Today as the torrential rain in Sydney abated we set off on our trip to the far West.
As we left Sydney behind, clouds and traffic seemed to disappear and we found ourselves travelling along the well known rural route past Goulborn and the Yass Valley until we reached our first stop for the night called Jugiong. If it wasn’t for Austin’s sister Penny, we wouldn’t have known about Jugiong or how to pronounce the name of this two street - one pub place! Great tip Penny! 
The old show ground surrounded by large trees and soft hills covered in velvety reddish brown as the sun sets is a playground for large flocks of white cockatoos and Lorikeets and has ample space for vans and campers.
Feeling washed out, not only from the Sydney rain, but also from all the packing, we gladly took the advise to have a meal at the local hotel, "The Sir George”, a beautifully restored historic stone building first founded by an Irish settler in 1845. 
The evening temperature in Jugiong was 26 degrees and so we had our dinner in the lovely beer garden. My roasted cauliflower salad with quinoa, feta, roasted carrots and chickpeas was delicious, and so was Austin’s fish and chips. But then, lulled by the local wine, we overdid it: we shared a huge serve of chocolate-blueberry brownies! They were to die for!
We woke up in the morning to a stunning sunrise and the shrieking of the cockatoos. On the way to the amenities we passed the memorial for local Sergeant Edmund Parry who in 1864 while escorting a mail coach was shot dead by bushranger John Gilbert, a member of the infamous Hall Gang. - A bit of the ‘wild’ history of town and we are not even in the ' West' - yet!
Day two now and we set off on the “Road to Gundagai”- “where the blue gums are growing’ and the Murrumbidgee’s flowin’ “- ( a well known Aussie song), and we watched the temperature on the car thermometer climb into the mid thirties.
As we had been down this way a few times before everything looked familiar, including of course the “Dog on the Tuckerbox”, another Aussie poem/folksong about some unlucky bullock drovers getting bogged in the mud, only to find the dog sitting on their longed for lunch which now was spoiled! There is no chance in the moment to get bogged in the mud here as the ground is very dry. It was good to see that at least the water in the Murrumbidgy River was still flowing!
By late afternoon we reached the sheep shearing town of Hay with it’s amazing Shearers Museum “Shear Outback”, well worth a visit! Along the river, at Sandy Point Reserve, is a beautiful free camping area with barbecue settings and a little sandy beach. It was still 35 degrees at 5pm and a swim in the cool Murrumbidgy was just the right thing to refresh before dinner.
Day three and the drive we had ahead of us along the Hay plain to Mildura was a long and boring one. But first we hit the shops in town for water and cider. We also needed to find something to get rid of ants which somehow had infested our caravan. There were whole colonies of them!
Mildura lies just across the border of Victoria which until 1851 was part of New South Wales. The Riverina ,as this area is called, is full of orchards, and most of our grapes or sultanas, oranges and apples come from here. The temperature now had climbed to 38 degree and we decided to have an afternoon tea break and then carry on to Renmark in South Australia.
Of course, forgetting we had still some tomatoes in the fridge of the caravan, we got busted just before entering South Australia by the Fruit Fly Pest control! This meant no tomato salad with our eggplant parmigiana at dinner time and potentially a hefty fine! Hopefully we will get away with a warning!