After our adventures in the Victorian high country and a great drive down the winding Tambo Valley road, our next interesting stop is the Mornington Peninsula. We’ve split the drive, camping overnight in a non-descript and forgettable campsite amid rain showers. The only high point was our muted celebration of an addition to the extended Cowper family. Guy’s new great-niece, Zophia.
In the morning it’s blue sky and high clouds. Off at 0815 towards Melbourne, we pass the scar of an open cut coal mine and the Yallourn Power Station, looking derelict but still working it seems. The smell of coal dust hangs in the air.
Other than that, its road. There’s nothing much else to write about when driving down east coast highways, so I thought I’d tell you a bit about how we live.
Cooking has been both a delight and a trial. Guy and James have organized the back of Joy superbly. The tailgate is the preferred kitchen area – a bit crowded at times but everything within easy reach. The one black spot is the cooker. Not because of my toast-cooking exercise but because it doesn’t work. Four of us have separately taken it apart, washed it, cleaned it, blown both lung-powered and compressed air through it, all with limited results. A bit like British Rail, it can’t be relied on. It works for a bit then stops. Online chats about this particular brand recommend either soaking it in coke or binning it. It was the cheapest on the market and you get what you pay for. Looks like we’re on the search for a new one. But prudently we have ‘reversionary modes’ – a gunnery term. Early morning tea today was brought to us by Trangia, for example.
Washing in the wild has equally become common place. Land Rover bonnets with their flat surfaces and wing mirrors make excellent bathrooms. Happily there are four. Shaving in cold water has become the norm.
However, I’m accused of being soft when I smuggle a thimble of hot water into my saucer-sized pool.
Civilized, I call it.
A small drama has played out over the charging of electric toothbrushes (an essential item for the over 60’s apparently). John’s charger can’t be plugged in to any of our sockets and, when he finds a workaround, it doesn’t fit his toothbrush anyway. We treat the chances of his teeth falling out over the next five weeks as ‘Low Risk’ – to the overall expedition, at any rate.
Rosebud Campsite on the Mornington Peninsula gives us hot showers and a laundry. There is only so much you can write about washing clothes and this is it.
There is, however, more to write about the charities we are supporting on this trip. Combat Stress and Mates4Mates have similar aims. Our visit to the Australian War Memorial has reminded us of the sacrifice of others in uniform. We want to do something to help those who still need help after their service. So please share this story with your friends and help to keep the thought of a contribution alive.
As I read this wonderful travel blog of the trials and tribulations of camping, I am reminded of the advice one great British traveler (the late Alan Whicker) gave to another British travelling legend (and former Python) Michael Palin when Palin was preparing for his first great journey “Around the World in 80 Days”, when Whicker advised:-
“Any fool can be uncomfortable. The thing to do is to make yourself comfortable. You can make yourself comfortable almost anywhere.”
I am delighted to see that the latest party of British/Oz travelers are taking Alan’s advice.
Travel comfortably (for a given value of “comfort”)
Or, “Any fool can be uncomfortable…and fools usually are.” Doesn’t apply here of course!
And the corollary to the , “Any fool” aphorism is “…and fools usually are.” Doesn’t apply here of course!