The road trip to Kalgoorlie begins

Monday was supposed to be our last day in Mildura – about 4 weeks ago we booked the caravan in to Jayco in Mildura to have two solar panels fitted so that we could be totally self sufficient on our travels to Kalgoorlie.  Mal even went back in the week before to make sure they were all sorted. 
We got up early Monday morning and dropped the caravan off – then went in to town to have breakfast with our friends Rod and Darlene….but on the way there we got a phone call from Jayco to say that they had forgotten to order the solar panels!!!! We were not happy to say the least – we did get them to fix our mixer on our hot water tank that we were having problems with and managed to get that replaced under warranty, and of course they were very apologetic and promised the panels would be there Tuesday to fit on Wednesday for us.  So change of plans – we headed out to Lock 9 Kulnine – out by Lake Cullulleraine about 1 hour from Mildura to park up meantime.  Below is a map showing where we were

We found a lovely spot by the overflow creek from the Murray River and shared it with the local cows that came down every now and then to have a drink of water and eat some of the trees around us.  We had Rod and Darlene out for dinner too which was lovely – and the weather was awesome.  Here are some photos

Chip even got a bit brave and tried to make friends with a cow…he hadn’t actually seen one before and was a bit intimidated…

When we didn’t hear from Jayco by Tuesday avo we rang again to check if the solar panels had arrived ready to fit on Wednesday morning….only to be told that another idiot had forgotten to send them…by this time you can imagine we were getting really pissed off….so Wednesday morning we decided to pack up and start our trek to Kalgoorlie – we figured that we can stay on battery and generator for a couple of days and then we will pull in to a caravan park to fill up with water and replenish the batteries, then free camp again – and in the process save ourselves the $650 the solar panels were going to cost!  We haven’t even notified Jayco that we won’t be turning up tomorrow – I hope they will be as inconvenienced as we were!!!  What goes around comes around I say…
Today we had an interesting day driving from Kulnine to Clare in South Australia – below is a picture of our journey on the map

As usual we forgot about fruit and vegies and the fruit fly quarantine zones and not being allowed to take fruit or veg across state borders.  We came up to the usual signs and pulled over and left our fruit and veg for the wildlife – who I am sure are having a great old feast about now.  Lucky we did, as there was an actual manned station at the South Australian border and we did have our caravan searched, although they weren’t charging people but were pulling out all the fruit and veg they found and binning it.  Here is a photo of us lining up for inspection

We stopped off at Renmark in South Australia for a walk around and some lunch.  Its a pretty little town which sits along the Murray River – photos below

We hadn’t realised that this part of South Australia has as many (if not more) vineyards and fruit orchards as does Mildura – it looked really pretty and it was nice to see the familiar architecture of South Australian homes again too

We drove through Cadell on our way to Clare not realising that the road stops with the Murray River cutting through it – an old ferry barge still takes vehicles across, for free, and runs 24/7 – was quite a neat thing to do

Little Chip is loving the new set up in the car for his travels and every now and then he loves to stick his head out the window and get some wind in his ears….

We have stopped in Clare for the night and parked up in a caravan park so that we can replenish the battery, fill up the water tanks and do our washing.  We are going to head to a free camp site tomorrow and stay the night then head in to Port Pirie on Friday to catch up with some friends for dinner.