Our first stop was Pfeiffer Wines – much better at making wines than slogans. This is an old winery that used to be part of Seppelts. Some of their vines are over 50 years old. I found their vintage port very impressive and we both enjoyed their Shiraz. There also is a Durif – a very rich red that was quite tempting. Alas the caravan is loaded to the benches, so we could only get a couple of bottles. We ended up staying an hour here and even the dog was invited in and made welcome.

Cofield wines was next up the road with some interesting sparking wines. The winery is much newer than Pfeiffer, and perhaps a bit less ostentatious – but I am ignorant of the finer details of wines. We enjoyed the three sparkling wines, but their Quartz Vein Shiraz was very compelling. We ended up with a bottle of each of these.

When then brought our booty back to camp for a nice dinner.

Forget Venice – we are at Stanton Bend in Victoria. Another awesome spot not on the map (see the grey pin mark). As the crow flies we are very near Corowa in NSW, but by car Rutherglen (in Victoria) is closer. We have a private beach and camping site and the dog is enjoying some rare freedom to

investigate his surroundings. Actually he is not much into personal investigations as he is now 10 years old. We went for a canoe ride today without him and he swam behind us for over 100 metres before we pulled up and let him on. He is very much a people dog now.

The beautiful spot is complimented by sunny weather, so our caravan bed is looking stunning. Of course, while we are in there the canvas is shut – it is winter after all. However, if it were summer, we would be looking at the Murray outside out window!

Importantly, we have mobile reception so can chat with Ashleigh back in Sydney while we wait for him to rejoin us. Hopefully. But right now, this is fun!

The local church in Wodonga is quite lovely inside being mostly woodwork – red river gum and (black) petrified wood trim.

Anyway, after mass, I was delighted to have Carmel join me, so at least the family was not so spread out. Ash claims he wants a chance to prove that he can go to school and get an afternoon job and support himself, so we decided to give me a chance. We are grateful for local friends who are keeping an eye on him. I personally hope he will return and join us in a few days.

The location was Paradise Beach, an unmarked beach in Barooga State Forest on the Murray River. The place was not sign posted at all – it was off a 4WD track. I drove past it twice thinking “that is surely not it”. (We actually found it in a great book titled “Bush Camping with Dogs”. It is surprisingly well researched, and also found

us the Tumut campsite.) However, a chat to the local constabulary confirmed it was. We arrived late at the location in light rain – not ideal for 4W driving. When we reached the Murray, we just stopped and made a quick camp. The following morning showed this to be a great choice.

The Murray River is a quiet river at present (or here) and sides are either coarse sand (such as on Paradise Beach) or reeds. So I inflated the blow up canoe we found at the camping show and followed in the wake of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Alex was busy talking on the phone so opted not to be on the first canoe attempt. Surprisingly, the dog was a willing participant.

So off we went, rowing away from NSW and into Victoria. Despite the slow flow, upstream was quite hard work and I had removed my warm vest after 20 minutes. On the way back downstream, we met some fellow dreamers.

We start of by passing though Canberra to say hello to Carmel’s dad. Then we are away, heading first towards the Murray River. The river is of course significant as being one of the bigger river systems in Australia, near many historic town, and a border between New South Wales and Victoria. Also, it has lots of water, and we have two canoes, and “there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

We will practice a bit of free camping on that part of the trip, so that we know how to do it and while biggish towns with forgotten requirements are near at hand.

But after a week of this it is time to get serious and visit a historic town – Bendigo. We will also benefit from a proper caravan park to get a proper shower and a bit of comfort. My mother is afraid we will catch our death in Victoria in late autumn. We will see how the Air Conditioner reverse cycles.

After some touristy things, it will be time for some work experience. It will be grape picking time in Mildura. I am hoping we can pick up a job picking grapes, which are the fruit of the season. I plan to have a grape eating contest with Ash to see who can eat the most bunches of grapes!

Finally, for NSW, Broken Hill. We will be staying near the set of Mad Max, Mission Impossible 2 and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. But also we will have to look at the mines and, of course, the Palace Hotel.