It had stopped raining when I woke up
at Berri's very own Fawlty Towers. I showered and set off as quickly as I could,
figuring there wouldn't be much on offer for breakfast anywhere in
Berri, as everyone started to recover from the blackout. (Little did I know then that the blackout was to last for several days.) I also hoped
to get to Birchip, the day's destination, as quickly as possible so
as to avoid the worst of the forecast weather. Ho hum.
Rain had started to spit by the time I
got into my car and it kept on raining. I was thinking: get across
the border where at least they wouldn't have been affected by the
blackout. Just as well the petrol pumps were operating. I fill up
each morning having all but emptied the tank the day before.
It turned out to be a pretty awful
day's driving, again missing some of the towns I'd planned to stop
at. The road from Renmark, not far on from Berri, to Mildura is
relatively flat and relatively straight but … that's a bit
deceptive. There are enough slight rises and enough curves to
considerably reduce the chances to overtake slow-moving vehicles.
There is not one overtaking lane in that whole 140 km stretch of
road. There are a few rest areas that slow-moving vehicles could pull
into to let long tailbacks past but none of the drivers concerned
took the opportunity. In fact, they appeared oblivious to the effects
of their driving.
Suffice to say, being caught behind
several caravans and other slow movers, the leader of which was doing
80 in a 110 zone, then with a tanker catching up directly, too
closely for comfort, behind me, then more vehicles catching up behind
that, did not make for relaxed driving. This went on well over
halfway to Mildura. The single car in front of me was finally able to
make a move. Before I got the chance, the tanker behind me pulled
out, overtaking several vehicles at once. I was waiting for a head-on
crash. Finally, I too was able to move. The driver of the lead
caravan appeared totally relaxed and oblivious of other road users.
Grrrr! It took until after brunch in Mildura for my adrenalin levels
to settle.
The other negative of the day was discovering the poor design, and I suspect lack of maintenance in some cases, that made driving more difficult and in one case potentially lethal. Mud flaps! Those on 4WD vehicles were invariably bad – as, sadly, is my little 2WD. Caravans, often pretty bad. Trucks – surprisingly, better than 4WDs in the majority of cases. Others were pretty bad. And in one case, one truck threw up so much muck it covered my windscreen completely rendering visibility to zero. This was on a slight bend not long after crossing the opening bridge (across the Murray) at Paringa, just out of Renmark. Thank goodness the wipers did their job quickly and the car maintained the correct curve on the road. If I'd crashed, would any evidence of that blinding experience have remained?
What a difference a line on a map can
make. Driving to Mildura, I was surprised to see more pasture than
grapevines. On crossing the border back into Victorian it was … scrub!
I stopped at Hopetoun for lunch, a much smaller town than I thought it was. Poor service at the cafe. If ever there's a next time, I'll try the bakery. I got just a little bit drowned dashing from my car to the local loo facilities!
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| Main Street, Hopetoun, from 'inside' my car! |
After brunch I stopped only long enough
to get wet again taking a photo of the Speed sign – a tiny township!
The Mallee-Wimmera part of my holiday was originally planned as a “B seeing Victoria” road trip, much as my “C New South Wales” was back over New year 2012-13. This was to be Birchip, Brim, Beulah, Boort, finishing at the Stick Shed in ... Murtoa!
The first B, Beulah, was also very small.
Next, Brim.
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| Brim ... also through the windscreen! |
The site here was the main
reason for the whole NW Victoria visit. The painted silos at Brim were as
brilliant as anticipated. But with rain bucketing down, my vision and
enjoyment were somewhat limited. At least there was no sun in the
wrong position to make my photos a washout! Silver lining to all
those clouds :-)
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| Brilliant! ... even in the rain |
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| The (normal-sized) door at centre bottom of the left-hand silo gives an idea of the size of this project |
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| My car parked in a sea of mud and water - most unusual for the region |
I then planned to cut across country to
Birchip but decided, given the weather (constant rain), that going
the long way and sticking to main B roads might be safer than
changing to C roads. Didn't read the map too closely, did I?! From
Warracknabeal it was a C road to Birchip! But … that worked rather
well. The edges and the shoulders of the road were in worse condition
than the B roads but, being used less often, they hadn't developed
the indentations that greater use caused in the B roads – which the
rain filled with water in elongated puddles that were less than
pleasant to drive through. About halfway to Birchip though, the road
surface became quite rough. Aah yes, change of shire and
responsibility.
Finally, Birchip. Aaaaarghhh!!!! The
bakery had sold out of their famous award-winning vanilla slices!
Disaster! I asked if they would have more in the morning – no
guarantees, being on restricted hours for the football grand final public holiday - only in Oz! Just as well I'd got one on my way through at the start of
my trip :-)
At last, to my hotel. An exceedingly
popular local pub! Thank goodness I discovered the dining room –
the main evening eating area was full, and the noise deafening with
feral kids, one of whom kept blasting a klaxon horn just to add to
the mayhem. In comparison, the soap opera on the TV in the dining
room was bliss. When I was the only one left, by which time a footy
show was on, I turned it to the ABC. It didn't take long for a staff
member passing through to change it back to commercial rubbish,
without a by your leave. The food was OK. And in spite of all the
noise in the bar, I've managed to get my blog drafts up to date.
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| Late afternoon sunshine at the Birchip Hotel |
My room is small but adequate and I
will have the oil heater on all night. Letting the place down is the
lack of cleanliness. The bathroom down the hall hasn't had a clean
for … some time. I won't be showering in the morning!