NSW/VIC 2025 Pt 2
- Ken Fredric
- Mar 21
- 29 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Day 41 - Goornong - Nullawil, VIC, 24 February, 2025
After loading up this morning, we set out on our travels again to spend a week or so exploring western Victoria.
On the way out of town, we stopped in at Bern & Helen's place to have a look at the water bore drilling truck in action trying to find them a source of water, but there was only the truck there, and no people to operate it. We had morning tea then headed out of Bendigo towards our first destination of St Arnaud.
The driving was mostly on back roads, past boring farming country and grain fields that had been harvested previously, so there wasn't anything really to see.
In St Arnaud we visited their silo art on the way into town, then we parked up in the main street and visited the information centre to get a map of the town's wall art trail.
We'd parked opposite the Shire Cafe, located in what was the shire building, and it was lunchtime, so we took the opportunity to have lunch there, before setting out to do some of wall art trail.
All the art had been painted by a St Arnaud local, and was focused around local people.
Back on the road, our next stop was at the small town of Wycheproof to see another example of the same artist's work, then we continued on to our final destination for the day, Nullawil.
The silo art here was one of the best examples we've seen, of a farmer and his dog, and we thought the detail was amazing.
A short distance from the silo art there is a Catholic church that offers free camping behind the church, so that was our camping spot for the night.
Day 42 - Nullawil - Patchewollock, VIC, 25 February, 2025
Continuing on our silo art trail of western Victoria, we set out this morning headed initially for the town of Sea Lake.
Driving the day before, we'd passed a few signs indicating that there were historical markers along the route, but we didn't bother stopping to check them out. Curiosity got the better of us when we came upon another sign not far out of Nullawil. It turns out that the markers were commemorating the building, in 1885, of the 204-mile long "dog netting fence" that ran from Tyntynder in Victoria to the SA border.
Driving into Sea Lake, we could see our first stop, some silo art, from about 5 km out of town. That silo art, by Drapl and The Zookeeper, was one of the better examples we've seen.
In town, we stopped in the main street, picked up some information from the visitor centre and went for a short walk around the town to look at their wall art.
Next up was a short drive to Lake Tyrrell, a 200 sq km inland salt lake. It was mostly completely dry unfortunately, but seemed like it would be spectacular when filled with water at sunrise and sunset.
Our next stop was at Ouyen to take a look at what they claim to be the biggest Mallee Tree root in Australia, and to have lunch inhouse.
Continuing on after lunch we passed through the small town of Walpeup, which has some silo art depicting a WW1 soldier and his Waler horse.
The last stop for the day was at Patchewollock, where we checked out their silo art and giant Mallee Fowl statues, before setting up for the night out the back of the Patchewollock Hotel, a free camp as long as you spend some money in the pub.
We caught up with all of our socials and other chores during the afternoon, before going to the pub for a drink and dinner later on.
Day 43 - Patchewollock - Murtoa, VIC, 26 February, 2025
Starting off today's drive around the silo art trail, we stopped first in Lascelles to see the husband and wife art on the silo in their sleepy little town.
Next stop along the trail was at Woomelang, where they have loads of field silos scattered around the town, painted with art that mostly depicts the local native wildlife. Just outside town another example of this art was sitting in front of a beautiful old shearing shed made with walls covered in kerosene tins.
On the way from Woomelang to
Warracknabeal we stopped in Rosebery and Brim to see more examples of silo art. The silo art in Brim was the first ever silo painted in Victoria, in 2016.
In Warracknabeal our first stop was the visitor information centre to pick up any brochures of the area, and to check out the Nick Cave tribute in the town where he was born.
After parking up for lunch beside the Yarriambiack Creek, we headed out of town, taking some pics of statues along the way.
The impressive silo art in Sheep Hills was our next stop on the trail, before continuing on to Murtoa, our last stop for the day, and for the next two nights.
On the way in to town we stopped at their silo art, then moved on to the Murtoa Stick Shed.
The stick shed is an amazing example of Australian ingenuity, built during WW2. Because of the trading difficulties during the war, there was a huge glut of grain and a storage facility was needed.
The local people designed and built the enormous 4-acre, 270 metre long, 19 metre high shed using 560 unmilled poles (sticks), and it was soon dubbed "the stick shed".
The last short drive for the day was to the Murtoa Caravan Park where we got setup for two nights on a powered site.
Although the temperature was 36 degrees, there was a strong wind blowing that meant it wasn't too bad sitting outside, enjoying the view of Lake Marma, which we were camped beside.
Day 44 - Murtoa, VIC, 27 February, 2025
Today was mostly a down day to catch up on a few small chores, do some laundry and have a walk around Murtoa.
After a lazy start to the day, we did the 1.8 km walk around Lake Marma, amongst well-established gum trees, enjoying watching all the birdlife in and around the lake.
Near the end of the walk we passed an old stone fountain that was constructed in the mid 1890s, and also the war memorial that served as an entrance to the lake park.
After doing all our chores, we wandered the few hundred metres into the township, checking out any historical features as we passed them, picked up a couple of things from the small supermarket and grabbed some lunch from a nearby cafe.
With everything up-to-date, the afternoon was spent relaxing, sitting outside enjoying the cooler temps and light breeze.
Day 45 - Murtoa - Bendigo, VIC, 28 February, 2025
With not too far to drive for the day, we took our time packing up this morning.
To complete this part of the silo art trail, our first stop was the tiny town of Rupanyup to see their silo art of two children dressed to play sports. It was sort of monochrome, faded and not that impressive.
The last artwork on this trip was more impressive, a Barking Owl, which is native to that region of the Pyrenees, in Avoca. Apart from the great artwork, what made this silo art stand out was that it was done in fluorescent paint, so that at night-time it was glow in the dark.
After having morning tea in Avoca, we continued on to Castlemaine, where we pulled up at the Vintage Bazaar.
The bazaar is housed in an old mill building, and surrounding mill buildings contain more arty stuff, and food-related businesses.
The bazaar was huge, containing hundreds of stalls full of old, vintage, antique stuff. We wandered around there for ages, probably only covering half of the stalls. There was a lot of quirky signs all around the bazaar, that had us laughing as we walked around.
Going in search of food, we ended up at the Das Kaffeehaus cafe which, as the name suggests, has a German-themed menu. We had a couple of drinks and a good feed before going to check out the other artisan food shops, making purchases at the ice cream shop, cheese shop and chocolate shop.
From there it was a short drive back to Goornong to stay with Zac and
Hana for a few more days.
We had all had quite big days and didn't have any food prepared, so we went out to the Goornong Hotel for our evening meal.
Day 46-55 - Bendigo, VIC, 01-10 March, 2025
Our second stint in Bendigo was about spending lots of family time together, doing whatever we could to help Zac and Hana along with their new house, and to indulge in some cultural activities.
Unfortunately, during that time we both got sick with a cold/flu/COVID/ the dreaded pox or some other mysterious illness, that slowed us down considerably for a week or so.
On the second weekend we drove to Harcourt for their annual apple festival, on the Saturday of what was a long weekend.
There was plenty to see, although it was rather hot walking around in mid-30s temps. We came home with some apple pie and a couple of bottles of wine.
The following day, another hot one, we visited the Lost Arts Festival at the Bendigo Racecourse. There were thousands of people there, and hundreds of exhibitors so, once again, there was plenty to see and take in. After about 3 hours we were flagging, with little energy left because of our illness, and had to go and sit under a tree to wait until the others were ready to go. On the way home we stopped off at the Drover's Arms for a few drinks, a welcome relief after standing in the sun for hours.
Day 56 - Bendigo - Tungamah, VIC, 11 March, 2025
After a leisurely start to the day, we packed up and began the journey back towards "home".
We didn't have much of a plan for the day, other than to continue the Victorian silo art trail in the direction we were heading.
Heading east, we passed through Colbinabbin, which has some good silo art, but we didn't stop because we'd done that on a previous trip.
Our first stop for the day was at the small town of Rushworth to do some shopping, and to grab a coffee and sticky bun for morning tea.
Our first silo art stop for the day was at Goorambat, where there was some wall art entering the town, then a couple of silos in the tiny township, which were quite impressive.
The next town along the trail was Devenish, which had three silos painted with a military theme, with one silo depicting a WW1 Light Horse Regiment soldier, another of a WW1 nurse, and the other depicting a modern-day army nurse.
Further along the trail we came to what was to be our stopping point for the night, St James.
After checking out their silo art, which focused on local characters, including G.J Coles, we headed over to the pub to see about staying behind the pub for the night. However, the pub appeared to be permanently closed, so we had lunch in Mata, then continued on to what was actually our last stop for the night at the free RV park in Tungamah.
The RV park was set amongst trees beside the picturesque Boosey Creek, that included toilets and hot showers, and was only a 300-metre walk to the pub for dinner.
Day 57 - Tungamah - Kerang, VIC, 12 March, 2025
Starting off our last day of the Victorian Silo Art Trail, our first stop after leaving the free camp was the silo art in the Tungamah township, which depicted some local birdlife.
The next town along the trail was Katamatite, which had a single silo painted, and was one of the more impressive examples we’ve seen. It comprised a scene showing local Aborigines, another showing a train crossing a wooden railway bridge and the other scene of a team of six draught horses pulling an old wooden-framed plough through a dusty paddock.
The last town on the trail was Picola, which had another impressive example of silo art depicting local birds, primarily a huge Superb Parrot, and also a Kangaroo with Joey and a White Heron.
It was getting close to lunchtime by then, so we drove a few more kilometres to Cohuna, where we parked up in the shade beside the Gunbower Creek and had lunch inhouse.
After lunch, and after a visit to the nearby visitor information centre, we drove a bit further to Kerang, where we parked up in the free camp at the racecourse for the night, dealing as best we could with the mid-30s temps and lack of breeze.
Day 58 - Kerang - Mungo NP, NSW, 13 March, 2025
Leaving Kerang this morning, we started the 300 km drive north to Mungo NP, our destination for the next two nights.
Not too far out of Kerang we came to a tourist sign pointing to Middle/Reedy Lake, which is the largest Ibis rookery in the southern hemisphere. A short walk from the carpark there is a large two-storey bird hide that included a telescope on the upper level. The lake system was very large and well populated with many varieties of birds.
Continuing the drive, we drove past dozens of lakes of varying sizes, one of which was Lake Boga, where we stopped to see the very colourful silo art that celebrated the Catalina Flying Boat Depot, which maintained Catalinas during WW11.
Passing through Swan Hill we only stopped to take some photos of The Big Cod, then carried on out of town over the old wooden translift bridge that crosses the Murray River.
Our lunchtime stop was at Yanga Station, which had been a working sheep station from the 1830s until 2005, when it was purchased by the NSW state government and turned into a national park.
We wandered around, mostly outside because you need to get a key to see inside the homestead, but a couple were doing some cleaning so we got to see a couple of the rooms inside.
After lunch in Mata, we took to the roads again, not stopping until we got to Mungo NP, where we chose a slightly shady campsite and got setup for a couple of nights.
We did sit outside, despite the temperature of 37 degrees, very little breeze and rabid flies.
Later in the afternoon a mob of Kangaroos came around to our campsite and didn't show any signs of leaving. We put some water in our washing up bowl to give to them and they scoffed that very quickly, and another couple of refill. We had to chase them away in the end to get rid of them.
Day 59 - Mungo NP, NSW, 14 March, 2025
Staying in the national park for another night, we planned to use today to explore as much of the Lake Mungo area as possible, including a 70 km round trip of the lake.
Our first port of call was the visitor information centre, to see what was on offer. The information centre actually has some great displays on the Mungo Lake area, including a lot of history about the local indigenous people, how the lake formed and became dry, and many Aboriginal artefacts.
While looking around the centre we discovered that the 70 km self-guided drive tour around the lake was partially closed due to flood damage the previous year.
Outside the centre there are more displays, including a recreation of footsteps of Aboriginal people that were captured in clay nearby about 30,000 years ago, and are considered the oldest such record of life outside Africa.
There are also a lot of buildings scattered around the area that were once part of Mungo Station, and which include a large drop-log construction shearing shed, that we walked around.
Setting out to do the parts of the self-guided driving tour that were still accessible, we first drove out to the Lunette, or Walls of China, a dune-like wall that is 30 km long and surrounds part of the lake. The Lunette is aptly named, appearing similar to a lunar landscape to some degree, but more impressive.
A little further along the Lunette we came to Red Top Hill, where you can park up on top of the Lunette and take in some fabulous views of the surrounding countryside, and the weird rock formations below.
Driving back out past the visitor centre, we set out on the last drive for the day, The Pastoral Loop, that took us to the remains of the old Zanci homestead and shearing shed. The temperature was in the high 30s by that time, so we didn’t spend too much time looking around before heading back to the cool of the car air con.
Before going back to the campground, on a whim, we decided to have a look at the Mungo Lodge, which we’d seen signs for on the road advertising a café. Turns out it was an oasis in the sun-baked desert, where we had a couple of cold beers and a nice lunch.
Back at camp we got setup and had to stay inside to find some respite from the 40-degree temperature and thousands of flies that wanted to carry us away.
Day 60 - Mungo NP - Ivanhoe, NSW, 15 March, 2025
Our only mission for today was to drive 175 km to Ivanhoe, on what we had been told were really rough roads.
Having driven a few kilometres, we agreed with assessment of the road condition and stopped to reduce tyre pressures for a more comfortable ride.
After travelling only about 30 km in the first hour, the going improved considerably and, while there were still rough patches, mostly we could drive at 60-70 km/h.
With a lot of Kangaroos, Emus cattle and sheep crossing the road in front of us in various places, that was probably a fast enough speed anyway. We also saw a large flock of Major Mitchell Cockatoos flying off to the side of the road.
With about 65 km still to travel, we thankfully hit the bitumen for the rest of the journey.
In Ivanhoe we had to go the servo/shop where the owner, who also owns the campground, sorted us a powered site for one night.
With the temperature close to the forecast maximum of 41 degrees, we didn't think we could cope with the heat for another night without power.
While we did setup outside, it was probably foolhardy to think we would actually sit out there in that heat.
Day 61 - Ivanhoe - Hillston, NSW, 16 March, 2025
Today was an easy driving day of only 150 km, but on roads of unknown condition.
We'd hadn't reinflated our tyres from the previous day, in case there was more unsealed road today, so we kept the speed down even though the first 50 km was on good sealed road.
After turning off at Mossgiel, the road turned to unsealed, but in good enough condition to travel at up to 80 km/h in places.
The countryside was quite boring, very flat and mostly featureless apart from a few trees here and there.
We did see a lot of wildlife though, alive and dead, including loads of Kangaroos and Emu, one flock of which numbered in the dozens.
Arriving in Hillston late morning, our first stop was the town's water tower, which had some impressive artwork adorning it.
After filling up with diesel, we parked in a side street to do a little bit of shopping, when the TPMS started beeping at us, indicating that the right-rear tyre was deflating. Not sure of the approach to take, we put some air into it to get us to the campground, where we booked in for a night on a powered site, as the temperature was in the high 30s again.
We discussed whether to leave the tyre as is, and get it looked at, at the nearby tyre place the next morning, or to change it. Reluctantly, we set about changing it, struggling with the heat while doing it.
After all that effort we relaxed for the afternoon inside in the air con.
Later in the afternoon we wandered over to the Ex Serviceman's Club for a well-deserved dinner.
Day 62 - Hillston - Hermidale, NSW, 17 March, 2025
With about 300 km to drive for today, and a flat tyre to sort, we were up and away earlier than usual, and at the tyre repair place by 8:30 A.M.
Luckily they were able to fit us in straight away and it wasn't long before we were on the road to Hermidale.
Apart from a quick stop to reduce the pressure on the repaired tyre, we drove all the way without stopping.
The countryside changed from large open expanses of farmland, to more heavily treed areas, and back again to more boring farmland.
We had to be careful to watch the road in front of us, as there were a lot of Kangaroos around both alive and roadkill, but more of a hazard were the hundreds and hundreds of feral goats on each side of the road, quite often crossing in front of us so that we had to come to a near stop each time. While the majority of the goats we saw were feral, we did pass places farming the goats.
We also spotted quite a few emus along the way.
In Hermidale we pulled up at the pub, checked that we could stay in the RV area beside the pub, and checked out the menu for dinner later in the day.
The weather had changed from being about 40 degrees the day before, to less than 25 degrees today with a strong and unpleasant wind blowing, so we stayed inside for the afternoon.
Late afternoon we went to the pub for a couple of drinks and a great meal.
Day 63 - Hermidale - Coonamble, NSW, 18 March, 2025
After a much cooler start to the day than we'd been used to lately, we got back on the road towards Nyngan.
A few kilometres out of Nyngan we turned off onto a side road to the Nyngan Solar Plant, which is ginormous! At the time of construction in 2015, it was the largest solar plant in the southern hemisphere. Some of the statistics are mind-boggling. The plant has over 1.3 million solar panels that generate 102 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 33,000 houses and is spread over 250 hectares.
We'd passed through Nyngan late the previous year, so we didn't feel the need to do any touristy stuff, and only stopped to fill up with diesel.
Our next stop was in Nevertire for a rest stop and morning tea. On the way out of town we did take a picture of their water tower art, not being able to remember if we'd seen it previously.
The next town along the way was Gulargambone, where we parked up in shady spot in a public park and had lunch inhouse.
After lunch we drove through the main street, which has a lot of wall art and metal sculptures, and stopped to take some pictures of an impressive sculpture of a team of bullocks pulling a cart, made primarily from chicken wire, and not far from that to take a pic of the town's water tower art.
Our last port of call for the day was Coonamble, where we pulled into the showgrounds for a donation campsite for the night. However, we couldn't identify where we should be parking, so we had to go to the visitor information centre to clarify that before returning to the showgrounds.
As soon as we found a nice shady spot for the night, a council employee came along and told us that there was an event happening and we would have to camp in another part of the showgrounds.
After moving to a less desirable area, we got setup in a dusty gravelled area and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Day 64 - Coonamble - Macquarie Marshes, NSW, 19 March, 2025
Our original plan for today was to have a very short drive to Quambone and stay there for the night behind the pub.
On the way out of Coonamble we visited the dump point, took a pic of the water tower art and went to the IGA to stock up on supplies.
By the time we drove to Quambone it was very early, too early to stop for the day, and the two options for camping there didn't look appealing. We had morning tea and decided to carry on driving and visit the Macquarie Marshes that we were going to do the next day.
At the first viewing platform we came to there was no water to be seen in any direction, and very little bird life.
Just before the second viewing platform, we came to Monkeygar Creek, where we had to drive through water for about 100 metres, that was about 300 mm deep.
Up on the second viewing platform we got to see some birdlife in the surrounding shallow water.
Not very far from there, there was a bush camp called Willie's Resort that we decided to stay at for the night.
We had to phone a lady to find out where to camp and to pay the $30 fee, which included toilets and hot showers.
The camp was quite remote and we were the only ones there. Although we did set up outside, the flies were quite bad so we mostly stayed inside for the afternoon.
Day 65 - Macquarie Marshes - Carinda, NSW, 20 March, 2025
Today was planned as another very short driving day, firstly to the Macquarie Marshes Burrima Boardwalk, then on to Carinda for the night.
After a slow start to the day we set out and arrived at the Burrima Boardwalk around 9:30 A.M.
We were lucky enough to be the only ones at the boardwalk, which made it much more enjoyable for us as we set out on the 2 km loop walk.
Much of the wetlands were dry, but there were a few places that had plenty of water to support the diverse wildlife.
Not far into the walk, in one of the places that had some water, we were startled by a loud rustling in the reeds about 20 metres off the boardwalk. It turns out we'd startled an Emu, which we assumed had come to that spot for water.
Along the walk we saw a few birds, but not as many as we'd hoped to see. We mostly saw Willie Wagtails, Swallows and some smaller birds that may have been honeyeaters that we couldn't positively identify.
About half way around the walk there is a viewing platform that gave us a better view of that part of the wetlands but, as there wasn't much water around, we didn't see any more native wildlife.
Shortly after leaving the viewing platform there was more rustling in the reeds, but noisier this time because of the deeper water. Disappointingly, we'd startled a group of about six feral pigs that were going about their business trashing the wetlands. We read later on that they were causing a lot of damage to the environment and were almost impossible to eradicate.
With the walk done, we drove to Carinda, marvelling at the huge numbers of Emus we saw along that part of the drive.
Our plan was to stay behind the Carinda Hotel and have our main meal of the day there. As with all plans.....
Talking to the man who'd just taken over the pub nine days previously, he said that they were transforming the whole outdoor area and that there weren't currently any camping spots, and that we would have to go the nearby community grounds area.
One of the reasons for going to the Carinda Hotel was that we'd read that it was used in the filming of David Bowie's Let's Dance video. The opening sequence of the video shows a truck driving along a dusty gravel road past the corner of the pub, and more of the video was shot inside the pub. Photos on the wall showed Bowie and other musicians playing up against a wall just inside the door of the pub.
We chatted with the owner and a lady who was doing some cleaning there, who was there when the video was shot, and who'd met David Bowie on that day, when she was 22 years old.
Deciding we'd go back to the pub for dinner, we drove the 500 metres to the community grounds and found a slightly shady site for the night, close to the amenities. Once again, we were the only ones there, but later on two other caravans came in.
Around 5:00 P.M. we walked up to the pub slowly in the 35-degree heat, looking forward to a nice cold beer and good feed.
Talking to the male owner of the pub, he told us about his wife, Maz, who had 250,000 Instagram followers, and who sold clothes for over-60s ladies on Facebook. She delivered our dinner later on so Meg took the opportunity to get a photo with her.
Day 66 - Carinda - Walgett, NSW, 21March, 2025
We didn't really have any plans for today, apart from driving a very short distance, about 70 km, to Walgett where the aim was to stay for two nights.
The only reason we planned to stay for two nights was that we had to wait until the following Monday to be able to get into Kaputar NP, which was closed at the moment for burn-offs.
Arriving early in Walgett we had a drive around the town looking for a place to refill our empty gas bottle, but were told that nobody in town does refills.
We also both badly needed haircuts but our search for a barber came up empty.
With nothing else we needed to do in town, we drove back out to the Alex Trevallion Park, which was an RV free camp with toilets and hot showers.
After initially setting up in what we thought was a good spot, we soon realised that we would be sitting in the sun all day if outside, so we moved to another site that was slightly better.
Even in the slightly better spot, we were still searching for shade, because it was so early in the day.
After lunch we had a good fall of rain, the first we'd seen for many weeks, possibly even since we left home.
The RV park wasn't quite as good as we'd expected, so we made the decision to only stay one night, and instead stay the next two nights in a campground in Narrabri.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing.
Day 67 - Walgett - Narrabri, NSW, 22 March, 2025
After a couple of slack days not driving very far, we upped the pace today with a 200 km drive to Narrabri.
While we could have taken the easy route using good roads that we knew were sealed, that would be boring and we decided to go via Come By Chance, partly because we liked the name of the town.
Before setting out we weren't able to establish whether the roads were sealed or not, and considering the rain we'd had the day before, unsealed roads could be a challenge.
The first part of the journey was on good sealed roads with very little traffic, but our luck eventually ran out when we hit the unsealed, black dirt roads, which we knew from past experience could be very treacherous when wet.
Thankfully the roads were mostly dry, with only a few wet patches here and there, and the going was good. As with the previous few days' drives, we saw a few Kangaroos and loads of Emus.
Eventually the unsealed roads turned back to sealed roads and we arrived in Narrabri around lunchtime.
Our first job in Narrabri was to refill our empty gas bottle, before driving to a park for lunch.
After lunch we hit the supermarket and bottle shop to replenish supplies that we'd need for our stay in Mt Kaputar.
The last drive for the day was to the Narrabri Big Sky Caravan Park where we booked into a powered site for the next two nights
Day 68 - Narrabri, NSW, 23 March, 2025
Apart from a walk into town to get a few things from the shop, today was a rest day.
Not long after we got back from the shops, the rain started falling and didn't really stop for the rest of the day, and carried on into the night.
Day 69 - Narrabri - Mt Kaputar, NSW, 24 March, 2025
After packing up all our wet belongings, we drove to to a nearby servo to fill up with diesel, then went into town in search of a barber or hairdresser, because our hair was getting out of control.
Coming up empty-handed on the haircutting front, we reverted to plan B, which was to go to an electrical goods store where we bought a hair clipping set, so we could do it ourselves.
The drive to Mt Kaputar was only about 50 km, so we took our time cruising along at 70 km/h.
It was easy going until we got to the last 20 km, for the drive up the mountain on narrow, winding and sometimes unsealed roads. Unfortunately in our wildlife count for the journey, goats outnumbered the Kangaroos we saw.
Arriving at the Dawson Spring campground, we were the only ones there, and we hoped it would stay like that. We got setup, but not outside as there was still some rain around at that time.
While we were chilling inside before lunch another vehicle came in and the single man eventually setup on a tent site across from us, so that was the end of us being alone for three days.
After lunch we did one of the shorter loop walks around the camping area, an easy 1.4 km grade 2 walk.
From our previous visit here in 2018, we were aware of the Pink Slugs that only exist in the Mt Kaputar area, and only come out after rain or when it is misty. Part-way around the walk we finally spotted a few of the slugs, but only from a distance. We also startled two goats that were sleeping on the boardwalk.
Back from the walk the rain had been holding off, so we setup outside and spent the afternoon out there, even though it was a bit cool.
We had loads of Kangaroos visit us later in the afternoon, including a mother with a Joey in her pouch.
Day 70 - Mt Kaputar, NSW, 25 March, 2025
Our mission today was to do as many of the walks around Mt Kaputar as we could manage.
Being out of condition with not walking much in the last couple of months, we didn't have very high expectations.
Being a bit cooler and overcast first thing, we managed to have a bit of a sleep in, and didn't set out until much later than normal.
We first walked out to the road we'd driven in on the day before, then set out on the Lindsay Rock Tops walk, which was a grade 3, 2 km return walk from that point. The walk was mostly through dense bush, until the last few hundred metres that required us to pick our way over a rough, rocky surface all the way out to the end point lookout.
From there we retraced our steps back to the start point, then set out to do the Bundabulla Circuit walk, which was another grade 3 walk, but this time 3 km long.
The going was more of the same mostly dense bush, apart from the Bundabulla Lookout, which required more climbing over rocky surfaces. The view from the lookout was a little muted with the cloud cover, but we could still make out the Warrumbungles in the distance.
Further around the circuit we stopped at the Eckford Lookout, for similar views of what we'd already seen.
Past the Eckford Lookout, the going got tougher when we had to go up steep hills for a long period, which tested our endurance.
The last lookout we stopped at was the Horsearm Lookout, with even more similar views to the south.
Not much further along we came to the summit, so the last part of the day's walking was downhill, past the start point of the Bundabulla Circuit, then back to camp.
We were exhausted, but pleased with our efforts, walking almost 7 km, over sometimes challenging ground.
After lunch we had a welcome hot shower (the day before we discovered that the disabled toilet also has a hot shower), then relaxed for the afternoon.
Day 71 - Mt Kaputar, NSW, 26 March, 2025
We put aside today as a rest day, after the strenuous activities of the day before.
We'd run out of excuses for not cutting our hair, so we got the new hair clippers out and cut each other's hair.
The flow-on effect of that was hair everywhere, that took a long time to clean up.
When we'd arrived at Dawson's Spring campground we were the only ones there. Unfortunately, over the next couple of days a few more sites filled, to the point where by today we were surrounded by other campers, somewhat spoiling the experience.
The day was also overcast and prone to showers, so we stayed inside for the day.
Day 72 - Mt Kaputar - Gunnedah, NSW, 27 March, 2025
We woke to another dull, rainy, cool day this morning.
After the morning routine and packing up, we headed back down the mountain to Narrabri, where we stopped at a dump point and bottle shop, before heading out of town towards Gunnedah.
We drove through light rain almost all the way to Gunnedah, but typically Gunnedah missed out on most of the rain.
We spent the rest of the day catching up with Helen.
Day 73 - Gunnedah, NSW, 28 March, 2025
Had a relaxing day and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Golf Club's Italian restaurant.
Not long after returning from lunch, the rain started and continued through the night and into the following day.
Day 74 - Gunnedah - Oxley Wild Rivers NP, NSW, 29 March, 2025
After saying our goodbyes to Helen, we got wet walking to the visitor car park, where Mata had been parked for the last two days.
Our plan was to drive to Armidale, where there wasn't so much rain, to fill up with fresh water and stock up on a few things we'd run out of, before heading into Oxley Wild Rivers NP.
Driving through heavy rain, we took it easy cruising along at 80 km/h, and took the bypass around Tamworth that we'd taken on a previous trip.
Coming up to Uralla, the rain had eased off a bit, so we decided to do our shopping and water fill there. Of course, as soon as we stopped, the rain started coming down heavier.
We carried on regardless, visiting the supermarket and bottle shop next door, then, while I took the supplies back to Mata, Meg went up the street to the Pie Mechanic bakery to get some pies for lunch.
As we drove to a park that had a fresh water tap, it started really bucketing down, so parked up and ate our pies while they were still hot. It turns out our water hose wasn't long enough for the tap we were parked near, so we had to drive to another one to fill up with water.
We then drove through more rain to the Wollomombi campground in the Oxley Wild Rivers NP, found our site and got setup for two nights.
Just as I was considering setting up outside, the rain returned with a vengeance, but allowing me just enough time to setup the Starlink, as there was no Telstra coverage there.
So we stayed inside for the rest of the day, hoping the rain would stop soon.
Day 75 - Oxley Wild Rivers NP, NSW, 30 March, 2025
We actually woke without the sound of rain on the roof this morning, which was promising, but it was still quite cold.
We had a slow start to the day, waiting for the temperature to rise somewhat before heading out into the wilderness.
Once we'd plucked up the courage to go out, we discovered that the temperature wasn't too bad.
On a previous visit here we'd done the longer walk, so today just set out to do the shorter walks not far from the campground area.
The first short walk took us to Edgars Lookout, which gave us amazing views of the gorges and river below.
Next it was on to the Wollomombi Falls picnic area, that was the starting point for walks to more lookouts, and is also the starting point for the Chandler walking track, that we'd done previously.
The first lookout was Main Falls Lookout, which provided spectacular views of the Wollomombi Falls, that were raging after the recent heavy rain. Part of the falls sent water spray all the way from the bottom of the gorge to the top.
Further along the track we came to Checks Viewpoint, which gave us another view of the falls from another perspective.
We did set out to do part of the Chandler walking track, but when the track changed to grade 4 and started going down a steep hill, we decided to not carry on any more, and walked back to camp, where spent the rest of the day chilling.
The dull day cleared enough in the afternoon to sit outside and we were glad we did because late afternoon an Echidna wandered through our campsite.
Day 76 - Oxley Wild Rivers NP - Jennings, NSW, 31 March, 2025
For our penultimate day on this trip, we planned to do some more lookouts and waterfalls, as we headed north towards the QLD border.
Our first stop was the Point Lookout lookout, that has spectacular views east all the way to the coast, which we though we cold just make out on a partly cloudy day. We did the 500 metre circuit walk there through beautiful Gondwana rainforest.
Our next destination was Ebor to take in the Ebor Fall but, because we'd skipped brekky, we were hungry and went to the Fusspot Cafe in Ebor township for coffee an a very sticky bun.
Suitably refreshed, we drove back to the Ebor Falls, where there is a fairly new viewing platform at the top of the falls, and a walking track to the bottom of the falls. The falls were raging and very loud from the viewing platform.
Because we'd done the walk to the bottom of the falls previously, we only went a short way along the track before returning to the carpark.
Our initial plan for lunch was to go to the Ebor Hotel, but driving there we discovered that they don't do lunch on Mondays, so moving onto plan B, we carried on driving to the Royal Hotel at Uralla, where we had a drink and nice lunch.
After lunch we drove another 170 km to the small town of Jennings, not far off the New England Highway and close to the QLD border, where we setup for the night in the free camping area.
Day 77 - Jennings - Morayfield, QLD, 01 April, 2025
Leaving the Jennings campground on our last day of the trip, we crossed the border at Wallangarra, which meant setting our clocks back one hour to QLD time.
We stopped at Dalveen, near Stanthorpe, to use their dump point then carried on to Vincenzo's to buy some fresh fruit, but they didn't have a very good range.
Passing through Warwick we stopped for fuel then didn't stop again until we got to the roadworks at Cunningham's Gap, where we were held up for half an hour.
Approaching Brisbane it was getting close to lunchtime, so we decided to go via Newport and get sushi for lunch.
The last drive for the day and the trip was to Liz and Mark's at Morayfield, where we settled in for a couple of nights.
That was the end of another adventure that lasted 77 days and which covered 8,300 km.
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