Bush/grass fires

Avoiding the fires, we were not too keen on travelling the unsealed roads towards Queanbeyan, so we drove to Bathurst, only stopping at the Info Centre to buy the token fridge magnet (we now have over 50 various magnets), via Sofala – an old gold prospecting village – perhaps 20 people live here now. Lo and behold, we came across our friends Sue and Jeff who were off to Carcoar Dam to camp.

We had time up our sleeve, so we decided to stop at the Dam. Stopping for a curry pie at Blayney – the worst pie ever – according to Murray, we arrived at the dam to be greeted by Sue and Jeff. This is a popular camping spot with locals-for fishing, boating, water skiing etc. This is free camping with no ‘rules’ – gennies/parties go all day and night, dogs roam freely, and people empty their caravan toilets in the public toilets. Fortunately no-one lit a fire. After 3 nights we moved on – once again saying goodbye to our friends Sue and Jeff.

Cowra beckoned us – famous for their Japanese Gardens, and during WWII – it had been a POW camp. There was a Japanese breakout on the 5^th August – remains of the POW camp can be seen, along with a Japanese War Cemetery, and a peace bell. An extremely interesting “Peppers Ghost” , created by www.shirleyspectra.com.au  display can be seen at the ‘Info Centre’.

 It was extremely hot – mid 40’s, we keen for a campground with a pool.  5kms from Cowra we found a camp ground – very empty, but a nice covered pool.

We spent a day exploring Cowra – at the Japanese Gardens – we met people we knew – Sue and Jeff! They were staying at a camp ground at the other end of the town. We met up for a meal at L31 – very nice food, in fact equal to the meal we had at Captain Flat.

This time, last year we were held up travelling by floods and now it is bush/grass fires that are our biggest concern. Fortunately we have been able to travel, skirting around them, and to date have not seen or smelt any fires. We are careful though, calling into Info Centres and checking the roads that we wish to travel and keeping to the main highways and towns.

Due to the fires burning in NSW we have decided to stick to caravan parks and main roads.

Leaving Moree with our friends Sue and Jeff (we met at Lorella Springs), we travelled to Narrabri. Here we stopped at Culgoora to look at the Australia telescope (6 telescopes beaming towards the sky looking out for the pie).  Onwards we travelled in 41dgs, very conscious of how dry and brittle the landscape was to Wee Waa – a small country town.

We stayed the night at Gilgandra – in a small caravan park. It was a long hot day – 5 hours in the saddle. (It is, this area around Coonabarabran, the Warrumbungle National Park, Narrabri that the fires are burning), 3 days previously we had been in this area.

We stopped at Gulgong to visit the Henry Lawson Centre, driving onto to our destination Mudgee – Murray’s bucket list. Mudgee is famous for wineries and as a winter/autumn weekend break.

Customer service in Mudgee is scarce, 1^st impressions always count, starting with the Info Centre – the most unhelpful we have come across. Retailers in Mudgee were more interested in greeting their friends and gossiping, rather than securing a sale – a pity as we had money to spend.

We did enjoy the hospitality at the Black Cats Bar. Brendon is a great host and more than happy to tell you his ‘story’ and serve yummy Vietnamese street food – amazingly there are only 2 dishes on the menu – a platter or an open sandwich

Twice, we visited the Mudgee Brewery for the afternoon/evening-trying the beer tasters-ale, wheat, porter and the American ale. I enjoyed the American Ale, the food and the foot tapping music played by the young male trio.

We paid $85! each for a wine tour-sharing the bus with 3 other couples. The tour was from 10am – 4pm and included lunch. Fortunately Murray was able to visit a winery from his ‘bucket list’.

After this tour, we were Mudgeed out and it was time to move on, saying goodbye to our friends Sue and Jeff, Roz and Brian.

Best sites, trivia we discovered on our adventure

We thought you might like to know what we felt were the best ‘things’ of our trip-so here goes…

BEST;

·         Beach Camp – Mission Beach, (QLD)

·         Bingo – Tin Can Bay Bowling Club, (QLD)

·         Camp Oven meal – roast chicken, Leichhard Falls, (FNQLD)

·         Curry Pie – Inglewood, (QLD)

·         4wd trip – Bloomfield Track, (QLD)

·         Fishing trip – Rosie’s Creek, Lorella Springs, (NT)

·         Free camp – Paradise Beach, (SA)

·         Fun night-trivia-Dundee Beach Lodge, (NT)

·         Hiking Tracks – Mt Remarkable National Park (SA)

·         Historical Experience – Mary Mckillop Centre, (SA)

·         Hot Pools – Moree, (NSW)

·         Hokey Pokey Icecream – Avoca, (Vict)

·         Indigenous Experience – Merl Campground, (NT)

·         Info Centre – Back o Bourke, (NSW)

·         Melbourne Cup Day – Captain Creek, (QLD)

·         National Park – Elsey National Park, (NT)

·         Museum – Military, Darwin, (NT)

·         Piece of camping equipment – outdoor-tripod from Osborne Park, WA. Indoor-Eco-pot

·         Place to stop smoking – Tullibgeal (NSW)

·         Rip Off – Gennie service Longreach and wine tour at Mudgee

·         Restaurant meal – Captains Flat, (NSW)

·         River Camp – Clem Walton, (QLD)

·         Scenic Drive – Savannah Drive from Daly Waters to Cairns

·         Sunset – Avon Downs, (NT)

·         Touristy Thingie – Karumba Scenic Railway/Skyrail, (NT)

·         Unique free camp – Toompine, (QLD)

·         Value for money – SA National Park Pass, (SA)

·         Wine deal – Dan Murphy’s all over Australia

·         Worst road – Borroloola to Hells Gate