On the Road Again!

October 2013

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Hello again!

Almost exactly a year after our return from our first around-Australia trip, we are on the road again! This will be a shorter trip, only a month, but it should be enough to  see some interesting places that we haven't seen before. Our main targets are the Mungo National Park in NSW and then to go over th South Australia for a visit of the Flinders Ranges.

We left Sydney on Monday, 7 October, although it did not go fully according to plan. Having finished packing everything and ready to go, we found out that the right rear indicator of the caravan was not working. It took a few hours to realise that the problem was actually at the 7-pin connector to the car, and with a bit of movement we could make it work. Also, the brakeaway system in the caravan (compulsory only in NSW) had a low battery - not surprising after 6 months of standing in front of our house -, which gave an annoying loud beep each time I pressed the brake pedal... Hoping that the will be charged up once we start moving, we decided to leave anyway.

We left only after lunch and coffee, and we spent the first night at a free campsite at Gunning, about 250 km South of Sydney. It was a very nice spot and a quiet and mild spring evening. We walked along the main street of Gunning, finding two interesting European memories: a thrush singing at the top of a tree, and blossoming white and purple lilac bushes - neither of these is known in and around Sydney! The night was very cold, only 7 degrees in the caravan in the morning, but we are now well prepared for such eventualities.

Lilac blossoms in Gunning

On Tuesday, 8 October, we travelled through Yass and Gundagai, and spent the night just before Wagga Wagga, at another free campsite at Oura Beach. In Yass we managed to find an auto electrician who replaced the 7-pin connector and the brakeaway battery in our caravan, so finally we could travel without the continuous alarm beeping when braking. In Gundagai we paid a visit to the old Hospital, one of the sites Kate was working on previously, just to check out what happened - unfortunately nothing good came out of her work, it seems.

Morning lights at Oura Beach

Oura Beach is a nice free campsite at the Northern bank of the Murrumbidgee river, another beautiful evening and a very cold night.

We then spent two nights in Wagga Wagga, this time in a caravan park, but again at the banks of the Murrumbidgee, at a place called Wagga Beach. As always, we walked along the proposed heritage walks, did some shopping and resting, after the previous two hard days...:)). The weather was interesting, 34 degrees one day, and 19 max the next...

Wagga Beach

The Bishop's Lodge, Hay

On Friday, 11 October we drove to Hay, another nostalgic place for Kate, where she workend on the hospital site in 2000. We found again a nice free camp spot a few km-s outside the town, Four Mile Reserve, just beside the Murrumbidgee river. In the afternoon we visited the historical interests of the town:  the Bishop's Lodge, the Gaol Museum, the Hospital site and the museum of the Dunera Boys, an internment and POW camp during WW2, at the abandoned railway station. 

We had a beautiful quiet evening at the campsite, all alone, watching our little campfire and the stars reflected in the river. See a short video about this evening here: (https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=g0VZggJYlCc)

The Murrumbidgee River, Four Mile Reserve, near Hay

Today, Saturday, 12 October, we had a quick visit the the Shearers' Hall of Fame in Hay, then drove to Mildura. We had a walk around the town centre and the wharf, then spent the sunset hours at the bank of the Murray river. 
Tomorrow we are off to the Mungo National Park!

Mildura Wharf

Üdv mindenkinek! Csaknem pontosan egy évvel a visszaérkezésünk után megint úton vagyunk! Most csak kb egy hónapra tervezzük az utat, és a két fő cél a Mungo Nemzeti Park NSW állam dél-nyugati csücskében, majd a Flinders Ranges Dél Ausztráliában. A visszautat majd megtervezzük ha ottvagyunk...
Az elindulás kicsit nehezen ment. Hétfőn, okt. 7-én indultunk, de kisebb autó-és lakókocsi-hibák miatt csak ebéd után, így aznap csak 250 km-re jutottunk. Az éjszakát egy Gunning nevű kisváros mellett töltöttük egy szabad kemping-helyen, ami nagyon kellemes volt, még meleg zuhany is volt. A városkában sétálva rigó-füttyöt is hallottunk, és virágzó orgona-bokrokat is láttunk, ami nagy ritkaság Ausztráliában.
Másnap Yass-ban sikerült megjavíttatni a lakókocsink fék- és lámpa-hibáit, meglátogattuk Gundagai-ban a korházat, amin Kati dolgozott korábban. Este egy Oura Beach nevű helyen álltunk meg, a Murrumbidgee folyó partján megint egy nagyon kellemes szabad kemping-helyen. 
Két napot töltöttünk Wagga Wagga-ban, ezúttal egy fizetős kempingben, de megintcsak a Murrumbidgee folyó partján. WW egy viszonylag nagy regionális központ, ahol még nem jártunk. Végiglátogattuk a történelmi nevezetességeket, vásároltunk, pihentünk. 
Pénteken továbbmentünk Hay-be, egy másik emlékezetes hely Katinak, itt szintén dolgozott a helyi korház felújtási tervein. Megint találtunk egy szép és teljesen elhgyatott szabad kempinghelyet a folyóparton. Délután végiglátogattuk a város nevezetsségeit, este meg tüzet raktunk a parton, nagyon kellemes volt.
Ma, szombaton továbbjöttünk Mildura-ba, ezúttal a Murray folyó partján kempingezünk egy kis városi séta után. 
Holnap indulunk a Mungo Nemzeti Parkba.