When I first poked my head out the van door this morning it was a crisp and chilly with a heavy fog as far as I could see. There were ducks and kangaroos searching for food amongst the caravans. I did exactly what any sensible person would do – I came back inside the van, turned on the heater, and got back into bed!
Eventually things warmed up a bit and the fog disappeared, so we thought that we should get up and get things happening. As a result we made a bit of a late start. We hadn’t unhitched so getting ready didn’t take too much time, and we were able to stop at a tap on the way out to top up the water tanks.
We drove along the Cunningham Highway to Goondiwindi where we turned onto the Newell Highway. Some 40 kms past Goondiwindi we stopped at the North Star Road Rest Area – N761 – for lunch. This is quite a large area with what appear to be very new amenities and quite a few good, sheltered spots where you could stop for the night.
Driving today has been a real mixed bag, and has been quite difficult and tiring. The road has been uphill and downhill, straight or with sweeping bends, good quality roads and shocking quality roads, roadworks, extra wide loads coming towards us, and practically anything you can imagine. At times the amount of road-kill on the road tested my slalom driving skills!
Police escort for extra wide load approaching
Extra wide load approaching
Wow ! That’s big!
Wow ! That’s big too!
Interesting roadside stop
Scenery wise, again it was a mixed bag ranging from dry grazing land, to lush irrigated pastures, to dead dry waterholes and dams, to groves of healthy looking olive trees, to crop stubble, to recently tilled soils, to just plain ugly scrub.
Olive groves
Our final destination for tonight was the Moree Showgrounds – N765. Ann and I are both a bit over caravan parks and when we can’t find a suitable free camp – ideally a lake or dam – stopping at sale yards and similar is a good compromise. There is usually power and water, often a dump point, almost always plenty of space, and usually basic or better amenities. Moree Showgrounds fits the bill perfectly with only a few vans here; we have power and water and a nice big level site. The amenities are very basic – but our van is self-sufficient so that’s not really a problem.
Plenty of room at Moree Showgrounds
We did a proper set-up and unhitched and drove into town to top up with diesel and to shout ourselves a decent cup of coffee. Then it was back to the van for dinner and update the blog.
Still living the dream !
Shorty's RV Adventures 