Saturday 29 September – Another early start this morning, not that I wanted to be awake at 6.15 mind you – it just happened.  I opened one eye and saw the light was on in the van and Grant was dressed and getting the kettle on to boil.  Maybe he’s excited to be getting nearer to home!  So up I got and we left at a bit after 8.  And as luck has it, I was able to do my packing up of the van tasks - just have a little bit of soreness in a couple of spots.  Nothing that a bit of exercise won’t fix.

Weatherwise it hasn’t been too bad, considering the forecast both in S.A. and in Victoria where we were heading.  There was heavy cloud for part of the day, with the resulting heavy showers, but quite a few good patches of welcome sunshine.  This past week has been a lot like the first five or six days of our trip – lots of driving – and today was no different.  All up we covered 425 km today, arriving at Ararat just as the Grand Final was about to start.  The main towns we passed through were Keith, Bordertown (where we got petrol), then into Victoria and Kaniva, Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham, Stawell and then Ararat.  Most of the region we covered is crop growing and sheep country, so we saw some beautiful scenes of paddocks full of half grown wheat alongside paddocks of canola in full bloom.  And with the sun shining on them, the yellow of the canola looks spectacular.

The Grampians provide a perfect backdrop for the golden canola.

We stopped at a roadside stop near Kaniva for a cuppa, and had something for lunch after we arrived here at camp.  We then settled in, Grant reading his latest Wilbur Smith book, me updating stuff on the computer, but both of us with an ear to the wireless and the hard fought Grand Final.  At this stage Hawthorn is catching up a bit (third quarter), so I’ll leave off this blog for now and finish it later in the day.  Who knows??  Something exciting might happen!

(Later)  Well I guess something exciting did happen if you are a Swans supporter!  We listened to it and at least it was a good close game. Once again we have chosen a good caravan park!  We’ve lost count of the number of parks we have stayed in that are situated right by an airport, a railway line or a freeway, and tonight we’ve really done well.  The railway line goes right past the front of the (small) park – you can see it right there as it passes, and since we arrived at about 2.30 (about 5 hours ago) there have been at least four very loud, long goods trains going through.  Lucky we are pretty good sleepers.

I’m getting a bit nostalgic about this being the last night sleeping in the caravan for a while!  I suppose there’s nothing stopping me sleeping in it out in the garage if I really miss it, but I reckon our house will seem so big once we get home, after living in a 13 x 8 ft space for almost three months.  But I know what I will really miss – and that’s the minuscule amount of housework I have done during that time.  I reckon I’ll have to break myself in gently.

Tomorrow night I will post a short blog to wind up this adventure.