Best Term 2 Ever: The long, cold trip south (By Simon)

Leaving Alice Springs we were very aware that our trip was fast coming to an end. Travelling further south we were leaving the warmth and blue skies to which we had become accustomed.

Although driving through some of Australia's most barren landscapes there is always something to see and do, not to mention the multiple toilet stops!

Our first night we free camped 60km north of Coober Pedy and had dinner while watching a glorious sunset.

The next day we put in a lot of miles, passed a lot of road trains and made it Crystal Brook (100km south of Port Augusta).

Given my Mum is in the process of moving house we decided to take a detour and drop in at her place at Paynesville on the Gippsland Lakes. Rather than take the route through Melbourne that we have driven many times before we chose the scenic route, following the Murray River from Mildura, through Swan Hill, Echuca, Cobram and Wangaratta, then over Mt Hotham on the Great Alpine Road.

After a 12 hour day travelling we stopped for the night 20km out of Cobram. While backing in the camper a disturbing noise developed under the hood of the cruiser. Popping the bonnet the grinding sound seemed to be coming from either the Alternator of Turbo. On further inspection I was relieved to see sparks coming from the front of the Alternator (a turbo bearing would have been a lot worse for our trip and wallet).

After a restless night dreaming of seized Alternators and delays to our trip we awoke to our coldest morning yet.

After breakfast we limped back into Cobram and visited the Toyota dealership. He directed us to an auto electrician just down the road who, thank God, had the correct Alternator in stock and was able to fit it starting at lunchtime. We were only unhooking the camper when he came over and said that the parts for the car he was now working on had not arrived and he could start our car right now. Amazing answer to prayer!

So for the next two hours we explored the little country town of Cobram. The kids enjoyed the playground and skate park while Liz found Country Target and Dimmy's and picked up some bargain winter clothes for the kids.

The cruiser was fixed within 2 hours (the Alternator internal fan had come adrift) and we were back on the road heading to the Great Alpine Road. We were soon driving up the mountains and into the clouds.

With the increasing altitude our bag of chips was bursting at the seams!

At the top of Mt Hotham the wind was howling and visibility was very limited. We had heard that it had been a poor snow season and it was certainly true with very little snow (although there was quite a lot of people skiing the runs at Mt Hotham).