Welcome back to all our friends that have been following our
travel blog. We hope you’ll continue to
follow and enjoy our travels. We also hope
that we may inspire some of you to get out there and see more of the beauty of
Australia. It really is SO
spectacular. Even to just explore your
nearest surrounding beauty spots.
Monday 11th
March - We drove from Sydney to Hay leaving Sydney at 6am, arriving in Hay at 2.30pm. On the way down, we stopped at a little town
off the highway called Gunning– 2
hours drive from Sydney and found a
lovely free camping area right along the river.
It was pretty full and was quite small, but a definite possibility for
another time. It’s very pretty with lots
of ducks wandering around the grassed areas.
We also stopped at Wagga to
check out Wilks Park another free camping spot.
It’s a very big area off the main road where you can stay for up to 3
days. That was also quite busy for
mid-week. Both of these rest stops are
featured in The Camps 7 Book.
We stayed at Charlie’s Retreat, which is a house
owned by The Royal Chain Hotel where you’re allowed to take dogs. They’re supposed to sleep in the laundry (try
telling that to our pampered Sally).
It’s a big old house that’s been done up with fenced gardens and was
very comfortable. It sleeps up to 8
people, but the only drawback is there’s only 1 toilet and bathroom. Perfect for us. The local Bowling Club had a lovely Chinese
restaurant and the food there was absolutely beautiful. I had sizzling lamb in a black pepper sauce with
vegetables. We doubled the restaurant’s
patronage as there was only one other couple eating in the dining room. We spotted 2 people coming in for
take-aways. The barman was flat out when
we walked in talking to his only customer, a local. When he’d served us he must
have been exhausted and went on his extended break.
Tuesday 12th
March – We left Hay at 8am for a 3 hour trip towards Mildura. We stopped for morning tea at Lake
Benanee which is another free camping area.
Richard stayed overnight there on his return trip from SA to Sydney last
year. We got to Jayco at Mildura and
spent the next two hours looking over the van and doing the paperwork. We were thrilled to have our new home again
and couldn’t wait to stock it up with the immediate supplies that we could fit
in the back of the car. The staff at
Jayco Mildlura have been fantastic to us, so very helpful and couldn’t do
enough for us. We’ve had many phone
calls from Sydney to Mildura since November and the Manager there Newton has
really gone out of his way to do all he could for us. It was so nice to actually meet him. We were anxious to be on our way to the
caravan park. By 4pm we arrived at Apex Riverbeach Holiday Park and
eagerly stocked it up with our belongings.
The park was right on the riverfront and the sites very spacious. We had a roomy drive through site on the
water front. There were some lovely
walks and bike paths in both directions following the river which were always
busy. We had a celebratory wine later
that night by the riverside. We were told it gets very noisy at weekends. It didn’t worry us as we would be long gone
by the weekend. Our stay was pretty quiet and enjoyable.
Wednesday 13th
March - We
went for a drive around the area stopping at Jaycee Park for morning tea. We sat by the river watching the paddle
steamers going up and down. It was such
a beautiful spot. We walked along the
river up to the Weir. We drove further
along to The Australian Inland Botanic Gardens and visited the magnificent rose
garden. We then drove to Wentworth to see the junction where the
Murray and Darling Rivers meet –
quite an historical spot. We had lunch
in the park by the viewing platform. At
the top of the platform you could actually see the division of the two rivers. It is the site where Captain Charles Sturt
gave the Murray River it’s name in 1830.
The Murray River is the longest river in Australia, stretching 2739
kilometres from Northern New South Wales.
It officially starts near Bourke at the junction of the Culgoa and
Barwon Rivers. The Murray River is Australia’s third longest river, stretching
1,472 kilometres from New South Wales.
Friday 15th
March - We left
Mildura and started the long drive back to the Central Coast. We drove from
8am to 4pm with comfort/tea breaks along
the way and stopped at Wilks Park at
Wagga overnight. It’s a large free camping area with toilets
and water available. It was fairly
crowded with weekend campers by the time we arrived. It’s off the main road and within walking
distance to the town and shops.
Saturday 16th
March - We
left Wagga at 9am heading for Carcoar Dam near Blaney on the other side of Bathurst. We stopped for lunch at a lovely park at
Cowra and stocked up on supplies. We
arrived at Carcoar Dam at 2pm to find it quite busy. It’s a beautiful spot with camping/caravans
all over the grassy slopes overlooking the Dam.
It’s a busy place for water sports and always popular. We found a suitable spot and set up. We bumped into a couple we’d met at Wilks
Park on our way down to Mildura and had a catch-up chat with them. There are
some lovely walks around the Dam and there’s a viewing platform to look at the
wind farm on the other side of the Dam. We really enjoyed our stay there and
will definitely go back there again.
It’s an idyllic free camp area with 2 showers and toilets . I think it’s only cold water though!!!
Sunday 17th
March - St.
Patrick’s Day –We left Carcoar Dam for the final league of our trip back to “Camp Cox” at Warnervale on the Central Coast.
We arrived in time for a lovely roast dinner and a huge warm welcome by
our very dear friends and their teddy bear dog Tyson. Sally and Tyson were really happy to see one
another again.
We’re busily doing minor altertions to the van - outside
– installing fishing rod holders (top
priority) underneath, rear vision camera, installing fans behind the fridge for
better airflow in very hot temperatures. Inside – extra power points, extra shelves
in some of the cupboards, putting up pictures and heated towel rail (a godsend
in wet weather) to name just a few of the many jobs to be done before we
finally head off. We’ve also been busily
sorting out our storage shed to finalise what we do and don’t want to take with
us. We’ve been flat chat getting
everything organised and finding a place inside for it all. We’re just about done now, so can relax and
enjoy Easter with our friends.
We leave Warnevale on Tuesday 2nd April and will
be heading to Gunning to stay
overnight.
We’re very much looking forward to heading off and being “on
the road” again, being official itinerants and grey nomads once more. Don’t forget to log on the blog for the next
instalment of The Winter Adventures around Oz.
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