Outback and back

hoadie

Forum Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
144
Location
Sydney, Australia
Sorry about the non-Subaru content - I don't own one yet. It does involve camping so I guess that makes it relevant!


Last month I had some annual leave to clear, and rather than sit around on my arse for the week, I decided to head off and see parts of NSW I'd never seen before. I only had a really vague plan - head along the South Coast, then west. I filled my boot up with camping gear and food for a week and took off on Saturday June 28. Here's how it went

So... here it begins..

Saturday 28/6/08
Left Sydney, odometer 183892

Headed through the Royal National Park to somewhere in the direction of Bega. Weatherwise it was a great day for a drive - clear sky, not too cold, not too much traffic.

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Otford, looking south to Sea Cliff Bridge and Wollongong in the distance

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And the bridge itself

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The drive south from Wollongong is picturesque but tiresome with all the little townships along the way with their 50 zones and locals who never seem to be in any sort of rush to do anything.. I eventually stopped in at Lake Conjola for lunch. I couldn't work out how to get to the water so I actually stopped at a picnic area in the local caravan park, but no-one seemed to mind, least of all the local ducks and kangaroos..

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Like all the spots I went through along the south coast - very pretty but during the holiday periods I'm sure are totally overrun with tourists.

So, after some sandwiches and a coffee, I made tracks for Bermagui. From here on the roads were dead quiet.

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Encountered quite a few of these little single lane bridges in the region..

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Beaches were spectacular and empty

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Eventually I had to decide where I would be spending the evening, and I'd almost decided to spend the night in a motel in Bega as it was getting rather late, when I saw a camping sign at entrance for the Mimosa National Park. So, while there was a little sunlight I thought I'd check it out..

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View from a lookout, just going on dusk

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Not surprisingly it turned out I was the only person there. Got the camp setup pretty quickly and made use of the firewood that was included in my camping fee (that was never collected!).

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Sunrise the next day

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Day one total about 450km traveled, including some rubbernecking along the way

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Sunday 29/6/08

Left Aragunnu Beach and continued south towards Eden. Looks like a popular dumping ground for old French cars

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Had a look around Eden, picturesque spot but was in a bit of a rush so didn't get any photos. After leaving Eden I continued south to what I think is called Imlay Road; it links H'way 1 with the Monaro Highway, maybe 20kms north of the Victorian border. The road was incredible, nice and wide for the logging trucks, lots of bends to keep it interesting but gentle enough to be taken at the speed limit; in the hour I was on the road I didn't pass a single car.

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Quite a few spots to stop and stretch your legs along the way; this was White Rocks River

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Couldn't stay all day though, I pushed on. I think this is between Bomballa and Cooma

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How quickly the weather changes.

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Lake Eucumbene, taken around Old Adaminaby. The lake clearly a shadow of it's former self with years of drought and low snow falls.

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One of the roads heading back on to the highway actually takes you through farms..

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Soon after Adaminiby you hit the Alpine region; there's snow chain and snow plough signs everwhere, but until that point there hadn't been any sizeable falls, though there was some snow on the roadside, and a few days later there's been some decent falls.
 
The outside temperature dropped from 10c to 4c in a matter of kms

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Not wanting to go down the mountain in the dark, I stopped at one of the designated camping/caravan spots for the night and as it was dark and I was too buggered to put up my tent, slept in my swag in almost 0c temps!

Taken the next morning

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Was a refreshing sleep, despite the temperatures, and spectacular seeing the stars through the trees every time I looked up.

Day 2 total, about 420km.

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Monday 30/6/08

I decided to head to Swan Hill via Wagga Wagga and spend the night in a motel as there was some really bad weather heading my way.

Apparently the Snowy Mountains Highway was only sealed around 1974

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For Ellis' benefit: here's where the Wee Jasper road comes out - Tumut

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Classy lot, the Tumutese.

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Berry Jerry State Forrest, about 30km west of Wagga. It backs on to the Murrumbidgee River, tbough I wasn't game enough to go too far off the beaten track as the track was a bit soft.

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Somewhere south west of Lockhart. Pretty uninteresting country really

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Irrigation channel west of Denilaquin

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*yawn*

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Bad weather approaching; very quiet stretch of road between Moulamein and Swan Hill.

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Tuesday 1/7/08

After spending some time the previous night checking weather forecasts, I decided to head north to Menindee Lake, in the Kinchega National Park - about 90km south east of Broken Hill.

For the most part an uninteresting drive; lots of irrigated farms in what would otherwise be desert, and lots of vineyards.

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Looking promising. Signpost near Wentworth (north west of Mildura), for the 126km stretch of dirt road past Pooncarie

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Despite it's remoteness and the fact this is technically the outback, you can grow anything with enough water. Irrigated from the Darling River

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Pretty hardy sheep

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And so ends the last decent road for a couple of days

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First 20km were appalling; recent rain had washed away a lot of the dirt, leaving a lot of bare rock and corrugations. Eventually it improved and managed to sit on about 80km/h for most of the trip

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They seriously wanted a race!

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Mooove!

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Can only imagine the damage these buggers would be doing

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126km later, made it to my destination

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This is where I spent the night, on the banks of the Darling River. Not as much wildlife as I thought there would be, but I'm guessing a lot is migratory.

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Day 4 total, about 500kms

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Wednesday 2/7/08

Time to start heading home. I wanted to see a bit more of the Riverena district so decided to head to Ivanhoe and decide where to go from there, but not before checking out the lake.

Finally found some wildlife

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And some bizarre tree growth.

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Roads between the Darling River and Lake Minindee

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Old woolshed

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Shearers quarters

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Desert

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How many roos do you see?

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Clearly the lake doesn't have water in it all year 'round.

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Proud

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I gave this lot a head start; they cheated though and ran off into the bush

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Pelicans (and the townfolk of Broken Hill) clearly not overly fussy - this algae covered water forms what I understand is Broken Hill's water supply

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All good things must come to an end. Shortly after leaving the National Park and a quick trip through town, back onto dirt. 206km of it

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First 100km was really rough

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As were the cattle grids. Most had to be taken at 20km/h as a lot of the dirt had been washed away or there were big potholes

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Massive train went past, as a guess I'd say was at least 1km long.

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Dirt

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More dirt

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When I saw this sign I almost stopped the car to thank God for the end of the dirt. It was the roughest road I've had to travel on. 200+km of incredibly rough road that jarred your entire body

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A welcome sign

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Stopped at Ivanhoe for fuel and consulted the maps and decided I had time to get to Darlington Point, east of Hay, on the Murrumbidgee River.

Roads south very boring, only things of interest were the sheep and cattle that are allowed to graze by the side of the road.

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They're the reason I don't like traveling in the country at night

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As it turned out, I misread the map and my destination of Dragoon Lagoon, near Darlington Point, was more than 30mins further than I thought. I managed to make it there in time to setup camp, just as it got dark.
 
Taken the next morning. Quite a pretty spot, though as with every other river I'd seen in my travels, water levels well and truly down on what they would normally be this time of year.

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Day 5 total, about 600km

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Thursday 3/7/08

Homeward bound. Decided to head home via Wagga then straight up the Hume Highway and home.

I thought it would be pretty straightforward trip but again, more cattle grazing on the road verge

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Countryside east of Wagga

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Then the Hume Highway for 4hours or so, then home!

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Day 6 total, about 620km

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Final odometer reading: 187148, trip total: 3,256 km
 
No worries guys. I only had a limited amount of time so tried to see as much as I could without totally killing myself by doing too many kms a day. I hadn't been to any of these places before so now I've got a bit of an idea where to go next time I've got a bit of free time up my sleeve.
 
that would have to be the best detailed trip i've ever seen! nice report Hoadie. looks like a nice experience. love that town called EDEN! dont you?:rolleyes: yeah i'm an idiot:D
 
that would have to be the best detailed trip i've ever seen! nice report Hoadie. looks like a nice experience. love that town called EDEN! dont you?:rolleyes: yeah i'm an idiot:D
And it was only 6 days!

EDEN is a nice location but a boring town!

Wow that looks like some really spectacular scenery. I envy you folks in the land of Oz!

You could always move here!
 
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