Our maiden voyage in our Avan was to Cowra. We bought our Avan Cruiseliner in early 2018 and we were eager to set off and try it. We had two nights previously at Shoalhaven Heads to test things out, but this was the inaugral trip. It was winter but we headed out with warmth in our travelling souls.

Our first mishap was clost to home, on the Hume Highway, where one of the roof racks holding our two kayaks gave way. We pulled over on the verge of the highway with trucks and cars whizzing past us, throwing up the wet from the rain. We had to take off the kayaks to repair the roof rack but the wind and rain proved a huge obstacle. It was so cold that the mist off the rain felt like sleet. We battled on and got them off, only to find the tools needed were undeneath all our packed goodies in the car. So we unloaded everything onto the road, got the tools and Tez eventually did the trick and we loaded up again, hoisted the kayaks up, holding on for grim death in the wind and climbed aboard and cranked up the heater.

Onwards and even though we were wet, our spirits weren't deterred.

We loved Cowra , camping beside the Lachlan River, even though the river was just a trickle.

We visited the remains of the Japanese Prisoner of War camp there and walked through the remants of the foundations and read the interesting history. Before we visited it, we watched a hologram in the Visitors Centre outlining what happened there. It mentioned the Italian prisoners and how a young girl fell in love with one of these boys. When we moved to Jamberoo, we became friends with that girl, who by now was an old lady. She married that boy and lived in Jamberoo after many years of red tape.

The prisoner of war camp was inhabited by Japanese and Italians mainly and on 5/8/1944 104 Japanese escaped after killing one of the guards. 235 people were killed and the town was in an uproar as residents joined in on the search to recapture these prisoners.

In town we rang the giant gong of the Peace Bell and it echoed out our sentiments.