It is not often that I write for this blog while I am sitting outside, but this morning is one such occasion. The sun is reflecting off the motel’s swimming pool, the bright blue sky is dotted with little fluffy clouds, K’s dozing in bed (this motel has great black-out curtains) and I’m sitting a table in my shorts and t-shirt tapping merrily on my laptop.

Having verified the water levels in The Beast and set off bright and early, the journey from Hay to Mildura was an easy one. Driving across the Hay Plain was a lot easier on this stretch as the outside temperature seemed to be about ten degrees lower than it was on the other side of Hay the previous day. We made three stops along the way: one for fuel and a pilot change, another to get a snap of the Big Wine Cask at the Stanley Winery and another on the short journey from the Winery to Mildura as we spotted a Big Pharaoh at the side of the road.

I read in one of our guidebooks that Mildura is a Victorian town and was therefore disappointed to see that the locals were not entering into the spirit of things and strolling the streets in period attire. Perhaps it’s just because the schools re-opened their doors after the long summer break? In actual fact, being in Victoria means that we have now been to four of the six Australia States (just Tasmania and Queensland to go). All things being well, we should also have been to both Australian territories, too. I think that’s pretty good for a couple of Brits who’ve only been in the country since Christmastime!

We booked into The Commodore Motel around lunchtime and dropped the car off at a local garage. The modification that the NMRA man made to the thermostat on Sunday evening was not intended to be a panacea, but more a quick-fix. When I pick up the car this morning, it should have at least a new thermostat and a new radiator cap and we should be good to head north with a car that is capable of cooling both its engine and its passengers. We’ve heard that the temperature in the centre of the country is reaching fifty degrees at the moment, so we’re going to want a car that cools.

Commodore fans will be disappointed to learn that I’m yet to spot a PET or a Vic-20 anywhere. Not even a once ubiquitous Commodore 64 is to be seen on the premises. A Holden Commodore has just pulled up into the car park, if that helps?

For my computer fix, we went to a coffee shop for lunch where they had lots of PCs all hooked up to the wondrous Internet. This enabled me to upload the previous three blog entries for your delight and delectation.

We spent some time yesterday afternoon wandering alongside the Murray River, admiring the paddle-steamers. And swatting flies. On the way back towards the motel, we found some gas-powered barbecues in the local park. Bingo! Whilst I shall always prefer a charcoal grill, I love the idea that local councils, Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs provide permanent barbecues in parks and so on for the public to use. we have seen many of these on our travels, but this was our first opportunity to put one to good use. As such, yesterday evening, armed with a full coolbag, cooking utensils and a bottle of wine from The Barossa Valley, we set off for the park.

The park was surprisingly busy (it had been empty that afternoon), but one of the three barbecues was still available, so we threw some prawns and some other seafood on the barbecue and we were good to go! Eating dinner at a table in a park is something that I think I could get quite used to.

As the evening drew in, we packed our stuff and headed back to the motel for a couple of episodes of 24. It is getting even better as the series goes on.

*Update*

I turned up at the garage this morning to pick up the car. The bonnet was up, but there was nobody visibly working on it. The guy in the office told me that they were just putting the radiator and the thermostat back together and that it would be ready within the hour. Since we had to be out of the motel room in a little over an hour, I thought it prudent to mention this to the receptionist at the motel, expecting it to take a little over an hour to get the car back and loaded up. We spent the next hour at the local shopping arcade and the phone rang ten minutes after we were due to check-out. The car’s not ready. They found a leaky pipe after fitting the thermostat and so are now replacing that. We’ve asked to stay in the motel room for another hour, which the staff were fine with, thankfully. As each minute ticks by, though, I’m thinking that we’ll be spending another night in Mildura. Not that Mildura isn’t a very nice place, but we have plans, you know?