Herron Bend

Wed 14^th May 

Well, have you got your map? Tonight we are camped beside the river at Herron Bend. We had a delayed start because just after we left Manangatang this morning Jan & George had a problem with their electric brakes immobilising their motor (that’s what I was told, sort of) So they went back to fix it while we and the Woody’s   found a spot to park and have an early morning tea. We went up a side track and found a nice flat place to turn. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and the kettle was boiling – what more could you want.  In the meantime the problem turned out to be a loose earth wire and was easily fixed. We had lunch in Murrayville, eating heaps of fruit and cucumber so we wouldn’t have to hand it over at the border. The roads looked very cheery with their borders of autumn-shaded gazanias open to the sunshine. I wonder if they are a noxious weed here because they sure cover a large area.  We navigated to a campsite at Lake Bonney Reserve which looked great in the book. Unfortunately I think the photo had been airbrushed or photo-shopped because the spacious lawn leading down to the lake’s edge was actually a loose sand track and there wasn’t a level spot big enough for our three vans. To add to the difficulty, you would need to be a mountain goat to get to the toilet, and never in the middle of the night!  It was a mild evening with a full moon shining on the river.  To get to our campsite we went down a track beside the pub for about a km and a bit. It looks like a flood plain and there is nothing but a bit of lignum and some scrubby trees, although there are quite a few different wildflowers when you look. Would you believe we found a power-box to plug into.  This is our second free campsite with power.