On the road again after fare welling Cooks Road West

                         
                                    

Tonight, Wednesday 20th July, we are parked up at Red Cliffs, our first night 'on the road' in our van. Last night we enjoyed an evening with my mum and brother, as well as my niece, nephew and his fiancé and daughter before heading off today to start sleeping and living in the van for about three months.  

Tuesday, of course, was a day of mixed emotions. Whilst I stayed busy and focused on the cleaning of the house and the packing of the van I felt 'in control and fine'. I'm pleased I stopped and took time to enjoy a cup of tea watching my last sunrise at Cooks Road West. It made me think of my aunt as she once told me about being able to see the planet Venus as you drove into Venus Bay, and as there was a planet twinkling beside the moon I couldn't help wondering if it was Venus. It also made me think that within a month I'll be up at Alice Springs going to the planetarium with Bill, Val and Ashleigh. 

I also remembered the many walks in the morning with my friend Susan who lives just down the road. A tear or two were not far away at this stage. She is one of the most thoughtful people I've ever met and not long after, I received a text from her asking us to stop so she could get a photo of us leaving, as we might like it for our blog. As soon as I got out of the car she gave me a hug and said "Oh, a bit emotional today - that's natural, you should be feeling your emotions." I think I'd started crying when I hung up from Kyle who had rang about ten minutes before our hoped for departure time just to check in. As I wandered the empty rooms for that last time the tears just wouldn't be held back.  

 

Finally we were on the road by about 11am, an hour behind schedule. As we approached Korumburra I realised I hadn't followed up on an email from the day before, I quickly opened my mail to find that the truck we were traveling in wasn't insured as I'd forgotten to return some forms. A stop at the library with a very enthusiastic librarian had that problem sorted but saw us well behind schedule. So, after a pie at Kelly's Bakery (yes, a whopping 45 minutes from home) we once again set off. By Nyora the speedo had stopped working but Bill could tell by the revs our 'approximate' speed. With no more hiccups we made it to Benalla by 5pm! 

After a lovely evening with the family and a relaxed and slow start we headed to Shep this morning where we purchased a Sat Nav so that we can have a more accurate way of telling our speed rather than the sound of the revs. Tonight we are cozy warm and relaxed looking forward to a quiet night before heading to Crystal Brook tomorrow to catch up with our South Australian mates that we spent many weeks with last year.