Barham All Seasons Motor Lodge

I am now two weeks into my Swan Hill adventure and surviving life as a country bumpkin better than I ever imagined.<br><br>My life currently consists of work, sitting in the sun, reading books and visiting the local library for my daily dose of free internet.<br><br>It all sounds very tranquil, however the largest chunk of my week is taken up working - last week I did 67 hours over eight days. Tuesday, which was day eight of my ...

... dinner and heading to bed in a very warm caravan. After doing alot of driving durng the heat of the day the caravan heats up alot so the fantastic aircon we have definately gets a workout on days like this!<br>An early getaway to drive closer to Sydney.

... a bit of a stretch of the imagination - the house I am living in is neatly nestled between a McDonald's and a BP garage) began on Tuesday when I boarded the train in Melbourne's Southern Cross Station. As soon as we left the city the scenery changed to rough bushland interlaced with areas of agriculture.<br>As well as more authentically Australian scenery, the passengers on the train also offered me my first glimpse of a more authentically Aussie outlook. <br>This ...

... shortly after I got the bike safely under cover. Rain does seem to follow me around on this trip, and much of the country really needs it badly.<br><br>My friends were getting ready for a 2 week trip of their own, so I only stayed the one night here. This was my last stop to visit old friends, so I will begin the last leg back to Adelaide tomorrow afternoon.<br>

... blind by the end of the day and I don't really remember getting home (classy) but Kristy and I crashed out as soon as we walked through the front door apparently and my next memory is being woken up three hours later to be told we were all going back out. I didn't think I would make it but my mega nana-nap did me the world of good and I was raring to go once I'd got changed and freshened up.<br><br>Echuca is quite a small town but the nightlife is actually pretty good ...

... for me! I had fun wondering the quaint shops around town for a while. Ended up going to 3 playgrounds today which the kids had fun playing with the other kids there. It's sad how much of our trip we look and assess the suitability of playgrounds... guess we've become a bit of an expert on the subject. Don't think many have come anywhere near the likes of the one near home at Donnybrook.<br>

... so after setting up we headed into Echuca (we are staying about 5km out of town to save some bucks) to do some sightseeing. Started at the National Holden Museum as part of a packaged deal. The whole time there we both thought of a friend, Dion, especially when the Monaro's were around. Jeremy saw a few of his dream cars and the boys learnt a little important history.<br>

Left Adelaide this morning in cool overcast conditions. Bike running very well so far. Went north east over the Adelaide Hills to Renmark. Still cool but no real rain as I follow the Murray river into the drier parts of the state. Sunny now and very flat, but road still somewhat curvey.<br><br ...

... Lake Boga for Flying Boats - all sorts. There was a 25 minutes DVD which told the story of the base, and the exhibits were very interesting too. The museum is in a bunker - part of the original base, and outside, is a Catalina flying boat - unfortunately looking a bit the worse for ware. Back to Swan Hill where it was still sunny and for a little while, we were able to sit outside in our chairs and read. Dinner was chicken shashliks of various flavours.

... my 11 year old 1.2 litre Vauxhall Corsa that I owned prior to this trip). One thing to bear in mind is that I would be driving in a foriegn country (on the left thankfully), in a car far more powerful that I'm used to, after not driving for 5 months, in the dark, and in the rain. Let's just say I was hyper cautious when I pulled out. I overtook a couple of times and it was a breeze, you'd just go shooting past. At another point though I was happily sitting behind ...