Let’s start with a bit of context:

1. Lately, I’ve noticed some strange quirks with the instrument panel on the MU-X. The most alarming incident happened Friday—just as I pulled up at the traffic lights, the dash lit up with warnings, and the car promptly shut itself down. I barely had time to read the errors before the guy behind me lent on his horn. Panic set in as the MU-X wouldn’t restart; it wasn’t in park, so I couldn’t cycle the ignition. After some wrangling, I got it into park and restarted. Damn modern tech!
2. On the health front, we’d been hit hard. Joel had taken a sick day from school with cold symptoms. Then Edie, Rebekah, and I all went down with similar symptoms. We figured Joel had kindly shared his germs with the family.

Saturday: Battery Blues and False Starts
With everything packed and the camper hooked up, I ran a final check—confirmed the camper battery was charging from the car. All good. I ducked inside, rounded up the family, and went to start the car. Nothing.
The dash lit up like a Christmas tree: system malfunction, key error, and a bunch of other warnings. The manual helpfully advised, “See dealer.” My heart sank—weekend plans to Young looked dead in the water.
I disconnected the trailer: lights, brakes, and charging circuits. Still no luck. Then it hit me—maybe it’s the battery? Grabbed jumper leads and hooked the MU-X up to the Triton. It gave a half-hearted crank. That was enough to convince me the battery was toast. After leaving the Triton running for a bit, I tried again. Third time lucky—it started!
Straight to Mitchell to get the battery tested. Turns out it had dropped 200CCA. I didn’t muck around and asked for the biggest replacement they had. Unfortunately, they were out of the SS75TX, so I went with the next best: an SS66TX 4WD battery, boasting 920CCA (up 320 from the original). $300 later, we were finally on our way. Well, to the servo and McDonalds!

Heading to Young
The drive was uneventful, aside from on-and-off rain and icy winds. We stopped briefly at Boorowa to stretch our legs and visit the old courthouse (now the info centre). Picked up a few brochures and pressed on.
We made a quick detour in Murringo to photograph the beautiful Christ Church (built in 1866, designed by Alberto Dias Soares). I have added the photo of the church to Flickr, and have added a historic newspaper article about the laying of the foundation stone. Additionally, I have added the newspaper article, which is the closest I could find to the opening of the church.
​The town is dotted with historic buildings—we’ll definitely return for a proper explore.
Young is just 25 km from Murringo, so before long, we were pulling into the caravan park. Since the camper had been out of action for over a year, we didn’t want to risk off-grid camping again  just yet. Staying at a powered ensuite site gave us a soft reintroduction and some much-needed creature comforts. The camper’s electrics behaved, but the electric 240v heater was vital—nights were bitter. A diesel heater is now on our “must buy” list.

Settling In (Sort Of)
After setting up, we popped into town for a few supplies, then stopped at the old railway station so I could snap a photo of the Welcome to Young sign. Dinner followed, then an early night—sort of.
It was freezing, so the electric heater kept us cosy until bedtime. After that, it was doonas, blankets… and Edie. She flat-out refused her bunk and wedged herself between us. Score: Edie 1, Parents 0.
Around 2:00 AM, Joel appeared, wide awake and unable to sleep. Our bed was already at capacity with two adults, a child, and a Chihuahua. I convinced him to head back to bed with a book or his tablet. Thankfully, he did. Joel 0, Parents 1.

Sunday: COVID Curveball
At 3:00 AM, Edie’s constant wriggling finally drove me out of bed. I ended up watching a couple of episodes of Clarkson’s Farm and Welcome to Wrexham. The rest of the family slowly surfaced by morning, all of us feeling fairly average.
First stop: the chemist. Edie was full of snot and needed something to ease her symptoms. We just managed to get there during the one hour it was open (yes—just one hour!). Rebekah grabbed Benadryl and, for good measure, a couple of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs).
While I popped into the information centre to grab a Young Heritage Walk guide, Rebekah did a test. Positive. She suggested I take one too. Sure enough—positive. That would explain the “cold” symptoms. We decided to test the kids next. Back to the chemist for more RATs. Edie—positive. Joel—negative (somehow).
​Three Out of Four—That’s Not Too Bad, Right?

Touring While Crook
Despite the weather and COVID revelation, we decided to do a bit more sightseeing—by car. We admired old homes and buildings, then headed out to the Chinese Tribute Gardens. A quick comfort break and a couple of rushed photos between squalls, then it was back to the caravan to huddle under blankets and feel sorry for ourselves.
That night, Joel crashed early with a fever. I took over Edie’s bunk (she still refused it—Edie 2, Parents 0). Joel woke at 6:00 AM, disoriented and thinking it was evening. He’d slept 12 hours straight but had sweated through the bed.

Monday: Homeward Bound
We dragged ourselves through breakfast, packed up slowly, and were mostly done by 10:00 AM—right when the manager came knocking. He wanted the ensuite cleaned immediately, despite no cleaner being in sight for the next 45 minutes. A bit rigid, but we moved along anyway, using the ensuite as a dry packing spot due to the rain.
Joel dozed off again in the car and barely stirred on the drive home. Quick stops in Boorowa (for drinks) and Yass (for fuel), and we were home by 1:00 PM. We unpacked, aired out the camper, hung up wet gear, and I made a trip to collect the cats from the cattery—another hour round trip.

Final Thoughts
Despite the cold, the wet, the dodgy battery, and catching COVID—we really liked Young. It’s a charming country town with a lot of history and character. We’ll definitely be back… preferably when it’s warm, dry, and we’re not all sick!

It was time to head back to South Australia. The smoke was present nearly all the way to Narrandera. It was good to be in fresh air again. I stopped overnight at Mildura and the next morning I went for a ride at.....

Coomealla. Mountainless MTB park
What a cracking good fun course. What they lack in climbing/descending, they make up with fun stuff. Especially the A lines. I didn't do two A lines, due to riding by myself and if I fell, I could be in a spot of bother, but the rest were fun.
This course is suited to a hard tail. I had no issues riding this on fully rigid, but hard tail, would make it a bit more fun.

Unfortunately my GPS shut down before I finished one lap, about 1.5Km short. There is a truncated loop that you can do as well, so all up about 16kms, If I had more time, I would've done this as well.
Map of ride.

Post ride, it was back on the road to South Australia, and home.

Photos from a road trip from South Australia to Merimbula. This section is From Deniliquin, via Blighty, Finley and eventually camping overnight at Tumut.

Deni
What a great place. Rode the best pump track that I've ever ridden, even if you mulched it, you could still pump back up to speed.
Found some MTB trails, visited a pub and the Ute on a stick.
Fun was had.
Map of ride.

Willoughby National Park MTB trails
I rode the Crater and Echidna trails this morning and although it is flat floodplain area, it was a bit of fun. Would've liked to have explored some of the other trails, but that will have to be another time maybe.
The Echidna trail was the better of the two as it had berms.
Map of ride.

Tumut MTB sampler
What a great bunch of trails. Unfortunately time was once again, against me.
These trails remind me of Jetta trails. Twisty and a few rocks scattered around to make it interesting.
Would be great to have had suspension.
Map of ride.

Day 4- - ​North Largs to Mawson Lakes and our new house (20Kms)

Day 30 - ​Melrose to North Largs (284Kms)

Day 28 - ​Arno Bay to Melrose Caravan Park (292Kms)

The first stop out of Arno bay was to visit Justin Galbraith and his family at Lucky Bay.
We made it to Melrose and set ourselves up at the ​Melrose Caravan & Tourist Park.

Day 26 - Port Lincoln to Arno Bay Caravan Park (120Kms)

​On our way to Arno bay we stopped by Tumby Bay to check the place out for future visits. Tumby bay is a pretty coastal town with some great attractions.

Day 21 - Sheringa Beach to Port Lincoln Tourist Park (136Kms)

From Sheringa it was on to Port Lincoln for New Years and a bit.

We quite liked Port Lincoln, there was a great walk that passed through the tourist park that ran along the water. The weather was good and for most of it, we had some great views.


Strangely enough, I don't actually have any photos from Port Lincoln, but from areas near port Lincoln.

The first is Coomunga Church and the last two are from a little township called Poonindie. THe church is and the old school were part of an aboriginal mission built in the area. The crazy thing is that these are not well marked and if you didn't know what you were looking for you wouldn't stumble across it. It is so crazy that the only historic sign they have in the town is to a cairn, which was as boring as.

These three images are from my big camera and like the other pages, if you want more information or to see the bigger image, then mosey on over to my Flickr album for the trip.

We wanted to stay at Coffin bay, but the place was booked out, but seeing it was close to Port LIncoln, I decided to go for a bit of a paddle around the area.

Continue you to Part 10.

Day 20 - Venus Bay to Sheringa Beach Campsite (110Kms)

Sheringa Beach Campsite is an amazing little camp area just behind the frontal dune of Sheringa beach. This little campground is maintained by local council (Elliston IIRC) and costs $10 a night. There are drop toilets, bins and marked out areas for camping and that is it.

There is not much in Sheringa. A couple of churches, a hall, a roadhouse and a few houses, with one at least being abandoned.

History
The town of Sheringa was surveyed in October 1882. It was initially proclaimed as Holsworthy on 19 April 1883, then revoked and proclaimed as Sheringa on 23 August 1883. Its name is derived from Tjeiringa, a local Aboriginal name for a yam-like root that grew in the area. The former Sheringa Post Office opened on 1 September 1891 and closed on 28 September 1984.

​I particularly wanted to stop here to photograph one of the churches. St. John's is just off the highway.

The next lot of photos are from my big camera. You can see larger images and details of the subjects on my Flickr album for the trip.

St. John's was built in 1910, with the foundation stone being laid by Mrs. James Telfer on the 6th of July.

One of the abandoned farms.

Continue on to Part 9.

Day 19 - Streaky Bay to Venus Bay Caravan Park (77Kms)

Another small drive to Venus Bay. Had a spot right on the water, but once again strong winds. We learnt a valuable lesson at Fowlers Bay, so bought some extra tent pegs and ropes to tie off the roof of the camper in strong winds.

Venus bay is nice, but other places are better. 1  or 2 nights would be enough in this area.

Continue to Part 8.