We were due to roll on out of our Moama caravan park at 10am this morning but not before visiting the market that was set up directly opposite. For this event to happen. we needed to set an alarm because we are not known for a speedy and on time departure.

This has been one of the wonderful things about sleeping in caravan parks. Contrary to what I remember about the last time we travelled, everyone sleeps in! We are not alone in dragging our tails in getting moving by 10am (just in time for morning coffee). 

We got up, packed up and ventured over the road to the market. I love wandering around a market looking at all the clever people with their stalls displaying their wares. The next millionaires in our midst depending on their perseverance, their product and their luck. Ray goes straight for the food and The Captain for any other 4 legged creature he can smell. There were plenty of each to keep us all satisfied.

We stopped by the Archies thongs stall and got talking to the girl who was running it. Ray bought a pair of thongs (at my urging) in Tamworth when we were there for the Tamworth Music Festival and just loves them. They have a comfort level that is amazing for thongs and were created by a podiatrist. We were saying how happy we were with them and asking when the new design slides would be available, when we found out that the Archies thongs idea was actually conceived in Moama and we were actually standing at the original market stall where they were first sold! The girl we were talking to was friends with the bloke who designed them. Amazing! We passed on our sincere congratulations and thanks to him and left.

Ray enjoyed a bacon and egg roll with his usual flat white, Henry scoring some bacon from the roll. He was in his element between the bacon, ear rubs from locals and lots of other dogs to bottom sniff. I spied a stall with homemade cooking and wandered over. The table was bending under the weight of an array of Greek delicacies. I have a soft spot for Baclava and also Spanakopita so decided  my lunch was sorted. The brother and sister duo were making their age old family recipes and selling them at the market.  They were pleasant to talk to and wished us well on our travels.

We returned to the van, Ray hooked up solo, yep solo. (That is, hooked the car on the caravan without help). His skills never cease to amaze me!

We headed out of town on the Murray Valley Highway passing numerous small towns, imagining what life would be like to live in one of these tiny communities on the edge of one of these lakes. Lake Boga, Lake Charm. The Lake Charm school looked neat and tidy and was perched close to the lake. I imagined the water activities that the school could conduct being so close to this body of water. Oh, the fun, oh the learning, oh the WHS risk!

We were heading for Gol Gol, just out of Mildura to stay for 2 nights. I told Siri to go ahead and give us the the 70s playlist and we rocked out along the journey. Just out of Swan Hill we noticed signs for Quarantine Bins for fruit. We pulled over and deposited our fruit into the bin which curiously said “Queensland Fruit Fly Quarantine Bin”. Assuming that the bins must have been on loan as Victorian bins were in for repair/compliance checks/had been stolen/insert other reason here….we shrugged and silently thanked Queensland.

This part of Australia is an important area for fruit growers and quarantine bins are one way to help control the spread of fruit fly.

Upon reaching Swan Hill we were in dire need of a coffee (one of us hadn’t had one all day) so we found one cafe open on a Sunday in the Main Street and enjoyed a coffee sitting in the afternoon sun. Across the road I spotted a KHub (a country Kmart – small store) and quickly darted in to buy a pilates mat so that I can do my exercises in comfort. No more concrete burn for me!