Where have all the friendly nomads gone???

Well back at the start of our holiday we were saying how we had tapped into an undiscovered benefit of going on holiday in the van – all the adopted grandparents.  Well I am sad to say the further we seem to have travelled south the more unfriendly they have gotten.  We could work it out until it finally clicked with us today.  All the serious travellers (the ones who haven’t seen their grandkids in months) have all headed north to the warmer weather.  So we are on holidays with the short term ones, who are more than likely trying to escape their grandkids, and hence some of the dirty and disappointed faces when we rock up (ha ha).  Okay it really isn’t that bad, but they just aren’t as friendly down here (oh except for the odd Queenslander we come across).

I am finding that I am turning a bit more into Jason when we pull up at caravan parks.  Not only am I checking out what vehicle they are towing with and what they are pulling.  Then there is their outdoor setup and the all-important question of if they are travelling with kids.

I think we are definitely in holiday mode now as we are taking longer to get up and going in the morning.  This morning we were disgusted with ourselves because a couple with a camper trailer packed up faster than us!  We are meant to have it easier yet we seem to be working at an extremely slow pace.  It shouldn’t really matter but sometimes it is best to get up and going early as the kids do always travel better in the morning and then we can be set up in the new destination before the hungers for lunch set in.

Today we are off to Echuca which is a relatively shortish drive of just over 1 ½ hours so we were easily in Echuca for lunch (just).  Set up today was all over the place, we were going well but then we suddenly looked up and realised how overcast it was so decided we really should put out the bed end covers.  Doing this once the van is up is quite hard but we got there in the end.  The cool change that was meant to be coming through has certainly already hit and it was quite windy.  We were a bit disappointed that our neighbours only had a little car that they were sleeping in.  We would have much rather a 5^th wheeler that could have doubled as a wind block for our little van.  Our little heater is going to get a good work out here I think.

The old style street near the port.

 

Looking back from the other end.

 

After lunch and doing some washing we set off to check out the main area of Echuca.  There is a lovely main strip of shops that are designed all around me.  I mean there was a cheese shop, chocolate shop (that also sold chocolate port), a lolly shop and then a cellar door.  What more could we want – oh that is right, there was also two camping shops for Jason.  The endless options of cafes and gift stores filled in all the other gaps.  There was also the main tourist old style street where the majority of all the paddle steamers leave from.

Wondering down the street.

 

Beautiful Autumn leaves.

We then retreated back to the warmth of our little van and more importantly the heater for dinner and baths.  Unfortunately the kids’ bathroom is on the opposite side of the park so in true Queenslander style we deemed it too cold and drove there to bath Hamish and Kayla.  The amenities block near us is a lot newer so Jason and I used it.  I tell you it is hard to enjoy a hot shower when you know you have to walk back out in the cold to your van.  Eventually I managed to get out and when I left the block I thought it wasn’t too bad and I was just being soft.  Nope not true, the amenities block was just blocking the wind, so 20 metres out I was hit by the cold wind.

Now I bet you think this would make us miss the creature comforts of our nice brick home and ensuite.  Well you are wrong, if anything it makes us think we need to get a bigger full size van which has its own shower and toilet.  Of course this would require us to find a pot of gold, so we did the next best thing and put our trust in the 40 million dollar lotto ticket we bought.  Unfortunately we did not win tonight so the holiday is going to still have to come to an end in two weeks and the Jayco Dove is here to stay.

Sorry not many photos today due to a flat camera battery!