Day 106
Thursday
13 April 2017 –
Dalyston – Inverloch -
Morwell - Sale (Camps 8 VIC #37)
Here we go again hitting the black tarmac and moving on. As
usual Paul was awake early and eager to get up and running and with a bit of a
prod and encouragement I was out to join him. We did attempt to have a shower
in the footy change rooms but we found them locked as we tried to enter, damn
shame.
We returned to the van opting to go without and just get on
with everything else.
We were ready by 9.00am, but go way laid talking to Pidge
and another family of campers, letting us know that things were booked up in
Lakes Entrance for the long weekend. Hmm, we just hoped we would find
something, if not it would be the side of the road.
We finally pulled out of the showground and joined the
crowds of caravans already on the road heading away from Melbourne. Our first
stop was Inverloch to see Bollsy’s brother Polly, why don’t these blokes have
normal names? He works at the local real estate agents and told us to drop by
on our way through as all other opportunities we have had have resulted in us
crossing paths but not meeting and today was no different. The receptionist
told us Glen, a real name! was out of the office for an hour. Oh well, guess it
is not meant to be.
We returned to the van, loaded the GPS with the showgrounds
in Sale and began the 1.5 hour journey. It was relatively easy going,
travelling a similar route we had taken when visiting the Grand Ridge Brewery
and Paul trying his hardest to convince me it would be a good idea to stop in
behind the brewery for the night, uh NO!
We followed the main highway through Morwell, a town we
spied before we arrived as there are main coal powered fire stations here, some
pumping out their foul pollution into the air and others non-operational,
including one that was only shut down, to much community angst, last month.
Just out of Morwell, we stopped at a gas station for a
break. I fired up the grill and cooked a couple of hot cross buns for our
morning snack. 5 min later we were back out amongst the throng of
holiday-makers. We drove on through Traralgon, managing to avoid a police booze
bus as they had their fill in the pull off area. No doubt the van and car would
have had a serious going over.
Just after midday we pulled in to the Sale showgrounds,
parked and found the office manager. The first question was “Do you have a
booking?”, this wasn’t looking good, especially when our answer was no. “We
have room for tonight and then we have 70 vans coming in and we are fully
booked.” We must have looked totally dejected, as the husband said “What about
amongst the permanents?” This was looking promising. He lead us to the area,
showed us the spot and with that we had found ourselves a place to stay for the
Easter break. Phew! Sale wasn’t what we
had in mind for this long weekend, but beggars cant be choosers and at $22 a
night we couldn’t go wrong.
We took the car off and then Paul manoeuvred the van around
before backing it and the trailer into our spot, something he hasn’t had to do
all trip as we usually ask for a drive through to avoid this all together.
Once parked, we went about setting ourselves up for the four
days and then relaxed with lunch. We
stay still for long, heading back to the office to pay for our stay and
chatting to the caretaker. We then got in the getz and drove into town. We
found the shopping centre and picked up some groceries before Paul stopped in
at Tackle World to find out where the fish were and what bait he needed, Our
final stop was Dan Murphys for my Easter present – chocolate Baileys.
We returned to the van and unpacked and then it was time to
relax. I sat out side to read, enjoying the opportunity to get into the shorts
and thongs again. It was lovely outside. Meanwhile Paul had the air con running
in the van.
Surfing the net, I found the Brewhouse 69 Brewery was only
250m away and of course Paul was eager to get the walking shoes on and get
going.
We were 20min early, so we walked down the street and
returned just as the doors were opening. They had a sulphur-crested cockatoo in
a small cage at the front, he was beautiful, but it made me sad to see him
locked up.
Paul tried a tasting paddle of the beers on offer, but
wasn’t overly impressed. We did however enjoy chatting to the owners and
playing a couple of games of free pool. I won the first, but Paul picked up the
next 2.
We completed our drinks and pool and then made our way back
to the van, eager to get dinner started and to find something warm to wear now
that the sun was starting to set.
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