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Published: January 29th 2017
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We stayed at Swan Hill until Monday 23 January. We had planned to utilise the caravan repair service at the caravan park, however, the business doesn't operate on weekends (the son of the owners of the caravan park offers this service). So no minor repairs we would like done. During our stay we noticed a couple of maintenance practices which didn't encourage us to stay any longer than Monday. There is only 1 medium size (holds 2 household rubbish bins) cleanaway bin at the end of the van park which was overflowing, the ladies toilets weren't cleaned (except for Sunday), and although the park said there was to be no cleaning of the caravans or cars because Swan Hill is on permanent water restrictions, the water wastage from the sprinklers as the excess water flowed down the gutters would have shamed even a Darwinite (and Humpty Dooites)! This was not a cheap van park to stay, so these observations were disappointing. On Sunday we emailed off the insurance claim for annexe to get that process moving. It was a hot day (max 38ยบ) and Holly was brave enough to have a swim in the swimming pool. She said the water was
cold, but was refreshing.
We have decided that it is time to head towards the coast. We heard on the radio, a local talking about how good Loch Sport is on 90 Mile Beach, so that is where we will start our coastal drive. The weather is cooler and we are missing the beach. Now to get there. So on Monday 23 January were we happy to continue on to our next destination. During the day we were able to renew Holly's driver's licence and the receipt they emailed us is valid for 14 days. We aimed for Benalla, but we had a good drive and arrived further south, arriving at Yea.
We overnighted at Yea and headed for Sale on Tuesday 24 January. On the way, we drove through the Yarra Valley and we had forgotten what a beautiful valley it really is. We had driven through this area 9 years ago when we had left Healesville heading north and had commented on the beauty then. Sometimes it is good to revisit where you had once travelled through. Holly learnt how to take photos on the iphone while we were driving through the Yarra Valley. So we
won't forget this part of Australia again! We have avoided the major freeways so we see more of the countryside, but we decided to go on the A1 and M1 on the way to Sale. Got there mid afternoon and stopped off at the Information Centre to see what caravan parks were available and get general information about the area. We drove into the caravan park next to the Information Centre, however they were very busy and had no shade, which is vital when you don't have an annexe. I tried to turn around and scrapped a bit of the back left edge of the caravan. Bugger! Onto the caravan park at the Sale showgrounds.
Wednesday 25 January. What a great van park at the showgrounds. Park where you like, plenty of shade and only 2/3rds of the cost we had been paying. Today we got covers for our spare car and caravan tyres (they had blown off during our trip), rang a local caravan repair company to order our annexe and are considering getting an antenna as I have had a lot of trouble finding the signal for the VAST satellite while at Sale (finally got it this
afternoon). The caravan repair guy will be here on Friday to get the measurements for the annexe.
Thursday 26 January and it's Australia Day. There was a lunchtime celebration at the showgrounds under the "big tree". We were just as happy to stay around the van and take it easy. There are no laundry facilities at the showgrounds so I went to a laundromat in town. I can't remember the last time I went to a laundromat. Oh boy, is it expensive. That won't happen again. We were speaking to our van neighbours and they praised the value of installing Wikicamps on the phone, so I have installed the app on the phone as a few people have mentioned how good the information is on this app. I later found a further use of this app - it shows you exactly where you point your satellite dish to get reception! Yah!
Friday 27 January and Holly agreed to wait for the van repair guy while I went into town to print off Holly's driver's licence receipt, do some shopping and bought her the belated birthday present - a fishing tackle box! Holly was chuffed. The van repair guy
and his wife came just before one and they will call us on Monday to let us know if there is one in stock in Sale. We were planning to leave on Monday, but we will take it day by day.
Saturday 28 January and the 3 of us went to check out the main shopping street of Sale. Stopped off at Dan Murphy's to buy some wine and lo and behold, the "Wise One" tawny port I had bought at a cellar door at Langhorne Creek in South Australia for $20.00, I was able to get here for $16.00. We were surprised as I was led to believe that this port was only available at the cellar door. Yes, we bought a couple of bottles as we really enjoyed this port and thought we would never be able to buy it at a store. That's it so far.
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