We had 12 hours sleep overnight. It was still raining and very dreary. After a late breakfast we drove into town and went for a long walk around town. Lunch at Appin Street Bakery – nice hot Lamb and Rosemary pies, neenish tarts and coffee – YUM! As we hadn’t come fully prepared for this extreme weather I bought 2 warm tops at Rivers. We then did a quick grocery shop before returning to the van. Still very cold and wet weather.

Sites of Wangaratta

I have been trying to finalise the sale of my Mum’s retirement unit and rang Lend Lease to check on progress. It became apparent that the vital certified mail documents had been lost by Australia Post. I reported the loss to Australia Post. This is a stress that we really don’t need.

Tea was gourmet sausages, cooked outside on the BBQ in the rain – they were very nice and lean.

Trailblazer at Painters Island at Wangaratta

It was another very cold wet night but we’re still warm and cosy in the van.

We left home at about 10 am and travelled via the M1 and Hume Highway and arrived at the Kalkalo Service Station rest area at about 11 am, which was pretty good going. We had coffee and slice in the van then headed on to Grass Tree Rest Area (Vic 249) for lunch and that is when it started raining.

The drought broke in the Wangaratta area today!

Then a quick stop at the rest area just south of Benalla. Just as we were leaving a mini bus full of very drunk men pulled up and they were in a huge hurry to make use of the facilities – we assume that they were rugby fans who had travelled down for the interstate game in Melbourne the night before and were on their way back home with a bus full of beer.

We then headed straight for the Painters Island Caravan Park in Wangaratta. We’ve been here before and it’s a pretty good Park. It was very heavy rain but we had our choice of sites and we’re very warm and cosy in the van.

Trailblazer Set-up at Painters Island at Wangaratta