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Published: November 30th 2010
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Surprisingly after the stresses of the evening we had a good nights sleep, but Hilda still wouldn’t start in the morning. We tried hitting the starter motor with a hammer and even had a couple of attempts to push start her (she heavy) but still no luck. It then started to rain so we couldn’t get everything outside to get to the engine - this was not fair! We somehow piled everything at one end of the van so we could get to the engine best we could. After some fiddling Andy tried again and much to our relief she started! It turned out to be a loose connection on the starter motor, an easy fix, and if it happens again we will know what it is. We were finally on our way to Pinaroo for a shower!
When we arrived it was a small caravan site, but it had immaculate facilities. It had the best shower we have had in years. It even had a kitchen so we didn’t have to use our gas all for just $18 a night with electricity - now you don’t get facilities like this back home. We finally got to spend some time
sitting in the sun before heading to the local bar. When we arrived we found just one other customer who appeared to be the drunkest man in the village. Apparently he was in some trouble with his parent so he was drowning his sorrows. As we looked round at our surroundings in this dusty village in the middle of no where we really got a sense of what a long way from Melbourne we were… and just how far we had yet to travel….
Having to set our alarm to be of site by 10am was not the nicest and considering we were in the middle of no where and there was hardly a rush of people trying to get on the site the checkout time seemed a little harsh. Our first stop of the day was Loxton- apparently the Christmas town - although in 30 degree heat it was feeling quite un-Christmassy. It was a reasonable sized town with a decent street of shops although three supermarkets did seem a bit much for a population of just over 7000. We parked just in front of Santa’s grotto but he must have popped out as there was no sign
of him anywhere. As we wandered down the street piped music from a mixture of eras filled the air. The Spice Girls sandwiched between Elvis and Dolly Parton was an unusual mix, and one that we shall not be in a hurry to bring home with us. Next we made our way to Renmark. This looked like a big town on the map and so we hoped we would find somewhere to buy a bike. When we arrived we found a shopping centre with a Big W which is part of Woolworths - yes that’s right Woolworths is alive and well this side of the world, selling everything from tools to t-bone steak and luckily for me a bilke for $99. Andy had to build it in the car park so we could put it on the bike rack much to some strange looks from the locals. There wasn’t much else to see in Renmark so we made our way to a pub that Andy had read about and was desperate to visit. After a hot days driving we were looking forward to relaxing in the beer garden, but when we arrived we were disappointed to find that they were
shut on Mondays. I’m pretty sure I saw a tear fall from Andy’s eye as the beer he had been longing to taste was snatched away. We found a free campsite just outside a town called Waikerie which overlooked the river Murray. It was another stunning place to stop for the night. We spent the evening chatting to Larry a grey haired man who when we asked where he was from just pointed to his car. He has been travelling Australia for 15 years, although not always in this car and there wasn’t much he hadn’t seen. We watched the sunset over the river and went to bed after a few to many glasses of wine hoping we wouldn’t feel too worse for ware in the morning.
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