August 10th, 2017

I bade farewell to my latest friends, Hobo and Richard, Johns mother and father.
Back on the road I continued to walk past naked grape vines and cereal fields. As always truck drivers moved out and gave me a wide clearance; even though I had a two metre hard shoulder to walk on. Birds chirped away and the sun gleamed down sweetly on me as I moved.
With the great weather, I felt like a feather and floated just that bit closer to the Pacific Ocean. Well, it was only a baby step, a 15 kilometre day. Once I stumbled upon the majestic Lake Benanee, I just had to pitch my tent. Almost on the shores of the lake I found a nice free state campground. 
It's almost like a beach resort.
Lake Benanee is formed from an inshoot from the Murray river. It's also Australia's longest and at 2530kms it's also one of the worlds longest and perhaps one of the oldest rivers, some 60 million years old.
In olden pioneer days cattlemen from Queensland stopped here. They were on their way to the Victoria gold rush and if the Murray River was too high they waited here for it to subside. 
On my way into the campsite I was greeted by Don and his wife. They are a retired couple and have been travelling several years around Australia. When they get lonely, they just fly home for a short break with family and especially their grandchildren, said Fay, with a proud glint in her eye. While talking I noticed a nice shelter to pop my tent up under. But before I moved on the kind couple offered to charge my phone on the usb connector on their rig. Nice people. 
Nb: The first two photos are from the sports park that I mentioned in my last update. The one where I was going to camp under a roofed area.