father worked for - Lister
Blackstone - to Colombia.
Judy then moved back to
Argentina to do her nursing studies.
That is when she met Raquel.
Judy knew Colombian Spanish but had to learn
Argentinean Spanish to enable her to study at the British
Hospital.
She had to have a tutor but she tells me that Raquel later
tutored her as well, in a lot of the "naughty" Argentinean words.
:)
The aftermath of the storms was all along the road.
Everything was soaked, including the animals. The road was wet and
cool - so much different to most of our recent driving.
8.34am
8.34am
8.35am
8.35am
8.39am
8.40am
8.51am
8.51am
We found ourselves lost finding where Judy's friends were in
Daylesford and ended up having fun, trying to turn the van and
caravan around, on a rural road on the edge of town.
After a phone call to them, we soon found our way back and we were
greeted as long lost friends.
They are really lovely people.
They treated us to lunch, an Italian style lunch, which was
really tasty.
11.15am
11.15am
11.15am
Raquel
Lorena and Raquel
Other family members
of Raquel and Julio
11.16am
Julio
Before we left the Creswick
area, I had studied the Camps Australia book to see possibilities
for our next camping spot.
I hoped we could stay near the Murray River but there didn't seem
to be many suitable overnight stops.
I decided to use the "suck it and see" approach but that meant maybe
many hours till we stopped.
Therefore we had to get on the move.
Around midday we said our goodbyes to Raquel, Julio and
their lovely family and friends and headed north again.
The sky had cleared while we were in Daylesford. We headed towards
Castlemaine chatting about the visit with Raquel and Julio.
I braked gently at some stage and wondered if it was my imagination or
real - the caravan seemed to brake more on one side than the other.
The brakes were electric and controlled by a unit beside the steering
wheel. All seemed normal there, so I pulled over to see if there was
anything noticeable that may cause it to pull to one side.
Nothing seemed out of place.
It made me aware though, so I was careful when braking.
I wondered if one of the brake linings may have worn down.
It was time
to refuel when we arrived in Castlemaine.
I found a small shopping centre with a service station.
The dogs needed a drink and we needed a pee so I pulled up at a small
park with toilets.
While I was waiting for Judy I
noticed something hanging under the axle of the caravan.
It turned out to be the cable supplying the brake solenoid on the
passenger side brake.
I managed to get to the ground with my back killing me and my knees
being cut by the gravelly ground and saw that not only had the cable
ties that held the cable to the axle fallen off, but then, from the
swaying of the cable, one of the pair of wires supplying the brake
solenoid had broken away.
Hence the lopsided braking earlier!!
Yuk!
Then began the process of rejoining the broken wire.
Not only was it broken, but the idiot that had wired it, left only about
2 inches of cable on the solenoid.
I had to get back out again, find something to lie on, so I still had my
back in one piece and not lacerated all over from the gravel, get back
down with my knees and back in pain, slide back under again and start
the repair.
Being an Electrician, I made sure
I carried a heap of 12 volt type gear in case of repairs on the road.
After losing a lot of bark off my knuckles, getting into the small space
where the joint was, I redid both cable joints and MADE SURE IT
WAS ANCHORED at both wheels, soas not to
put pressure on the joints again.
Then I fitted new cable ties to the cable supplying the brake from the
other wheel.
Only one cable tie had been fitted to hold all of the cable.
Nothing was fitted at the ends to stop the movement of the cable as the
caravan swayed.
I couldn't believe anyone could leave such a potentially dangerous
situation.
Covered in black filth and sweating, I crawled back out and straightened
my back.
I tested everything and we
headed over to the Service Station where we filled our water
bottles, filled the Daihatsu and bought ice creams.
We had lost a lot of time, probably 90 minutes, which meant no chance of
tourist activities.
Next town/city was Bendigo. I would have loved looking around but
we had to keep moving as there were no free camping spots there.
The sun was fast disappearing to our left as we headed further north to
the border.
I considered trying to find a spot in Echuca but decided to keep
driving.
I was still nice and fresh and inspired by the feeling of crossing into
NSW and closer to home.
Home was looking really good.
I was over the holiday!!
After looking at the map I decided to follow the Murray River on
the Victorian side and cross at Tocumwal.
I took the pictures below looking north towards Deniliquin.
We were between Echuca and Cobram.
As the front that passed over us at Creswick was moving North
East, I assumed we were catching up to it in NSW.
7.43pm
7.43pm
7.43pm
We travelled along the Murray Valley Highway,
as
the sun set behind us.
It was dark when we passed through Strathmerton.
I was looking
forward to seeing the intersection at the Goulburn Valley Highway.
When we did turn at the intersection we saw a Service Station, but it
was very dimly lit, so we continued on and over what was supposed to be
a high point of the trip, the crossing of the mighty Murray River.
It came and went in the darkness as we entered Tocumwal. Judy was dozing and I only saw glimpses of lights reflecting
in the water as I had to concentrate on the road ahead.
Tocumwal was asleep - no place for a drink etc - so we passed
through.
It was New Years Day after all and
late at night.
As we had no air conditioning in the Daihatsu, I noticed the air
becoming very humid as we drove on into the night.
We passed through Finley, with lightning very active in the
west towards Deniliquin.
Only half an hour or so to
Jeriderie !!
I was definitely getting weary and Judy
was asleep, so I made sure I was very aware.
There was very little
traffic to contend with.
The storms to the west seemed to be closing in on us. I hoped we'd get a cool
shower from them to help keep me alert.
Finally, we arrived out of the blackness, broken by lightning flashes,
at the BP Roadhouse at
Jerilderie,to bright green and white
colours.
This was to be our overnight stop.
Phew!!!! It had been a long day.
Awake since around 6.00am - 18hours
Around 6 hours driving.
It felt good though that we were well into NSW
and a lot closer to home.
It was just after midnight when
we turned into the Service Station.
The old Daihatsu
pulling a caravan, is a lot slower than a
sedan.
I pulled off to the perimeter of an area obviously used by truckies and
went into the 24 hour restaurant
and made enquiries about staying there overnight.
The console operator was really friendly and told us that would be no
problems. He told us the showers were $2.00 and we took him up on that
with delight.
He showed us where to park and asked if we needed a feed. We said we'd
love one, so he said, go setup, have a shower and he'd see us after that
for a feed.
It seemed surreal, sitting in bright lights at 1.00am
eating Bacon & Eggs etc (
great food too ) , watching
a large screen TV with 3 or 4 truckies at other tables and people
intermittently buying drinks and paying for fuel.
We met a girl who told us she was towing a float with a horse in it to
Deniliquin.
She came from Dalby in
Queensland,where I had spent a couple of years.
She was
concerned about the road south because of the storms.
We told her we hadn't passed through any, but they certainly were over
near Deniliquin.
After we had our fill, we headed back towards the caravan, just as the
rain started.
The lightning had petered out.
We saw the Dalby girl again. She said
she had decided to keep going. We wished her well.
Our only problem was keeping the Honda Alternator
dry, as it had to run all night to provide power for Judy's CPAP
machine. (Sleep Apnoea)
Feeling very clean from our showers, plus the soft rain falling on the
aluminium roof of the caravan, we were lulled off to sleep in the cool
air, as the showers passed over us.