Step 1 - Jan Juc - Sale. 2nd Nov - 5th Nov

Tuesday 11:55 am, this is it finally on the road. Although given the plan was only conceived less than 3 months ago, with the magic spreadsheet,  it's an amazing effort. Sold a car, bought a motorhome, bought a trailer and fitted it out for the motorbike, rented the house, emptied it of roughly 17 years of accumulated "stuff" and both finished up at our respective jobs.

Anyway I digress. Left Jan Juc at 11:55 stopped 43 minutes later at the BP on the Geelong Road for lunch. In the spirit of the new budget, lunch is sandwiches made at home and water. Quick use of the facilities and back on the road - Sale here we come.

Mighty Merc handling the trailer well but rattle from door is annoying Steve - less than 8 hours driving though until we meet up with Mr Fix It (Herb) at Merimbula.

Arrived at Sale Top Tourist Carvan Park at 4'ish and checked in for two nights to catch our breath and get a little more organised. Our first step as "nomads" - join the Top Tourist Caravan Park Club (10% discount on fees - woo hoo). Second step - step outside the budget and book an en-suite site.

Wednesday dawns bright and pleasant and we sit down for a leisurely breakfast which is disrupted when Steve can't find the keys to the padlock locking the bike to the trailer. Or come to that the keys to the bike, spare keys to the van and sundry other items. All of which were last seen packed neatly together in a  plastic tray on the sideboard at Jan Juc. OK, nobody panic, we ripped Mighty Merc apart and found them buried under one of the many bags we have brought along. (That's the abbreviated version of the story, it reads a lot better than it lived at the time).

Having found the keys to the padlock and bike we proceed to unload the bike from the trailer, at which point the ramp folds in the middle! Luckily the bike rolled off OK but the day is not starting well. Decide at this point that two days is not going to be enough to unwind and book in for an extra night. As always in times of stress next step is to walk into town for a cappuccino.  

Since the bike is off the trailer decide it as good a time as any to test out riding with Di on the back. Subconsciously, Steve decides this step should probably have come earlier in the Project Plan. But once again our guardian angel smiles upon us and all goes well for our short ride to Aldis (second step in conversion to Nomads - shopping at Aldis).

 Thursday overcast but pleasant enough, so after driving the trailer to Sale Honda to pick up new bike ramp, headed off on the bike to Loch Sport. Now according to the sign Loch Sport is known as the Riveria of Victoria. According to those of us who have been to the Riviera, whoever is writing their signs is smoking more than Marlboro Reds. But anyway a pleasant ride and picnic lunch and we are getting into the swing of this.