Day 128

Day 128 Echuca

Well today we have called an early halt to the expedition. We have reached our destination of Echuca. We arrived about 2 after leaving Wodonga at 10. Not too bad given it was 240kms and we started after 10 and arrived before 2 and we had a lunch stop as well.

Today started wet and as I type this, it is still wet. Last night the weather was balmy, it was hot yesterday at about 38 but it came over cloudy when we set up camp yesterday and during the night it tried to rain but only managed the odd spit. Maureen had done a load of washing and by morning most was dry and 10 minutes in a dryer finished the rest, we got it into the van and as we were starting to pull out, it started to rain lightly and then it just got heavier. This has been the most rain we have seen all trip. We had a few heavy 10 minute showers at Wyndham and at Darwin, but that was it. We did not turn off the wipers all day. Due to the rain we did not take any pictures but the day is still young-ish so never say never.

The place at Echuca is lovely and we have a school group who are canoeing down the river who are in the camp kitchen trying to dry gear off, like they have a chance. Maureen wants to do a river cruise and we will go for a drive to see what is going. If the rain keeps up she may give it a miss. We are in Girt having a hot chocolate and a cake and listening to the rain outside. We have a small leak over the bed, Maureen’s side, so no big deal. We have found by making the van slope slightly forward it does not drip, something to look at when we get home.

Maureen went for a walk around town and found a scenic route so we went for a drive. The track goes along the side of the river and it is choked with house boats. There are hundreds just lining the bank, some are huge and some are just big. They make our ones in Mandurah look awfully small and old.

Tomorrow is a mixed bag. The rain has stopped for now but they are proposing rain all day tomorrow and thunderstorms and in some place snow! We would like to do a river cruise on and old paddle steamer before going, so it depends on the weather, too wet, we will head on to Swan Hill and depends on weather what we do there.