Robinvale Vic by the same River

Robinvale Vic   by the River Murray

I know we already spent time at Mannum (and Morgan, and Waikerie) but this time we're in Victoria. It's gotta be different.

 After Clare's fog, mist, low cloud and stuff like that, we couldn't wait to get going.  That despite the wonderful night of introductions and get-togethers that we had with Mick, Esther and Ronald and our house-sitters, Chris and Colin. That really was a great night!  It was a follow-up to the Friday night Happy Hour at the Club with our Clare BC mates as we let Chris and Colin see what we got up to of a Friday - and hand-balled the task to them.

So in the newly configured Jethro II and Elly May, we set off for brighter and hopefully warmer days in the north and east. First stop was a bit further than the usual daily step, though nothing all that outrageous. What IS different is that we booked for a week.
And the reason for that was that Zan booked a legendary absolutely riverfront site.

 Thus when we arrived we had a choice of three sites, all on the water; we chose the largest despite the fact that it's adjacent to the boat ramp. In summer I'm told the traffic on that ramp begins work at Piccaninny Dawn (also known as Sparrow-fart) and goes at a hectic pace until all the sun-soaked boaties, skiers, fisher-folk and jet-skiers have had their fill; I saw the Gallery of a summer's day in the Front Row at the Check-In office and there is no way I would want to be here in summer to see the horror of a full summer's day on person. So what's it like in winter? We did see a boat today. One. And is it cold?

Well, you would have guessed already but I will tell you straight out.

It's cold.

It's crispy cold after the sun goes down, but the Gentle Motoring Geriatrics parked here sit by a bit of a fire - in a half-keg-on-legs - until the sun has retreated.

We joined in. Now, you'd all know that it's illegal to gather wood from the roadside here.

So is dealing in heroin. We might be guilty of the lesser of the two evils.

There are no fish in this part of the river. I am in the process of proving this statement.

As for the mechanical part of the tour, the Prado is still in the process of calibrating my magical gauges but the figures state that we can use less diesel while travelling faster than the Hilux.  And the navigator gets an air-bag and a great seat; road and engine noise are friendlier; I have been forced to cull some of the Junque that I carried uselessly to Queensland and back last year.  Nevertheless we had to buy another chair, small enough to fit in the aisle of the van because sitting outside to watch TV is unlikely.

Min 6 tonight, 19 max tomorrow. A long walk, riverside, to the weir, I think.

No fog. No rain. No frost. Yes!!