Annual Escape the Winter caravan trip - June 2019
6-9 June 2019 - Launceston to HayWe are on the road for our annual escape the Tasmanian winter caravan trip - and it's warming up already! Last Thursday I left work an hour or two early to go home, change clothes and cars and pick up Greg, and hit the road for Devonport. Our lovely housesitters Kevin and Lyn had arrived earlier in the afternoon to look after Slick and Tabitha et al although Slick was sad as we left. Within two hours, we were in our cabin on the Spirit of Tasmania. We then made arrangements to meet some people who own the same caravan as us for drinks, which turned into dinner. That was quite lovely so it was a good few hours later that we curled up in single beds on board, lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the ship.
At 5:45am, we were woken up onboard, and just after 6:30am, we were one of the first off. After a quick breakfast in Port Melbourne, we drove to Narre Warren North to pick up our van. A quick catch up cuppa with Marg before we hitched up and set off for Bendigo. The first 50km or so I am always a little anxious towing - because I don't do it very often. But as the kilometres melted away, my confidence returned. By the time we stopped for a toilet break in Gisbourne and phone catch up with our travelling companions, my mojo was back. We pulled into the caravan repair man's yard at 12:15pm, for him to service the diesel heater. Unhitching the van, we left them to it and headed into Bendigo for lunch and our grocery shop (the disadvantage of not having our van parked at home). That didn't take all afternoon so we went back to the yard just after 3pm and sat in the sun while they kept working. When he showed me all the gunk that came out of our disel heater, I'm glad we were getting it serviced! Just after 5pm, we were out of there and did a short drive up the Calder Highway to a campsite we have stayed at before. After such a big day and an early start, we were pretty tired so we had a quick dinner and went to bed early.
On Saturday morning we had a sleep in despite the 7C temperature inside our caravan. The diesel heater went on pretty quick as I have a little rule that I don't get out of bed until it is 15C inside the van! So at 15C, I get up and put the kettle and percolator on - very civilised! We spent the morning unpacking all the things we brought from Tassie, cleaning the van and getting set up while we waited for Neill and Jude to arrive. Just after lunch the mighty Bushtracker arrived and we made some quick decisions and headed off to Cohuna at a good campsite Neill and Jude use. By 4pm, we were set up with a roaring campfire on a tributary of the Murray River.
We had visitors for afternoon tea as Jude's niece lives just down the road and had Jude's sister staying so they all came for a cuppar around the campfire. The fire was roaring after Neill and I had gathered so much wood - it was just perfect for a cool night.
Next morning we resurrected the fire for a morning fry up. This is life on the road - we love it. It took us a while to hit the road and then we only travelled 25km before we stopped for morning tea to meet up with the niece and sister again. Then we actually did get a few kilometres down the road, stopping for lunch in Deniliquin sidestepping the booze bus at the same time!
On the road again, we drove through the very flat, very treeless Hay Plains of the Long Paddock for 120km before arriving in Hay where we set up in a free camp on the banks of the Murrumbidgee, lit a fire and had drinks and nibbles - as you do!
posted by Tracey @ 8:40 pm
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