Ever Onwards

The weather is very hot, probably not really, but after three trips away in very cold weather, with plenty of rain and wind, we are feeling the heat.   Our current set of clothes does not help as we brought warm gear with us.   Luckily Walter included two pairs of shorts, but I ended up buying a pair of summer weight trousers.    I am now limited to two pairs of trousers and three blouses.     

When I say the weather is very hot, I do not mean temperatures in the high 30s, but rather temperatures in the 20s.   They should be perfect I know.    But we are feeling it, and Piper too.

The warm weather also brings out the sticky flies!    And now we have mosquitoes as we are beside the Murray River.

Never happy!

Anyway we are now in a small caravan park in Moama, near a town called Echuca, on the Murray River.  The caravan park is pristine, regulated and crowded with holiday homes.    We are on a paved site, with fake grass on the side and a driveway to park the car.     

There are no sticky flies here!   They dare not show their faces here.

So for the first time in four trips away we took the chairs out of the car, and sat outside with our drinks.   This was a real plus.  

Quite a spacious site really!  

Our street of portable homes, which reminds us of the mobile home (caravan parks) in England.  There is not a club here though.

We were sad to leave Wood Wood, with its quirky name, and spacious grounds, plus a cafe/store at the front.     Sadly people bypass the small, and often older style, caravan parks for the bigger ones with the known names.   

Yesterday we drove  to Swan Hill, about 36 km from Wood Wood.     Our first stop was Bunnings where we purchased a small D bolt because one D bolt fell off the support wire on the side of my bed.   Rough roads!   We improvised with a bolt for a couple of days.    Due to hunting around for a bolt amongst our messy large box, I decided to reorganise our bits and pieces.   I bought various small boxes at Bunnings, which has resulted in a big sort out.   Interestingly we had packets of screws, nuts and bolts, that were purchased in France.   

Our second stop was the main shopping streets, where Walter purchased a new pair of reading glasses and I bought a pair of lightweight trousers.    Then we had lunch.  

After that we drove back to the caravan, via the street by the river, where there was an interesting settlers museum.   But we were too tired by this time, and I was keen to get back to organise our tool box.   

So no photographs.

We resorted to wearing our fly nets when we returned to our camp site.    So flattering!

We also visited a little town called West Nyah, as against Nyah which was even smaller.    

Now West Nyah had a very sad and deserted shopping street, mainly due to people shopping at Swan Hill which had every shop imaginable in Australia.    

So Nyah West's main shopping area was deserted, with only a pharmacy, small IGA (grocery store), Post Office and tyre shop (obviously they use a lot of tyres out this way).    Everything else was closed.   

The white ants had eaten a fair bit of this building.

Norma's Hairdressing business is no more.

A lovely shady verandah but no shops.

I think this must have once been a drapers shop.

This afternoon we spent an hour tightening the turn buckles on the side of the pull out (my bed) using the beautifully sorted out tools.   I still cannot get my head around turn buckles.  They make no sense at all.  

Tomorrow we will be back in tourist mode again.