It rained during the night at our great little spot overlooking the Goulburn River at Murchison Reserve. We were up very high on the bank parked on grass so there was no chance of us becoming bogged. The only tricky thing is the very narrow cattle grid and gate that you have to get through to get onto the river bank. There is quite a lot of room at the top but there was only one other camper set up in a caravan.

We needed the diesel heater on in the morning, it was very chilly. We were soon toasty warm and enjoyed our breakfast inside while I did a load of washing.

I did have to turn the Starlink off to do the washing though as having both on at the same time is too much power usage via the inverter.

Continuing our way homeward along the highway we came to Shepparton. Shep (as the locals call it) is a very large rural city of some 71,000 people. It has a very large shopping district in the CBD and a huge hospital and private hospital next door. We commented that Shepparton must service all the surrounding areas.

It was a busy CBD on a Monday morning with lots of traffic.

We drove to the Showground to use the public dump point however we found it to be in a sad state. It was filthy and the concrete pit the dump point was sitting in was filled with rubbish and foul looking water. We decided against using that one! I wrote a review on WikiCamps to warn people about it.

We continued on to Numerkah where we used the dump point at their showground and we also filled up with water. Because we were able to do that we spent some money in the town and filled up with fuel, swapped a gas bottle and bought a bag of wood. We do like to support the towns that provide for RV’s.

Next stop was Tocumwal across the river in NSW. Richard really fancied Chinese for lunch but the only Chinese restaurant was closed on Mondays so we had to settle for lunch at the pub. We enjoyed good pub grub at the Tattersalls Hotel surrounded by all its incredible displays. There are military paintings, model boats, old lamps, pint jugs, a collection of army hats and a large collection of stuffed animals including a snake! These line the walls and sit on the wall shelves. What a quirky collection!

Sadly Town Beach at Tocumwal was full already with campers so we went back across the river into Victoria and turned into the gravel track into Finley Beach. Finley Beach is on the opposite side of the river to Tocumwal Town Beach. It is a long sandy beach with room for lots of campers. The track is a little rough so Richard just had to be very careful going up and down over the bumps. and keeping an eye on our Luton peak as he went by the trees. We found a patch of beach to ourselves and, although there were lots already camped up, we didn’t feel crowded or hemmed in. As long as no one camped on the beach right in front of us we’d be right.

Not long after setting up camp, sure enough, a car came in and parked right alongside us. I’m glad they weren’t in front of us to spoil the view! A couple of rough looking young people got out and we thought ‘oh no’ to ourselves. However, Mr Have-a-chat went right on over to meet the newcomers and came back to inform me they are a couple of Italian backpackers traveling to Melbourne and living in their car. He’d invited them over to share our campfire.

I love these chance encounters. You do meet amazing people on the road. These two lovely young Italians were having a fabulous time touring Australia. They are musicians and were on their way to Melbourne to try the music scene there and hoping to get some gigs. We enjoyed our time with them and we had some great laughs and conversation into the evening around the camp fire.

The next morning we packed up and headed for home. It’s only a couple of hours home from Tocumwal and all too soon we were driving in the front gate of our place. Time to clean the motorhome and get her ready for whatever the next trip may be.