1 June 2014 - First day travelling

Set out about 0800 into a raining morning and that rain has stayed all day, car leaked through the windscreen seal as expected, which is very frustrating. Echuca wasn't terribly thrilling, some interesting bits and reasonably nice, but nothing really attention grabbing, though perhaps the weather had a lot to do with that. It was a bit Daylesford with less eateries and a big muddy river. Actually went to the Beechworth Bakery for a spot of lunch and there would have been about twenty people working there and only one of them actually serving customers rather than just standing there looking at everyone, interesting business model.

Deniliquin was just another quiet country town, looking a bit down on its luck in some places and again the banks have a lot to answer for in relation to awful buildings stuck into what would otherwise be quite a nice "heritage" streetscape. It looks like some work is being done in areas of the town, but there are quite a few empty shops and the only places open were the the $2 / bargain basement shop, over all though it is a quite nice and tidy looking town. The site for the ute muster is certainly substantial and not far out of town, it is just beyond imagining that the whole area is filled to capacity with utes and all if the existing infrastructure out there is all just for one weekend a year, quite amazing.

Jerilderie (is that how you spell it?) is really quite an attractive looking small town and surely must be an official Tidy Towns entrant because it just looks so clean and well kept. Admittedly I only really saw the main strip but it really was impressive. It is another "Ned Kelly" town, the gang raised merry hell in the town, from and officials point of view, but mainly went there to have his manifesto printed, known as the Jerilderie Letter. I am sure that the next town along would have been quite something as well, Lockhart "the veranda town" as they call it, certainly seemed to have a very nice heritage streetscape with whole rows of very wide shop awnings, though by this time it was really getting dark, so was hard to really tell.

The trip up was really quite relaxed and there were sections along the way where I was quite literally the only car for miles around, very quiet roads and mostly in quite good shape. The car has just ticked along brilliantly , though a bit damp, with no problems whatsoever which is great. A nice steady 80-82 kilometers per hour seems to make it feel quite happy so there it is going to stay. That speed makes for a much longer day of driving, but you do get to see a lot more too.

Staying the night in Wagga Wagga, well actually outside of there in a sub town called Gumly Gumly (they like using words twice around here when naming things obviously). It's certainly no thrill and actually I have decided that driving through the day is great, you see so much, but once night hits forget it, There is no fun in it and it becomes a chore, so unless absolutely necessary no more early evening driving on this trip (famous last words I bet).
Canberra tomorrow and hopefully much better weather!

The Murray River at Echuca

 The Count finds a friend at Echuca

 And in really beautiful condition (bet it wasn't leaking in the rain)

 What else would you do with a Holden Ute?

Ok, so The Count isn't a ute, but really, closing the gates is just a tad unfriendly