2023- Benalla Vic and back to Lake Leshnaultia WA

We get to Benalla 2 days before dentist appointment. See Great Grandson and a couple of Granddaughters, within first few days and of cause daughter and partner. We go to Shepparton to see son and partner for the day.

We have doctor check ups my dental appointments then we have extra doctor stuff for Larry as he has to have more checks and a Gastronomy to see a new surgery can help fix his stomach flap which will stop his regurgitation pain. He also has to have an Echo to check how his heart is going after his surgery 2 years ago.

When in Benalla we walk the Lake most mornings and see people we know at the same time.

While here the dog trials are on at the showgrounds so went to watch one day.

We spend 10 days in Wodonga at the show-grounds so we can walk round to Steff and Josh and our great grandson. Even though we see then when the visit Benalla its good to see them for longer and each day we are in Wodonga.

We also spend our last two weeks in Shepparton with the son Jamie and daughter in law Linda and her daughter. We had aught up with most the grand children while in Benalla. With the exception of the 3 either working away or at uni in different areas and we missed getting into NSW to see the oldest daughter Michaela and Lance , we will on our return to Vic at the end of the year.

Between visiting everybody , our doctor, dentist things ,we help out where we can .

I want to stay as we will have another great grandson while we are away but because over the past 2 years with covid 19 and Larry having heart surgery we have had to not be available to some of our commitments we feel we can not let the Rangers down again so we leave on Good Friday.

Nothing is going right , it starts with the water heater putting water out the over flow, so ring Josh to find what to do and Larry fixes , then the pump for the water on the dish and shower tank keeps turning on . We could not find a leak of water so we think its air getting in . So we turn it on when water is used and off while not needed, this will do for now.

Our first night back on the road is at Green Lake . Its full of people with jet skies so we do not see much wildlife. Then it rained making it very boggy so we had to stay and wait for the next day to get out.

We head across to Horsham so we can get into the Grampians for a look see as we could not get booked anywhere else. Still bad weather so we can not get into any of the tracks into Grampians for a few days.

This is the start of our delays to get to Wa and where we have to be.

Then we get funny noise in one of the back wheels of the car and it takes time to get it looked at as Larry had me drive around in circles around hime to see if he could identify it but , no he could not.

So we had to find some place to look at it , Toyota would look in a week but the 4 wheel drive place said they would look in a couple of days . Anyhow they looked decided it was loose wheel nuts allowing the wheel to move and tightened them up.

One night in Horsham larry got sick. Him passing out on the floor woke me up he had been sitting on the toilet with the other end in a bucket being sick. When he passed out he fell on the little tiny area between our toilet and shower spilling the contents of the bucket all over him and the floor. It took a bit for me to get him up as I could not get in the small area or stop slipping on the mess. We finally got him up cleaned up and back into bed. I cleaned up the mess enough until the moring, I thought and went back to bed only to be woken up with a repeat performance.

As I at this stage was ok we thought it was something he had different to me , his meat. Then I got a very light version of his complaint , I got just an upset stomach . We were a bit under the weather for a couple days, but we had to wait for the car to be looked at anyway.

So off we go after only having a quick look in the Grampians, we stopped at The Little sandy desert and had a look and walk,

Finally get to the border with SA and crossed and pulled up for the night in a free area in Border town next to some water.

We walked around and found some ell cat fish in the water and then went to see the albino kangaroos in a protected area.

We have to keep going so its only 1 night at a time so Next is Peterborough for the night then out past Port Auguster to a place we usually stop at Kimba. These is ½ way across Australia from Vic coast to Wa coast.

We usually stop before crossing the SA side of the Nullarbor . We stop to check everything is in working order and its a good job we did this time.

Larry went to check all wheels and found the guy who fixed the wheel in Horsham had tightened the locking nuts that much he striped the thread off the lock nut key so we could not get them off the car. Just imagine if we got a flat out on the Nullarbor plain , we would not be able to change wheel and with no phone reception we would have to rely on someone hearing a radio call and be in the area to help.

So another delay as we have to find some one to get the locking nuts off. We found a place in Kimba , the tyre place who said he would try. We ended up having to take the car there the folling day so he could weld some nuts onto the locking nuts to be able to remove them. We had ordinary wheel nuts to replace them, more money and time .

While we waited we walked the bush walk here with all its artistic works of animals made from odd bits of metal and wire.

We get going again and get across to Wa to find things have changed and now we have to be in Perth by 7^th of May.

We stop Norseman for the night then Karalee Rock . Merredin Peak reserve then York before getting into the only place we could get a booking around Perth at Woodman Point south of Fremantle.

We should have expected this and the fact we get here and get a phone call to say we are not going out on the research vessel with the Blue whales the day after. Its cancelled because of bad weather until Friday. Its Sunday today so another delay for 5 days.

Then of course Friday gets cancelled so now we are going into Lake Leshnaultia latter then we planned now we have to be there for June and if we can July. I think its going to be too cold to be there , we will be lucky if we get through June.

So we leave Woodman point and head east of Perth just a little to see a couple of places we have not visited before as we do not have to be at the Lake until the end of May or 1st of June.

First its Boddington then Queerearrup Lake then into Wagin show grounds for the night as its only $10 a night for power so we can charge up everything. As not too much Solar going into van at the moment.

Then its into Narrogin Dam to have a look see then into Narrogin rv stop , Wickepin , lake Yealering Lake Caravan park { free washing machines}, Pingelly, Brookton, Beverly, Gwambygine -avon ascent, and we pull up in York and get a phone call from Neil at Lake Leshanaultia to go to lake today the 30 may. So have to pack up and go.