Day 182 - 183 13th August - 14th August 2012

Day 182 Monday 13^th August 2012

 We woke this morning in the wonderful region of Gulnare South Australia, which was lush and green, but oooh soooo coooollllldddd brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I think of the entire trip this has been the coldest that I have been.  Remember we are also using our own facilities at the moment so we have to shower in the evenings as it is warmer, but a shower consists of wet your body switch off the water, lather up the body and scrub well, switch on the water and rinse.  When it is warm weather not a problem but when it is icy cold it is almost unbearable.

We set off driving aiming to get as far into Victoria as we can.  I am still hoping at this stage that we will be home by tomorrow evening.  We stopped off at Renmark for lunch and a cuppa, then onward to Mildura.  Oscar wanted to look around Mildura and not just drove straight through, which we did then headed south again on the Calder Highway towards Bendigo.

 Our rest for the night was a rest area 45K’s north of Ouyen in country Victoria.  Not a bad rest area as rest areas go, however we were right alongside the railway tracks and I was worried we would be disturbed late night or early morning by a passing train. 

I made Chicken a’ la Vania (go figure) Oscar said it was delish and had a few helpings.  We tucked in fairly early after Oscar won at cards and his prise was……….

Like I said South Australia do really not like bad drivers on country roads

The customs department close to the border of South Australia and Victoria

We are Home

Black Stump in Renmark - Apparently there is an Aussie saying that goes with this???

Loved the dunny

Our second last home

The railway line in our backyard

Day 183 Tuesday 14^th August 2012

 As it was the train only came through at 8:00am this morning and we were up and preparing the van to leave.  It was a fairly warm morning considering we were in country Victoria and it was drizzling.  Oscar maintains that it is warmer when there is more cloud cover.  So far his theory has proven to be fairly accurate.

We meandered down the Calder Highway through country towns such as Ouyen, Sea Lake, Charlton, Wedderburn Inglewood and Bridgewater stopping to fill up a few times and to have lunch at Charlton.  Not much else happened along the way.  We bypassed Bendigo just after Marong and continued south to a rest area called Happy Jacks Recreation Reserve where there is an Aboriginal Red Gum tree approximately 700 years old.

We have a lovely camp next to a creek and we will have the frogs singing us to sleep tonight.

As promised earlier in the piece we are going to publish the cost of this trip so here are the stats.  Please remember that whilst this is our cost costs may differ depending on your individual requirements and such fluctuating costs such as fuel.

Till my final blog tomorrow when I expect we will be home at midday.

O&V

Hi “blog followers” this is Oscar. This is my final “post” for this amazing journey, so please stand at attention.

Firstly and most importantly I would like to thank Vania publically for offering me the opportunity to see this beautiful country of ours. If it wasn’t for Vania’s “suggestions” I am sure I would not have seen the wonderful sights we did. I can assure you that if you’re considering a trip like this you will most definitely need to get of the “black top / bitumen / asphalt” and soak up those dirt corrugated roads, that is where you will see the fantastic sights.

Secondly I would sincerely like to thank the following people. I would like to thank Marrrrk and Cathy, Lester and Annie and finally Brad and Bridgette (and there 2 lovely children) for putting us up along the way. Time with these lovely people gave us an opportunity to catch our breath as well as some very important general “maintenance”. It was also great to see “brother” and “sister” rekindling their relationship again.

Finally very special thanks to Terry and Rhonda for their support and encouragement along our journey. They were fantastic “blog followers” and it was very much appreciated to get some really good feedback. Thank you.

So cheers guys. Vania has collated all the “blog” stories and photos in a word document and I will endeavour to print this off so that I will have a permanent reminder of this fantastic trip. See ya, and take care. Love Oscar.

Panoramic view of Spring

I have heard that Victoria has had bad weather I have it on authority that spring is upon us

Johnnie found you one more train

This man is lost he thinks he is in the Northern Territory

Victoria not to be outdone

The 700 year old tree

And finally our last home!!!!!

Travelling Days 183



                                                                                                      Total                per Day

Setup Costs including van                                                       $33 772.45     

Living costs (food & drink etc.)                                              $  8 918.84      $49.00            

Gas for cooking, water heating                                             $     196.45      $  1.08

Generator fuel                                                                         $     213.51      $  1.17

Accommodation                                                                      $  1 170.38      $  6.43

Travel Entertainment                                                             $  1 031.64      $  5.67

Vehicle Repairs & Maint                                                        $  3 568.70      $19.61

Communication Costs                                                            $     459.00      $  2.52

Insurance                                                                                 $     220.44      $  1.21

Fuel                                                                                           $  8 920.53      $49.01



Total K’s Travelled                                                                  35192.30         193.36

Total Ltrs Consumed                                                                5353.26           28.86

Average $ per Litre                                                                                           $1.70

Average K’s per Litre                                                                                          6.7

Average K’s per 100 Litre                                                                                 14.92

Isn’t it interesting to observe that WDU 564 Drank more than Oscar and I did together on both food and drink.