Eastern SA & Victoria IN TRANSIT

 The next chapter of our adventure has now begun, and we start driving East towards Victoria on our way to Tasmania. We are allowed to travel through Victoria with a transit permit as long as we drive straight from South Australia to the sea-port, only stopping for fuel. We also had to camp outside the 70km border bubble, and wanted to avoid high traffic areas with freight trucks, so we chose to camp at a quiet little farming town called Tintinara. It was the best little place. Such a great community atmosphere.

On our way we stopped for lunch at Border Town and saw the Murray River at another new location. It looks very different to the river we are used to back home - no trees on the banks and very open. We also read about the Bunyip of the local rivers and lakes - he was a greedy man who took too many fish and the aboriginal spirits turned him into a bunyip. Bridie was terrified of the Bunyip as it emerged.

To break up the trip we stopped at a few of the small little towns along the way, we saw an awesome painted silo - such a creative trend that is. We stopped at a play ground with lots of colourful sheep and an old steam engine. 

When we arrived at Tintinara we were greeted with a quiet free camp on the edge of the small lake. There was a swing, the local Tintinara Progress Group shed which is a little goer of a place - they had their meeting the night we stayed and it was very busy. The locals use the lake for swimming in the summer and there was also a geocache to find there.

We were up early the next day, ready for a big day driving to Melbourne. It was exciting, but difficult explaining to the kids why we can't stop and play at the playgrounds.

On arrival to Melbourne it was fun to hear the kids reminisce about past adventures they have had at certain landmarks - such as the Melbourne Star. We managed to navigate to the boat with only small amounts of drama, and then we had 2 hours to sit and wait. (We were early because we didn't want to miss the boat if we had any car/caravan issues along the way!)

The kids watched a movie, while Kylie packed food and pj's for the boat. Because we are transitting through Victoria, we have to isolate in our cabin for the whole trip and are not allowed to leave the room, not even to get food. So we packed our dinner.

We drove on the boat and parked underneath and then walked up to the main part of the boat. It was so fancy...but all closed off to us with orange tape! It was a strange feelings, but then when we walked into our room the kids were instantly made happy with a little goodie bag sitting there waiting for everyone. The bag included all the essentials - chocolate, chips, muffins, and water! To add to the excitement the kids also got a little Tassie themed activity bag!

We then had dinner and went to bed, and were woken up by the lady on the speaker at 5.45am, telling is we were almost in Devonport and to get ready to disembark. We got ready and waited for the announcement to say it was our turn to walk down to the cars. When we left our room we were greeted with a grey, drizzley, windy day!! Welcome to Tasmania.