This has been one of our quickest turnarounds as we have only been home for a little over two weeks from our last escape.
Having booked for the Australian Caravan Club’s annual muster later this month at Bingara, in north western NSW, we decided to spend an extra few days in travelling there and visit relatives in Gunnedah and also spend time at Lightning Ridge, an opal mining town in Northern NSW that we have visited before but have always wanted to return to.
We had left most of the camping gear in the car and as we intended to purchase groceries after leaving Sydney, all we had to do was to pack clothing in readiness to leave.
“He” had planned with a neighbour to have a vacant car spot across the road for us to allow departure (this also allowed us to have the car hitched on the previous day) so just before 9:00am, we were ready to depart.
As fate would have to our it, we had clear access to our street in both directions with not a vehicle parked anywhere. This was a first since we have had the caravan. Needless to say, with so much room available, “He” managed to get it wrong and turned too late. After a couple of short reverses, the caravan was parked in the street where we did our usual mandatory checks of lights etc.
Leaving after 9:00am and with school holidays in NSW, our drive to the Sydney to Newcastle freeway was easy although we managed to find every red light on the way.
We encounter some rain just before the Brooklyn Bridge but it was not enough to require the wipers to be used.
We had a steady and uneventful trip through to Singleton where we stopped for food.
After Singleton, we passed the massive holes left by hole mining (what an ugly scar on this part of the world), then the two power stations before arriving in Muswellbrook where we refuelled. We purchased our even meal in Aberdeen and then continued through to a small town called Wallabadah and our overnight stop at the “First Fleet Park”.
We had heard about this stop and understood that for a small fee, power was available. Whilst this might be the case, we saw no one connected to power and the post that we tried was not working. The council ask for a $10 camping fee and we imagine this is to offset the maintenance on the toilet block and showers.
After doing a quick setup, we walked around the memorial to both the vessels and passengers on the First Fleet. There is a small monument for each vessel and stones where the names of those aboard are etched. Later in the afternoon we had happy hour and competed in a board game.
Deciding to have a walk before tea, we started to talk to another couple who were on their way to the CMCA Rally in Bundaberg. They had driven from their home in Jindabyne in Southern NSW. “He” was asked several questions about caravanning and we soon learnt that this was their second day in their van. They had a motorhome previously but caravanning is entirely new to them.
We spoke for some time and then invited them for drinks where we continued to talk until about 7:30pm.
We had a quick tea and decided to head to bed and watch television. By 9:15pm the television was off and we were asleep. It had been a long day.