GREENS LAKE Vic

  Deniliquin to Green's Lake and I have reached a milestone in this adventure. Why Green's Lake? simply put it is a favourite haunt of Members of "The Grey Nomads Forum" of which I am also a member. I had never met any others in person only corresponding via the Internet so was keen to see if anyone was there. As it is getting close to Easter I thought that I had a good chance.
  The Lake is on the road between Echuca and Shepparton in Victoria near the small town of Rochester. I stopped at Echuca, very busy with Tourists, had a Ned Kelly Pie (with egg and cheese!) at the big Bakery which was pretty good ( a 7.5 on my scale). Very commercial is Echuca, it even has parking meters. I will have a look around later  as I wanted to get to Green's, another 50 km further on.
   Driving into the site from the main road on a reasonable dirt stretch for a kilometre or so, I arrived at an expansive Campground on one shore of a medium sized lake. Camping was possible for a kilometre or so left and right of the central, small, Toilet Block. 4 Caravans and a tent here, surely at least one of the was a Forum Member. Aha, I spied a name I new on the back of one caravan "Dougwe", a regular contributor. straight over to say "Hello" and Doug indeed new my Forum name "Solo Steve". I have met my first "Grey Nomad". It came to pass that there were other members camped nearby Terry (TCP99), Ziggy (Esperidin) in the tent, Jules (Jules47) and Billy (Billeeeeeee) travelling together in a Winnebago and a couple of days later Patty (Halfpint) and Jim (Jimbo). Also Wombat, not a member, who has been here for 5 months, adopted by the others and a great bloke. Within a hour I had met them all. Although none of us had met face to face previously, the common interest of living either full or part time on the road resulted in an immediate sense of camaraderie.
  The site itself is unremarkable, today it is hot (mid 30s) and still. Originally setting up camp next to Doug on the shore, I soon moved to a spot under trees as some shade was essential. Since this the Easter break was a couple of days away, I wanted to stay off the roads so I will stay here at Green's for a week.
 During my stay there were many opportunities for get- together usually at mid morning and in the evening where laughs were had tales of past travels told and tips passed around. Some had been on the road for quite a long time into  their experiences and knowledge was invaluable to me. As I got to know them all better over the days together, I knew that long term friendships had been born. As the week progressed and the holiday period was near the number of campers grew considerably until there must have been of hundred or more some from local communities I expect. The Lake is popular with and speedboats were aplenty. Fortunately our group was left alone with no others seemingly wanting to camp nearby. Over the holiday weekend other Members whole lived close by came and went, at one stage I think more than a dozen were in a circle chatting. Each day seemed better than the last with no friction and everyone getting along.
 Now it is the evening of the last day of the Easter break and all of the other local campers have left. Our group will split up tomorrow, I am heading for Broken Hill via Mildura which will take about a week of travelling, some Free Camping and a Caravan park or two. Others are heading for chasing warm weather and at least two are staying on for a while longer. We have all exchanged contact details and will go our separate ways until we meet again maybe at Green's Lake or maybe elsewhere.