Blogs from Mildura, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

It's Mother's Day, but there are no sleep-ins or breakfasts-in-bed for Issy. Our not so kind hosts (refer previous entry) need us to move apartments this morning. We’ve been told we have to be out of this apartment by 10am on pain of death, but apparently we can't get into the second one, several kilometres away, until 2pm. So it seems we‘ll be temporarily homeless. Our hosts keep sending us emails asking us for feedback. I would have thought we gave them more than enough last night, but they're clearly gluttons for punishment. I salivate as I think about what I'm going to put in the review. Soon after we’ve moved out they ring us to tell us that they've again (?) gone out of their way to help us, and have arranged for us to ... read more

Here we are about to set out on our 3rd Murray navigation. From Mildura to Murray Mouth. As you all know we spend a lot of time planning these trips. First we have the spreadsheet that details the itinerary, fuel stops, overnight stops, locks and all the shopping items. We called every tourist office to check on fuel availability. I was a little disappointed when Sally at Renmark (the last one I called) said “let me just check my fuel stops on the Murray sheet”. Now we’ve done this 3 times and no one has ever mentioned the fuel stops on the Murray sheet. I said can you send me a copy of it and she did. This sheet has completely de-risked the whole trip! Another area that Brooksie, Mike and I discussed at length was ... read more

Victoria, a Australian state boasts some of the most vibrant towns and cities known to anyone. Mildura being one of the larger regional cities situated along the Murray river has a population of around 30,000 and can swell to around 60,000 and even more during peak holiday season. The city has towns surrounding it making it look a whole lot bigger. Some of these towns are Merbein, Irymple, and Red cliffs to name a few. The area commonly known as the Sunraysia region boasts some of the best sceneries considering it's a remote area. The journey from my hometown of Whyalla, In South Australia took about 6 hours at 610KM distance. The route takes you through the flinders ranges in South Australia right up through the Riverland, also in South Australia till eventually you arrrive in ... read more

Trentham Cliffs is a little place near Mildura on the NSW side of the Murray River. This has become a favourite place for us to stop as there is a caravan park within walking distance of the Trentham winery and restaurant. The food here is divine and with our love of food we just have to visit. On the afternoon of our arrival we decided to go bush walking in the King’s Billabong national park. After all those hours driving we wanted to stretch our legs. The quaintly named Duck Foot Lagoon walk is 6.6km round trip so that was perfect. The wind made King’s Billabong too rough for birds but the smaller sheltered waterways were active. Duck’s Foot Lagoon must be one of the nicest wet-lands we have ever seen. The photos tell the story ... read more

Merry Christmas and Happy new year from Sunny ( but for today really wet) Red Cliffs, Victoria. After a few days in Cairns I flew to Adelaide to meet up with my best friends mum and dad Tina and Martin who were in Australia visiting relatives. Tom had arranged it so that I would arrive unannounced and surprise them. I walked in and nearly gave Tina a heart-attack as she was not expecting to see such a familiar face 16,000 miles away. I was then mothered for the next few days and taken under their wing as one of their own with clothes washed and toiletries and medicine supplies replenished. As I had been been on the road for the last month or so, I decided that it was probably best that I should go and ... read more