Entry 18 – South Australia to Canberra – drive time - November 2021.
We had researched several options for overnight stopovers along our planned route for our planned week of drive time from our current location on the South Australian Yorke Peninsular to the Australian capital of Canberra. We were about to start our first planned days itinerary when it came to our attention it was a close friend 65th birthday whom lived along our planned route. We got on the phone and yes, he was having a small gathering with family and friends that night. Yes, it would be wonderful if we could make it. We fitted in two days of planned driving into one and enjoyed a great night of socialising.
We stayed two nights with John and Kathy, immensely enjoying their company.
We crossed the border leaving our home state of South Australia on the 15th November and immediately felt vulnerable as the proposed border re-opening date when we would be permitted back into South Australia didn’t commence until the 23rd November.
We travelled from Renmark in South Australia to Balranald in New South Wales, our first nights stop over. The impact on travel caused by the covid-19 pandemic was extraordinarily evident. The roads in this area of Victoria and New South Wales were the most deserted we had ever experienced. It was an eerie feeling travelling along near deserted roads, normally busy with traffic. The primary vehicles sighted, the transport road trains moving goods around Australia. It was rare to see another caravan or motorhome. With nearly 300 kilometres covered over the day we suspect we would have barely seen about one dozen caravans/motorhomes in total. Normally there would be hundreds. Even solo cars were absent considering these are the primary vehicles we see travelling these routes. On a positive, the quiet roads assisted with the ease in which road trains could pass us without the need to slow down, waiting for a safe gap in the oncoming vehicles.
It’s rare to spot wild life when travelling these routes. We spotted several mobs of emus enjoying some poor farmers crops prior to harvesting.
We had initially thought a few nights at one of Balranald’s nearby national parks on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River felt appealing. We had last stayed at this location in 2018 finding to be a beautiful, quiet and peaceful environment. The below picture from our 2018 camp site.
Unfortunately, the dirt entry road into the national park was closed to vehicles. We parked at the nearby historic Yanga Woolshed and walked towards the camp site for a personal closer inspection. The river level was high lapping at the top of its banks. We couldn’t get near the campground due to it being surrounded by water. We certainly didn’t want to get bogged whilst on foot.
With most of the bush settings around the town of Balranald effected by high levels of water, making it unsafe to drive onto we re-assessed our options. We stayed one night at Balranald parked up on a bitumized carpark and continued down the road a bit to the town of Hay.
Travelling across the Hay plain is quite boring. Occasionally you might see some sheep but mostly it is nothingness. It was even duller than normal with the absence of other vehicles due to the covid-19 pandemic.
At one stage as we were getting closer to Hay with the nearby Murrumbidgee River, we were attempting to get a picture of some large irrigation activities. These pictures are obtained by the passenger when in motion whilst the driver just concentrates on the driving. In this instance the second picture shown was of the front of a transport road train travelling in the opposite direction, unsighted by the photographer at the time as they were concentrating on the irrigation equipment in the paddock. The transport road train with its 60 ton something loads, travelling at 100 kph and us in the opposite direction at about 90 kph = a point of impact at 190 kph if one of us moved onto the wrong side of the road. What a scary thought and is why our driver just drives. This also reiterated to us the importance of keeping the driver fresh and alert, where we regularly share the driving chores swapping before the driver gets tired.
We set camp at one of Hay’s free camp areas next to the Murrumbidgee River the 3rd longest river in Australia about 1,500 kilometres long. Its water level the highest we had ever seen.
We walked about, along some walking trails set up around Hay and toured one of Hay’s 18th century homes, the Bishop’s Lodge Historic house.
After a couple of days at Hay we continued down the road to the township of Narrandera, setting camp at its Brewery Flats free camping area. Once we were set up, (deciding where we should park) we walked the kilometre or so into town attending the towns information centre. There was a small foyer and we were provided with some local information via a small window. Once it was established, we were double vaccinated for covid-19 we were provided with entry into their inner sanctum where we were able to obtain more of the type of information we were seeking.
Our entry experience at the information centre was a sign of things to come with the latest government initiative requiring people to provide proof they were fully vaccinated for covid-19 prior to being granted entry.
We initially walked around town admiring some of the town’s older buildings.
The following morning, we were up early walking the publicised flora and fauna reserve trail with the advertised possibility of spotting some koalas. It was a lovely picturesque setting and even better when we indeed spotted some koalas. The area was water logged and hindered our progress around the trail. Though our spirits were high with our eyes tantalised by beautiful scenery and the koala spotting was very special.
We enjoyed a wetland’s walk with several bird hides scattered around its perimeter.
All the above walks we were able to seek out on foot from our base camp, adding to our enjoyment. There were a few other options of interest to us but required some initial drive time to these various areas. When we return to this area, we would like to allocate more time exploring its offerings. Our strategy for this trip during stop overs was to utilize our time for some rest and relaxation between our longish driving days on our way to Canberra. Narrandera seemed like a proud town with great walking trails, good aquatic park for the locals and visitors during those hot periods and the Murrumbidgee River.
After a couple of nights at Narrandera we continued our driving, choosing to deviate away from the main highways for this day’s travel time. There were a couple of larger towns, impacted by the covid-19 outbreaks along the highway route which we chose to avoid.
Travelling along the less travelled roads of the Australian country side provides a more interesting outlook of life away from our crowded cities. The progression of farmers canola crops over the growing season was fascinating. Early September we had seen paddocks with canola crops covered by vibrant yellow flowers and now in late November those same canola crops cut and stacked in wind rows waiting for the correct timing to remove it from the paddocks.
Our final stopover before arrival day at our target destination of Canberra was at Jugiong, with a large open area with camping permitted. We set camp on the picturesque outer edge with a view of the fast-flowing, very full Murrumbidgee River.
Canberra’s not a huge city by current modern-day times but it still had a population of 462,000 residents, still making it big. Our primary reason for travelling to Canberra was to be with our son and his family. Due to the ongoing lack of current appropriate information from our governments dealing with the covid-19 pandemic we chose to prop just outside of the Australian Capital Region at the smaller town of Yass to complete our food shop for our following weeks requirements. We were constantly strategizing with ideas to lessen any possible exposure from the effects of the pandemic.
We arrived at our planned destination at a caravan park in Canberra located about six kilometres from our son’s family home, spending the rest of the day in preparation for our planned nine days of activities.
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