Jo practically marched into the caravan park, chest puffed out with a triumphant grin, ready to make the grand announcement to the entire campsite: “Look, I brought friends!”. The receptionist at Sea Lake merely smiled but she was only being agreeable and customer focused.
For anyone who knows Jo and Peter Cotterill, this was less of a routine arrival and more of a historic event. As Peter was quick to remind everyone with his usual dry charm, he doesn’t actually have any friends. So rolling into town with Ken and Kerrie in tow was a genuine milestone.
Having travel companions turned out to be a fantastic change of pace for the regular solo duo. Beyond the sheer novelty of extra company, it brought a fresh set of eyes and different interests.
Our multi-caravan convoy kicked off at Lake Tyrrell, and what a place to start. The mirror-like reflections on the salt lake were breathtaking—the kind of landscape where even complete amateurs can’t take a bad photo. When we sat back and asked Ken for his deep, poetic reflection on the stunning surroundings, he took a breath, looked across the shimmering horizon, and gave us a masterclass in brevity:
“Salt.”
You really can’t argue with that level of scientific accuracy. But it does not capture the beauty of the place at all.
To round out an evening at Sea Lake, we caught the automated free three-film projection on the local silo, which was a brilliant bit of country town magic.
Next stop was Swan Hill, where we turned into big kids at the Pioneer Settlement. We rattled around in an old-fashioned car (like the one Ken and Kerrie travelled in on their wedding day), took a horse-and-carriage ride, and soaked up the history. But the real reason we came was deeply personal.
Back in the 1950s, Peter’s father (Ken) began his teaching career at a tiny place called the Pine Point School. He taught a handfull of children of all different ages across three years in a single room. The original schoolhouse building has since been moved to the Swan Hill Pioneer museum. To say that the school was rustic is an understatement, there were holes in the walls and roof and the lining on the logs was hessian (an upgrade apparently from newspaper). The building also now had windows instead of wood shutters.
Ken had kept a black-and-white photograph of his seven students standing outside the building all those years ago. So, seventy-odd years later, Peter and Jo stood on the exact same spot in front of the exact same doorway to recreate the photo. It was a lovely, quiet moment connecting back to the start of his dad’s teaching journey—though Peter and Jo are no doubt far more trouble for Ken than any of these students were!
On the road towards Echuca, our little convoy proved useful in ways we didn’t expect. While trying to get fuel we were blocked by a family pulled up at the petrol station with a dead car that could not tow the attached caravan and a carload of kids.
While Ken played roadside rescue hero and drove the dad to the nearest service station for parts, Jo broke out her emergency secret talent: balloon twisting. Before long, she had the kids completely distracted, pumping out balloon swords, animals, and assorted squeaky creations on the side of the highway. It’s not every day a roadside breakdown turns into a pop-up circus, but it certainly turned a stressful afternoon into an adventure for the kids.
Once in Echuca, we marvelled at the historic paddle steamers chugging along the river while learning about the Murray River Flag, enjoying the historical markers about the local brothels and eating a very filling pub lunch that probably did not need topping off with ice-cream. For Peter the only annoying thing was the speed boats on the river playing their dance music…
Sharing the road
Out time together has been great. Kerrie and Jo went full creative studio. Kerrie shared her stunning photography (which you’ll see scattered all through this post), and Jo showed her how she whips up custom songs, edits drone footage, and assembles music video clips. We even squeezed in a discussion about some good old-fashioned knitting. Below is the song and music video Jo created. Perhaps she chose a dance style to annoy Peter or perhaps she just liked dancing…
Meanwhile, Peter and Ken gravitated toward their natural habitat: standing around in dusty turnouts, kicking tyres, and comparing the finer points of Ken’s Tracker caravan versus our 19-foot Kokoda Defender couples van. There was also an exhaustive, multi-hour symposium on the subtle differences between the 200 Series LandCruisers and the 300 series Ken drives. Riveting stuff.
We capped off our days with some serious campfire gourmet. Ken and Kerrie pulled out their new fire pit oven to bake a feast of roast veggies, which turned out delicious. Later, during a gorgeous bush camp right on the banks of the Murray River, we lit a proper bonfire to keep the legendary local mozzies at bay.
Naturally, Peter appointed himself Chief Fire Marshall. He spent the entire evening “playing” with the embers and offering Ken completely unrequested, highly detailed “instruction” on proper log placement, draft control, and wood management. How Ken didn’t poke him with a hot stick is a testament to his incredible patience.
It’s been a cracker of a week filled with history, roadside magic, stunning views, and brilliant company. Now we just have to see if Ken and Kerrie will ever agree to round two!
Let us know if you would like to be our friends and travel with us too…
Jo and Peter
PS Peter is still grumbling that he doesnt have friends, just patient aquantances
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