Day 70 Monday 2nd Murrayville Community Caravan Park, Windy, Windy, Windy Weather

During the night, the predicted change that was to hit Victoria, arrived. In a way, staying at Wodonga, we were lucky in that although we experienced a very windy early morning and a couple of light showers, it certainly wasn’t as bad as it could have been had we been further south. We had watched the news on TV in the morning to see the damage the storms had done to southern South Australia and Victoria. We were hoping to make it to the town of Murrayville, close to the SA/Vic. border but the weather was going to determine if this was possible. Our planned route took us through the river town of Echuca and this was because Rob wanted to call into another favourite bakery, The Beechworth Bakery, for morning tea. (We used to call in here on our way to and from the ski fields.) We had left Wodonga at 7.15am and so were well and truly looking forward to this stop and it didn’t disappoint. The wind continued to increase and we passed many trees that had either been uprooted or had limbs torn from them. Luckily we only saw one large limb that had fallen across the road but by the time we reached that particular spot, the huge limb had been cut up and removed from the road. We continued on, stopping at another river town, Swan Hill for fuel. For most of the time we could feel the strong wind pushing us across the road. On the two way radio, we even heard truckers saying they were glad they were in a huge truck to protect them from the incredible wind. We had to stop at spot to dispose of some fruit in a special quarantine fruit bin. The wind at this particular place was so strong, I had difficulty opening my car door! Of course you can imagine that our fuel economy was very poor today too. As we drove closer to South Australia the wind was still with us but not quite as strong as it had been earlier in the day. We manage to make it to a favourite, community park of ours, at Murrayville. For $20 a night, we have power, water, beautiful amenities including a laundry. We headed to the local pub for dinner and had a funny night. We’d been to this pub last year and had a lovely meal so thought we’d do the same but things didn’t quite work out that way. We asked about meals at the bar and were told that unfortunately, meals weren’t been cooked due to a fire in the kitchen last December. They offered reheated meals and as we had nothing left in the van for dinner we thought we’d go with it. Unfortunately the meals were the frozen re-heated meals and they weren’t that great but it was better than nothing. On a positive note, we met a lovely younger couple who were on their way to Loveday to potentially purchase a bus to convert into a home to travel around Australia in. They too had also purchased a re-heated meal for dinner. We all had a little laugh about the meals but really understood that the pub was trying to stay afloat. They wanted to travel all around Australia and work so they were very interested in what we’d done. They had booked a room in the pub for the night and were wondering what that would be like.

Day 69 Sunday 1st September, Borderland Holiday Park, Wodonga, Well Hello Yellow and The Rock!

This morning in Forbes, it was very chilly when we awoke so we realised we needed to start acclimatising to cooler conditions. Despite the chill it was another lovely day for travelling. We drove from Forbes to Wodonga today, passing through and calling into some lovely little rural towns in NSW. We stopped at a town called Ariah Park for coffee. The few people who live in this town obviously take pride in the town’s history and agricultural heritage. Many of the disused shop windows were home to impressive heritage displays and the town was very neat. Its old buildings were well maintained. The agriculture of the area was varied but dominated by canola fields. The patchwork of yellow and green, dominated the landscape, today. We stopped for lunch at a town called The Rock and yes there was a small mountain near the town which had a huge rock that really stood out. After setting up in Wodonga (Vic), we drove back over the River Murray to Albury (NSW) to visit the MAMA (Murray Art Museum Albury), housed in a beautifully renovated old building. The exhibitions were interesting as was the architecture of the building. We drove around Albury before returning to the very busy caravan park in Wodonga. I had tried to book a park in Albury and they were all booked out. Later, we found out that there is a Caravan and Camping Show on here at the moment which is why things are so busy!

 

Day 68 Saturday 31st Cabin and Caravan Park Forbes, A bit Cooler in Coolah

We had a reasonable drive of 5 and ½ hours today so were up early and on our way soon after 8am. Once again the weather was warm, with temperatures heading to the high 20’s in Tamworth. We enjoyed the drive to Forbes through many small interesting towns (many developed due to the discovery of gold in the 1800’s), quite a few large crop and livestock farms, huge solar power farms and a few national parks. On our way we stopped at the small town of Coolah. We visited the bakery and while out walking in the town, we noticed that although the sun was still shining, the temperature was certainly lower than Tamworth. We both have been in shorts for the last few days so the long pants may need to come out now we’re heading further south. Arriving in Forbes and setting up, we went out exploring. We visited the Gum Swamp and Bird Hide just on the outskirts of Forbes. There were several impressive bird hides built around the lake as well as some sculptures. Most of the sculptures were of birds but there was also a huge, metal Goanna Sculpture. This sculpture was quite spectacular. We spent time walking along the lakeside track and visiting all of the bird hides. Returning to the caravan park, we did a quick drive around the centre of Forbes. Forbes initially boomed as a town in the 1860’s after gold was discovered nearby. Again this town had some beautiful old, historic buildings restored to their former glory. Of course, I enjoyed this short detour.

Day 67 Friday 30th Big 4 Paradise Tamworth, The Equestrian Experts Once Again!

We awoke to our million dollar view and hit the road again, heading for Tamworth. The Dangar Falls Lodge was such a peaceful place to stay and considering there are only 6 power and water caravan sites spread over a huge area, everyone has plenty of room. There were a few people camping in tents and only 2 or 3 caravans from what I could see. The only noise we could hear during the night was the water tumbling over the falls and the rushing water of the nearby river.  The road down the other side of the range was not nearly as steep or windy as the way up but it certainly was none the less spectacular, with views across the mountains and valleys. We passed through many interesting towns, including Uralla, one of the places which Captain Thunderbolt frequented. We passed the large rock on the side of the highway, now named Thunderbolt’s Rock, where the bushranger once hid while waiting to ambush the mail coach. He apparently was known as a “gentleman” bushranger. Anyway he met his end, being shot after 6 ½ years of committing crimes near the town of Uralla. His grave is located in the local cemetery so I noted that for a future visit. After arriving in Tamworth, we learnt that there was currently an equestrian event on out at the magnificent, Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre. Today was the first day of the event so the main arena area was only being used for practice. We found another outdoor arena. We’re not sure what the event was actually called….camp-drafting may be but we enjoyed watching the horse and rider chase a cow and try to force the cow to go through certain gates and in certain directions, with a time limit. Of course we both became instant experts! It has been another warm day with the temperature in Tamworth being around 28, when we arrived. We certainly have had some lovely weather for the past few weeks.

Day 66 Thursday 29th Dangar Falls Lodge, Dorrigo, Two more Crossings of the Great Dividing Range in One Day

Clearly I may have had one too many glasses of rosé last night as I didn’t elaborate about the beautiful Sawtell Caravan Park and its surrounds. As I mentioned earlier, the park is huge and shared with the community. I suspect the council controls this. There are two walks which give you access down to the creek and also a lovely creek-side boardwalk which starts in the caravan park. Adding to the attractions is a restored, large, community hall, croquet club, village green, children’s playground with a flash flying fox, kayak launching area, public toilets etc. which I think are all maintained by the council so everyone can use them. I went for a stunning late afternoon walk yesterday along the creek boardwalk. There were beautiful, cosy, little sandy beaches and rock pools. The warm day brought many people to the secluded creek beaches and quite a few were swimming in the water including young children, who were also building sandcastles and generally having fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk. On my return I called into the village green to find out why there had been 3 witches hats set out in one particular spot. It was soon evident. A little tern had decided to lay her eggs on the grass, on the village green. She was there protecting her eggs every day we were there. Today we headed back over the mountains to the town of Dorrigo. This drive would only take us an hour. As we headed towards our new destination, we drove through the beautiful little village of Bellingen, filled with quaint old buildings and many craft shops, restaurants, eateries, including a café and a collective of craft shops at the “Old Butter Factory” and just to top things off a pretty good looking golf course. Once we’d set up at Dangar Falls Lodge, (where we have a million dollar view outside the caravan door) we headed back down the mountain to Bellingen. Rob enjoyed playing golf on the course while I walked the village, enjoying the beauty of the old buildings and the lovely craft shops. I was a little disappointed with the Old Butter Factory, though. We had visited this spot back in 2019 and the café was busy and quite beautiful and there were many various artisans at work in small spaces surrounding the café. The café was still operating and quite busy but unfortunately there were only a few craft shops left. It seems many of the craft people have moved to the main street of Bellingen. Rob completed his round of golf and we met up and drove back up the mountain. We visited the rainforest walk at Dorrigo for some good views of the area before heading to Dangar Falls, which are just adjacent to our lovely caravan park. There was plenty of water flowing over the falls and it was quite spectacular. Some brave souls were swimming in the pools at the base of the falls.