Tuesday 14th January - Albury to Benalla
A very hot 37.7 today and again just 18.0 overnight. They are forecasting heatwave conditions. Looking at 37 degrees still for 6pm. We reached that temperature earlier, but the aircon worked well for us. Clive managed to book the Jeep in for a wheel alignment and this was going to take several hours. Rather than wait in the shop he walked into town and managed to get a hair-cut. Only $10.00 too, so this will give us a totally free day tomorrow, so we'll do some sightseeing of the Silo Art Trail. On the way into town he noticed a lot of street art on the buildings. This is an 'arty' town with several galleries. There is certainly a lot of buildings painted, (over 60 by the guide book), and it's a pleasant walk around town looking at them. Not all were to his taste, but that's what art is about. He also went to the Information Centre, which sits on the banks of Lake Benalla. In the grounds near the Centre is a Ceramic Mural, created by countless volunteers and 1500 regional students. The Mural commenced as a community art project in 1983, using the skills of ceramic artists, architects and the wider community. The project took 25 years to complete and was officially opened in 2010. It's certainly different and includes two thongaphones, a series of sculpted pipes, tuned to a pentatonic scale and played with thongs. The paving tiles were created by various primary schools. A guy in the wheel alignment shop lives in the park, so he came by to have a look at the tyre on the caravan, as this tyre is wearing on the outside edge. Seems that the axel is slightly bent and the only fix is a new axel. Something we c an get done at a later date and maybe even a stronger one put on. We'll get a better tyre put on for now and keep an eye on it. The smoke here has been really bad today. Probably the worst that we have seen. Melbourne got the worst city in the world today for air pollution. There should be a cool change coming through tomorrow, which will hopefully blow it away.Monday 13th January - Albury
A hot 32.7 and down to 18.0 last night. Looks like we're having another lazy day. The aircon went on at lunch time as it was getting warm, but it's meant to be even hotter tomorrow. Not a lot that I can really do in this sort of weather as the heat knocks me about. Heading off to Benalla tomorrow.