Hi All
just wanted to post a brief thread as we've just come back from two weeks where we got both perfect weather and driving conditions! We in the front were travelling in a Hilux with our parents in their early model Forrester that had no problems (although lucky we all went out to Big Red in the Hilux).
Some brief travel notes I wanted to share with others:
- climbed St Mary's peak (second time now) which was still a challenge and doing
the loop track to 7 1/2 hours. The beer back at
Wilpena Pound tasted amazing!
- Clayton's
campsite was wonderful (in terms of spa) although there are a lot of mice there at the moment
- the ferry at Cooper's crossing was a memorable event, and the ferry operators wanted people to know that you can get your camper trailer across too (I'm not sure if there's a fee for service as it gets loaded on a little truck that goes over separately. Also the ferry has been recently expanded to accommodate length of over 9m
check SA roads for details)
- the detour road to Big Red was an experience in itself! we counted 12 sizeable sand dunes which were rough and steep in parts. Even if going for the day highly recommend a flag in case of oncoming traffic. this was the only technical driving we did all trip
- we took the long way around from
Birdsville to Innaminka and it was very scenic, roads were in good condition
- we also took some smaller roads from Innaminka to Cameron's corner skirting around East and staying in Queensland. These were all lovely roads and again very picturesque.
- the only bad thing to report was our time staying at Cameron's Corner. We decided to go for the camping near the
camp kitchen and got woken up
well after 10pm with very loud music. Turned out it was the managers (I think) who were playing a movie. Normally I hate complaining, but this time I waited for ages thinking they might turn it down but no luck. I got a very unpleasant reaction when I asked them to turn it down and was made to feel very unwelcome. The good thing is they donate camping fees to Royal Flying Doctor Service but I would recommend either the
bush camping away from their living area or
Fort Grey in NSW national park where we ended up having breakfast. A very lovely spot and close to a beautiful lake full of water at the moment and we had a great chat with the park rangers. we took the middle road which was scenic and mostly in very good condition.
From Cameron's Corner we ended up having a long day to
Broken Hill as Packsaddles didn't really have viable camping options. From
Broken Hill we came back east stopping at a cute little cafe and second hand bookshop in
Wilcannia. Great talking to the owners who were telling us a lot about the town and its revival.
from there we headed up and camped two nights in the Paroo Darling national park on the
Darling river road to
Bourke. It was really special - a great time to relax and enjoy not driving. Then through
Parkes and sadly back to cold
Canberra!
We saw heaps of wildlife - huge contrast to October last year doing the
Oodnadatta Track and Lake Eyre where we saw hardly any.
All in all over 5000km and the Forrester had no problems except as I understand it not as comfortable a ride on the corrugations as we were enjoying!!
Except for the sour experience at Cameron's Corner everyone we met was absolutely lovely and my parents are now hooked and looking at upgrading the car and getting a camper trailer. This was the first
test of our oz-tent RV4 and we absolutely loved it. Weather was perfect the whole time and thanks to all the little
places we stopped and people we chatted to for making the experience so memorable.