The 2014 Big Adventure Starts

Day One May 24, 2014

We left home before 10am today after sleeping in the van last night and had a good run on the M1 and the Hume. The road works at the intersection of the M80 and the Hume are complete now and certainly make the first leg of our trip easier. While there are other options to get to the Hume Freeway, going via the M1, Bolte Bridge, Tulla Freeway, Ring Road and then Hume means that we travel at 80 km or 100 km speed limits and that we don’t hit any traffic lights from Brandon Park Glen Waverley to Wangaratta.

Just about to leave home

Driving across the Bolte Bridge

We were intending to stop at the Kalkalo rest area but as we approached we noticed lots of flashing blue and red lights with a further police vehicle approaching at high speed. There was also a police helicopter taking an interest in all traffic in the area. Someone was not having a very good day. We eventually stopped a weigh bridge near Broadford for a short coffee break in the van.

Coffee Stop near Broadford

We then kept driving planning to have a lunch stop at a rest area 7kms north of Euroa. This attempt at a break was also thwarted when we were diverted via the Euroa turn off through the bush for 44 kms until we finally got back onto the Hume at Violet Town. We assume that there was an accident and that someone else was not having a very good day. We then drove to a truck pull-over north of Violet Town where we stopped for a quick lunch in the van.

We finally arrived at Painters Island Caravan Park in Wangaratta at about 2pm. This is one of our favourite parks especially at this time of year when the leaves on the trees are changing colour. It was sunny but cold and we went for a walk into town. There is a very nice new Café Precinct by the River just a short walk from the caravan park and we enjoyed a glass of local wine and the fantastic view across the river.

View from Cafe Vue

Footpath Art outside Cafe Vue

Cafe Vue

Bridge across the river to Painters Island

View across the bridge to the caravan park

Autumn View of the caravan park

Back to the van where we cranked up the heater and enjoyed dinner and watched TV.

Day 2 May 25, 2014

While it rained heavily last night, today was actually quite a nice sunny day. I left Ann to her own devices in Wang and travelled to Winton for the Winton Historics to take photos of the historic car racing. I had a great day and there will be plenty of photos to add to my Classic Car Photography website.

Day 3 May 26, 2014

Again, very cold overnight followed by a nice sunny day. I spent today sorting the photos that I took at Winton yesterday. Technology wasn’t being my friend today and I couldn’t get internet access on my new laptop, but I could at least keep working on sorting and editing photos.

Ann realized yesterday that our IPad would not turn on or take a charge. Today she rang Apple and spoke to someone who was very helpful and the issue is now sorted. They even apologized for the 3 minute wait! If only other companies provided such great customer service.

We went into town to a great Italian Café / Deli for coffee this afternoon – Ann couldn’t resist buying some of the lovely cheese and cold cuts from the display cabinet.

Calm before the Storm in the caravan park

Autumn views before the rain

The weather closed over early this evening and rain is expected tomorrow but we hope that we might avoid it by heading north. We put the awning up in anticipation – nothing worse than packing up a wet awning! Fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow!

Day 4 May 27, 2014

Very heavy relentless rain woke us at 5.30am this morning. In fact it almost seemed like hail. We have a hatch over our bed which is great to have open on a hot night but it is very noisy in the rain. By 8.30am it was still hammering down so we decided to stay here another day. It would not be fun on the road and I still had not finished sorting and uploading my photos. The rain kept going and was accompanied by a thunderstorm for good measure. We were warm and dry in the van. The rain was so heavy that dozens of ducks joined us in the caravan park – they love this weather.

The rain kept going all day. We hope that it eases up tomorrow as we would really like to start heading north to warmer, dryer places.

I rang Telstra to sort out my internet problem and they were extremely helpful and had things sorted very quickly. As a result I have been able to upload a whole heap of photos to my Classic Car Photography website – click here if you would like to have a look.