Oct 9, 2009

Paringa - St Arnaud Nat Park

Back to Paringa but this time we had the company of Kimbo & Ned, before getting to the camp we stopped at the cemetary and filled our non potable water tanks whilst the girls walked around reading the headstones, We like visiting cemetarys to get an understanding of the local history but it's always a sad time reading of people who die far to young.



We had the camp area all to ourselves and relaxed and watched the houseboats cruise up & down the Murray. We shopped in Renmark and visited the local Antiques store at Paringa and two days later we moved on down to visit Mally & Lynne at Maldon Victoria, Mally is Bro # 3 and the oldest, another Internet mate from the 'old' Campertrailer days whom i met years ago when my Father died, Mally was there with his huge arms & shoulders. Mal & Lynne have visited us at home in Perth and we showed them Ningaloo, between the 3 Bro's we manage to catch up as we all travel around / some more than others but this was to be the 1st time we had all been together, the Inaugral Bro's Muster ....




Mally met us at Maldon town center and showed us where they lived, a lovely old timber home full of character on 5 acres with a large shed that Mal uses as an Art studio, he has quite a talent and should do more. We were shown around the district and as Mal & Lynne were heading down to Melbourne for the weekend to help their Mum shift we decided to go down and visit Vickies sister Sue again and take Kimbo & Ned with us, so we unloaded the boat and gear out of the ute and travelled down to Mt Eliza together, Unfortunately when we arrived Sue was in bed with a migraine so we entertained ourselves untill Greg arrived home from work, for tea we bought some delicous Pizza's, washed down with a few drinks.



The next day Sue was feeling better so the 5 of us drove down the coast to Portsea stopping at Arthurs Seat along the way. Arthurs Seat was the site of the famous Chair Lift that Vickie and I have ridden on many years ago, it has closed now due to maintaince & Insurance issues. At Portsea we again visited Fish Fetish for another great meal of Fish & Chips and then headed back to Mt Eliza as we were going out that evening to the Melbourne Crown Casino. Greg & our Neice Lee drove two cars which was great as the F250 is not Melbourne Parking friendly.



Vickie & Sue played their usual games, Ned tried her luck but ended up watching and Greg, Kimbo and myself put in $50 each and played Blackjack. Things were going up & down and then started to get worse, we were sharing the playing around and it wasn't untill i got in the seat that things picked up, i'd like to say it was the skill but more so the luck of the cards. Regardless we managed to scrape our money back with a small profit plus drinks etc paid for.

I am not known as a lover of Casino's but we all had a good night and we all enjoyed myself, even the looser Wife's.

On Sunday we drove Kim & Ned up to St Kilda and showed them the street markets and had lunch in Ackland Street, took them to the Tasmanian Ferry terminal so they could see what they had to deal with when they eventually head to Tassie in the future.
Monday it was time to head on back to Maldon and catch up with Mal & Lynne again. We spent the rest of the week being shown around the surrounding districts and just generally having a good time. The Gold detector was given a workout with no luck and the Music Machine was cranked up with plenty of singing and throats being lubricated with cold beverages.




Friday it was time to say our goodbyes as Mal & Lynne were heading back to Melbourne and Kimbo & Ned home to Newcastle, we headed for Saint Arnaud Range National Park where have set up camp in beautiful surroundings, the Satellite dish is set up in preparation for the weekends Bathurst Car Racing event, and here we will stay untill Monday.




Dinner for tonight was a camp oven roast beef & vegies which was superb.

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