Category: General

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Sunday’s Big Breakfast

Ben’s Super Sunday Breakfast

Black Ben cooked up a storm aboard the good ship Opulence and all on board were treated to his scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon. then it was off further down the river. We eventually found a good spot to pull in only to be confronted by a snarling dog as we were pulling in. A few conciliatory words from our group seemed to temporarily sooth the savage beast, but I’m guessing she won’t win any tourism awards for customer service. Once again it was around the fire for another night of fun and games. At this rate I’ll have to go on a holiday to get over the late nights.

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Saturday Night at Murray

Pulled into the southern bank of the Murray River downstream from Echuca after we found a top spot for the two boats to moor. We had dinner on board our own boats before gathering around the roaring fire that Red Ben had prepared for us. We were entertained by Lachie’s singing while Black Ben accompanied him on guitar. Really fun night that everyone seemed to enjoy. Went to bed at a reasonable hour as we prepared to face the big breakfast in the morning.

The good ship HMAS McCracken
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Houseboat Down The Murray

The good ship Opulence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in Echuca at lunchtime. Jenny and Sharon headed out to the supermarkets to stock up on more food for our planned houseboat cruise before we headed down to the houseboat moorings to load up. I’m surprised the boats were still floating by the time all the grog and food was stored away. Steve, Andrea, Ally and Ben arrived around seven so, along with the McCrackens, we headed up to the Shamrock Hotel for dinner where the rest of the McCracken crew arrived to join us for dinner. Then it was back home to sleep on the houseboats to depart Saturday at 8.30 am

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Stairway to Heaven

Climbing the ladder of excess

We decided that we were going to be brutal in our assessment of where we will be travelling from now on. Jenny has given up on the really rough outback tracks after we finally worked out that it was the corrugations that wrecked our batteries (broken plates). That still leaves the vast majority of Oz available to us but it means that we can cut back on what we carry, which in turn means that we can reduce our weight and therefore running costs.

To this end we have decided that one spare tyre is sufficient and that we could leave the extending ladder home if we installed a fixed, lightweight ladder on the side of the vehicle. We have to be able to get to the roof for maintenance/repairs to the solar panels and additionally it will provide a bit of a photography platform. So now we just have to get back on the road after this year’s sad events.

Can’t wait till the new year.

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Still Losing Our Cool

Well Christmas has come and gone so I’ve been able to do some more testing. It turns out that the MPPT Solar Controller is actually drawing more power than is going in – probably explains why it wasn’t working properly at Winton. The new freezer is much more efficient but the fridge still seems to be using to much power so I will run another series of tests tomorrow .