Getting use to life on the road.
I’m not going to lie, it has been a hard week getting use to this basic lifestyle. We have been camping for a week before, so we thought we knew it all. It would be fairly easy with a few hiccups but this has been harder than I expected.
The dirt – OMG the dirt. You have a wash and you are dirty again, instantly. That clean feeling has gone. After 9 days of it, I think I’m finally getting use to the dirty feeling and smell. Don’t get me wrong, we are washing everyday and doing a wipe wash in between our washes. But you still feel dirty.
Power – unlimited supply of power has gone. We have to watch what we are using or else there is no watching a movie of a night time. So devices only get charged when sun is out or we are driving. Our battery runs our waeco which is our freezer, so we have to watch our consumption so at night there is enough power saved so it can run all night.
Running water – Oh to turn a tap on and have an endless supply of water. Not having to pump it out of the tank or pour it from a jerrycar. Not having to count the litres we have or how many we have used. To turn on tap to have hot water not have to set up the gas and water, and move the portaloo out of the ensuite tent just to have a wet, lather, rinse type of shower. And again watching the amount of water used so there is enough for all of us to showers.
TV – what is tv? Tonight is our first night with tv reception. I think we will all huddle round and watch “The News & The block” tonight. We are ever so grateful to our friends that downloaded movies on to our hard drive.
Hospital – who would have thought that you would take that for granted. 40 min drive in only to be to told there is a fee $270. Wasn’t going to take the risk though.
Bridges – to drive over a bridge whenever you want (so long as it’s not summertime in Echuca). Instead we wait for ferries to drop off then come to pick us up to take as across the river. Although the novelty hasn’t worn off yet.
Cooking outside – the wind has been blowing every night so then everything is taking longer.
Washing – hand washing just isn’t cutting it. Can’t get of the red dirt out of our clothes.
Oh but the positives still out way all of these things. And they are fun to laugh at and remember what it was like living in a house.
Look at my view for the next 2 nights doesn’t get better than this.
Then we’ll move on to another great view.
The time with our boys has been a bonus, they learning things we have taught them but we are all having fun together every day. And that’s the reason why we are doing this. To create lots of memories with our beautiful boys and that we are doing.
Love Courts xo
Our first stage of The Mighty Murray
Has been quite emotional a few days. Packing up all our belongings and saying our farewell’s to our loved ones.
Matt said goodbye to his car that he had spent the last 6 years doing up. It has only been on the road for a few months. So it has been a bit hard for him
Driving over the Echuca/Moama bridge and through the port saying goodbye to a town we really have come to love as our home over the past 7 years. Brought a tear to my eye.
We stopped at Swan Hill for lunch and got our first “Big” photo.
The Murray Cod.
We went down to the park on the river and had lunch. What a perfect spot for a picnic.
We made it to Mildura and set up camp at Merbein for 3 nights. What a learning curve the first nights have been. It has been a hard and very testing week.
We did a few activities Park for Play which is an all access playground that the boys thought was great.
We also did Perry Sandhill’s out of Wentworth. So glad we got out there in the morning the sand was hot, would have hated seeing it in the afternoon. They were fascinating.
We called into Orange World. Mario the owner had the best customer service. Let the boys make their own juice. Had a joke with Ethan because he was misbehaving.
We found a sandbar about a 10 minute walk from our camp so we went for a swim. Ethan discovered that with his life jacket on he could swim really well. There was a fence put in the river to make it safe for kids. Which is a brilliant idea.
We then headed off on Thursday to Renmark. We crossed our first border and first quarantine checked point.
We set up camp at Plush’s Bend. A great free camping spot with flush toilet’s. We are completely fascinated in the river here, we can walk 1/3 of the way across the river. The boys are loving swimming in it. Our camp is about 10 metres off the river. Perfect location. We decided that we should stay until Monday as the place has a few other campers around and it’s Australia Day weekend so thought we wouldn’t get another great spot like this along the Murray.
We had a look at the Renmark Paringa Community Museum which had a lot of different machinery and other things from the past. Ethan seemed to enjoy it and to my amazement knew what a couple of them did.
We looked at Loch 5 and taught the boys the importance of the Murray in early settlement, not sure they got it but makes my love for this great river even stronger. I also learn’t that the Edwards river (one of our favourite camping grounds) starts and finishes on the Murray river. Then Matt tells me all this info about it that I didn’t know. How funny that we have come over 550kms and that’s one of the things I learn’t.
Today we did the Monash Adventure Playground. There is nothing else around it really but this awesome playground. It is amazing. Grant Telfer an engineer started it years ago with leftover parts out of machinery, making all different types of quirky equipment out of it. It has been changed and even shut down for a short time due to public liability. It’s my second favourite playground so far in Australia.
The things that I have realised I have been taking for granted power, our toilet that flushes, a shower. Oh my shower, what I give for a shower where I can leave the water running the whole time I’m in it.
Enjoying seeing all the beautiful coloured dirt. Matt thinks I’m weird but the dirt is a beautiful rich colour.
I love our country, our mighty Murray. Can’t wait to see the transformation you make at our next stop.
Xoxo
Baker's Trip Of Oz 
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