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. 

 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.