By the time July comes around we have usually had enough of winter, even though the season is much shorter and considerably warmer than the winters we were used to back in England. Last year we went away for the month but started down in Victoria where is was much colder than home so this year we headed for a month in nice, warm Queensland with the aim of reaching the tropics and hanging around up there until it was safe to return. 

Ian fancied stopping at Barraba again so we drove 5 hours to the Glenriddle Reserve on Split Rock Dam. We arrived at 5pm so there was enough daylight left to set up and build a fire. It was beautiful as usual, cows roaming feely, fish jumping out of the water and heaps of birds but really cold overnight. We woke up to frost, yes frost! I have not seen frost since I left England nearly 9  years ago and I was hoping never to come across it again. It soon disappeared when the sun got up and the weather during the day was gorgeous. We spent our time doing very little other than walking and picking endless burrs out of the dog.

 It was time to press on after a couple of days and cross the border into Queensland. As usual, we had not planned ahead apart from a vague idea about reaching Rockhampton and visiting Great Keppel Island so we consulted the Camps 11 atlas and Wikicamps, both told us that Tara, 5 hours north, was a good free camp so that was where we headed. The facilities were excellent, as promised, but it wasn't really our cup of tea. We got the very last space in the cramped gravel area in the middle of a park, it was only $10 with power so very cheap but packed. Nice hot showers and clean toilets but, if we had to stop there again we would just park in the overnight stay car park where we would not have to unhook but would still be able to use the amenities. Tara is one of a number of towns in the area where the council have made a real effort to encourage caravanners to visit so we decided to just move a short distance to try another one. 

After only a 45 minute drive we came to Caliguel Lagoon in Condamine, another new, council camping area. This one was amazing. It was free with spotless toilets, a cold shower, a camp kitchen with free gas bbqs and about 6 pitches even had power, all free! The camping area was on the banks of the lagoon so beautiful too. We got chatting to a group of retired men all travelling alone, who meet up there every year, they told us about a few other places in the area which were equally good and free or very cheap too. 

 One of these was Meandarra which we drove to have a look at and discovered it to be even better, mainly because there was a town in walking distance which was not the case with Caliguel Lagoon. The road between Condamine and Meandarra was dead straight, we encountered a few roadtrains, saw a number of emus in the paddocks on either side and lots of pretty red flowers dotted the roadside all the way along, we found out later they are a pest called Mother of Millions, but they looked very attractive. The camping at Meandarra was on the river in Apex Park, which was good, but further along we came to Dillon Park which was fantastic, beautiful and peaceful on the river with toilets and hot showers and flocks of Red Rumped Parrots, there was hardly anyone there because they had seen Apex Park first.. The town was mainly agricultural although it did have a large ANZAC Museum, a library and a School of the Arts, nearly all country towns seem to have a School of the Arts, I have never actually seen anyone using one. 

 Back at Caliguel Lagoon we lit a fire and watched thousands of corellas in the trees and a glorious sunset to the sounds of the three old chaps next door giggling their way through rather a lot of port. Quite a number of families turned up the previous evening for the weekend making the place feel pretty busy so we moved on and left them to it. 

 We headed north again but did not want to spend too much time driving so aimed for Wandoan, just 1 hour 10 minutes away. We stopped at Miles on the way which is quite a big, smart town with both an IGA and a Foodworks so picked up some supplies then pressed on to Wandoan. There were 3 choices of places to stay so we had a look at all of them. One was free and right in the small town, the second was a paid showground just outside but the third was a the Juandah Historical Site. Juandah won hands down, it was brilliant. We parked the van among the historic buildings and were able to use the old open kitchen as our outdoor area. For $10 a night unpowered, $15 powered there were hot showers, clean toilets and unlimited entry to the historic buildings and museum. We have been to a few pioneer museums and this was one of the better ones, the story of the explorer Leichhardt is documented in the museum and we were interested to discover he had visited Port Stephens (our home) and Claremont Ferrand (where we had both been on school skiing trips in the 1970s). The caretakers were travelers themselves and were just looking after the place for a month, apparently it is not always open because of the difficulties finding caretakers to take on the job. The town was only a 15 minute walk but mostly shut apart from offices of several large gas fracking companies. The pub was a bit ordinary but it was great to see our first bottle trees of the trip. 

 I have been neglecting my blogging duties recently so this is a quick catch up before I move on to reporting on our recent Big Trip.

Back in March we waved goodbye to my sister Gill then set off the next day for a little break. We had spotted Glenriddle Reserve, on the banks of Split Rock Dam outside Barraba, when we were scampering home from Moree to escape the approaching floods. it was about a five hour drive from home so quite local in Australian terms. 

When we arrived there were about 4 vans there and we set up camp on the banks of the dam. It was beautiful, a massive lake with heaps of bird life, cows roaming about and incredibly peaceful with nice, clean long drop toilets. We foolishly did not think to bring our kayaks but others were not so silly and were paddling around happily, Ian tried a bit of fishing but the fish were not interested in playing.

 Clouds started to gather late in the afternoon and a storm came through overnight. It was so massive it washed the chocks away from behind our wheels and caused various bits of damage as people rushed out to put their awnings in. Everyone was a bit shell shocked in the morning, checking around for damage and borrowing tools to carry out emergency repairs.

It was all sunny after that and we visited the town, driving past the silos painted with pictures that look like Prince Harry, a few times. The town was pretty nice but, apart from the IGA, everything seemed to be shut but on Thursday that all changed and there were decent cafes, nice gift and clothes shops all open.

Back at camp, everything changed on Friday afternoon with families and groups arriving for the weekend. We will take note next time that you need to camp quite near the edge or, come the weekend, someone will squeeze in between you and the water. We didn't mind because we were going home on Saturday but we will know for next time.

About a month later a friend told me how good the birdwatching was in Chichester State Forest so we decided to go. The State Forest is just beyond Dungog so less than two hours from home. The only thing we knew about Dungog was that it was the place featured on news around the world when a house washed down the street in the big storm of 2015. For some reason I had a picture in my mind of a down and out little mining town but I could not have been more wrong! It was a beautiful place in rolling hills with views from just about everywhere. The shops were smart and open and some of the houses were gorgeous, however flooding was clearly an ever present danger with huge flood channels cut along the sides of all the streets. 

The lady in the visitor centre gave us a map of the Chichester State Forest campgrounds but neglected to tell us that;

a) the direct road was closed 

b) heavy rain was forecast

So, off we set up the gravel road climbing higher and higher for about half an hour, no mean feat towing a caravan, when we came to the point where the road was blocked. It had obviously been closed for some months so we were a bit miffed not to have been warned. We backtracked and found another road up to the Frying Pan Creek Campground. We checked the Teleghary Campground first but it was muddy and a bit gloomy so we pressed on to Frying Pan Creek which was much more open. As we pulled in a procession of caravans was leaving, they stopped us and told us we would have to leave as heavy rain was expected and camping would be impossible for the next two days as it was possible to get washed away up there.

Back down the long and winding gravel track we eventually stopped at Dungog Showground which was very ordinary with traffic noise and a really complicated QR code booking in system which we completed only to be repeatedly asked by caretakers whether we had paid or not, you would think they would know with an online system.

Still another couple of days before we could get back into the State Forest so we went to Gresford and found the showground to be closed but a quick look on Wikicamps directed us to Camp on Allyn, a farm stay. It was not our usual cup of tea but very pleasant for a night or two at $15 per person unpowered, big pitches all with fire pits, spotless amenities and large off lead dog areas. There were only two showers and campers were encouraged to use their own if possible, all the buildings were corrugated iron with cutesy names like 'Country Dunnies' and everything looked brand new. It was busy with some big groups but rained all evening and night which unfortunately put paid to any party plans they had.

Lostock Dam was mentioned as a camp site so we drove along 20km of lumpy, pot holey road to have a look. It was one of those caravan parks with mainly permanent residents and an area set aside for touring vans. The place was nice but a long way from anywhere and not  cheap at $20 a night, unpowered.

Monday dawned dry and we were finally able to head back up the hills to Frying Pan Creek free camp. It was worth the wait, very pretty with a fabulous 'Problem Falls Walk' and quiet. Apparently it can get quite noisy at weekends with illegal motorbikes and the police cruised by asking if we had seen any while we were there.

 Ian managed to climb the rocks and fall in the water at Problem Falls but luckily only went in up to his ankles, which was fortunate because the temperature changes were incredible and he would have got very cold on the return journey if he had managed a proper dunking. By about 2.30 the sun would disappear behind the trees and we would have to start rugging up, by about 4pm, fleeces and coats were required. It was fab though with fungi, staghorn ferns, birds and the sound of running water.

 Left a sunny Lemon Tree Passage to head inland where many areas were still quite flooded. This sounds a little foolish but we were meeting Zoë, Shaun and the boys midway through their first big trip in their new caravan. They were travelling from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and we planned to meet them at a couple of the stops they were doing in New South Wales. 

At the end of our last trip we spotted details of a free camp on the Castlereagh River at Mendooran which looked quite interesting, so we decided to start  this trip with a couple of days there as it was only 30 minutes from the first town where we were to meet Zoë. The roads were badly potholed after all the rain, we are used to this at home but our potholes are mainly on side roads whereas these were on 100kmh routes, so we had to keep our wits about us on the Golden Highway. After a coffee stop in Denman we rocked up at Mendooran Rest Area and walked in cautiously to see how flooded it was. There were a few muddy areas but plenty of flat, dryish plots overlooking the river.

 If a camp is free we try to have dinner in the town so we headed to the pub  and ordered our meal. The landlady was a bit short with everyone and when I enquired about eating in the large garden with Harvey she said dogs were not allowed. We decided to get a take away instead and eat it  on a bench on the wide verandah overlooking the street, again she said no, that was an alcohol free zone. So there we were with a wine, a beer, a dog and a dilemma. In the end we tied Harvey to the outside of the garden fence while we ate inside the garden. Various locals came out to chat with us, I think they were a bit embarrassed about the frosty welcome we had received. One man said the pub had been sued because a dog bit a customer but I have my doubts.

It rained non stop over night and everything was pretty muddy when we woke up and walked into town to get a coffee. The town itself looked very sad with most shops closed, including a new cheese shop I had seen in the tourism literature and was looking forward to spending some money in.. There was a lady cleaning the front of the art shop (Nana's Knitting Nook more like) and she told us there were plans for a big celebration the following week to celebrate Mendooran's 170 year anniversary, the oldest town on the Castlereagh apparently. I hope it went well for them but, if they seriously want to attract visitors, they need to sort out that pub landlady and open the bloody cheese shop! 

It was very wet again when we woke the next morning, fortunately we had anticipated this and packed everything away the previous evening. As we drove out of town we passed the cheese shop just in case but it was still closed so I took my tourist dollars away with me. Ian needed to have his identity confirmed at a Centrelink office for his pension application (yes, we are that old) and discovered there was a really helpful system for remote towns where this could be carried our at participating Post Offices, so he checked online and found the closest was in Dunedoo, just 30 minutes away, in the wrong direction admittedly but not too far. When we got there the woman in the Post Office had no idea what she was supposed to do so we got back in the car and drove to Dubbo where there was a proper Centrelink Office. The whole thing was carried out in a jiffy there  even though we were now rather off our planned route. It had rained all day so we would not have been able to do much and now we were quite near Eumungerie, a favourite stop of ours. We pulled in to the camp ground expecting our usual, bone dry, $5 unpowered spot only to find the place was flooded and all the caravans had to be squeezed into one tiny area by the toilets. We were astonished, Eumungerie is one of the driest places I have ever visited! Anyway, it was all good and we trotted over to the Drover's Dog for a shnitty and chips, still couldn't take the dog but we left him in the van.

The caretaker was selling a few bits on the side so Ian bought a lightweight solar panel from him before we left then we drove the short trip to Tooraweenah in glorious sunshine at last. The Tooraweenah Caravan Park was delightful. $30 with power, quite old but clean and well kept with colourful murals on  walls, a dog exercise area, little metal sculptures and fairy houses which pleased Ted when he arrived. There was also a big area with a fire pit set up for the daily happy hour. At 5pm the owners came around handing out bags of crisps and inviting all the campers to bring a beer or wine over and join them around the fire.

 The next day we walked the boys into the tiny town and admired the old buildings, which were labelled with information about their history, then went to the playground. There was nothing much trading any more apart from the Post Office, pub and a mechanic but it was a great little town. In the afternoon we visited an emu farm. It was free to look around the shop and animal enclosures where they kept the chickens, ducks, guinea pigs and they do tours at certain times for $15. We bought Harvey some incredibly smelly emu jerky then went for a picnic in the Warrumbungles National Park . Harvey had to be kept hidden in the car and we took it in turns to walk down to the stream with Ted.

Back to the caravan park for the 5pm social where Ian made the mistake of offering help to a couple of women who had got into a real mess trying to park their new camper. They were very rude to him then ended up having a huge screaming match with each other about who was to blame for the parking disaster while we all sat and watched. 

It was Labor Day and NRL Grand Final weekend so we were expecting the next caravan park to be expensive. We stopped in Coonabarabran for coffee passing a huge anti vax protest and dodging a group offering to open us up to the Holy Ghost only to walk into another group trying to get us to come to their bible classes. We escaped and drove onto Narrabri which is a service town for the new inland railroad construction which should be finished in 2027. It will be freight only carrying huge trains from Melbourne to Brisbane taking 110 Road Trains off the roads every day. The size, variety and quantity of the equipment we saw taking part in the construction process was amazing.

We arrived at Moree Tourist Park and were pleasantly surprised to discover the powered sites were only $36 a night. It was quite a nice park with hot spas fed by the hot springs, lots of cabins there which were occupied by the rail workers. Ted liked the tiny playground especially when a cat strolled in and casually went down the slide. The playground backed on to the Mehi River and the key to the gate was kept at reception for people who wanted to fish there. The river runs through the centre of town and is usually pleasant and tranquil but it was brown and raging this time. It had burst its banks in some spots and, after we left, it rose up and flooded most of the town. 

Moree has a bit of a reputation and there are warnings everywhere about keeping your possessions locked up, but I like it. As long as you are sensible it is a great place to stay, the buildings are beautiful, there are plenty of cafes and good shops and it has the hot springs. We took the boys swimming at the public Artesian Baths. One pool is pretty warm where we played with the kids but the second is really hot and people just stand around in it. I find that creepy, rather like being in a bath with strangers.

 We stayed one more night after the family moved on but started to receive flood warning messages on our phones so decided it might be sensible to head home more quickly than we had planned. After a quick detour to see the Big Plane (it is just a plane so I don't think it should really count as a Big Thing) we scooted towards home, stopping for a quick look at a Lake in Barrabba which looked like a great place to stay but would be asking for trouble this trip. 

 After an unforgettable few days in Mungo National Park we rose early to head off to retrieve Harvey from the kennels. There were a few spots of rain so we wanted to get the 100kms of dirt road out of the way before it became slippery. 

This trip was all about discovering new places and we still had plenty of time before we needed to be home, so once we had collected Harvey, we retraced our steps and struck off to Balranald in the Riverina. Our journey took us along the Sturt Highway, a couple of hours of long, straight road until we eventually reached Balranald and checked out the free camp. It was in the car park of the swimming pool and looked a bit grim so we moved on to the Balranald Caravan Park, $25 unpowered on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. Since our return from this trip there has been terrible flooding in these areas and, at one point, large parts of Balranald were actually in the Murrumbidgee but, while we were there it was beautiful.  

 The town was small but had a little supermarket, pub, cafe and a splendid visitor centre all walking distance from the caravan park and it was very pleasant to walk beside the river keeping our eyes open for endangered Southern Bell Frogs who hide out in the area. In the evening hundreds of galahs landed to graze by our van and as the sun went down the frog chorus began. 

Harvey was strangely sticky with an odd whiff about him when he came out of the kennels so our first job before heading on our way was to stick him under the outside shower. Once he was presentable again we grabbed a coffee and egg and bacon roll at the visitor centre cafe (excellent) and set off. The journey took us across the Hay Plain which is incredibly dull, 1.5 hours of absolutely nothing. Towards the end the monotony was broken by massive cotton farms, thousands of bales of the stuff and huge reservoirs storing the enormous amount of water it controversially takes to grow cotton in a hot, dry country like Australia.

 Eventually we reached Hay and a free camp named Sandy Point, very nice, short dirt road in with a few muddy bits but beautiful on the Murrumbidgee with spotlessly clean flushing toilets. The campsite became really busy after we arrived and someone turned up with a guitar (pet hate of mine when camping) and strummed away assuming we all wanted to hear how talentless he was. We drove into the town but it was rather uninspiring, some lovely old buildings but plenty of newer ugly ones squeezed in between. 

Hay did not have a great deal to keep us there and rain was forecast which could have made it tricky exiting the camping area so we made a late decision to move on to Lake Cargelligo. We drove back into town and got a hot shower at the visitor centre for $2, bought firewood and went to have a look at the museum at the railway station before we left. The museum was housed in two railway carriages and full of fascinating information about prisoners of war who were placed in a camp in the area. The British shipped almost 2000 residents who originally came from enemy countries, to Australia. The reality, however, was that their countries of origin were not always enemies of the British in fact they included people living in Britain who had come from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The prison camp was set up on the Hay Plain where there was nothing for about 100km in any direction so nobody was going to be escaping. The Australians then added some of their own residents with foreign backgrounds, many of whom were already naturalized Australians, quite shocking.

 After that sobering experience we hit the road again and drove the incredibly boring 2.5 hours to Lake Cargelligo which was gorgeous! Frogs Hollow was the name of the free camp with toilets on the banks of a huge lake with pelicans and beautiful sunsets, a great spot for birdwatchers and walking distance into town. As soon as we arrived an elderly chap pulled up in his car and sold Ian a plum pudding(?) these things happen in small towns more often than you might imagine. Lake Cargelligo was a very friendly town with a large aboriginal community. There were a couple of cafes, a pub and a mobile barber/nail salon doing a roaring trade. 

Woke to sunshine but cold winds and picked up some supplies before heading to a free camp just outside Forbes that a camper had recommended to us. We stopped in Condobolin for fuel and discovered a marvellous art installation completely made up of utes all of them represented something very Australian. Condobolin calls itself The Home of the Ute but, apart from the display of utes, the town did not have a lot going for it. There was a bit of an uncomfortable feel to the place with a few people lying on the pavement outside the supermarket and a ute full of hillbilly types cruising around throwing rubbish out of the windows. We decided to move on and got back to the Lachlan Valley Way. Every so often we would pass a sign indicating a sculpture just off the road so we pulled over to look at each one, some were great, some less so but they added a bit of interest to the journey.

 The recommended camp was at Jemalong Weir. It was a bit disappointing actually, completely empty and miles from anything which made it feel a bit lonely. It was tidy with decent toilets and apparently the fishing was good but I wouldn't stop there again. 

We were heading for the home straight after our month away with only a couple more stops to go. Peak Hill was on the route so we stopped to have a look at the gold mining exhibition and walk there, which was great. The town was terribly run down and a huge, nameless company was buying up all the surrounding farms so I don't know what is going to happen there.

 We passed through Forbes, Parkes and Dubbo, all of which we have visited several times before pitching up in Eumungerie. I don't know why we like this place but we do, it is a great stop in a tiny town by a grain railway, $5 unpowered, $10 powered and a fenced oval for the dog to run in. We had dinner at the Drover's Dog which seems to be permanently for sale and the caretaker even supplies firewood for a gold coin donation. 

 Jerry's Plains was to be our last stop because we have become a bit obsessed with checking to see if the pub has opened. Every time we visit it is closed then we see a Facebook post saying it has new owners etc. and we saw one of these recently so we were hopeful we would finally get a beer and a meal in Jerrys Plains.After stopping in Gilgandra for coffee, bustling little town with a couple of very dilapidated antique shops, we passed through Mendooran and resolved to stay there next time. We pulled in to Jerrys Plains and paid our $5 donation then walked over to the pub to find it closed again until further notice. 

 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.