In our first post of this series (To and Fro: 1 Feb 2022), we said “With a move-in date now likely to be months away, we collected the kayak and a few other camping bits from the shed, and will tour south for up to 4 months.” Rather than 4 months, just 4 weeks elapsed before we decided that we were only wasting time, and couldn’t fully enjoy our touring, as what we really wanted to do was move in to our house at Taree. Though we can’t move in before June, our tenants (the previous owners) agreed to our request that we live in the van on the property for the month of May to at least start sorting the shed and planning the landscaping. With a BlazeAid camp established just near Taree, we decided we could be more useful BlazeAiding until May, and be in our neighbourhood to attend to things if necessary, and take over the maintenance of the yard from mid-March to assist our tenants (and I get to play on my new ride-on mower).
So, yet again, another detailed schedule is thrown out the window, and a new plan set in its place.
Before the change of plan, we headed west from the southern NSW coastal town of Tathra, crossing the Great Divide via Cooma, Adaminaby and Kiandra towards Tumbarumba for the 25th Annual Tumbafest, stopping overnight in the Kosciuszko National Park on the way. By the time we reached Tumba, Carol had caught my cold and was too sick to attend the first day of the festival. I attended for a few hours, but we were both able to go on the Sunday. Again, the festival didn’t disappoint, with great live music, food, local wine and markets.
Tumbafest put us close to a potential venue for our 2022 Bushtracker Annual Muster in Corryong, just across the Murray in Victoria, enabling us to check out the town and camping facilities and meet with the Mayor and the President of the Towong Recreation Ground committee.
From there it was downstream along the Murray to a camp we’d enjoyed 4 years ago, at which point we decided we’d prefer to begin our journey north to return to Taree. We stopped a few nights just outside Tumbarumba on Mannus Lake, then travelled through Batlow, Tumut, Wee Jasper (oops, delete Wee Jasper. Eight km out of Tumut we had to turn back….Carol has an aversion to signs that read “ROAD UNSUITABLE FOR CARAVANS”). Then on to Bundanoon before reaching Lane Cove for a week in Sydney to catch up with family.
Due to the change in plans, this will be our final post in this series. Hopefully we’ll get to WA next year, at which time we’ll start up the Blog once again.
Thanks for following us.
Between Adaminaby and Kiandra, in the high country of the Snowy Mountains, is the beautiful Denison Campground, just upstream of Lake Eucumbene, with its local kangaroo population. As with so much of the south coast and high country, this part of the park was also subjected to the devastation of the Black Summer bushfires. After a 400m (vertical) descent along Goat Ridge Road from Kiandra, Henri and Blake were glad for a quick rest stop to cool their brakes.
We camped at the Tumbarumba racecourse for the festival, and secured a nice elevated site. Because of our colds we missed the headline acts Jessica Mauboy and The Wolf Brothers, but we saw several on Sunday including the female country rock band Southbound (pictured).
Towong Racecourse, near Corryong, might be the location of the Bushtracker Owners Group 2022 Annual Muster in September. Not a bad looking location.Whilst stopped at the Mt Alfred Gap lookout along the Murray, a steely wedge tailed eagle swooped down and stole Carol’s hat. Further upstream at Bringenbrong Bridge, a large Murray crayfish erupted from the water in an attempt to capture Carol. More sedate and safer steelwork was the outlet gates of the Khancoban Reservoir.The Murray boasts many beautiful camp spots, this one at Burrowye Bend, just upstream of which is the Mt Alfred Gap lookout.Mannus Lake near Tumbarumba, absolutely perfect one day, then degenerated to squally winds and heavy rain two days later, only to clear again for our departure.The rain started on the last 20km of our 350km drive from Mannus Lake to Bundanoon, and it didn’t let up all night. It bucketed down. Fortunately, we were able to fit onto our site at Gambells Rest in the Morton National Park at Bundanoon without having to unhitch, enabling us to remain reasonably dry. The relatively short (156km) drive from Bundanoon to Lane Cove saw us driving at times with about 20m visibility on the expressway due to extreme downpours. Slowing to under 80km/h I was fearful of someone running up our rear, however most people appeared to drive to the conditions. The sites at Lane Cove that are accessible are a quagmire. Thankfully we have a concrete slab under the awning.Our 2022 journey (yellow)
Despite Lake Oberon being only 48km from Bathurst, we decided it might be worth a visit, especially as it’s free to camp there. We’re also in no hurry to get anywhere, so why not stay and check out the lake. We originally thought we’d stay for 2 nights, but as we had a nice view of the lake, internet access and plenty of water on board, we stayed for 5! We ventured onto the water on three occasions, one of which was quite windy, and the last paddle was like paddling on a mirror. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera with me on that occasion. Steve F, you’ll be pleased to know that we paddled to the dam wall (a leisurely 4km each way). Each time we went out we paddled about 8km. We were surprised by the lack of birdlife. Whilst we did see grebes, pacific black ducks, maned ducks, coots, parrots and magpies, there was a distinct lack of numbers of each. Every afternoon a severe thunderstorm came through, sometimes just skirting around us, other times passing right overhead, dumping heavy rain on us and the lake.
Whilst there, Bob, Jane and one of their grandsons, Leo, came down and we all travelled to Mayfield Garden, an extraordinary private garden just 15 minutes from Oberon. Read more about it below with the photos.
Once we’d had our fill of Lake Oberon, we stayed 2 nights at the Bummaroo Ford campground in part of the Abercrombie River National Park. Having arrived on Thursday we were the only ones there and secured the best campsite. Lamb shanks cooked over an open fire on Thursday night made up for no internet or television access. Unfortunately, Friday was plagued by gusty winds and intermittent rain all day, so we didn’t risk a fire that evening, though the winds calmed down toward dusk.
Following our two nights at Abercrombie is was time to make some choices as to where to go and where to stay. Reviewing numerous coastal freedom camps and caravan parks around Nowra didn’t reveal anything particularly appealing so we called Mel’s dad to see if we could spend a few nights on the driveway of their holiday house in Vencentia while we sorted out our next few months. As usual, Kyrie was very obliging and said we could stay as long as we wanted. We stayed 7 nights which gave us the opportunity to get washing done in town and hang it out on the backyard clothes line, do some specialty item shopping in Nowra, undertake a video meeting for the BOG committee, enjoy a few local paddles and dine in Huskisson to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
Continuing south, our next stay was at Burrill Pines campground, just south of Burrill Lake near Ulladulla. A large motel/cabin/campsite/conference centre which was overpriced for what you got. We stayed 3 nights but paddled only once, despite 4 paddling locations within 30 km. We’ll be back in the region one day to enjoy those missed opportunities.
A short 45km drive on Tuesday morning (15th) had us stopping at South Durras at the Lakesea caravan park to paddle Durras Lake, reputedly a stunningly beautiful lake. The lake didn’t disappoint, however the desire to have a swim at our turn-around rest spot was thwarted by thousands of jelly blubbers (Catostylus mosaicus) of all sizes in the lake. Whilst they’re not dangerous, I wasn’t keen on sharing my swimming space with them.
Following 3 nights at South Durras we travelled another 45km south, this time to Moruya. We had planned to travel further, but as it was a weekend, all other sites I had considered were booked out. Whilst there, we drove to Tuross Lake for a paddle amongst the labyrinth of islands and shallow coves. Beautiful clear skies and water, but a stiff breeze made the going tough in unsheltered areas.
From Moruya we travelled to the small town of Kalaru, just west of Tathra to paddle the Bega River. We passed several other paddling locations on the way down which we’ll explore another time. Unfortunately, our arrival at Kalaru saw the arrival in me of a head cold. We had RATs so I was able to confirm a negative COVID diagnosis, but decided not to venture out on a cool, cloudy day, despite it being beautifully calm. That’ll have to wait for another day too.
The south coast is a mecca for paddling, and also pedalling as there are cycle paths through most of the towns. Next time we’re here we may have to bring the bikes as well as the kayak. But for now we’re off to Tumbarumba, in the Snowy Valleys of NSW.
Oberon Dam (1943-1947) is situated on the Fish River about 3 kilometres south of Oberon and has a capacity of 45,000 megalitres. The dam is one of only seven concrete slab and buttress dams in Australia, and of these dams has the highest wall and largest storage capacity. Oberon Dam’s original concrete slab and buttress wall was 21.3 metres high, although the foundations and buttress bases were built to allow later raising to its maximum design height of 33.5 metres (1954 – 1957). (Gotta love engineering). The scheme supplies water to Wallerawang and Mount Piper power stations, to Oberon and Lithgow councils for domestic and industry use, and to more than 200 landholders along its length. It also supplements town supplies in the upper Blue Mountains.Mayfield was established in 1984, originally as a sheep farm. The heart of the property has been gradually transformed by the Hawkins family into one of the largest privately owned cool climate gardens in the world. The 20 Ha (49 acre) Mayfield Garden is open 363 days of the year. The Hawkins’ Family Garden is a further 55 Ha (136 acre) and open 4 times a year (not when we were there. We missed it by one week). The garden is simply jaw dropping in its size, complexity and peacefulness.Oberon is surrounded by stunning scenery, and the local tourism association has published five tourist drives for the taking. We took an 85km loop through the towns of Tarana, Rydal and Hampton. Each town boasts little more than a pub and a few shops, and a railway station at two. Top photos are the Rydal Railway station and Rydal’s Alexander Hotel. Unfortunately we would have had an hour wait for lunch there, so we motored on to the Hampton Halfway Hotel (bottom pics).Oberon has a significant timber industry, with Borg Panels and Highland Pine Products occupying 1 square kilometre of land immediately north of the township. Our camp at Bummaroo Ford overlooked the Abercrombie River. Leaving Abercrombie we turned off the main road at Taralga in the southern highlands to take a road less travelled through to Marulan. Unfortunately we had to abort after 20km as the road ahead was washed away following heavy rain. The detour however did afford us a view of the Taralga wind farm, consisting of 51 turbines that can generate 107MW of power, enough for 38,000 homes. Completed in 2015, it was purchased that year by the Chinese state-owned utility State Power Investment Corp (directly under the central government of China) for a reported A$300 million. Hmmm!!Vincentia is a lovely township on the southwestern shore of Jervis Bay. Kyrie and Helen’s holiday home is on an elevated block 2km from town. Whilst there we paddled on Currambene Ck, Wandandian Ck and Sussex Inlet. The photo is Currambene Ck during a break. 4km north of Vincentia is the bayside town of Huskisson. A massive seafood stack at the Huskisson Hotel was our anniversary dinner, shown completed. It’s a pity the seafood wasn’t particularly fresh.Burrill Pines campground straddles part of the Meroo National Park and backs on to Wairo Beach. So much of the south coast was devasted during the black summer bushfires, with fluffy new growth on most trees as evidence of the inferno. Whilst paddling Lake Conjola we were astounded as to how the RFS had managed to save so many houses that were obviously completely surrounded by fire.South Durras and the surrounding Murramarang National Park are renowned for their friendly kangaroo population, many of which come into the campground each afternoon. Less friendly in appearance were the jelly blubbers in Durras Lake.Moruya, founded in 1851, is a historic little town on the south bank of the Moruya River. The town is rich in agricultural history and the Moruya Quarry supplied the granite for the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Being a weekend, we were lucky to secure a site, with a less than desirable view from the balcony, but the views whilst paddling the Tuross River were superb.Whilst in Moruya we took a tourist drive north through the beautiful coastal towns of Broulee, Mossy Point, Tomakin, Malua Bay and Surf Beach, before packing up and heading south to Tathra and our camp at Kalaru. The map shows our 2022 route in yellow.
Hello everyone. Our last post was back on 1 August 2021 when we returned to Sydney for the birth of our granddaughter Grace. Our plan from then had been to sell our unit at Pennant Hills, buy a property in Taree and move in, and then prepare for a return trip to WA later in 2022. This hasn’t quite gone to plan.
As you’ll read, we’re back on the road, so the blog is back up and running.
During our 3 months in Sydney, we did sell our unit and made several trips to the Taree area between exchange and settlement to search for a new home. The day before settlement our furniture was collected and put into storage, then we hitched up the van on the day of settlement (October 20) and moved to a van park in Cundletown, just north of Taree, to continue our search. We found a property we liked, exchanged in mid-November and settled on Carol’s birthday (December 14). Unfortunately, we were unable to move in upon settlement due to delays downstream in the chain of property sales. We agreed to the delay with the worst-case scenario being that we can’t take possession until June 2022. I was feeling optimistic, as there was a chance that we could move in by Christmas, or mid-January.
We could see no reason to hang around Taree now that we have found a house, so we took the opportunity to travel and catch up with friends and family around the place. First stop was Kylie’s campground in the Crowdy Bay National Park, just 40km north of Taree, where we spent 5 days with friends Steve and Bron exploring the park and surrounds. From there it was to Gumma Reserve near Macksville, a little further north, to join the Bushtracker Owner’s Group NSW mini muster for a further 5 days where we caught up with several old friends and made new ones.
We returned to the van park in Cundletown in order to see to the delivery of our furniture from storage in Sydney to storage in our new shed in Taree. It’s a large shed, so we asked the previous owners (who are now our tenants) that we wished to occupy 2 of the 4 bays. We stayed on until after Christmas, with Nicole, James and the two boys coming down the spend 4 days with us from Christmas Day. On the 29th we all headed south to see Sydney families.
We then did a bit more touring up through Armidale and on to Boonoo Boonoo National Park to spend a few nights with Grahame and Julie (Carol’s sister) before returning to Taree to rattle the cage to see if the move-in date was imminent. It wasn’t to be, so we’ve now resigned ourselves to the worst-case scenario. To date we’ve done a lot of toing and froing from Taree. With a move-in date now likely to be months away, we collected the kayak and a few other camping bits from the shed, and will tour south for up to 4 months.
First stop Fishing Point on Lake Macquarie to check out Steve and Bron’s new home (they settled on the same day as us, the only difference being they could move in). From there to Bathurst via Bylong. We spent 3 nights in Bathurst to catch up with Bob (Carol’s brother) and Jane. We’re now camped by Lake Oberon, before continuing south to seek out many kayaking locations.
Final farewell. Three locals came to bid us farewell in our final week at Pennant Hills; Our last meal on the balcony; G-ma getting to know little Grace before we head north to Taree.Our new home Left: Our home for 2 months on the edge of the Dawson River in Cundletown while we look for a new home; Whilst in Taree we were able to attend a free concert at the River Stage on the banks of the Manning River. Right: Located between Wingham and Taree, our new home is 8 km from the centre of Taree. Our 4-bedroom home and 4-bay shed are situated on 2 acres (0.8 ha) of gently sloping land.Having exchanged contracts on our new home, there was no point hanging around Taree, so we headed off on a little adventure north, first stop being a camp with Steve and Bron at Kylie’s Campground in the Crowdy Bay National Park. Whilst there we walked around Diamond Head and Kylie’s Lookout, with views to Kylie’s Beach to the south and Dunbogan Beach to the north. Author Kylie Tennant loved the area and wrote of it in her novel “The Man on the Headland”.Bushtracker Owners Group (BOG) mini muster at Gumma Reserve. A fun 5 days at the end of November with campfire chats, a working dog display, damper cook-off, oyster farm tour and a final night at the Star Hotel in Macksville.After the BOG muster we returned to Taree to keep on top of the settlement requirements for our new home. Between dealings with our conveyancer, bank and real estate agent we set out to do some local touristy stuff which included the Cattai Wetlands and Crowdy Head lighthouse.The mid-north coast has had its fair share of rain over the past few months, but not enough to cause major flooding. However, on one high tide, the Dawson River was kept high by the swollen waters in the Manning River just 500m downstream, causing the tide to be higher than expected, inundating the foreshore and our campsite. Fortunately, the floodwaters will never reach our furniture, which is now stored in our shed at Taree.Another tourist drive took us to Ellenborough Falls, 50km north of Taree. At 200 metres, Ellenborough Falls is the tallest single drop waterfall in New South Wales and amongst the tallest in the southern hemisphere.On Christmas Day, Nicole, James, Connor and Patrick arrived from Lismore to spend 4 days with us. We then headed to Sydney where I was able to help Peter learn to ride his new bike, and we hammed up a devastating crash to send the photo to his mum and dad. Somehow, they saw through the façade. I think Grace was pleased to see me too.On New Year’s Eve we left Sydney and headed north again for some more random touring, stopping overnight at Gloucester before reaching Armidale to spend a few nights at the showground and have a look around the region, including the heritage listed railway station. It was built from 1882 to 1883 by Edmund Lonsdale and Henry Sheldon Hoddard, and was opened on 3 February 1883 when the line was extended from Uralla. It was the terminus of the line until it was extended to Glen Innes on 19 August 1884.[1][2] It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.The area to the east of Armidale contains a wonderful array of gorges and waterfalls within numerous wilderness national parks. The New England NP has a lovely high altitude walk to Point Lookout (top right and middle right). On a clear day it’s possible to see to the coast, but with rain and low cloud there was nothing to look out to. We couldn’t even see the ground below the lookout. The sun broke through the clouds for about 2 minutes. The other images are of Dangars Falls and the Oxley Wild Rivers State Conservation Area.After leaving Dangars Falls we travelled through the little locality of Gostwyck. Founded in 1834, Henry Dangar bought the land from a Pastoralist named of Edward Gostwyck Cory. From its start over 180 years ago, Gostwyck Merino has evolved into a fibre that is finer than cashmere, with the works continued by the 5th and 6th generations of direct descendants of Henry Dangar. 200 elm trees line the driveway from the chapel. Originally part of Gostwyck Station, Deeargee Station and its unique octagonal woolshed gained their name from the old Gostwyck wool brand, DRG, which stood for “Dangar, Gostwyck”. The woolshed was built in 1872 and continues to be in operation today.Cypress Pine campground in the Boonoo Boonoo National Park (pronounced bunna-bunoo) is located 30km north of Tenterfield and 11km from the Qld border. It was a lovely campground, but for the constant rain that fell for the 3 days we were there. Fortunately, Grahame and Julie’s company made for an enjoyable few days with campfires, good food and good conversation. Boonoo Boonoo River passes through the campground and there’s an interesting bike trail nearby.During a break in the rain, we all headed off to Bald Rock, a large granite outcrop rising about 200 metres above the surrounding landscape. Measuring about 750 metres long and 500 metres wide this is the largest granite monolith in Australia. Grahame and I walked to the summit whilst Julie and Carol headed back to the picnic area after reaching the base of the rock. 360 degree views were had from the summit.Boonoo Boonnoo Falls45km north of Grafton is Secret Lake Retreat. A new campground on an 800-acre private property with a 60-acre lake. Opened on 1 December 2021 it has lots of open space, nice new facilities, a pontoon and free use of kayaks, noodles and truck tyres. However, with a potential capacity of 1000 campers (once the word is out), we don’t think that 3 toilets and 4 showers will manage.We returned to Taree again (mid-January) to be greeted with the news that access to our home will be some time away. Fortunately, Sandy, Rich and Sairsha were camped only 45 minutes away at Bonny Hills, and were keen to spend a few days with us beside the Dawson River to escape buffeting winds on the coast. Their company was a wonderful (and fun) distraction from the disappointing news. Hopefully our last camp at Taree before we move in.The start of a 4-month kayaking holiday was at Fishing Point in Steve and Bron’s new home. We paddled on Lake Macquarie, and had a pizza cook-off. Despite a sticky start, the outcome was spectacular.Leaving Fishing Point, we decided to take the road less travelled to head south…..by heading west to Bathurst via the tiny town of Bylong, where we camped in the sportsground beside St Stephen’s Anglican Church (1876).We spent 3 nights at the Bathurst Showground, visiting Bob and Jane and various members of their family over that time. Blake is not a small caravan, but he was dwarfed by our neighbour’s 5th wheeler at the showground.
