Finally we are on our way on the big trip to the west and then up the west coast to Derby. We started our trip yesterday after waiting till Friday to get our rear view camera on the back of the caravan replaced. we found a great auto electrician in Cobram who went out of his way to order us one in and when it arrived it had a female fitting instead of a male, so he spent some time changing fittings and then he insisted on putting it on the van for us.As a result our departure was delayed, but we were determined to leave so instead of our first stop being Swan Hill it was Echuca. Now that's not the end of it, because Echuca had a steam rally on and all the town caravan parks were booked out. We found one who said yes plenty of room, just drive down this road for seventeen kms - you'll think you are in the middle of nowhere, but then you will find us at the end of the road. So down this road we went, then it turned to dirt and on we went. It seemed to take forever and there was no where to turn around - dirt road in the middle of a national park (forest), trees as far as the eye could see. We got there in the finish and it turned out to be a really old park. He charged us $38 and then asked if we wanted water- the water was straight out of the river. He advised us that it was not suitable for drinking, so we just used our tank water. The night was very cold. it got down to 2c at least. Thank goodness for the electric blanket and the bed socks I had bought from Target years ago and never used.

Today is Saturday and we drove on to Swan Hill and got here about lunch time. It was great to have time to start the blog, walk to the shops and just relax. Swan Hill is a very nice park and in normal circumstances we would stay here a litle longer, but not this time.

Sunday and Monday we drove to Renmark in SA and stayed for two nights. On the way here we passed through the quarantine fruit and veg roadblock. They look in your glove box and also your fridge in the car as well in the van. We knew it was coming so we had one potato, small amount of pumpkin and 2 onions to hand over. Renmark Big 4 park is right on the river, so you have beautiful views of the water from your caravan you can see lots of ducks, pelicans and what look like scrub hens of some kind, house boats float by and at night the sights of the lights of Renmark over the water are beautiful. This park is so clean with a very cheerful and helpful staff. It is a real pleasure to stay here.
On Tuesday we drove to Crystal Creek in SA. What a pretty little town with an old but very clean council run caravan park so pretty and cheap. ($23.00). We had a terrific storm with thunder right over head, then very heavy rain with a little hail. The town itself is very quaint. You could almost believe you were back in the 50's or 60's, with an old style butchers shop and bakery. The townsfolk were very friendly and I think very grateful that we were spending money in their town,
Today Wednesday we arrived in Kimba at about 2pm. We drove through some rain, sun is shining at the moment, but dark skies all around. Kimba has a roadhouse with a motel and caravan park, not all sites have water, but lots of powered sites available. Park is very basic and close to the main road which can be noisy, but it will do for a night till we cross the border tomorrow and drive to Ceduna for our crossing of the Nullarbor.