Day 1. July 4 2026. Ocean Grove to Euroa

If I needed an excuse to leave Melbourne, the Bulldogs performance against Sydney last night suggested that there was no need to hang around. While that was disappointing, when we woke early to get ready to go, the radio reminded us that the Socceroos game was on – so we got to watch the shootout and were disappointed again. At least we didn’t have to watch the previous 120 minutes.

Planning has been meticulous for what we need in the van, and the practice run a couple of weeks ago to Swan Hill and Banyena has helped us figure out a few things. We’ve worked out the battery charging automatically, how the hot water works with tank and not running water – even down to needing some van moccy’s to keep the feet off the cold floor. Food, van accessories and clothes have been carefully thought about, loaded, thought about again. Everything was double checked this morning, ready to go.

After morning tea with Linda’s mother, Lesley, who was celebrating her 81st birthday we hit the road and headed North. We only have an outline of a plan with needing to be at a festival in Queensland on the 17th of July, and a booking in Cairns from the 30th July to the 4th of August. Other than needing to be back by 18th of September for me to do what I call work in my current semi-retired state, this is the extent of location planning.

Wanting to get north quickly, we decided to hit Euroa with a 3.5 hour drive from Ocean Grove and follow the next two days with long drives just to get beyond Sydney but without doing ridiculous hours on the road every day. The biggest challenge first up is swerving the potholes on the Hume. What is it that now in 2026 we have moved forward in making skyscrapers and bridges that withstand floods but we can’t get some bitumen to stay where it was put. If they have these potholes this big down the Mornington peninsula they will be setting up day spas in them.

Compared to the last two trips where we had the bed on wheels, we now have the new-to-us van which allows standing up and even heating. The prospect of a 5 degree night is not now as daunting as it was in the last van. There were a number of advantages having such a small set up, but surviving the cold and the rain were not amongst them.

Euroa is planned as a rest stop rather than a holiday destination, which was just as well as the town was closed by the time we got there at 2:30. A stroll to get some steps up took us into town then along the swollen Seven Creeks. This region has had 50mm over the last few days and surrounding regions have had 4 times that meaning the caravan park we are staying at had minor flooding as recently as yesterday. For us, we just get to see a fast moving river from the van site – not a bad place to stop over.

Dinner in the van, heater on, and an early night ready for the next long drive.

Oh, we forgot the pillows.

Google review for Euroa Caravan Park.

Euroa Caravan park lived up to its name and allowed us to park our caravan there. Lovely flat concrete pads allowing little set up time and dry footsies even though there had been minor flooding there days before. The river conveniently cuts this park in half for lovely feng shui vibes, and maximising frontages for those parking caravans.

There was a distinct lack of park provided entertainment for the kids like at Big 4’s/NRMAs, which meant we saw kids riding their bikes, kicking balls, playing games, and mucking about with remote control cars. They were also force feeding their father with hot sticky melted marshmallows from their open fire. There was even one dad teaching his kid to fish from their campsite as they were so close to the river! Why aren’t these kids in the vans with the screens on like normal kids? Ridiculous!! Clean facilities, no shower curtains. I would park my van there again, listen to the kids laughter and the river running in the background. 5 stars.