Day 81: Tue 11 Aug 26 - Spalding to Mildura

Tue 11 Aug  26 - Spalding to Mildura (382km)

4 to 16 Deg, cloudy all day and light winds - thankfully a nice tail wind today.

Apart from one hot wheel that just won't behave, we had an uneventful day of driving more long km's, arriving safely at Mildura, our destination for the next 2 nights. The drive from Spalding just north of the Clare Valley in the SA Mid North was picturesque - stunning green with lots of healthy looking Canola crops about to blossom.  We had a couple of stops along the way today, and the roads were mostly very quiet, until the last stretch from Renmark to Mildura which had a lot of road trains heading in the same direction. It's such a small world - when we arrived at our site at the Discovery Parks Mildura caravan park, we noticed we would be parked directly opposite another Red Centre Caravan. We quickly discovered that it belonged to a couple, Frank and Pam, who we met at Cooktown in June 2022. We subsequently saw them again another 4 times (unplanned) on that trip as we travelled around QLD, and last saw them in 2023 on our SA trip, when we visited them at their home in Victor Harbour. It was a lovely surprise to see them, and totally unplanned again. Needless to say, after setting up, we joined them for a couple of hours of catching up, before returning to the van for a late dinner and some census fun. Tomorrow Frank and Pam are heading off to drive the Darling River Run, but are doubtful of making the full journey due to recent rain and ongoing road closures. For us, tomorrow is a rest day from driving, before we push on for the remaining 800km's to home by Friday.

Rest area on the Goyder Highway

Rest area on the Goyder Highway - healthy looking Pig's Face about to blossom

Rest area on the Goyder Highway - when you feel like you're being watched

Lunch break at Paringa (near Renmark)

Lunch break at Paringa (near Renmark)

Lunch break at Paringa (near Renmark)

Two Red Centres parked opposite each other - Turns out it's Frank and Pam who we met at Cooktown a few years ago


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