Temora deserved more than the two day stop we had allowed for as there was plenty to see and do, but we were on a tight schedule so needed to press on. Before we left we headed to Ariah Park, an historic village nearby which has been restored to its original glory. It was beautiful with a double row of peppercorn trees down the centre of the high street, originally planted as shade for the horses. The buildings all had information plaques explaining their history and the street was lined with brightly coloured, restored petrol bowsers, they advertise the place with the line 'Wowsers, Bowsers and Peppercorns'. Pretty as it was, Ariah Park was really just a tourist attraction. None of the shops actually traded any more but were just display items and there was only one cafe and a hairdresser which appeared to be in business. 

From Temora we were planning to spend the next night in Echuca, over the Victorian border about four and a half hours away. The journey was delightful through some gorgeous countryside and splendid little towns. The best of these was Coolamon which, unlike Ariah Park, was restored but up and running as a functioning town. The Up To Date Store had been closed up for around 50 years but was now being used as a museum and community space and was fantastic. The original gravity driven cash system still operated and the gentleman running the place was very happy to demonstrate by sending one of the little cash containers on its journey to the old accounts office. There were photos of the original shop and staff, it was a wonderful place. 

 As if that wasn't enough, an ex fire fighter had set up his own museum in the old fire station. He had an unbelievable collection of firefighters uniforms from around the world, including Russia, Japan, Romania and all kinds of unexpected places! The shops were smart and open and there were a number of excellent cafes, I would highly recommend this as a stop and we will definitely be coming back. 

Back on the road past fields with emus wandering amongst rapeseed, through Koonoomoo, home to The Big Strawberry, Grong Grong (A Small Caring Town) and over Turn Back Jimmy Creek and onto Echuca. We had read that there was free camping at Rotary Park so went to check it out. It was fabulous on the banks of the river and with fire pits and a terrific model railway, no toilets so only suitable for self contained campers but, that is us so just the ticket.

 Next morning we trotted into town to have a look at the paddle steamers Echuca is famous for. It is a lovely place but one of those towns where you are enticed into the historic dock area by cafes and old artisan shops, woodturners, weavers and so on but any views of the Murray and the paddle steamers were kept hidden so you had to pay to get to have a peep. Eventually we found a way to see a bit of river and some boats but it was a challenge. Shame really because it was a nice place but that sort of meanness puts you off going back. 

The rest of the trip was taken up with seeing Zoe and Shaun's lovely new house in Berwick then flying back at top speed via another night in sub zero Gunning to get home in time for the arrival of our concretors. It was only 21 degrees when we got home but felt really hot and humid after the chilly week we just had.

 Winter feels like it has dragged on a bit this year. Usually it warms up in August but, although we have had some t-shirt days, it has remained cool in the evenings right up until the end of the month so, what better thing to do than prolong it by going somewhere colder for a week?

We had been invited down to Melbourne for Fathers' Day and to have our first look at Zoe and Shaun's new house. As usual, we decided to make a trip of it but there was no time to prepare because we were working right up to the last moment on our extension so we just threw warm clothes into the caravan and headed off down south.

Our first stop, as usual, was Gunning. This is a great place to spend the first night of a trip because it is about a four and a half hour drive from us and gets us well past Sydney while also giving us time to stop and correct all the things we have got wrong in our hurry to leave, like forgetting to put on the big wing mirrors and so on. Gunning is an RV friendly town, the camping is all free and it is only a couple of minutes off the motorway. We usually stay at the showground but this time tried the free caravan park on the banks of the river where campers have 24 hour use of the public swimming pool toilets. It was excellent and even nearer to the pub for dinner than the showground. 

Although we have stopped in Gunning a number of times, it has never been at this time of year. The town is quite close to Canberra and I have heard plenty of people complaining about how cold Canberra can be but I hadn't really put two and two together. Well it was freezing overnight (minus 3 actually) and several of the little plant cuttings I had brought down for Zoë's new garden froze to death! Minus temperatures were a first for me in Australia, it doesn't get below about 10 degrees where we live.

 Back on the road, we made good headway to our next destination Temora. The Hume Highway took us through the 

Yass Valley where the road was lined on both sides with yellow wattle and rolling hills scattered with sheep and new lambs. 

As we turned off along the Burley Griffin Way (named after the designer of Canberra, Griffith and other towns) there were even more sheep but now joined by lots of alpacas. 

After crossing Banjo Patterson Bridge we passed through Binalong (pop 450), which was a glorious little town full of wisteria covered houses, then Harden which boasts it is

The Centre of the Best Wheat Growing Land in Australia.

The villages along the way all looked quite prosperous and bore the, now familiar, amusing

descriptions on their signs - Wallandbeen, winner of Fire Safe Village Award 2001 etc.

We rolled into Temora at about lunchtime and went to look at the free camping in the railway

Station car park. It was very nicely kept but the trains run all night apparently so we decided

to cough up the $15 a night to stay at the showground. 

The plan was to stay in Temora for two nights as we had been told there was plenty to see and we were particularly 

keen to visit the aircraft museum. The town itself was beautiful with original mirrored shop fronts and some

wonderful art deco buildings. Temora advertises itself as The Friendly Town and they are not kidding! Everyone smiled and said g'day, cars stopped if we were so much as looking at a crossing and one lady pulled over in her car to ask if we needed any help finding our way around.

 Temora is proud to be a centre of horse trotting and we were delighted to wake up (freezing again) to see horses and riders on trotting practice in our showground, what a treat!

The aircraft museum was small but very interesting because all the aircraft there still fly. They take a plane or two up most weekends so the locals are treated to the sight of a Spitfire or Gypsy Moth in the skies above them on a regular basis.