Rubbish, fruit fly and magpies.

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Day six.
On the road again. After a slow start this morning, due to phone calls to Authorised Service Agents in Victoria, Adelaide, Whyalla, and Alice Springs trying to track down a replacement part for the fridge (yes, still the fridge) we left Mildura heading towards Adelaide. A pleasant drive, although I think I had my eyes closed for a fair bit of it. The sun is very bright. We stopped for lunch at a roadside rest stop and were absolutely appalled by the amount of rubbish left there. Admittedly, there were no rubbish bins, but really, if you can carry the rubbish there, surely you can take it away with you. Somebody had even dumped a bag full of make-up. (Nothing in my colours.)
We prepared for the next stage of our trip by doing a grocery shop yesterday. That was a mistake. I new I was going to have to hand over my lemons, because I didn’t finish juicing them, but the Quarantine Inspector wasn’t content with just lemons. At least we got to keep the asparagus along with the sweet potatoes and broccoli, but everything else was taken. I have to read up on quarantine regulations now for all the other border crossings we will be doing. Apparently there have been thirty cases of Fruit Fly discovered in the area recently.
A few years ago, prior to one of our driving holidays, I discovered audio books at the library. Now we never go on holidays without them. Life can get very boring clocking up all those miles with static on the radio and little conversation. So, today we had the company of a James Patterson thriller. We have a few Bryce Courtenay books to look forward to, as well as a few authors we don’t know.
Anyway, before I forget, we are now set up in a caravan park in Nurioopta in the Barossa Valley. We were welcomed by a trio of kookaburras and a group of magpies. We are missing our magpies at home, and the dogs. We hand feed a family of four magpies, parents and two juveniles. We have been feeding the parents every breeding season for about ten years. Mary, our friend and house/dog sitter has taken over the responsibility.
The time we spent hanging out in Mildura proved to be very beneficial. Not only is it a pleasant location, but it gave us time to get used to all the aspects of our van. We have settled into it well. When we set up this afternoon, I timed it at thirty-five minutes. That included unhitching and levelling, setting up the awning, pop-top, slide-outs, water and electricity. I am sure in a few days we will be a lot quicker. In the meantime, it is nice to be moving again.

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Photos

One of the locals
When we arrived in the park at Nurioopta, we were welcomed by kookaburras and magpies. The stayed around for a while and supervised our setting up.