Day 3, Monday 17/6/19 Mitre to Murray Bridge, morning fog then sunny 1 – 18˚

We wake to foggy bush at Duffholme Cottage Bush Camp and it’s icy cold. Rob delivers our egg order, you can’t get better service than that. Woody stubs an already injured toe and El Prado over excitedly has us on the road at 8:40. Some of us haven’t visited the ablutions block yet and must hold on.

We stop for newspapers at tiny Goroke and continue on through more green pastures dotted with fat ewes and yet more energetic white lambs to cross into South Australia at Frances. They have an annual music festival here, but at present there’s little more than grain silos and a pub.

We roll into Bordertown in search of an electrical store and remark how good looking the Woolpack Inn Hotel is. Gee, we love a handsome old pub. “Oh God is that a public toilet over there? I can’t hang on much longer!”

Now that we’re in South Australia and have crossed the quarantine line we buy fruit and vegies to stock up the fridge. Still without a TV for Elle it’s westward again and we have sandwiches in the sunshine in a park at Tintinara and top up our water tanks as well.

Back on the road and I get a call from our doctor to say that my flu shot was ‘compromised’. Well that’s a new one! Apparently, they discovered that their fridge was on the blink and can’t guarantee that my dose was stored at the correct temperature.

Mid-afternoon and feeling a little weary, we turn off into Murray Bridge, a decent sized town, to pick up a new TV for Elle. Woody spots a servo with fair priced diesel and I bail out of the car as we pass a chemist. You can’t take chances with the flu so I get a very quick $15 second jab. Half an hour later we’re all back on the road and headed to our destination the Bolto Reserve on the banks of the Murray at Mannum. We’re about 10 kms short of Mannum when Woody says “what’s that red light?” and in a heartbeat the car cuts out.

We’re covered by RACV Total Care (the premium roadside insurance for caravanners) we place a call and they ask us the size of our van and the type of hitch. Having used this service before and knowing that we’re in good hands we shoo the others off to Mannum and wait for the tow truck. Our towie arrives puts the Jeep on the tray and hitches the van behind. He reckons that we’ve probably only blown a hose. It is suggested that we be put up at the local showgrounds for the night but knowing that it could be a longer stay we request the Murray Bridge Marina caravan park and it is a good choice. At least we provide a bit of entertainment for the park guests when we arrive in the tow truck.

Summary Day 3 – 322kms, Power, Toilets, Showers, Water, Camels = 0, Car = 0