Mon, 24th Nov, 2014 Bass Valley Campground, Poowong

Slept in to 8.30 - Woke to sound of thunder and pitter patter of rain on the roof. Hope it doesn’t hang around, need to get my washing dry. Lucky we have our undercover clothes line!! Feels cold, temp says 17 degrees – thought we were starting to get used to the cold – obviously not. Rain and thunder settled in so lazy morning in the van. Kicked Steve out of bed at 10.30 to put the generator on so I can recharge the laptop.

We had 3 sets of backpackers stop for the night and Steve enjoyed watching the antics as they got packed up in the drizzle. One set had 2 guys and a girl. They guys went for a walk and she crawled out of the back at 11.30. Who’s the boss in their car I wonder.

The rain has gotten heavier but the washing it ok undercover. Cuppa soup and toasted sandwiches to warm us up for lunch. Another caravanner pulled in – funny watching the parking and levelling process – I hope we don’t look that bad.

Plenty of water in the buckets to wash the van and truck. Will be squeaky clean to go on the ferry. I prepared Beef & Tomato Hotpot in the Ecopot then made pikelets for smoko. The rain has stopped for a bit so Steve washed the van and truck and I cleaned out the truck fridge as everything from our fridge needs to go into it on Wednesday.

The pikelets were yummy – will do that again. New people pulled up so had a quick chat then the rain and thunder started again. Can’t complain just hope the sun is out tomorrow.

Steve pouring through his gold prospecting magazines. Showed me pictures of “Puddling Holes”. He found some at Paddy’s Ranges. On the map of the gold mines in Foster there were mine marks and the word “Puddler” – I thought it was the mine name, so will have to check them out next time. Found a photo of the buckle he found – it is called a “Swan Buckle”. We looked up on Google for information about the bottle he found – Reed Bros, Bendigo. It was a cordial and made ginger beer. Couldn’t find a picture of his bottle but will keep it any case.

Took photos of his prospecting ‘junk’, so we could toss it.  

 Kept the chain – saw similar one in his magazines too so will keep it.

No sun at all today so generator back on so my laptop can be recharged again!! Steve was trying to tune the TV and I said is that an alarm going off. He couldn’t hear it. Later on I heard it again and realised it was the rosellas. The black cockatoos are squawking a lot here today. A kookaburra sang after the last down pour – probably laughing at my washing!!

Yummy dinner, quiet night.