Caravanning and RVing in Australia

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Day 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122   HOME!

Day 115
This day was indeed different. After packing up I was on the road by nine and heading for Grafton. The 'Singles' Chapter of the CMCA were lining up to book in and I had a job to get past them to leave the park.

From Grafton I headed over the Great Divide for Ebor and eventually Armidale. This was absolutely fantastic scenery as you twist and turn up and down for miles - or should I say kilometres. Along the way I spotted some unusual wooden figures but it was double lines and I couldn't park so settled for just one.

After negotiating the hundreds of hairpin bends the country leveled out a bit and was very similar to the rolling hills and pastures of South Gippsland in Victoria.








On the way in to the camp I saw this little donkey and couldn't resist a picture

I wasn't aiming at a huge distance today so started looking at rest areas from about Ebor but none took my fancy as they were all near the highway and would have been noisy. I finally found a great spot - it's called Oxley Wild Rivers and it's a National Park. There's a toilet and firewood is provided for the built in fireplaces. Vi would have lit a fire in no time flat!

I'm too far from Armidale to get telly although I tried and there are too many trees to get a clear line to the satellite so no telly tonight!

Day 116
Today is proving great. I decided to stay here a while and the peace is incredible - just the twitter of birds sometimes but no traffic despite it being NSW school holidays.

I had my 'heart starter coffee', swallowed my pills and lit the HSW. Then a laze in bed while the water heated before having my shower. Crumpets for brekky and then put the solar panels out. After that I felt energetic so walked to the picnic area a fair wat away before heading off on a track to one of the many lookouts in this wonderful place of wild gorges. Unfortunately the photos don't capture the sheer majesty of this place and the awesome way nature has formed these falls and gorges over millions of years.

I've tried to create a photo gallery in random order - it's a wait and see if it works! It didn't - so here they are::                                                                                                                                                

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I saw this in Merriwa - I wonder what you could put in the bin?
Saves emptying them I suppose!

The van batteries are down a bit so it will be early to bed. There were too many trees to get much solar charging yesterday but they should still be well up. They with be the next thing to go I suppose although they are not old. I'll have to look for the invoice to see iof any warranty is left.

Tonight I'm in a lovely huge rest area at Casalis Park - about half way betweeen Merriwa and Dunidoo on the Golden Highway. I wonder where the GPS will lead me tomorrow - I'm heading towards Bathurst.

Day 118
If yesterday was incredible this was more so!

Having gone to bed early because the batteries were low, I woke with the birds and without hurrying I was on the road in bright sunshine by 7.30. Before long the road branched off the Dubbo Road and headed for Mudgee - famous wine growing area. Mudgee has grown out of sight since I last saw it some 30 or more years ago,



The sky darkened as I headed towards Bathurst  and by the time I got to Mt Panorama - home of one of the world's most famous motor races - it was a fully fledged thunderstorm. I did a circuit of the mountain in pouring rain and felt absolutely amazed at what the drivers have to do on this great but difficult circuit. Up hill, down hill, hard left followed by hard right, brake, accelerate and all the time trying to overtake the man ahead and stay in front of the driver following. It's a mighty circuit and I salute the intrepid drivers who take it on year after year win or lose. No wonder overseas drivers come here to share the magic of the mountain. It will mean a lot more to me now when I see it on the telly - I've seen the real thing in shocking conditions but at least the V8 drivers don't have a 2-tonne caravan hitched to the back!

Thunder and lightening, plus the drumming of rain on the roof, entertained me as I stopped in a rest area for a coffee break.

Shimmering expanses of canola - almost dazzling in their intense yellowness - brightened my way along the road but the camera didn't quite capture the depth and saturation of colour.



The weather cleared as I headed for Cowra - famous for the great escape during WW2 when Japanese POWs decided to abscond. Nowadays its more famous for the Japanese Garden and I went to look. However it was lunchtime so I went into the cafe and ordered a chicken and asparagus crepe. The asparagus spears had just been blanched and were tasteless and the chicken was slices fron a roll. Certainly not 'cordon bleu' standard. I'm not into gardens and as the pancake had been so long coming I decided to press on to Canberra unless I saw a caravan park on the way.

Canberra was busy and after a quick drive around I headed for Queanbeyen where I hoped to spend the night. Both caravan parks had the No vacancy signs out and it was getting late in the afternoon. Batemans Bay was about 160km away but maybe one of the little towns on the way might have a park. No such luck and I could hear Murphy chuckling as he foresaw what was ahead.

By now it was getting dark and the road becoming twisty. Light rain started to fall and then as I descended the notorious Clyde Mountain the rain got heavier and then fog appeared. This is a long descent with hairpin bends one after the other and the lights from following vehicles didn't help. I let them past when I could but it was a hairy experience - particularly in the dark and foggy conditions.




Just before Batemans Bay I spotted a caravan park and although they were full they put me on a grassy patch and my two extension leads enabled me to get power and this will give the batteries a much needed boost. There's no mobile reception though so I doubt if I'll get an internet connection. I had thought of staying two nights but there's a Board Meeting tomorrow and I'll need a connection for that.

It's been a long day and I drove nearly 700km so I won't need rocking when I put my head down!

Day 119
This was a very different day to yesterday's marathon. It was only a pleasant hour's drive to Narooma from Nelligen and I rang first to make sure I could get a site. It was a Blues Festival at Narooma and the caravan park was quite busy but fitted me in OK. Friend Roy popped in for a coffee and chat and while he was here one of the ACC Directors rang to ask if the Board Meeting scheduled for tonight could be held on Monday instead. A quick Skype call to the Secretary and it was arranged. The dinner date for Monday was changed to tonight and we went to the Chinese restaurant where we had eaten a few times before followed by an enjoyable but profitless session with the RSL pokies! Vi used to like our visits to Narooma and evenings out with our friends - there were many memories awakened tonight!

Day 120
This is a NSW Public Holiday so the staff at Roy's office were not at work. He picked me up and gave me the 'Grand Tour' of their new offices - a house they bought and converted into a very nice office suite. The work cost far more than the estimate - in part due to the local council insisting there be disabled access.

Tonight we held the delayed Board meeting and it went for nearly three hours despite deferring a couple of items until the next meeting in November. I was pretty wacked at the end and went to bed quite soon after the meeting closed. Tomorrow starts the last lap of the trip and I should be home by Wednesday.

Day 121
The day started quite bright and pleasant as I packed up and got hitched ready for the road. However despite the sunshine a very strong and gusty headwind got up and remained all day making driving a bit unpleasant at times. Apparently the winds reached 90km/hr in Tasssie today.

There were about 680km to Mornington when I started the day's travel and when I stopped I'd done just over 500km so tomorrow will be a very easy run home and I should be there by lunchtime.


Tonight I'm the only camper in this very nice 36hr rest area away from the busy road and on the banks of a river at Rosedale in Gippsland. It's the first time I've been in Victoria for four months!

Day 122
It wasn't a very happy drive home - I'm afraid I kept thinking of the empty house I'd be greeted with. However I tried to think positive thoughts and also concentrated on what Murphy did yesterday. He tipped a squeeze bottle of tomato sauce over in the cupboard after unscrewing the lid. You have no idea how far 1/2 a bottle of sauce can spread!





I was home before lunch and the park owners Roger and Jeanette were on duty and genuinely pleased to see me home safe and sound.



The garden looked so well kept - Paul next door looks after it and does a great job. I had picked up a lot of mail from the office but daughter Sue had brought a lot of bulky stuff down on one of her visits. Most of it will have to wait for another day I'm afraid.