Wow, what a adventurous few days since leaving Adelaide. I decided to go to Mildura and have a couple of things done to Miss Daisy, and actually from where I was in Adelaide it was easier to go that way to Melbourne than travelling back through town and the hills. Really about the same amount of time, will sort of. The trip to Mildura was good, no hassles and the road is easy to drive as it the one of the main routes for the transports.

I was following another MH, with the sign" Dennis from Canberra, hello" in his back window. A Winnebago Leisure seeker, I passed Dennis, pulled into fuel up and get lunch and watched Dennis sail pass, caught up to him and passed again, further up the road, pulled into a truck stop for a break and there went Dennis again. Sorry Dennis but had to pass you again, and if you are on this site or have friends on here I hope you had a good trip and arrived at your destination safely.

I arrived in Mildura and handed over Miss Daisy to the Wirraway staff to do what needed to be done. Well they are the loveliest of people and offered me one of their delightful delivery vans to us. Now this was an experience within itself. It was a manual, have not driven a manual in years, still did ok with that. The drivers seat was stuck in one position so that was a little tricky because whoever was driving it had longer legs than I do. I figured nobody knew me so if I did something wrong the people of Mildura would think that it was one of the staff from Wirraway. All went well until I drove into the motel driveway which had a bit of a slope on it, I almost, and I say almost but not quite stalled it. I managed to get it up the slope and the only reason this happened was because I had the van in 4th gear instead of 2nd. I thought I had got away with it until the manager of the motel told me he did not think I was going to make it. I still booked in, it was nice to be a motel room, but you know after only a short amount of time in Miss Daisy I missed her and wanted to be back with her.

The next morning went for a lovely walk along the river, it was beautiful as the sun rose, except for the darn flies. The pesky little black things were everywhere. I had forgotten that about Mildura. Still it was a good hours walk and I felt better afterwards. Back for brekkie and fill in a few hours while waiting for the call from Wirraway. I went back down to the river and watched a paddle steamer go through Lock 11, had a lovely chat with a lady who was travelling from Port Lincoln, and that then had the time go and the call came through, Miss Daisy was ready to go. When I went back to pick her up the guys there had given her a bath also, I was thrilled.

Time to set off again, I had thought about free camping last night but as I moved on down the Calder I had not really planned where they were and thought better of it and looked for a CP. As I went through each little town the parks really gave me the heebie jeebies so I kept going and ended up in Charlton. I know Charlton well as I have a brother and sister inlaw living there so thought well I was going to call in anyways so might as well stay there. I pulled into the CP, $15 full power and water. A lovely setting and the amenities were spotless. What I did not know was in the middle of the main street was a free camp which comes with an ensuite. I will know next time. Anyways I had a lovely chat with the lady that came to collect the fees and she informed of a few things that were happening around the town and different groups that have been to the town.

After having morning tea with my sister in law and visiting my brother in law at the best butcher shop in Charlton it was time to head off to Melbourne. Of course this only happened after I clearly averted a very embarrassing situation this morning. I had had my shower and was wiping the shower down with my towel, thank god it was the towel and not the chamois that normally use, and lo and behold the darn clip on the shower door slipped and I was locked in the shower. Hmmmm, now what? Well I yelled really loud for help, rocked the door hoping it would unlock by some miracle, yelled some more, and in the meantime MD was getting hotter and hotter as I had put the diesel heater on, I was figuring I would be found at some point one cooked GN at some time in the future. Of course there was nobody around and even if there was they would not have been able to get in as the doors were locked. Duhhhhhhh!!!!

Anyways, I eventually pushed hard enough and the locked bypassed the lip on the side of the shower door. It has bent the door a little but still the lock works, so note to self, yes another one, make sure that the door lock is turned all the around before getting in the shower. I can laugh about it now but at the time I was a little panicky and being claustrophobic did not help.

On to Melbourne, knowing I would be in peak hour traffic because of my late departure did not really phase me until I hit the Bolte Bridge and it was bumper to bumper, there had been an accident in the tunnel earlier and the traffic was still banked up. Did not take long to clear and off I went down the Monash to the Dandenong Big 4 CP. It is a nice little park, clean and tidy and the sites are a good size. I did have to reverse MD into her site and it is rather tight, I tried but could not quite manage it so the lovely gentleman next door did it for me with his wife directing him. They have their own hand signals and all was done in record time, I was so grateful.

All set up and time for my first real happy hour. I got talking to a gentleman who goes around the shows selling matting. Him and his wife travel most of the year and are known as M&M. They introduced me to another gentleman who sells antennas and satellite dishes. They were funny and had lots of stories to tell and advise to be given. Really enjoyable.

All settled in for night and looking forward to my boys and grandchildren arriving tomorrow for Olivia's christening on Sun