I will have to make this quick as the power is running low on the laptop and we have no way of charging it at the moment.
We really enjoyed our time in Mildura with Andy.
Some pics of our van and car for you Simon the other car is Andy's.
Everything is under the awning as it was just sprinkling that morning.
Andy took us 4WDing as I had never done any before. It also meant we got to have a fire by the river at TJ got to do some knitting. She saw a really neat design at the markets we visited in Red Cliffs on Sunday so decided to give it a go.
Then Andy headed off on his trip to Sydney and we spent one more day sorting, shopping and getting ready for our next adventure.
Tuesday morning we headed out to Wentworth where the Murray meets the Darling River. Two of Australia's rivers converging as the Darling travels from QLD right through outback NSW to meet up with the Murray. The Murray is rather brown in colour while the Darling has almost a grey hue and you can see a stark difference as the two come together.
We came across this beautiful old paddle steamer as we entered Wentworth named the PS Ruby and found it was open to the public. We really enjoyed our look aboard the ship and were amazed at the work that had gone into restoring it. It was a commercial vessel in its glory days and was used as a cruise ship with 14 double cabins. Just fantastic to see this wood fired steam driven steamer so lovingly restored.
Then we moved on towards the border. It was a bit freaky taking this pic as we were just off to the side of the Sturt highway and the trucks were flying past.
Then we were in Renmark. Grabbed some shopping and headed down to Berri for our first taste of free camping. This place is called Martin's Bend and is on a horseshoe section of the Murray. It has toilets and a caretaker so rather civilised. Lesson 3 of the trip...make sure you fill the water tanks up before going to free camping site as we had to go out this morning and get some water on board. Not always an easy task because not everyone wants you to pull up to their tap and take 120 litres but fortunately the caravanners chronicle, which is what I call it, where as TJ refers to it as networking or chatting, came to our aid and we were sent just up the road to a sports oval that has a tap for us campers.
This spot is incredible. We are 25 metres from the Murray. In a shaded spot under the trees. The toilets are just up the little hill and it is all FREE. This is the best part as we are very disappointed with the charges in caravan parks. Much more than expected with some asking for $12 per child extra.
Anyway we were only going to stay one night but spent today hanging out around here and fishing. The kids really had a ball and are a lot more patient than expected.
Even had time for a BBQ lunch which we cooked halfway between our van and the Murray.
Well that is it for now. Need to work out where to from here. Not sure whether to spend another day around here exploring or get down south as the end of the Murray is only a few hours away.
Life is even better than yesterday.
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