Barooga, NSW

So, we didn't make it very far before we pulled up stumps.  We got as far as Barooga, NSW, which is just across the Murray river from Cobram, VIC.  A whole 370kms!  As seems to be the case for us, we arrived much later than planned and were again trying to locate our proposed camp site in the dark.  We did manage to find it and set up the basics for our first night there. 

At first light in the morning we were gobsmacked by the most awesome of awesome camp sites.  We were parked up on a huge, grassed, flat area backed by huge river red gums and scrub and fronted by a really big sandy beach down to the river.  It was just awesome.  Free campsites just don't get much better than this one!!  We spent the day gathering fire wood and just chilling out.  E and I built a house of sticks, C had an absolute ball digging and 4wd'ing in the sand with his tractors and T helped R install our very own tyre swing from a tree.  Later E and I went for a walk in the bush to collect allsorts of berries and nuts and leaves so we could make a "happy, healthy tree potion".  It included all those berries, leaves, nuts, plus some charcoal from the fire and river water.  We mixed it up and poured it over the "tree" (a fallen branch that we had planted) and said a happy healthy tree spell, added some sparkly sand and the job was done!  It was cool, and had all stemmed from a conversation with E about how trees make oxygen for us and how if trees weren't healthy they wouldn't make oxygen and we wouldn't be able to breathe.

Later than evening we were joined by our Ocean Grove hosts who had come to camp for the weekend with us.  Even after only one night apart the kids were very excited to see M and C!  The next three days were spent relaxing by the river, collecting fire wood, cooking, eating and generally enjoying watching the kids playing.  I think I can safely say that I have now gotten the hang of cooking a damper in the fire, and can definitely cook a mean roast in the camp oven!!

Our last night/morning at Barooga was probably the coldest we have had on this adventure so far, and we were to find out later that the temp had dropped to about minus 4 degrees!!!!  It was freezing!!!  So cold that R and I had difficulty packing up in the morning.  The annexe wouldn't roll up because it was frozen, the toilet shelter wouldn't fold up because it was frozen and for the first time ever we had things frozen which were UNDER the annexe!!!  We ended up not even getting the kids dressed, it would have been too mean to strip them in that cold, so they travelled until lunch time in their PJ's.  C the poor little mite had hands so cold that he was crying in pain. :-(  We made it that afternoon to Forbes and pulled up stumps there for a couple of nights.

We had to use a whole day to get through the backlog of washing and to take some much needed long, hot showers.  As much as we love a camp fire, after four nights we were quite "on the nose".  The great thing about Forbes was that there were quite a few people to chat with and we had some great conversations with some other couples who were travelling.  We picked up some handy hints and tips and some great suggestions for places to go and see.  We did get to have a bit of a look around the town and even splurged on a meal at the pub on our second night.  R had a hankering for a big, fat steak!!!