Our quest to find new places to explore took on a new focus when we woke to find Daylesford was even colder than the previous few days, if that was even possible. We raced to pack up and leave before the caravan park charged us another $60 for missing the checkout time, then cruised into Castlemaine on our journey north in search of warmer weather. 

Castlemaine was very cosmic, all yoga and holistic healing. There was a huge organic grocery store which was incredibly busy even tradies were going in carrying calico bags or whicker baskets to buy their lunch there, no Greggs sausage rolls for them! It was a beautiful town with a rail line to Melbourne, no wonder it features on Escape from the City so often.

 We pressed on through Bendigo to Lake Meran which was another cheapo camp site in our brilliant Camps Australia atlas, $5 honesty box. The lake was huge and, as usual, we were the only people there. There were bbqs, decent toilets, places for camp fires and it was a few degrees warmer than Daylesford. It actually felt far warmer, there was something about Daylesford that chilled the bones. 

It was a bit drizzly the next day but we decided to stay and take things easy. When we walked around the lake we found there were even better camping spots so we will know for next time. The sky began to look quite ominous so we ducked back into the van.

 Several storms passed overnight but we woke to sunshine and packed up before heading into the nearest town, Kerang. We were fairly off the beaten track so were surprised to find Kerang was massive with a big Woolworths and a very smart visitor centre. So we stocked up with groceries and carried on to our next stop. 

We were planning to visit the Pioneer Settlement in Swan Hill so headed along the Murray Valley Highway passing more huge lakes, Reedy Lake, Lake Charm. Mystic Park Lake, Kangaroo Lake, Lake Boga and many smaller ones. Some, like Lake Charm, were aquatic playgrounds surrounded by caravan parks and motels with a boat or jetski behind every car.

 Our chosen camp was just beyond Swan Hill at Nyah Freedom of Choice Camping which was actually at the trotting track on the river. Very nice, just toilets no showers or power and a donation box. Apparently they sell meals there on a Thursday but not much use to us as we were there on a Monday. 

The next morning was chilly again and we dropped Harvey at the Scooby Doo Pet Resort for the day (only $10) while we visited the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement. It was great in a beautiful location on the banks of the Murray not as big as Sovereign Hill in Ballarat but an awful lot cheaper and easy to wander around poking about in the old shops and houses. One of my favourite exhibits was a flat packed house sent out from England. Housing was a problem when settlers began to arrive in droves and hundreds of these metal houses were sent out in wooden crates to be assembled on site, the crates they travelled in even formed part of the walls. Swan Hill also had a Big Murray Cod, so my day was complete.

 After a most enjoyable day we picked Harvey up (not sure he had as much fun as us) and drove back to Nyah via the Speewa Ferry. 

Mildura was our next destination, chosen because we were very keen to visit Mungo National Park. Mildura is right on the border between Victoria and New South Wales and the road crosses from one state to another several times, I don't know how road users managed during the height of the pandemic because the state borders were closed. The scenery all around is called Mallee Scrub, it reminded me of the broom scrub around the New Forest. The crops changed to almonds, oranges and olives and mile after mile of vineyards. We had chosen Red Cliffs Golf Club for our overnight stop because it was near the kennels where Harvey was going to stay while we visited the National Park. The golf club was pretty popular with caravanners, $10 a night, toilets and use of the camp kitchen, one of the golfers told me the club was formed in the early 1920s when the area became one of the first large scale irrigation hubs in the world after WW1.

 We dropped Harvey and set off for Mungo National Park. The last 90km of the drive is on red dirt but the road had been recently graded and there had not been any rain, we have driven on far worse. We had a choice between staying in the National Park campground or Mungo Lodge but decided on the Lodge because they had a list of tours available while the National Park staff were not able to tell us if they would have a tour running or not. The camping was at the back of the lodge with showers, toilets and use of the restaurant for $25. 

The tour the following day was excellent, about $50 each for a couple of hours. There was a sheep station there in recent history but Mungo National Park was a lake thousands of years ago and it is where the remains of Mungo Man and Mungo  Woman were found which enabled scientists to date the existence of indigenous Australians back 60,000 years. 

 The sand dunes surrounding what was the lake are spectacular and visitors are only permitted to reach them as part of a tour group. Ancient footprints were found on the bed of the lake and have been cast and laid out by the visitor centre in exactly the pattern they were found. The whole place was extraordinary and the tour guide was marvellous, we really got a sense of the lives that had gone before us. 

 The rain has felt constant over the past couple of years but has got far worse over recent months with some areas flooding for a second time in 2022 already. At the end of June the forecasters started to tell us that worse was yet to come for the whole of July so we decided enough was enough, we would make the most of being retired and just push off until it was over.

The plan was to take our time travelling to Melbourne, spend a week or so with Zoё, Shaun and the boys then explore a bit more of Victoria before slowly heading home. We set off just as the promised rain event began and, by the time we reached Sydney it was like a monsoon so we opted to keep driving until it stopped. 

This was Harvey's first big trip and we had our fingers crossed that he would be a good traveller like Monty always was, we need not have worried we didn't even know he was there. It was dark by the time we came out of the downpour we were just short of Gunning, which is a free overnight camp we know well, so we scooted in to the showground and set up for the night. Gunning is always freezing in the winter and this time it was really windy too so we couldn't face walking in to town for dinner, however it is the done thing to spend some money in the RV friendly towns that offer free camps so we had breakfast in the cafe in town before heading on our way.

The journey down to Melbourne is one we do quite often and we were determined to find some different places to stop and to only drive a couple of hours at a time. It has taken a while to master finding free or donation camps but with the help of our brilliant Camps Australia Atlas and Wikicamps we have got the hang of it and rarely stay in a proper caravan park. Our search unearthed a camp at Wantabadgery on the Murrumbidgee river. 

The journey took us past farms with loads of new lambs and through vineyards. I didn't realise there were vineyards around that area but apparently it is the Gundagai Wine Region. We arrived at the Sandy Beach Reserve and it was gorgeous, right on the banks of the river with a boat ramp, picnic shelters and long drop toilets. We were the only people there, even though it was the beginning of the school holidays so we started to wonder if there was a flood warning we had missed but decided to brave it.

 The weather was beautiful and it was tempting to stay longer but we did have a destination on this part of the trip so we drove for a couple of hours, sunshine all the way to our next new find Jindera Primitive Campground. Now this one was not what we expected, it was hardly primitive as the camping spot was in the middle of a big new sports complex in the centre of town. The campers (only us again) shared the toilets with the brand new skate park and it was perfectly adequate but I felt a bit conspicuous sleeping in such a public spot. We were kept entertained watching people working on a brand new (everything was brand new, the government must have needed to win this seat in the recent election) mobile phone tower pretty much next to where we were camped, again throwing doubt on the primitive aspect of the camping experience. 

 The town was quite interesting, originally built by German settlers around 1870 and there were some beautiful buildings and good historical information boards but I don't think I'll be stopping there again.

The last stop on our wander down to Melbourne was an old favourite, Alexandra Showground. Alexandra is a beautiful town and the showground is really well kept. We splashed out on $20 for the night so we could have a decent hot shower and go and have dinner in town. Sadly the pub which advertises award winning chips was closed again, it is every time we go there, we will keep trying, I am determined to have the chips eventually.

 Zoё and Shaun have just bought a new caravan so while we were there we hatched a plan to take it on the maiden voyage together. We were hoping to head for Daylesford and Ballarat so they tagged along and we booked in to Daylesford Caravan Park. It was a nice place but a bit steep at $40 a night but we wanted to visit the gold mining town, Sovereign Hill, in nearby Ballarat and it was the only option. 

 Daylesford is famously cold in winter and it was absolutely bitter. The town often features on Escape from the City so we were looking forward to seeing what it had to offer. In the end it was so cold we just bought gloves there and tried to keep out of the wind, maybe it is more appropriate for a summer visit. 

 Sovereign Hill is a recreation of the gold mining town in Ballarat. It was fantastic, pricey at $60 a head then extra for the mine tour but it was a full day out and a lot of fun. There were actors wandering around as characters of the time and fake snow blowing along the streets. There was also a light show in the evening but the kids had been good all day and we didn't want to risk pushing our luck. 

Back at the caravan park there was a big log fire in one of the old buildings so we gathered in there with some other cold campers and enjoyed our last evening with Zoё and Shaun. After waving them off the following morning we went to reception to pay for an extra night, they charged us $60 as it was a Friday! So we left Daylesford with renewed resolve to

a) find more free camps 

b) head somewhere warmer.

  After what felt like weeks of rain and storms, the day dawned bright and sunny as we set off for Christmas in Victoria. That soon changed as a big storm chased us through Sydney all the way to our regular first stop in Gunning. The rain eased as we arrived but the fields were flooded all around and creeks that had been dry for decades were now gushing torrents. When we got to the pub for dinner the locals were all talking about how they had been trapped in their homes by floodwater the previous day. At the time of writing (end of February) towns in Queensland and Northern New South Wales are suffering terrible flooding, our experience was nothing compared to theirs. 

The sun was shining the next morning and we drove in blue skies, listening to the Ashes first test, into Victoria. Everything became less green and more brown as we sped along, usually it is the opposite but La Nina has given the east coast its second consecutive very wet summer. We headed for Warby-Ovens National Park and set up in the Wenhams Campground. National Park campgrounds are quite basic, this had no water and drop toilets but they are usually well looked after. The areas for camping were very small so ok for our little van but not suitable for anything larger.

 Apart from a group of birdwatchers we were the only people staying. It was a beautiful spot with various walks marked out and warnings about pythons. I have become quite Australian in my attitude towards snakes and, as long as they are not the deadly ones, they don't worry me so pythons are ok. 

The birdwatchers packed up and left the following morning so we had the place to ourselves. We selected the Friends walking track which was flagged up as quite difficult and they weren't kidding! It was very up hill and down dale but fabulous with wild flowers and butterflies everywhere, grass trees too which we are used to seeing at home but don't come across in too many other places. We also saw evidence of wombats, cube shaped poo and diggings, but sadly didn't spot any. During a particularly strenuous section climbing up rocks a young couple jogged past looking as fresh as daisies as we puffed and wheezed our way to the summit, that didn't make us feel too great.

 The next morning dawned hot and sunny again so we decided we must have outrun the weather at last so we packed up and pressed on. We took a look at the riverside camping for future reference but it wasn't for me. No toilets even within driving distance and a very lumpy road in and out. Ian was up for it but I prefer a little bit more comfort these days. 

On then to Alexandra which has become a bit of a favourite for us. We stayed there last trip but it was raining and Covid was forcing us to hurry back across the border so we didn't get much chance to look around. We were not disappointed. The showground was good, $25 for a powered site, it does not take many vans so can be difficult to get in. It was only a few minutes stroll into town where we found a Christmas Tree Festival, a charity event where local businesses and schools had all decorated a tree and the public voted for their favourites, it was better than it sounds.

 Christmas with Zoe, Shaun and the boys was fun as usual and we decided to try yet another route back. It was more difficult to find somewhere to stop than we expected, we had planned to stay in Rubicon State Forest but found the Kendalls Camp Ground completely full. We could probably have squeezed in but I didn't fancy sharing a toilet with 150 other people with the way Covid was taking off at that time so we carried on to Benalla Showground. 

Benalla was ok for one night but no longer so we took the Silo Art Trail to Narrandera. We stopped to take photos of the silos in the tiny towns of Goorambat and Devenish. They were sensational and well worth the detour. The highlight of the return journey was Narrandera though, where we free camped at the Brewery Flat rest area. it was a great spot with public toilets and we will definitely stay there again. Narrandera was also on the silo trail and boasted a silo with a Frill Necked Lizard beautiful buildings and a visitor centre with a Big Playable Guitar. They also have a thriving koala population and we saw 5 on a walk by the river so they are doing much better than the koalas at home.

 After Narrandera we headed home along the Golden Highway. The road takes us through Dunedoo which has always appeared to be a town absolutely on its knees. This time however, Dunedoo had transformed and all thanks to the Silo Art Trail. The town is in between some very prosperous looking racehourse studs but has never seemed to reap any benefit, however, the silos had now been painted which had put the little place on the map. There were visitors with cameras everywhere, the cafes had reopened and there was a new little park, brilliant to see what a simple initiative like the Silo Art Trail could do for a town. 

 

After what felt like a lifetime of lockdown, in reality only a couple of months so nothing like what many others have had to endure, we finally hooked up the van and hit the road again.

There were still restrictions in place and we were only allowed to visit regional New South Wales so plumped for Crowdy Bay National Park which is less than two hours north of us. National parks do not allow dogs and as we are dogless at the moment after the loss of dear Monty, it seemed a good idea to go while we had the chance.

There is a choice of campsites in the park and we chose Kylie's Beach because it was the quietest. The unmade road in was pretty bumpy as the park had only just reopened and as we bounced along we remembered that the fires of 2019 had swept right through this area. Mile after mile of blackened trees stretched out on all sides, gum trees were sprouting new growth but many other trees were gone forever.

By the time we entered the camp area we realised this could be quite depressing so chose to set up in a space with some recovering trees around it. There were very few birds, absolutely no parrots which is very unusual and no koalas. Fortunately kangaroos, echidna, bandicoots and the odd snake were still in evidence.

Crowdy Bay National Park has a sensational beach which was just metres behind us. The area was mined for the rutile in the sand from 1959 to 1982. Local conservation groups campaigned and eventually it became a National Park.

The part we were in was called Kylie's Beach because the writer Kylie Tennant had a hut in the bush where she wrote after the second world war. The hut featured on the promotional material for the area but was sadly a victim of the bushfires too, there is a plan to rebuild it but all that was left for us to see was a fenced off area of concrete stumps. I have added a picture of how it did look and hopefully will again one day.

Enough of the depressing stuff and on to the positives. Much of the bush is growing back and there were some wonderful walks in the park. We took the headland walk along the cliff tops which was glorious with spring flowers blooming and magnificent views of dolphins swimming down below. We returned by the forest walk which was greening up nicely after a very wet summer last year. The campsite was great too, very quiet with just long drop toilets that were kept spotlessly clean. The sunsets were wonderful, if a bit alarming because they did make the bush look like it was on fire again.

Back along the bumpy road was Crowdy Head which is a lovely town, well worth a visit. The lighthouse has a red pane of glass which is to warn sailors about Mermaid Reef. If a boat is in a location where the light is shining red, they are about to hit the reef.

A few kms further we came to Harrington which initially looks like a new development, but we pressed on through that and came to the main town which was beautiful. A 3km breakwater was built in Harrington to fend off coastal erosion and it was dotted with little plaques in memory of local characters and made an excellent walk. 

We were only away for a few days but it was great to be able to go somewhere at last. Since then the borders have opened and we have been able to get down to Melbourne to meet our second grandson Rowan for the first time.

 

 Last year we were unable to spend Christmas with Zoȅ, Shaun and Ted because most of the coast between New South Wales and Victoria was on fire. This year Australia is in the grip of La Nina so we drove through driving rain for the whole journey, all 1100kms of it. 

 Permits were required to get into Victoria this trip because of a recent covid outbreak in Sydney's Northern Beaches and it took about an hour to get through the checkpoint. Once we were back in NSW after Christmas the outbreak got worse and it was taking Victorians up to 9 hours to get home across the border before it was closed again, so we were lucky to get away with just the one hour of queuing. 

  The weather cheered up and Christmas with the Kents was delightful and felt like a return to normal times at last. It was over all to quickly as our permits ran out on Boxing Day and we had to get back into NSW before turning into pumpkins.

The plan was to take a slow trip back in the caravan avoiding large towns where we might encounter the lurgy so we headed for Henty, just over the border for our first stop. There was only one other van in the showground which was a shame because it was a great place to stay, right in the middle of grain country. A railway line ran alongside but only the grain trains and an occasional huge train carrying steel from Melbourne passed by so they did not bother us. Apparently it was a bumper grain crop this year which helped make up for the disastrous drought years leading up to 2020. 

Country towns always find something as their claim to fame and Henty was proud to promote itself as 'The Home of Headlie's Header', a farming invention from 1914 which had a whole museum dedicated to it. The town itself sat in the shadow of huge grain silos and was incredibly clean and tidy, as well as pretty empty. We stayed for a couple of nights and visited nearby Culcairn, again very neat and tidy especially the palm trees along the centre of the high street, and Holbrook, home of the Big Submarine. 

After leaving Henty the gradual journey towards home then took us through Wagga Wagga and Cootamundra (birthplace of Don Bradman) to Murrumburrah-Harden. The twin towns share a fabulous showground and have an astonishing number of churches. The first Light Horse Regiment recruits for World War 1 were signed up here and there was a beautiful memorial featuring a small bronze of Bill the Bastard, a difficult, powerful horse whose rider rode him into the battleground to rescue comrades who had lost their mounts. 

Bill the Bastard carried four men back at a time and has been commemorated, not only with the small bronze statue but with a massive one which for some reason was locked away in a gallery. I could not find out why because everything was shut for the Christmas holidays but managed to press my face up against the door to get a look at it. If you want to know more, Bill has his own website billthebastard.org 

 Boorowa was not far from Harden so we took a trip there. Supposedly home to the Superb Parrot (we didn't see any) Boorowa is an attractive town with beautifully preserved original shopfronts and interiors and some excellent cafes. There was also a weird pub that did not seem to want to serve anyone but we didn't let it spoil the visit. 

After Harden we headed for Canowindra along the Olympic Highway, so called because it was the route for the Olympic torch ahead of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, through Young. It was cherry season so the road was studded with signs for cherries, cherry pies, cherry jam, cherry ice cream - you name it, they make it out of cherries in Young. Canowindra sounded nice because it had an historic town and hosts the annual hot air balloon festival. It actually turned out to be a bit of a let down. The showground was not great, a willy willy (little whirlwind) attacked us as we were putting our awning out, so that was fun, and we were fascinated by a couple who set their caravan up two metres from the wall of the toilet block and sat in their deckchairs facing said toilet block the whole time we were there. 

 The town was historic as promised but also shut. The shops all had signs in the windows saying call if you want us to open and whinging about what a tough year it had been, why not just open then while there were tourists around? There was quite a flashy looking new Museum of the Fishes but on closer inspection the fish fossils it contained all came from Morocco, how odd. We decided to give the pub a miss for dinner as there were several flies stuck to the menu in the window and opted to move on the next day.

Usually I can find something to like about a town but the next place we chose to stop was Geure and it was horrible. The disused racecourse was advertised for camping but it was very creepy and had, wait for it, communal showers!! I think Ian was up for it but I wasn't so we drove straight back out and carried on our way towards Gulgong, where we have stayed before and knew would be good. On the way the road took us through Wellington, the ice capital of NSW. Opposite the correctional centre was the biggest solar farm I have ever seen, it was staggering but I am amazed there are not more solar farms in a country that gets as much sun as we do.

Gulgong was fab as usual and a great place to spend New Year's Eve. The showground is beautiful but the showers were closed using covid as an excuse, a bit cheeky as the price was the same as usual. Last time we were in Gulgong the Holtermann Museum was nearing completion and this visit it was open. It contained the photographs of Gulgong and Hill End commissioned by Holterman in 1872 using the money he made from finding a record breaking gold nugget. Two buildings that feature in the photos were restored as the site for the museum, the photos were fascinating, well worth a visit.