Ian Cowie Recreation Reserve

The main task today was to buy the BBQ, provided we could fit it into the storage space at the back of Bill. We had a leisurely start to the day. The weather was warm and sunny, so we went for a walk around the campsite. Someone with two Kelpies was throwing an Aerobie-style ring for them to chase. They chased it, sometimes caught it, but hadn’t mastered retrieval and the guy had to keep fetching it himself. We came across another guy who was sitting on the steps of his motorhome drinking something from a cup. He was probably in his 70s, pretty unkempt and the MH looked like it would benefit from a good spring clean. He told us that he usually camped on his daughter’s block nearby in Snake Valley. Had been out to the pharmacist because he hadn’t received a letter from his medical consultant and was due to start some medication prior to a surgical procedure and hoped the pharmacist would be able to help. He was obviously wanting a longer chat than we wanted to allow him. I find these glimpses into peoples’ lives quite fascinating. We have an insight into, and understand, some of the challenges of not having a permanent home, but we have a great support structure that mitigates many of the challenges.

We drove back to Ballarat and headed straight for “Barbecues Galore”, fitted the BBQ into Bill without too many problems, bought it and set off to (hopefully) finish off buying more storage boxes for Bill. While I find it difficult to envisage what is needed, Bun is fantastic. There is minimal movement of boxes, plates, etc when we travel about. I might have to do a sequence of photos when we have finished this project that shows how well the storage works - it'll be almost as fascinating as watching paint dry.

With the weather looking pretty miserable for the rest of the week, we decided that sightseeing in Melbourne would be better than walking a mountain trail in the rain. We found a campsite at “Sundowner Rockbank Caravan Park” that was a 15-minute walk to a rail station for trains straight into Melbourne. We drove there in the afternoon gloom and when we were about 100 yards from the main gate, Bun reminded me of a comment in one of the reviews about the impossibility of turning into the caravan park due to traffic. The park is located on the westbound carriageway of the M8 Western Freeway, we were driving eastbound and had to cross the three lanes of traffic during rush hour with heavy traffic leaving Melbourne. We sat for maybe 5 mins before a sufficient gap appeared and we managed to get across. We are only 6m long, what chance would there be for a big rig?

The site was crowded with lots of “permanents” (people who live permanently on the campsite in a range of ram-shackle residences, some old MH, caravans, containers, chalets etc) but the caravans and MH were separate from them. In the rain, Bill looked very sad on a campsite rather than free camping, however, showers and access to a laundry is an attraction, especially when rain is forecast for the next 3-4 days.

On the way to the campground, I felt brave enough to refill Bill with diesel. He's fitted with a 140-litre fuel tank. Diesel is AUD2.20/L. Watching the cost mount up left me in tears - it looked just like it was really £250! Fortunately, it was only about £125, still, it was more than I'd ever spent on a refill.

(Note to self - do not camp under trees. If it’s not leaves, branches etc falling onto the roof, birds crap all over the MH and, in the rain, the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops is interspersed with the occasional water bombs where rain has accumulated in the tree before falling like a small pebble onto the roof of the MH that, being fibreglass, makes a sound like a drum being hit - hard! We had a very disturbed night. We are booked in for two nights so if it continues to rain, we’ll have another bad night tomorrow.)Read more