The day started about 5.15. I had breakfast, Pete fluffed around, final check in the car and we were ready to leave just after 6.00.
We went to a servo to top up air in the caravan tires (we had checked the car last night), and dealt with the traffic, first going through Geelong, and then from about Kororoit Creek road. The Ring Road wasn’t too bad in places, and eventually we hit the Hume.
We stopped at a rest area to get a hot drink (and maybe a doughnut was consumed too) and a toilet break. We had been going for 2.5 hours so seemed a good time for a break. Then it was back on the road to the weigh bridge to see what our load was like. This was with me outside the vehicle, so with me included we were just over the 5,000 kg.
After another 90 minutes or so we stopped for another leg stretch, and then continued on to Albury. We met up with Rob for lunch – he found a nice cafe by the river, but unfortunately it was a bit chilly for eating outside. After an hour or so, we thought we’d better make tracks and get on the road. We went to a servo to fill up as we had the fuel warning – bring on Motor Mouth to find the cheapest diesel in town! Saved us 20c/litre, for 75 litres, so definitely worth it.
Pete had never seen the submarine at Holbrook, so we got off the Hume to look at that – always time for a quick scenic stop when you’re on tour!
We continued up the Hume, turning off a bit past Gundagai, to a town called Jugiong. Paul and Lyn had told me about a reserve with free camping there, so we thought we’d check it out. Fantastic place! No power, but we didn’t need it anyway. We arrived at 3.58, so just in time for beer-o-clock! I set up my swag, and then we sat down to enjoy the sun before it set completely.
After a couple of beers (which I brought from Metro Cellar Door in Altona), and a chat to ‘ol Tony (some regular at the campground who was quite a character), the sun went down and things cooled quickly. We put on our jackets and wandered across the road to the Sir George for dinner. We couldn’t get a table in the bistro because we hadn’t booked! Seems everybody at the campground goes there. Tony had told us it was a bit pricy, and there was another place we could go, but we would have had to unhitch the caravan for that. We went in to the bar and were able to get a seat there, so ordered a beer, and some dinner (parma), and had a chat to the people next to us, who were seasoned grey nomads.
After dinner we went back to the caravan for a CC, and had a game of “Fuck” which I had brought along. That had some good laughs to finish a long, enjoyable day. We phoned Nick for a chat, and then called it a night.