Author Archives: shorty

Day 8 – Port Augusta to Andamooka

Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2017 by shorty

Today was a very exciting day as from now on we will be in unfamiliar territory!

We woke up to another very cold morning but the sun came out and wow, what a lovely day!

After a farewell chat with our neighbours, packing up and refuelling, we were off – heading North along the Stuart Highway, a road we haven’t travelled on before. Not far out of Port Augusta and we were in saltbush country – that is all there was to see. It was a great road and ideal driving weather, but the scenery was a little boring. There were some large road trains occasionally, a few sheep grazing here and there, and cattle grids to keep us awake.

View just after we turned onto Stuart Highway at Port Augusta

Our first stop for a coffee was at Ranges View Rest Area (SA418) where we took a few photos of the scenery.

Views from Range View Rest Area

As we continued North, the scenery changed and then changed again – it wasn’t boring any more but continually changing from low saltbush scrub to more bushy scrub, to orange sand dunes to rocky patches, and even what may have been lakes. Although on the surface things looked pretty dry, the edges of the road and the paddocks were actually that lovely red sticky mud that all travellers love to hate.

Water pipe and light-poles always seem to follow the road.

Views along the way showing different vegetation and conditions

At one stage we were passed by a bunch of bikies, who we caught up with and were overtaken by several times during the day.

Bikies on the road – we saw them several times

Just for added interest, we drove over a very long train.

We drove over a very long train

Somewhere along the way we stopped at another un-named and unsigned roadside stop for a quick stretch of the legs and to take a few photos of views across to what we’re pretty sure is “Island Lagoon”.

Views of (we think) Island Lagoon

First multi-lingual road sign we’ve seen

We stopped for lunch at Spud’s Roadhouse at Pimba. Very much a typical outback establishment, Spud’s serves fuel, food, alcohol, is a general store, offers accommodation and has pokies. A great all-rounder. It was cold and windy so we couldn’t resist a small bag of very fresh and tasty hot chips – we did have some healthy stuff for lunch too! The roadhouse also offers free camping and there are clean toilets and showers available for a small fee.

Spud’s Roadhouse at Pimba

From Pimba we headed north through Woomera. This is very much dry, arid country with red rocky soil. With only low vegetation, the power pylons stand out against the sky. We assume that they take power to Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam.

Pylons contrast with low scrub

Other than occasional road traffic there are virtually no signs of stock or wild-life, although we did see a family of emus. There is also surprisingly little road kill, which is probably a good thing.

Family of emus

We arrived at Apoma Camping Ground at Andamooka. This is an opal mining town near Roxby Downs. There are piles of mining waste everywhere, even around houses.

Views coming into Andamooka

Coming into Andamooka

Apoma is a very “outback” camp ground but does have good clean amenities including pay showers, BBQs, a playground and a dump-ezy dump-point. There is no power or water, and no TV reception. At the moment it also has lots of red mud, so we made sure that we stopped on high ground. There were three vans here when we arrived and a group of three vans travelling together set up camp not long after and immediately commenced a noisy happy hour around a big fire.

Free Camp at Andamooka

Across the road from us is a “Public Noodling Area” where loads of rocks are dumped and the public has a chance to go through looking for the elusive opal. The chap in one of the established vans here told us that he has been coming here for years and has made some quite good finds.

We were quite weary after arriving here so we settled inside in Bertha as soon as it started getting cold. The diesel heater might have to go on later. Tomorrow we will do some exploring in town and then head back to the highway at Pimba to continue our trip North.

You can chart our travels today on this map

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: andamooka, pimba

Day 7 – Burra to Port Augusta

Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 by shorty

WOW!! Winter must be here! The weather bureau forecast 4 degrees overnight, and this time it’s pretty certain they got it right! Freezing this morning after a night with heavy rain and strong buffeting winds. At least it was nice and cosy in our Tardis.

We drove into Burra and parked in Ann’s favourite street outside her favourite stone houses before walking from one end of the shopping centre to the other. We stopped for delicious coffee at Burra Fresh then visited Coopers Butchers for some of their award winning saltbush lamb sausages, as recommended by our friend PK. We also bought some lamb back-strap and some other meat – if we’re going to eat dead animal we’re going to eat tasty dead animal! We also stopped at the bakery for some fresh bread and at the IGA supermarket for milk, water, fruit and vegetables. Now we have fully restocked after our quarantine inspection!

Views of Burra

Views of Burra

After making our contribution to the Burra economy we headed north along the Barrier Highway. It wasn’t long before we were stunned to see a wind farm of 35 to 40 wind turbines, but only 2 or 3 were actually turning and generating electricity! And it was a very windy day! Doesn’t say much for being able to rely on wind power for energy production that’s for sure.

Wind Turbines not generating electricity

Hallett was our next stop to check out a potential free camp at the recreation reserve and on the way we spotted the very interestingly named Wildongoleechie Hotel.

Wildongoleechie Hotel in Hallett

Continuing along the highway toward Peterborough we couldn’t help but notice how dry the landscape was and that many creeks and dams still look empty – we assume that the farmers must be enjoying the recent rain!

Dry landscape on the way to Peterborough

As we drove into Peterborough we noticed that the road was quite wet and once we parked the wind and rain started again. We have stayed in Peterborough a few times and decided to just have a quick lunch in Bertha and watch life in the main street.

Welcome signs indicates that Peterborough is a rail town!

Refreshed, we headed for Port Augusta in sunshine but it didn’t last very long. As we approached Orroroo we could see the rain ahead of us and we did end up driving in and out of a rain cloud.

We drove through a rain cloud

Views of Orroroo

On the road to Wilmington

We continued through Orroroo and Wilmington and then through the challenging Horrocks Pass, which we have been through several times. Taking things easy and ignoring the lead foot behind us ensured that we negotiated this very steep section of road without incident – the photos don’t quite reflect exactly how steep this pass is.

Views of Horrocks Pass

From Horrocks Pass we simply stayed on the road into Port Augusta – although we have driven through Port Augusta several times we have never stayed here. After bypassing the city centre and going over the bridges, we secured a nice site at the Port August Discovery Caravan Park. Dinner tonight was somewhat predictable – delicious saltbush lamb sausages cooked on the BBQ!

Coming into Port Augusta

Tomorrow, from Port Augusta we will be heading further North, so we will make sure that tyres are pumped up, batteries are fully charged, water tanks are full, etc.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: burra, port augusta

Day 6 – Paringa to Burra

Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 by shorty

Although it rained most of the night, we woke to a pleasant, if slightly chilly, morning.

We left the caravan park and joined the queue of traffic as we approached the Paringa Lifting Bridge. On checking the time it was close to 9.30am, so we suspect that the traffic hold-up was due to the bridge having been lifted to allow river traffic to go underneath.

Traffic delays at the Paringa Lifting Bridge

We bypassed the main part of Renmark as we had been there about 12 months ago. Being a public holiday nothing much was open anyway.

Skirting Renmark

Further along the highway we went through the small town of Barmera and again, nothing much was happening. Just out of town, however, we found a great bakery which was open and we stopped there for morning coffee.

Barmera main street on ANZAC Day

Barmera coffee house

There was very little activity anywhere much, other than the occasional ANZAC Day celebrations at RSLs, etc. We continued through to Waikerie, where we couldn’t find the bakery (say that sentence out aloud).

Waikerie

From Waikerie we headed along very quiet roads to the Historic Port town of Morgan where we caught the ferry across the mighty Murray River. When we told our son Phil about this later he commented that Bertha had temporarily become a houseboat!

Views along the highway

Approaching the ferry at Morgan

On the ferry at Morgan

Once off the ferry we stopped for lunch at a great spot overlooking the river where there were BBQs, tables and seating for families, a boat ramp, all well occupied by families having a day together. We could also hear some young men obviously enjoying liquid refreshments while listening to a football match somewhere nearby.

River views at Morgan

From Morgan we proceeded along the Goyder Highway through “saltbush lamb country” to the historic town of Burra, where we had a quick look around.

Saltbush lamb country

Views around Burra

From the town centre we then went to the historic copper mine just out of town and drove up a rather steep and winding road to the mine lookout. The trip was worthwhile as the views of the mine and associated buildings were fantastic.

Views of the mine from the lookout

Views from the mine lookout

Views over Burra from the lookout

Turning around we could also see wind turbines along a line of hills.

Wind turbines in the distance

Heading back down the hill we drove the short distance to the Burra Showgrounds where Arty the friendly caretaker set us up on a powered site next to the Poultry and Pigeon Pavilion (no birds are present at the moment).

Burra Showgrounds

We will do more exploring in Burra tomorrow when the shops are open.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: burra, morgan

Days 4 & 5 – Enjoying Paringa

Posted on Monday, April 24, 2017 by shorty

Sunday

It was definitely a day of rest today and we had nothing in particular planned.

We caught up on some housework, cleaning Bertha after driving through rain, and spent several hours just relaxing outside with our books. Highlight of the day was lunch at the Paringa Pub. When we arrived we were the only customers there but quite a number of other people did arrive a little later and we all had a great time. Ann had the roast of the day, which was duck, and she enjoyed it very much. I had a delicious home-made pasta and sauce. Lunch was accompanied by a very nice drop (or two) of local Angove Merlot.

Paringa Pub

The weather forecast on the evening news didn’t look too good!

Monday

Today we had originally planned to catch the local Amazon Bus service to see some of the local sights but we both seem to be suffering from head colds and decided not to inflict ourselves on other bus passengers. Besides, there is rain and possible thunderstorms forecast for some-time today so we decided that staying close to Bertha would probably be a better idea.

We did wander over to the Paringa Bakery & Café and thoroughly enjoyed our coffee and cake. From there we went on a good walk around Paringa to check out some of the local attractions.

Paringa Bakery & Cafe

First stop was the famous Black Stump, which is actually just across the road from the Bakery. There are apparently 11 Black Stumps around Australia and Paringa is very proud that theirs is the biggest. It is 8 metres in diameter, weighs 8 tonnes and is an estimated 600 years old. It was found some 50 kilometres away and has been in its current location since 1984.

The Paringa Black Stump

From the Black Stump we walked past the local Paringa Community Museum which house various local artifacts and farm machinery from the area.

We couldn’t exactly miss the Paringa Lifting Bridge. The bridge was opened in 1927 and was one of the earliest bridges to span the Murray River. Part of its significance is the section which can be raised to allow the passage of river boats. The lifting span is still raised twice a day, depending on river traffic – bookings are required.

View of Paringa Lifting Bridge

Next to the bridge is a community park which is currently being upgraded. There are sweeping lawns where several families were enjoying picnics. There is a nice rotunda for a bit of shelter (not sure if a brass band ever plays there). We noticed several canoes out on the river. Looking along the river banks we could see the start of what we are pretty sure is the Renmark Big 4 caravan park.

Great park with rotunda and family picnics

Canoeing on the river

Walking back from the bridge and park we stopped at Cammies Antiques and Collectibles which had an amazing collection of old and interesting treasures – but we are past buying stuff like that anymore – interesting to look.

Cammees Antiques & Collectibles

From there we picked up some lunch supplies at the bakery and headed back to Bertha for lunch.

Just as we were finishing lunch outside we felt the first drops of what we thought was the approaching rain. Shade cloth wall and awning were immediately packed up before they got wet and we retreated with chairs inside. The rain only lasted 30 minutes and we’ve had only light sprinkles ever since

Rain and thunderstorms are still forecast for today. Tomorrow’s weather looks a little better and we plan on heading off towards Port Augusta.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: Paringa

Day 3 – Red Cliffs to Paringa, SA

Posted on Saturday, April 22, 2017 by shorty

It was a little foggy as I watched the sunrise over the grape vines this morning. Sorry – I forgot to mention yesterday that Red Cliffs is the start of the Mildura wine region and that there are vines immediately behind the caravan park.

Sunrise over the vines at Red Cliffs

The vines became even more prolific the closer we got to Mildura. Interestingly many of the vines were covered – I assume to protect from cold mornings, etc.

Covered grape vines at Mildura

Red Cliffs is only 15 kilometres from Mildura so it wasn’t long before we had parked Bertha and gone for a stroll around town. We enjoyed coffee and cake at Hudaks Bakery, a favourite place of ours and picked up some supplies in town before continuing on our travels.

Scenes at Mildura

From Mildura we left the Calder and changed to the A20 towards Renmark. From vineyards growing very close in to town, the scenery soon changed to cropping country.

Leaving Mildura

We later passed what appeared to be large plantations of almonds.

Almond trees (we think)

In what seemed to be only a short time we arrived at Lake Cullulleraine which looked to be a nice place to stop for thermos coffee overlooking the lake. We did take a wrong turn and ended up at a dirt road going into a farming property.

Wrong way!

We retraced our steps and found a more appropriate entrance to the lakeside, where we were greeted with green lawns, shade, and benches and seating. There was a lone speed-boat out on the water scaring the fish.

Views of Lake Cullulleraine

Leaving Lake Cullulleraine the scenery changed again and we saw large areas of cultivated land showing orange against the stubble in nearby paddocks.

Cultivated land contrasted against crop stubble

We continued along the Sturt Highway across the South Australian border where we stopped for a “photo opportunity”.

Bertha at the border

Within a couple of kilometres we had to stop at the Yamba quarantine station where Bertha was searched quite thoroughly for contraband fresh fruit and vegetables, plants and grape vines. We were clean and left with a clean bill of health, unlike a couple of guys in very muddy off-road trucks who had bags and bags of fruit and vegies confiscated. At least they were good natured about it and didn’t kick up a fuss.

Welcome to SA at Yamba quarantine stop

A few kilometres up the highway we stopped at Paringa Caravan Park, where we have booked in for a couple of nights “R & R”. We set up Bertha with awning and shade wall, and I even changed into shorts.

Happy campers at Paringa

This is a small family run park where they really seem to care about their customers – we were given discount vouchers for the Paringa Pub and a heap of tourist information. Paringa is a small town about 4 kms East of Renmark and we are very interested in catching a local shuttle bus which will take us to many interesting places in the Paringa/Renmark area.

We will report back in due course.

It was a glorious day today and we hope that this weather continues.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: Paringa

Day 2 – Charlton to Red Cliffs

Posted on Friday, April 21, 2017 by shorty

We had heavy relentless rain all last night. However, the skies cleared and we checked the weather forecast, and decided that if we headed generally North-West we should avoid most of the bad weather.

Leaving The Travellers’ Rest it was very obvious that the rain had left its mark. We’re sure that we could see that the water level in the river had risen.

Water at The Travellers’ Rest

First stop was at Wycheproof for a quick walk around town. Immediately obvious is the single rail line through the middle of town! We found a very nice bakery where we purchased some fresh bread, and right next door was a yard full of incredible scrap metal sculptures. The peppercorn trees throughout town are a great backdrop to the historic buildings.

Scenes around Wycheproof

From Wycheproof we continued along the Calder headed for Sea Lake, and experienced annoying drizzle on the windscreen. Through Nullawil, one of many small grain towns, surface water along the sides of the road was notable.

Water by the side of the road

The skies cleared and the sun came out as we got closer to Culgoa, but there was still plenty of surface water in the paddocks.

Surface water in paddocks

Through Berriwillock and Boigbeat we actually saw some blue sky!

Berriwillock

Some blue sky at last

At Sea Lake we stopped and had a good walk around town. It seemed much more alive than 2008 when we were last here. Like many country towns there are active efforts by members of the community to add interest for visitors, such as murals, nice places to sit, and interesting, quirky shops.

Views around Sea Lake

From Sea Lake we travelled only a few kilometres to the observation platform at Lake Tyrrell, otherwise known as the Pink Lake. Lake Tyrrell is the largest salt lake in Victoria and covers some 20,860 hectares. It wasn’t pink today unfortunately, but there were still some fantastic views over the Lake. After photos and a chat with some other visitors, we settled down for a gourmet lunch in Bertha (I’m not kidding – smoked salmon and capers with herb cheese on wonderfully fresh bread!).

Views at Lake Tyrrell – The Pink Lake

Back of the highway, near Nandaly we were surprised to be overtaken by a pilot vehicle for an Oversize Load.

Pilot Vehicle

A quick look in the rear view mirror and we very quickly pulled off the highway at the next available spot. Just as well as the truck certainly wasn’t going to slow down!

Oversize Load

We had only just pulled back onto the highway after the oversize truck when guess what approached very rapidly from the opposite direction?

Another Oversize Load

Continuing along the highway a roadside sign reminded us that we were soon to enter a quarantine area. The skies were looking very grey and threatening so we decided to pull-over at the next roadside stop and eat our last fresh “Bushy Park” apple, rather than have to toss it in a bin further up the highway. After enjoying our apple we pulled back onto the highway and the heavens opened up. Bertha got very wet indeed and visibility was almost non-existent.

Pouring one minute

A couple of minutes later we drove through the rain clouds and sky was clear and blue. Isn’t nature wonderful?

Clear the next

We went for a bit of a quick drive through Ouyen but didn’t stop for our usual walk-around town this time. We had stayed at Ouyen some years ago and it didn’t seem to have changed much.

Another 80 kilometres or so up the highway we reached our destination for today of Red Cliffs Caravan Park. This is quite a nice park and we had travelled far enough for one day of very mixed weather and driving conditions.

We’re looking forward to travelling through improved weather tomorrow.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: Red Cliffs

Welcome to Shorty’s 2017 Up the Centre Adventure

Posted on Thursday, April 20, 2017 by shorty

Today was the first day of our 2017 “Up the Centre” Adventure. Our planned ultimate destination is Darwin, and then we’ll see what happens from there.

Ready to Leave Home

With everything sorted at home, we headed off after peak hour along the Eastern Freeway and made our way to Lower Plenty, where, at the civilised time of 10:45 am I was breathalysed ! Passing with flying colours we made our way to the M80 Ringroad and then to the Calder Freeway. We had a very good run and stopped for our first break at the Calder Park Service Centre, after only travelling for just over an hour. Bertha was dwarfed by some of the other visitors in the carpark.

Calder Park

It was a great drive on the Calder but when we turned off the A790 just north of Ravenswood we really felt that we had left civilisation and were well and truly in the country. By going this way through Marong we bypassed busy Bendigo.

Heading for Marong

Our next stop was the very pretty town of Bridgewater. After purchasing some supplies at the Bakery, we drove around to the free camp at the recreation reserve where we stopped for lunch.

Bridgewater – nice old pub, post office and bakery

Refreshed, we headed north passing through Inglewood which was much bigger than Bridgewater and had some very interesting buildings. We both commented that we would love to just spend some time cruising around this region and spending more time exploring each of the historic towns.

Views of Inglewood

As we approached Wedderburn we found ourselves in thick smoke. We soon found the source of this unpleasant smoke – it seems that the farmers around here clear their paddocks by burning off. Luckily for us it started to rain which immediately cleared the air and made life a bit more comfortable.

Burning off

The results of burning off paddocks

We soon arrived at Charlton, which is another attractive and historic small country town, with a great Caravan Park/Free Camp complex called The Travellers’ Rest. Imagine, 3 nights on an unpowered site by the Avoca River for $10.00. Powered and en-suite sites are also available. After setting up we donned our rain-coats and had a good look around town. The art-deco Rex Theatre is a standout. Walking by the river we came across a statue of a swaggy carved in a tree trunk.

Charlton’s “Travellers’ Rest” area – right in the centre of town

Views along the river at Charlton – popular fishing spot.

The Rex Theatre and the carved Swaggy

Coats hung up to dry, we enjoyed a delicious meal inside Bertha while giant moths attacked the doors and windows. Hilarious!!

What a great start to our adventure. Now to work out where to go tomorrow!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: Charlton

Shorty’s 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure – Recap

Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2016 by shorty

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure and we have been to some wonderful new places, revisited some places we have been to before, made some great new friends, have seen some magical scenery, have endured good and bad weather, and have generally had a great time.

Importantly, we are extremely happy with Bertha, our Avida Birdsville motorhome, and the comfort in which we travel and camp, both short-term and longer term, as we did in Cotton Tree/Maroochydore. We have enjoyed the mixture of travel using Bertha, public transport, bus tours, rental cars, and the sheer pleasure of walking.

Here are a few statistics about our 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure:

Total distance covered was 4,708 kilometres over 3 months including nearly 10 weeks at Cotton Tree/Maroochydore
Total diesel used was 585 litres at a total cost of $699.
Average price of diesel was 119.63 cents per litre
Highest price paid for diesel was 125.90 cents per litre – at Narrabri, NSW
Average fuel consumption for the entire trip was about 12 litres/100 km (including diesel used for heating)
Longest distance travelled between refills was 679 km (average 540 km)

Included below is our usual “low tech” map of our 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure.

We’re not finished travelling yet …. stay tuned for more of Shorty’s RV Adventures.

Shorty

shortys-2016-maroochy-map_stomped

Categories: 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure

Day 94 – Wangaratta to Home

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 by shorty

Last night was very chilly and as we had no immediate neighbours in the caravan park we turned on the diesel heater. Apart from wanting to ensure that it was working after 3 months in Queensland, it gives a much more pleasant heat than our little electric heater. We turned it on again this morning. Lovely!

The new owners at Painters Island have made a few changes and more are on the way. They have tidied and refreshed the amenities blocks and are in the process of building a new block as well. They have also added additional BBQ areas, installed new security gates, and are improving landscaping and various other features of the park. The view from Bertha to the playground sand-pit was interesting!

Interesting sand-pit at Painters Island

After driving through the main street of Wangaratta and several roundabouts we joined the road out of town towards the Hume Highway. It seemed very peaceful driving down this good stretch of road with nice rural scenes on a crisp but clear morning.

Scene down Wangaratta’s main street

Heading from Wangaratta towards the Hume Freeway

We soon hit the Hume and again admired the variety of the scenery.

Scenes along the Hume

Euroa was our first stop with diesel for Bertha and coffee for us. It seems that they have made some changes to the service centre since we were last here and there is now a dump point but more interestingly there is a Tesla electric car charging station. There was a very nice looking Tesla car being charged while we were there.

From Euroa we continued down the Hume to Wallan, where we parked at the service centre but actually had lunch in Bertha.

Scenes along the Hume

As we got closer to civilisation we were struck by majesty of the “blue poles” along the side of the freeway.

Striking blue poles along the Hume

At the Metropolitan Ringroad we turned left towards Greensborough as something of an experiment – we have always gone in the other direction in the past. From the ringroad we made our way through suburbia to the Eastern Freeway and eventually to home.

Somewhere between the Ring Road and the Eastern Freeway

Eastern Freeway near Ringwood

We are now home and Bertha needs a good bath.

Bertha back home.

First priority was to unpack and start the washing before settling into our recliners in front of the TV with the central heating on.

We have loved being away in Bertha but there is still nothing quite like coming “home”.

Ann had a very pleasant surprise in the garden when we got home – it just shows what months of neglect can achieve!

Ann’s blooming surprise!

Stay tuned for our 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure Recap, coming soon.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure

Day 93 – Canberra to Wangaratta

Posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 by shorty

The weather forecast in Canberra for today was for a low of 1 degree – and we reckon they got that right! It was freezing cold when we woke but turned into a typical cool, clear Canberra spring day. When we left Alivio Tourist Park the GPS took us through some suburban streets on the way to the highway, but it seems that some of the trees have no idea what season it is. Within metres of each other some trees appear to be losing their leaves, yet others are in blossom. Confusing!

Is it Autumn or Spring??

The Barton Highway is in very good condition in most places, and there is plenty of greenery around, although perhaps curiously parts of Canberra are under Level 1 water restrictions. We saw plenty of contented cattle and sheep along the highway.

Scenes along the Barton Highway

As we approached Yass we were surprised to see that many of the hills were shrouded in cloud, yet when we turned onto the Hume Highway the skies reverted to clear blue with few clouds.

Surprised to see so much fog heading towards Yass

View down the Hume Highway

Our morning coffee stop was at the small village of Bookham. We’ve been here before and I was looking forward to a hot sausage roll from Barney’s Café but he wasn’t open when we arrived. Instead we enjoyed thermos coffee in the sunshine beside Bertha.

Morning coffee at Bookham

Back on the Hume Highway heading south there were clear signs that rain storms had been very widespread. The scenery also included bright and cheery canola fields.

Scenes along the Hume Highway

We bypassed Gundagai and further down the highway closer to Holbrook we stopped at the Little Billabong Rest Area for lunch. This is a newish rest area that isn’t in the Camps 8 book. It is a good size and would hold quite a few cars, trucks, motorhomes and caravans. There is a toilet block and a couple of covered seating areas for picnickers.

Little Billabong Rest Area

After lunch we continued down the Hume and through Albury and Wodonga, and there was plenty of water in the Murray River (sorry – missed a photo here).

Soon we turned off the Hume to Wangaratta and the Painters Island Caravan Park. We’ve been here many times before on our trips between Melbourne and Canberra, but we did have some concerns as to how the park would cope in such wet conditions. This park is surrounded on three sides by water, although there are levy banks in place and we have never had any problems in the past.

The new owners showed us to a good dry site where we set up and went for a walk around the park. Sandbags outside the amenities block were a bit of a clue as to what might have been keeping the owners busy for the last few days. There were also quite a few sites totally under water. The Painters Island logo includes a family of ducks and there are plenty of ducks in the park.

Welcome to Painters Island

Painters Island Caravan Park

We then went for a quick walk into town. On the way it was interesting to see playgrounds and car-parks under water, and the height of water under the walking bridge. Never-the-less the town of Wangaratta appears to be safe from destruction by floods and we found a nice place to stop for a cup of coffee.

Plenty of water in parts of Wangaratta

Walking back to the caravan park we were struck by the beautiful art deco Court House building which stands out amongst its more modern neighbouring buildings.

Art Deco Court House building in Wangaratta

We returned to Bertha and hunkered down for what promises to be another cold, but hopefully not wet, night.

Bertha safe and sound at Painters Island with the ducks

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2016 Big Maroochydore Adventure | Tags: wangaratta