Best Western Burke And Wills Motor Inn Swan Hill

... work session, was Melbourne Cup day. To the local gambling community Melbourne Cup is like Christmas, New Year and every other special occasion all rolled into one. It's a major horse racing event with the day being a public holiday in the state of Victoria.<br><br>So there I was on hour 66, in the sweltering bar packed with nervy gamblers high on caffeinated soft drinks, when suddenly the room started to go blurred and dark and the ...

... signing up to charities) I was also back looking for employment. <br>Which is how I ended up on a plane to Melbourne, then a four hour train journey into the outback.<br>I'm now living in a little town called Swan Hill which is on the boarder of New South Wales and Victoria. <br>I'm working in a bar/bistro called the Federal Hotel (which confusingly is not a hotel at all).<br>My adventure into the 'outback' (I put this in inverted commas because to call it the 'outback ...

... a break in Mildura, then followed the river back into Victoria to run down the Murray Valley highway to Swan Hill for the night. First big day on the road, about 650km so far.<br><br>Had a 50's style meal at the local RSL and hit the bed early. Bike parked safe under motel canopy for the night.<br>

... Australien boede i en campervan, så kan de ikke huske det, men de har til gengæld mange forestillinger om, hvor sjovt det har været at lave mad på det lille gasblus, sove om natten midt i ingenmandsland, køre mens man kan snakke og spille kort henover spisebordet.... Virkeligheden har vist sig at være en lille smule men heldigvis ikke fundamentalt anderledes end forventningerne. Det er koldt i Victoria i maj. Det er som oktober i Danmark. Så vi bliver nødt ...

... was extremely hot - 30 degrees. Even though there were a lot of people, people were very respectful of your privacy and once darkness fell, it was really quiet. Met a lovely English couple with 2 daughters who have come to Australia for 2 years because of the husband's job. They are thoroughly enjoying camping around Australia every chance they get - bought their van in August and have been away 14 times already!! Went out for dinner on ...

We were told of the "Steve Irwin" look-alike, so we decided to head inland for a couple of days to spend some time with the Daltons. Nisele,Wynita and childrin, live on a farm in Victoria. We fished for Murrey Cod in the Great Murrey River, hunted roos ("professionally") played on the sandbar in the river, caught "yabbies , and had an awesome time with our new friends. 

Did a long run across the Hay Plains today, and as usual it was blowing a gale. The Tooleybuc club was where all the SA punters used to come to play the pokies before they were introduced into the pubs of SA to subsequently make all the publicans rich with absolutely no benefit to the public. At ...

... another side street. In turn we created a backlog of traffic waiting to get through the roundabout. Hopefully not a sign of things to come. Our first destination was Swan Hill.  The worst bit of the journey was the GPS always saying 'Take the next right; take the next right'.  It was really annoying. We have named the GPS Ken. It seemed like forever to get there but finally we made ...

... for the day. After that, we set out to do one of the scenic drives, designed to get you off the main roads into the farming country behind, seeing the place. This area has many many farms growing all manner of things. West of Swan Hill we saw almonds, olives, pistachios, plum, peach, grapes and other things. To the north of the highway were a number of properties with cattle. During our drive, we read from the little book outlining not only what goes on ...

... So, sorry Clynton. But at least, I knew I should be able to do it, and persevered until it was done satisfactorily. That took a bit of the stuffing out of me, so for the rest of the day, I just relaxed, investigated the wireless network available in the park (at a fairly hefty charge rate). Dinner was left-overs from the last couple of meals - tasty and filling.