Forgot to say that we stayed overnight at Holbrook, about half way between Melbourne and Sydney.
Didn’t sleep too well, at first it was hot, then it got chilly so put the doona on, then it got cold so had to dig out the heavy doona. Luckily Song had foresight and packed well.
When I saw what was going into the van I thought it would be easier to just put wheels on the house and tow it around.
Woke up around 0800 which was later than we anticipated, walked past other campers waking up, packing up and generally milling about, had a shower and then packed up our van.
Went next door and filled up with diesel ($134!!! The war in Ukraine is about 3 weeks old and prices have gone up. Not the best time to go on a road trip).
Scraped off the butterfly and insect collection we’d built up and headed off, it was now about 10:00.
Did a u turn because our neighbours told us there is a submarine in the middle of the town, and since that’s something you don’t see every day decided to have a look.
It was actually a small 1/5th model of a submarine so thought “meh” but took a couple of pictures anyway.
Got back in the van, drove down the road and saw the real submarine, a life size one now a thing for kids to climb on. Not sure if was a real one that saw service or a mock up. Maybe I’ll Google it.
Yes, a real one but only the shell.
Forgot to mention the weather – really nice, a bit hot yesterday but both days clear, and the van’s AC worked great.
Drove for about an hour and a half and stopped off at Gundagai for lunch, a small town but really nice; lots of Art Deco buildings and some information about the great flood of 1852 that basically wiped out the town.
Seems every small country town has a story of some kind. Found a very popular cafe and I had a lamb wrap thing and Song had a BLT in Turkish bread, both nice.
Had a little walk, but it was a bit hot so back to the van to carry on. The cat had found a spot behind the seats that was dark and cozy so she seemed happy.
Not much traffic, set the cruise control to 105 and pointed it down the road. The limit was 110 but I felt comfortable at 105.
Pulled over after about an hour to stretch and have a cup of tea and a pee. Having the toilet in the van is really good.
Pushed on, making good time so stopped off at Goulburn for a quick walk, again a very pleasant town but not much open on a Sunday afternoon.
Back on the road, and after a while the traffic started to build and soon it was very busy, lots of people heading home after the weekend.
A bit stressful, lots of cars and trucks merging and overtaking, checking the mirrors and making sure I didn’t take a wrong turn.
Eventually arrived at the block of flats of our friend, parked illegally and unloaded all her kit, then I went off to find a place to park. Luckily found a spot not too far, made sure the cat had food and water and went back to help carry the stuff up but they’d found a shopping trolley and everything was done.
Our friend lives around the corner from a busy street with loads of restaurants and we chose a Japanese place. I had Gyoza and Ramen, the others had a selection of stuff. Was very good, but the people at the table next to me had a selection of sushi which looked better.
We had planned to go to the Blue Mountains tomorrow but decided the van might be a bit hard to drive there, so will either stay another night in Sydney and look around since we haven’t been here for years, or maybe go to Canberra for a couple of days.
That’s the advantage of the van, you can change plans.
Suitably stuffed with dinner, headed off to the camp site. Again quite stressful, driving in the dark in an unfamiliar van through narrow streets where I’ve never been.
But got there ok, had trouble finding the site but got set up.
So much more room with all the crap gone, we could actually sit down on the seats at the back which had been piled up with boxes.
Pottered about a bit then set up the bed and went to sleep.