Leaving Melbourne, we headed west. No particular destination although of the three westerly routes, we decided on Ballarat. A beautiful town, we had lunch and walked the streets, stretching our legs. We also picked up a windup hose for filling our tanks and jerry can. On a reel and flat like tape – it took up almost no room. As it turned out, we forgot our own drinking water hose – but this was a much better design anyway. Thanks Ballarat! Vowing to return for a proper visit we continued west, taking in the agricultural views as we had never toured Victoria before.
Wikicamps reviewed Dimboola Caravan Park highly and as it would turn out, I was sick of driving, daylight was running out, so Dimboola it was. Reception barely held back a smile at our swag, as it was predicted minus 5. We set up beside the river, and I cooked up some sauteed beef and veggies. After the excitement of getting in and out of Melbourne, our city walking over the last few days I was too tired for much else. Without a fire we warmed up with long hot showers in the clean amenities block and had a look at the route for tomorrow before heading to bed.
Dimboola is one of the entrances to the Little Desert National Park and would have made for a fabulous exploration. I settled for a walk along the river.
We added it to our list for a future tour of Victoria. As we planned to get to Burra, or towards it. I pegged a few likely places before the cold sent us to bed.
Minus five felt exactly that, five degrees below that which water freezes. Bloody cold, but we were covered in flannelette sheets, two Saul Swag wool blankets and an Alpaca wool blanket. So only really our heads and faces were frozen.
As it turned out we set up in a spot that didn’t get any sun until 10am so we slept in and were late to get away. But fueled with a morning walk, and better yet – bacon and egg rolls, coffee and cake from town. We blew out of Victoria and into South Australia.
We had been to Burra before and wanted to return and explore a little more, relax before heading into outback SA, Wikicamps suggested the Showground provided budget camping with hot showers. We arrived after dark and the site manager was kind enough to give us a spot with a table to use and his well wishes as it was already below zero degrees at this point.
Casserole, hot showers and even hotter green tea before bed. I think it was at this point I realised I had left my stove fuel bottle at home. Oops.
