Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
We spend a lot of time looking for national parks and reserves, hoping to see sensational scenery and spot a bit of wildlife. The truth is, you can often find all the above while driving and at overnight roadside stops. All you have to do is look.
We were driving the Barrier Hwy and came across the Meadow Glen rest area west of Cobar. This is a large area, it is well off the Hwy, has a decent long drop, a small shelter with a BBQ, tables, and rubbish bins.
Better than that, it was heavily treed, a very pretty spot and had plenty of goats to keep Peter amused and birds to keep me happy. What more would you want?
What you looking at? 
Apostle birds, they are everywhere, but they are oh so cute. 
You’re never to old for a feed from mum 
C’mon mum give me a scratch… 
Right there… ahh that’s the spot 
Don’t worry, he’s not dead. This is pure pleasure, Apostle style 
My old friend the spotted Bower bird 
I didn’t get a shot of them all together, but there are four here. 
I’m guessing , mum & dad and a couple of young juveniles 
Mallee Ringneck…I think. 
Red-Rumped parrot (male) 
Red-Rumped parrot (female) 
Red-Winged Parrot 
I didn’t get a shot of the female
Funny story. I went in search of the Bower bird’s bower. I didn’t find it, but I caught sight of something shiny off to my right. Looking through my camera, I had a conversation with myself that went something like this.
“Is that a snake? Don’t be stupid, it’s too big for a snake.” I lowered my camera and took a few steps closer, then looked through the lens again.
“Oh my God, it is a snake. Nah, there’s got to be more than one.” Again, I lowered the camera and took a few more steps closer.
“Just look at that would you, definitely a snake, definitely more than one. I wonder if they’re mating.” I moved closer for a better look, (no that’s not creepy, David Attenborough does it all the time). When I looked through the camera this time, there was a snake looking back at me.
“Damn it’s big and yep, definitely two snakes. Whoa, it’s coming out, look at the size of that thing.” By the time I had lowered the camera, the snake had completely untangled itself from its mate and was moving, very quickly… towards me.
“Ok, was two snakes, now one. Jeeze its fast, I’m ou…”
I clutched my camera to my chest head hot tailed it back to the van. As I ran, all I could think of was the barbed wired fence I’d clambered through, and how I’d get through it if the snake was close behind. Luckily it wasn’t, though I didn’t waste any time crawling under the fence.
I have heard that snakes generally won’t chase you, unless its mating season. I guess I can confirm that theory now.
We ended up spending two nights at Meadow Glen rest area. The night after that we found a hidden gem of a spot, on the Kidman Way.
It looked like a shallow quarry and had obviously been used by council for storing materials and plant for past road works. Completely concealed from the road, a large area, and enough bird life to keep me busy.
Our overnight stop on the Kidman Way 
The collective noun for a flock of Budgerigars is a “Chatter” I think a “Chaos” would be more suitable 
Another first, a Black-Shouldered Kite. Just gorgeous! 
The ever popular Emu 
Dad wasn’t sticking around 
Last but not least, Major Mitchells 
A very handsome fellow… 
…and his lovely wife 
So, it does pay to be a little curious. Just enough to help you find those hidden spots, but not so much that you stumble upon a couple of snakes doing the wild thing. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I do talk to myself from time to time.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
We spent another three nights at the Racecourse in Broken Hill, I know I said we wanted to leave, but hey…it was nice and relaxing. Peter repaired the damage to the water tank, washed the dirt off Chunky Bum and Big Ears, and we re-assessed our travel plans. There was still a lot of rain heading our way and we wanted to keep off the dirt. Even if we had wanted to risk it, most of the dirt roads were closed anyway, but we could still get to White Cliffs on the black, via Wilcannia.
So, was White Cliffs worth the effort? Yes, it was.
It’s a typical opal mining town, except about 40% of the buildings are underground, to help the locals cope with the heat.
I think I had pictured the buildings being all dug vertically underground, but instead they seem to be built into the hill side, a bit like Hobbiton, a Lord of the Rings reference for all you Tolkienite’s out there.
It gets incredibly hot out there and being at the end of spring, we were expecting a little bit of sweat. Instead, we had to dig our winter woollies out and use the heater! It was freezing, and yes…it rained.
Like most other places we have been to, it was very quiet. In fact, we had the caravan park all to ourselves for a couple of days. It’s a friendly little town, with a few touristy things to do. Mine tours, underground home tours etc. Some were not operating, but we don’t tend to do the usual touristy things anyway.
We had planned a day trip out to the Paroo-Darling National Park and Lake Peery, the idea being we would check out the camping area for a potential one week stay. I did mention it had been raining and yes, we had to drive dirt roads to get there but we decided to give it a go. We didn’t make it to Lake Peery but we did nearly get bogged, so I suppose that sign ‘ROAD CLOSED’ actually meant something. The car is once more covered in a thick coat of ochre muck.
I’m sure he does it on purpose
We should buy some shares in car wash liquid.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
We drove out of the Racecourse Caravan Park on Friday Morning, pleased to be travelling legally once more, and pleased to be leaving Broken Hill. We had a really nice time here, it is very comfortable at the Racecourse, we even got to see some practice runs, but we have just spent too much time at Broken Hill. It was the only place we could come to during our nine week lockdown at Menindee, and it seems it just does not want us to leave.
Over the past few weeks, we have applied for both QLD and SA border permits, sadly nobody wants us. So, it looks like we will still be in NSW for Christmas, not Adelaide as we had hoped. Guess who’s coming home for Christmas mammy?
In the meantime, we decided to check out a few places we missed. including the Living Desert Sculptures, just out of town.
Finally, white Cliffs here we come, except… on the way to White Cliffs, we saw a sign for Mutawintji National Park, and thought, why not? Well, let me tell you why not. Because we didn’t check the weather, that’s why not.
We arrived at the campsite in Mutawintji after driving over 139 km of dirt road. Along the way we passed quite a few signs saying, “Dry weather Road”. Now, before you judge, on the way out there the road was dry, and we got to see some Wild horse too.
We arrived at the campground at Mutawintji, and it looked like a place we could stay for a few nights. That is until we realised that we had lost half our water. A stone must have hit, and snapped, the tank’s drain tap, emptying one of the tanks completely. Because the tanks work on a syphoning system, and there was air in one tank, we couldn’t get water from the other. No problems though, we still had 70 litres in Big Ears.
That night it rained, and it rained hard. The following day we spoke to some other campers who said there was more rain on the way. Hmmm, lack of water, “Dry weather” roads, lots of rain coming. This was beginning to spell trouble.
We really didn’t want to be stuck here so decided to make a run for it and go directly to White Cliffs, another 150 odd km’s of dirt. But, not before I got some photos of a young Corella and his folks, and not before Peter almost got carried away by a gazillian hungry ants. Who said he doesn’t have any good dance moves? Sadly, I was too busy laughing to get any photos, and Peter refused to do a re-enactment. I know, buzz-kill.
Long story short, the road from Mutawintji to White Cliffs was quite wet but we were taking it easy, especially through the washouts. Halfway to White Cliffs, we came to a section of road that looked a little suspect. We got out to assess the road. and could see the tracks where a big 4-wheel drive had gone through the first section. It had then turned sharply left, to go up the embankment. If he had done that, we figured he must have had trouble going through and wasn’t going to risk the next section. His manoeuvre might have worked for him, but not something we could risk doing while towing the van.
That left us with two choices. We could go back to the camp at Mutawintji, and hope we didn’t run out of water while we waited for the rain to pass and the roads to dry. Or, back the way we came, back to Broken Hill.
So, open your doors Broken Hill, ‘cause we’re coming home. I might pick up a Change of Address Form while we’re here this time.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
So, here we are, back in Broken Hill. Why? I hear you ask. Well, as I mentioned I let the registration lapse on Chunky Bum and Broken Hill is the closest place we can re-register. Should be easy.
After a few phone calls Peter managed to find a garage that could provide us with a “Blue Slip” (which is actually a brown slip) and made an appointment for 8am on a Tuesday morning. Bright and early, we got to the garage, and then it began.
First up, our “Blue Slip” dude was fifteen minutes late, but that was OK. When he arrived, the first thing he asked was,
‘Where’s your weight certificate?’
We, of course, did not have a weight certificate, so he gave us directions to go and get one, and off we went.
That part was relatively easy, and half an hour later we were back at the garage. The dude looked at the weight cert and said,
‘Your rig’s too heavy for me. I can only do rigs up to two and a half ton. I’ll tell you where to go.’
He gave us more directions and…off we went. The next dude had a different problem.
He said, ‘Dunno why he sent you to me. Your rig’s too light for me, I only do rigs over eight ton!’
We must have looked desperate enough for him to take pity on us.
He said, ‘Show me your rig.’
He took some time to look Chunky Bum over, and said, ‘Yeah alright I’ll do it for you, but I’m telling you now, I can’t give you a blue slip ’cause you don’t comply with NSW regulations, you need a break-a-way switch battery monitor in your cab.’ He then went on in detail and told us how to install it, finishing with, ‘It’s easy enough mate , but I can’t do it. Get a break-away switch battery monitor fitted and come back here on Thursday, one o’clock.’
So, off we went. We tried three places before we found someone, ARB, who could supply and fit it for us but when Peter explained the instructions we were given, they said,
‘That won’t work!’
Ahh poop!
This led to hours of debate, do we install it the way it should be, or the way we were told to do it? In the end we decided to have it installed to our “Blue slip” dude’s spec. After all, he was the one who was going to give us the little bit of paper we needed to get registered. On the way home, just to be sure, we called into Service NSW to check if there was anything else we would need. They told us,
‘You need a NSW address, and we need proof that you can garage the van there.’
This revelation prompted a call to mum, whose address we were going to use. Of course, no problems there. Thank you, mammy.
Thursday came and we were up and ready. Peter hooked Chunky Bum up to Big Ears, and he headed to ARB for his 08:30 appointment. He hung around for an hour and a half then picked the van up at 10:00 and came back here. Here being the Broken Hill Racecourse, (that’s where we’re staying, very nice too,) where we waited for our 13:00 appointment with the “Blue slip” dude.
The ‘Blue slip’ dude checked out the work done, tested the break-away switch, and completed a thorough check of the van. That took about twenty minutes. He then took an hour and ten minutes to complete two, single sided, A4 forms, before giving us our “Blue Slip”.
From there we headed straight to NSW Service Center to get our registration, we weren’t confident of a successful visit, so we had everything possible crossed, just for luck. We needn’t have worried though, the actual application went very well and was quick. Within twenty minutes, we walked out the door, proud owners of a shiny yellow, NSW Licence plate.
The whole process from start to end, cost us eleven hours of our time, and cost a $1000.
See, easy!
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
When we arrived back at Tibooburra, we went straight to the Police Station to collect Chunky Bum. It was then that we were told of a possible Covid-19 exposure in town. Not a lot we could do about that, so we stuck to our plan and drove two kilometres out of town to the Dead Horse Gully campground in the Sturt National Park.
WOW! I love it. It’s like a desert wonderland. I can’t stop singing that song by the group America, “A Horse with no name.” Don’t know why, I mean we’re not really in a desert, it just seems fitting.
There are a couple of designated walks around Dead Horse, and a lot of opportunities to go walkabout up and over the granite tors. It really is pretty country, and we had a lot of fun exploring.
We even got lost, surprise, surprise, but the upside of that, was that I found a couple of Rainbow Bee-eaters I didn’t get any decent photos, so I made these stunning little birds my special quest while we were there. There wasn’t a lot of other wildlife, a few species of birds, a few kangaroos, goats, and a family of Emus. He looked like a first-time dad, not as big as the emu at Menindee and a lot more cautious. I was walking the first time I saw him, he was about 30-40 meters away, but he started towards me with a definite “keep away from my chicks” attitude. So, I did just that, I ducked behind a bush and kept out of sight until he lost interest in me and went on his way with his 8, that’s right, 8 chicks running along behind him. Another good dad.
On the fourth day there I went Rainbow Bee-Eater hunting. I loaded up with my camera, tripod, water, snacks and off I went to try and get lost again, it was surprisingly easy, and after an hour and a bit trudging, and two and a half hours waiting, I got what I went for. Aren’t these just the most beautiful birds?
We stayed at Dead Horse Gully for 7 nights and I think we would have stayed longer had we not had to go back to Broken Hill for some Admin. (That’s code for “Joanne stuffed up the caravan rego, and now it has lapsed, and we have to go to Broken Hill to apply for a new NSW registration”). It’s going to take me a while to live this one down.
During our stay at Dead Horse, we had some pretty wild weather including two 37-degree days, a dust storm with wind gusts up to 100 kms and a fantastic lightning storm.
All in all, we have really enjoyed this part of the trip, Tibooburra is a great little town, the Corner was an experience, Fort Grey was great, and Dead Horse Gully was a little slice of desert heaven. If you haven’t visited the Jump-Up Country, I think you should.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
On our way back from Cameron Corner, we stayed at Fort Grey Campground in the Sturt National Park. Because we had left Chunky Bum (caravan) in Tibooburra, we had our first “camp out” with Big Ears (Ford Ranger) on this trip. Now, Big Ears is fully set up for off grid camping, including water, food, tent, stretchers, mattresses, etc but the weather was so pleasant we decided sleep under the stars. Peter on his lay-back chair, me on my hammock.
This is a great place to stay. NSW National Parks Services provide very good amenities, and you can see where the fee you pay goes. It is a picturesque park, with lots of flora, but what really blew me away was the amount of water in Lake Pinaroo. I should imagine it is not often as full as it was when we visited.
There were quite a lot of birds here too. Still not as many as I would have thought, considering the amount of water, but I was thrilled to see a few new birds. New for me anyway. An Australian Hobby and a Black-Breasted Buzzard. There were also a couple that I wasn’t sure about. Feel free to let me know what they are.
We had planned to stay there for three nights, but we had a little rain on the second night, and it looked like there would be a lot more the next, so we headed back to Tibooburra. We drove back via the Jump-Up Loop Road, and it was simply delightful. The drive took us through sandy desert vistas, and dry gibber plains, before reaching the top of the Jump-ups to the north. From there we continued south toward Tibooburra, passing majestic granite tors. Now if you’re like me, you won’t have a clue what a Jump-Up or a granite tor is. I looked them up, so now I can tell you.
A Tor is generally a landform of granite rock. Either a single large rock formation, or a series of smaller rocks, formed as the granite boulders split and break apart over millions of years. The Tibooburra Tors are estimated to be 410 million years old.
A jump-up is a land mass that rises abruptly from and otherwise flat landscape and generally has a flat top.
I hope I got it right.
There were only two other lots of travellers at Fort Grey while we were there. We spent a very pleasant evening chatting with a lovely young couple, who like us and many others on the road, are making the most of the restrictions and exploring the areas we are allowed to. We mentioned that we were heading back to Tibooburra and they they highly recommended an alternate camp spot.
So, next Stop, Dead Horse Gully. Lets see if our young friends were right.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
