On our way at last. First stop: Yass

We finally left home after a 2 week delay due to a seized ball bearing in the gear box. We recognized a motorhome trying to turn onto the highway and to our delight we find our friends Gary & Joy were just leaving Wollongong at the same time. We both stopped at the Mt Ousley rest stop for one last chin wag. Hopefully we’ll meet up again in South Australia.

Mt Ousley Rest Stop (Photo from  Roads and Maritime Services)

We were being cautious and stopped at Sutton Forest to check our gear box temperature as well as it was time to have a break anyway. The temperature is still a little concern being 100 degrees but that's heaps better than the 180 degrees it was the last time we were here. We will talk to our mechanic tomorrow but being Sunday we will continue on carefully. By the way we have a Raytek laser temperature gauge which is a left over from our business days. It has been an invaluable tool many times over checking various elements from tyres, brakes etc.

For our first night away, we chose to stay at the free camp at Joe O’Connor Park, Yass. It is a free camp area on the western side of the town. A lovely spot on the bank of the Yass River less than a kilometre west of the shops. An exercise bar area has been added to the park recently, sadly right where we frequently stay as it’s flat, grassy and in mostly full sun but close to trees for sitting in the shade. Oh well, we still managed to get close to it without any real hassles. We chose not to go down to the river bank as rain is predicted and the track looks a little slippery if wet. Anyway we intended to only stay the one night, leaving after Michelle’s morning tea visit to her aunt in Canberra. We had a neighbour with a lovely colourful pet bird but after the initial contact, she chose not to interact anymore. It didn’t matter, there will be others another time.

As is our common practice for first nights, dinner was a simple but delicious meal consisting of leftovers of a previous roast beef & vegetables with Potato au gratin.

Michelle left Rob sleeping in and went off on a 50km visit to see her Aunty in Canberra. Rob later decided to walk into town and pick up a few hardware bits ‘n pieces. He wanted to grab a cuppa in town but found the coffee shop staff was very slow to serve him preferring to natter away with another client, so he ended up walking home and brewing up his own coffee. Michelle arrives back just after 1pm hoping Rob had made lunch, but he was enjoying his morning off reading too much. A quick ham & salad fixed us both up for lunch.

We decided there’s no rush to move on, so we decided to stay put & relax for another day here. Several more RVs came in and some owners wandered by and stop to chat. We tried to encourage a couple to come by for happy hour but it was not to be. Still we enjoyed a glass on own own.

Rob made us this folding wine table.

We tend not to leave a site until mid mornings usually about 10ish. We like to relax, sleep in and take our time getting going in the mornings. Michelle is usually up much earlier and is happy to be sewing or making her way around on the internet.

Our lunch stop was at a road side rest area about 10km south of Gundagai. Salad again. We are finding it easier to be stricter with healthier eating & dieting when on the road. After a while we don’t even miss the bakery delights. We are not overly strict but we are both carrying excess weight and we find the low carb/high fat (protein) diet suits us best. We are relaxed enough to join others for dinners whether it be communal or at the local club. We want to enjoy life too! We both lost more than 8kg on the last winter trip though unsurprisingly we put on 2kg over Christmas.

Ham and Cheese Salad

We continue on to our next stop, Albury.