Still on the Road

I must confess that one of the problems I seem to have with blogging is that sometimes I am too busy enjoying myself to actually update regularly. Lol.  So you will have to forgive me. Tuesday we took Jimny out for a spin and drove over to Lake Boga.

Lake Boga

Lake Boga is 15klms South of Swan Hill and was named in 1836 by explorer Major Thomas Mitchell after the Bogan Aboriginal Clan.  Boga’s history consists of the establishment of a Catalina repair and training depot for the RAAF from 1942 until 1947 during World War II.  Six acres of the lake foreshore was requisitioned and extensive buildings and hangars were built to cater for 1500 servicemen and women.  West of the township the barracks covered an area of 50 acres whilst east of Lake Boga a semi underground transmitting station and towers were constructed.

Museum entrance in old bunker

Today a museum is housed in the original communications centre with a collection of memorabilia and a theatrette showing authentic footage. 

Inside Museum

Also we viewed a Catalina Flying Boat which has been rebuilt by the local Lion’s Club.

Catalina Flying Plane

Very interesting viewing I must admit.  Tuesday night we were joined for the night by Linda and Bob from the Bushwhackers, who are also fellow Motorhomer’s and HF Radio Enthusiasts.  Later that evening we were joined by “Elvis” aka Merv and Rhonda from Sydney, who managed to spend two nights with us.  Now I have to advise you that the Swan Hill Shire Council doesn’t allow camping in their Showgrounds.  Wednesday we were confronted by two officials from the local Law who said that we had to pack up and leave.  There are 3 Caravan Parks in Swan Hill and one is Shire owned so they don’t condone camping in their showgrounds.  We explained and showed them the publication with the entry advising us of camping facilities at the Show Ground.  They profusely apologised and after taking notes of this entry allowed us to stay another night.  As we were intending to leave then anyway it didn’t concern us too much.  Our generator was fixed on the Wednesday, so Thursday morning we headed off towards Mildura. 

Parked at Hattah South Rest Area

We camped last night at a roadside stop 404 in the Camps 6 book namely Hattah South Rest Area, 12Klms South of Hattah and 22klms North of Ouyen (which is supposed to be famous for its vanilla slices-we called in for lunch but didn’t taste test them).  We spend a very pleasant evening (or drunken evening as Bill partook rather a few too many red wines) around our little camp bushfire. 

Around the campFire

We were joined by Peter “The Health Coach” who also comes from WA, but we had no other visitors to disturb the lovely peaceful surroundings.  Today we drove to Mildura after taking a slight detour to view another stop near Nangiloc, after meandering through lush green wine country we decided to move a little closer to town.

Nangiloc

We have parked on a vacant block in Irymple, which is 5klms outside of Mildura, so plan to explore the area in the next few days.  I am very pleasantly surprised with the weather, which seems to be getting warmer as we get closer to the South Australian border.   The Autumn foliage is absolutely breathtaking at the moment also with the leaves ranging in colour from deep maroon to the palest yellow, a lovely time to be travelling in this area. 

Talk again soon