The final day's travel, to home.........................

                After collecting our extra passenger, we departed West Wyalong soon after 8am.

I did say in a previous post that we had another 2 days of touring before heading home. But plans change and I made the decision to head home in one day, which meant we had a 10 hour journey to go. Our first stop was at Hay, and I know most people say how boring and flat and straight the road is. 

                                    

                              

The 2 of us in the front seat are both from farms and we were very interested in seeing the countryside, what they are growing, what animals were in the paddocks etc etc. (We decided that there should be signs on the fences, telling us what crops they are growing. And further up, where the trees grow along the edge of the road, we would like gaps so we could see into the paddocks. It was noted that we didn't see many cattle or sheep along the way, although the feed seemed to be abundant!!)

In fact we came across a large mob of cattle, grazing the 'long paddock' which was good to see.

Our first stop for the day was at Hay, at the local bakery and of course the necessary conveniences.

                                       

We had seen a few emu's on the edge of the road as we travelled, but not close enough for photographs. This is the entrance to Hay, and I did think about stopping long enough for a pic, but time was marching on. So when Jo posted this photo, I asked permission to 'borrow' it. Thanks Jo. ......(Note that I was happy to see emu's on our travels, but you will understand I was not so keen to see any kangaroos, although there were lots of signs warning of them!!)

                  

We took a different road after Hay to head back to the river, and would be crossing at Swan Hill this time. There were a lot of cattle grids on this road, to stop the cattle from venturing into the next property. I wondered if they might prevent fairies from crossing too??

                                      

The road was very ordinary along here, having been damaged with the floods a few months ago. A lot of road works were underway, and travel was slower. (You could tell the local traffic though as they did not slow down).

Our next stop was at Swan Hill, and I learnt that it was a Victorian town, and I don't know why, but I always thought it was on the NSW side of the river. Swan Hill is a very pretty place and we got some lunch and headed to the riverside. Again, the flood levels have dropped right back in a short time. The bridge is another one of those "one car at a time" bridges.

                          

                                         We enjoyed our lunch by the water, on a very sunny day.

                                               

Thanks to the lovely couple who were also sitting by the river, and offered to take a photo of the 3 of us.

The park was a very pretty area and the fence was still standing, where I presume it prevented access during the flooding.

We did do a quick tourist trip and found the Giant Murray Cod for a photo.

                               

Time was marching on by then, so we headed south west, down through country Victoria and some of the towns we had stopped at on the way up. It was late afternoon when we saw a large mob of kangaroos on the edge of the road. I wasn't taking any chances, so drove very slowly through there.

We arrived at Nhill for a quick 'convenience' stop and found these trees decorated with knitted poppies, ready for Anzac day.

From Nhill, we were then on the main highway and much more traffic, especially trucks. We arrived back in Bordertown about 6pm, 8 days from when we left after travelling 2,657km!! 

What an amazing trip we had, meeting all the quilting, blogging zoomers, especially the international contingent!! 

I guess the only downside to the Road Trip, was coming home a 'bit unwell' and doing my first ever Rat test on Tuesday morning and seeing those 2 red lines!! But after spending 8 days together, I caught it, and the fairy didn't!!?? How does that work?? I have dodged it for the last 3 years and now.........

I have to say my symptoms were not too severe, although now the fatigue has set in and not a lot is happening here at Number 8. I might claim sick leave for the rest of the week. (I think the boss might owe me some time??)

There is probably a lot more I can say about our road trip, but that will do for now. It is great to read everyone's posts as they arrive home and look at their photos. Gail is travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne and was only an hour from me yesterday!! Wonder if she saw me waving?? 

Will have to come back another day with a 'back to reality' post.

Blessings, From Jude