Dags'n'Dogs Outback Adventure - week 6 ... Dubbo to the Murray

Week 6 -

Night 36-37 - Dubbo

Starting week 6, we left the Terramungamine reserve around 10.30am and with the sun out, the weather slowly warmed up from the -3 earlier in the morning. It was only 11am when we checked it the Dubbo City Holiday park and after setting up and measuring up what i need to repair, we headed off to find the local Dubbo Jayco dealer. Like a kid in a candy store, i wandered around the spare parts showroom and found the fitting i needed to repair the external tap. From there it was across town to the Dubbo Bunnings to pick up some PVC pipe and fittings to repair the damaged drainage pipe under the van. Returning to the Caravan Park, it took about an hour to complete the repairs and with all our water problems sorted, we were free to head into town for a look around.

We took the dogs for a walk along the river behind the caravan park having to stop to remove the dreaded bindies everytime the dogs went off the track. We did a drive through the main street town but it was a little late in the day and most of the shops were closing so we found a supermarket and picked up what we needed from Coles and headed back to the van. After feeding the dogs a home cooked dinner of Chicken and rice, we headed out to the Dubbo bowling club for ours.

The next day was spent doing a little shopping in town. Denise went to Myer and i went to Aussie disposals, Mitchells, the RM Williams shop, the newsagent, walked up one side of the street and back down the other and met Denise back at Myer. We replaced our worn mismatched pots and pans in the van with a new set from Harris Scarf and stopped in a couple Op Shops to see if we could find a bargain. All the while the dogs waited patiently in the car so we headed to the local sport field (bindie free) and the dogs had a good run in the late morning sun. In the afternoon we headed out to the heritage-listed pastoral station, Dundullimal Homestead and had a wander around and at 3pm we headed back into town and did the escape tour of the old Dubbo Gaol.

Back in the van, we cooked up dinner in the new cookware and the five of us settled in for another cold night, at least tonight we had TV to watch and the electric heater to keep us warm.

Night 38 - Orange

While cruising through Wikicamps looking for places to stay around Orange, i noticed a line of POI's heading that way on a secondry road via Yeoval. We decided to not take the highway but instead follow this road which we found out was the "Animals on Bikes" sculpture trail. Stopping to grab a picture of each one was soon replaced with drive by's as we passed the two hour mark and only having travelled 80km.

Arriving in Orange, we stopped at the Colour City Caravan park which was right next door to the show grounds which was also the fenced "off lead" dog park. After taking the dogs for a run, we went for a drive into town and had a look around, stopped at few places of interest, namely Antique and collectable shops, stocked up on my favourite Aldi buffalo wings and hit the RSL for dinner that evening.

Chatting with another resident of the caravan park, i was warned to not connect my water hose to the mains because they were expecting freezing conditions overnight and sure enough, in the morning it had frozen. There was even a frozen icicle where the hose had been leaking. Luckily, the water tanks under the van were ok so we still had water for the morning brew.

Night 39 - Cowra

Leaving Orange, we continued our way south driving to Lucknow and stopping in the little town of Millthorpe for a coffee and to let the dogs have a run on the local football field. From there we made our way to Blayney and then on to Cowra. We stopped in town, having a look around and drove out to the World War 2 POW camp site where 230+ Japanese POW's and 4 Australians were killed during a major breakout attempt.

We visited the lookout over the township and saw the Japanese gardens but did not stop to go in, instead, after fuelling up we headed out of town to a free camp on the banks of the Lachlan river. It was a lovely spot and our nearest neighbour was a couple hundred meters down the river so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Night 40 - Wagga

With the outback well and truely behind us now, we headed south through the riverina districts of Young and Cootamundra stopping in Junee to visit one of Australia’s alleged most haunted houses, the historic Monte Cristo in Junee. Having been to Junee before but not being able to see the house, it was interesting to look around, read the story of the house and talk to the owner who was responsible for it's restoration and opening it to the public for the last 40+ years.

We continued on and set up for the night at the Wagga beach caravan park and with cold weather and rain forecast, we were grateful for the 240v and the electric heater. For change, we made some good old Spag Bol and homemade Pizza on the Webber for dinner and settled in for the night with a game or two of cards and catching up on some TV.

Night 41-42 Albury

With the end of our trip in sight, we headed towards Albury and crossed the border into Victoria. Heading towards Corowa we found a great spot on the banks of the Murray River which looked like someone had only vacated not long before. There was a huge pile of firewood left for us, although disappointingly, the fire was still going, you would think that people would get the message about fire safety, it's not like there wasn't any water around?

We set up and settled in. For a while there was a slight concern that the owner of the firewood might return but thankfully that never happened.

The weather was good, the location was great and the company perfect. We had the place to ourselves and it was so good we decided to stay a second night. Waking to a beautiful sunrise, i made some bread rolls in the camp oven because we had run out of bread and we spent the day kicking around camp, walking the dogs along the river and catching the odd carp or two.... or more.

And with that, our outback adventure was over, it was time to head home, clean out the red dirt from everything, make the repairs that needed doing and prepare for the next adventure..... Far North Queensland and following the Whales South.