Victoria, we're back

  During the week just gone we've ridden a few times. Firstly out beyond Bowser and back on the rail trail. This takes you by the Vine Hotel where the trail is suddenly unsigned and you have to try either right or left. Eric went right, up the rise, I went left and around the corner only to be met by the resident magpie who has been 'greeting' riders for years apparently. No one warned us. He swooped me 6 times before I could pull up in the shelter of a power pole and call Eric to warn him. It made little difference but at least he was expecting it. Then we had to run (ride) the gauntlet on the return trip but he must have had his fun by that time of day.  The Vine Hotel was the venue for the AGM of the local branch of Oxfam on Wednesday night. We'd been invited along by Prue, and with a fairly open social calendar at the moment, we were looking forward to a good old country pub counter tea. The food was not disappointing but of even more interest was Chelsea, the guest...

  With high expectations we booked into the Caravan Park right in town near the new second bridge. Echuca sits on the Vic side of the Murray River, right across from the smaller town of Moama in NSW. It's an old port town with an interesting history of paddle steamers which conducted the 19th-century river trade from the local wharf. As a result, the streets downtown are still lined with architecture from that bygone era and the tourist trade through the warmer months keeps the town alive. We love the river red gum forests that line the Murray; Echuca is only an hour upstream from Cobram where we lived 1988-2000. We have very fond memories and had thought this was a good place to settle.  We scanned the websites for places for sale but the first news we discovered was that the annual Winter Blues Festival just finished 2 days ago. How could we have missed that? Then again, I guess there wouldn't have been any vacancies in any of the caravan parks if we had arrived then....

  An emotional last week saw me in tears on a number of occasions and Eric having to speak for both of us. We had left our Tiwi home of almost 20 yrs to the new owners and decamped to Sandy's Homestay for a week to finish everything off and spend time with family and friends. Everything seemed to be going wrong: the lights in the van wouldn't work, the car needed a mechanic, settlement was held up ...... but then by the end of the week we were ready. Just as well because Sandy unexpectedly succumbed to Covid19 and we had to make a hasty move to Squiz and Jim's Joint in Virginia. Our nights in the caravan had begun.  We hit the road on Sunday 24th July and cruised down to Katherine for a very enjoyable night with Trina. Who could leave the NT without a night in Katherine? It was good to us for our first 4 years in the Top End. We stayed in the van on Trina's nature strip only to discover the construction of a new levee bank directly opposite would begin before sunrise.  ...