So…just a short trip, less than one hundred kilometres, from Mildura to Robinvale. Really enjoyed a simple tow on the bitumen after the trip to and from Lake Mungo on the corrugations and dirt. We waved to Trentham Estate as we went past; such a beautiful spot.

Robinvale

What an absolute little gem is Robinvale. Coming in from the NSW side of the Murray, you turn left after you come off the bridge to enter Robinvale Riverside Caravan Park. Robinvale is one of the smaller border-towns (on the Vic. side) and is paired with Euston, 4km away, on the NSW side.

It’s another agricultural  irrigation town surrounded by vineyards, which appear to be growing table grapes. The Murray river flows along the northern edge of the town and is a magnificent stretch of river, about 100m wide with a very gentle current that becomes mirror-like at night in the still Autumn air.

Robinvale Riverside Caravan Park

We both agreed that this is the best stay of the trip so far. When we arrived they could not find our booking but fortunately there were plenty of spare powered sites on the river’s edge and we think we ended up snaffling one of the better sites towards one end that had a number of empty sites either side allowing us to stretch out in comfort,

The view from our site was glorious and uninterrupted with a set of steps behind the van down into the river. It was a perfect spot to relax and completely de-stress. We both agreed that we could have spent more time here and have locked that thought away for a future time when we come back.

The weather was perfect, around 26°C each day with clear blue skies and cooler nights. The Murray was just too inviting and I took a swim both days. The water was cool and took a few minutes to acclimatise to but once submerged was refreshing and revitalising. Swimming in a beautiful river beats swimming in any pool any time.

The Murray put a show on for us each night with the full moon rising over the river painting it in hues of mauve and purple instead of the green/brown during the day. Then as darkness sets in it becomes a silvery set of silhouettes and shadows as the moon reflects in the mirror-like water.

Wild ducks populate the banks and the ever-present corellas perform their raucous opera for free. Photos, unfortunately, do not do full justice to the scenery when you’re standing directly before it.

Riverside Walk

As with most of the river towns, Robinvale has a river walk that starts outside the caravan park and follows the river bank. We followed the bank for a few kilometres, past a string of moored houseboats to the edge of town. From there we opted to turn back towards the town down a country lane that had a small vineyard with massive bunches of table grapes that looked ready for picking and were very tempting; but we resisted out of respect for the owners.

Once back in town we followed the grassy strips back into the main street passing some natty little public tables and seats that were private little booths. You could imagine a pair of spies from a Frederick Forsythe novel hunched over in them swapping secret information with each other.

Town Centre

There’s a few quirky shops in town. We stopped in at the Op Shop so Jo could grab a few more books (two for $2, so we paid $5 and still felt guilty). Then over to the bakery for a coffee and half an apple pie each. The pie was quite tangy and obviously baked on premises and the coffee was well above average. The staff were a mixture of Muslim and Islander folk. There appears to be a large Islander (Tongan) community around Robinvale, which we think provides the labour force for fruit picking. On the Sunday morning the Islanders were out on force at the local churches, most of them dressed in their ceremonial dress.

We made a couple of trips to the local Ritchies IGA supermarket. The big supermarkets are absent from these smaller towns and this is where IGA shows the way… The Robinvale IGA had everything you could want and then some. It was also very evident that they catered well to the local community as evidenced by the half pig’s heads ($7.95) and lamb flaps (a cheaper fatty cut of meat) in the meat section. I believe that the Islander community is very fond of these parts of the animal (and why not if you slow braise them).

Euston for Dinner

We’ve had an informal policy of having a club/pub meal on the evening before we leave for the next town. This allows us to pack up the van and not have any cooking mess to deal with before we leave the next day.

At the caravan park we met another couple (Kevin & Lucy) who were Supreme owners like us (and have owned five Supreme’s over the years. They have attended a number of Supreme Musters (gatherings of Supreme caravan owners) and also organise other events. Kevin & Lucy were a lovely pair and also a wealth of information to us, with tips and tricks for our ongoing travels.They also suggested we try the Euston Pub Royal Hotel/Terrace 31 bistro for dinner.

It was a new’ish little pub full of locals having a beer and a yarn after work. The Terrace 31 bistro was a bit quiet (read empty) when we got there but had a few diners by the time we left. The bistro was all brick and had a number of four-seat booths, enclosed by walls on three sides. Very comfortable and very private.

It was usual pub fare. Jo had Salt’n’Pepper Calamari, which was generous, tender and served with a very fresh salad. I had a beef schnitzel with gravy, chips and vege’s. This was good, honest pub food… well cooked and reasonably priced. The beer was cold and Jo’s Pinot Grigio was quite a nice drop.

After dinner we had a quick drive around the town noticing that the Euston Club also operates a ‘self contained’ (no power/water) caravan park behind the club on the banks of the river as well as their being a Euston caravan park. Another nice little town making a living from agriculture along the Murray.

Preparing to Leave

Sad to say that upon returning to our van after dinner, there was an ambulance at one of the vans across from ours with a camper down on the ground being attended to. It looked like it may have been a heart attack. Everything looked under control and nobody appeared overly distressed so we tried not to be nosy and kept our distance. We noted that, sadly, this is probably not too uncommon a sight with many of the caravan park campers being grey nomads a few years older than us. Just one more reason to get out and do our travelling while we’re still relatively young and healthy.

(It later turned out that the gent had not suffered a heart attack but had walked into the annex strut of his camper van, smacking his head causing him to fall down and fracture his hip. Still not good but probably better than a heart attack…)

On a positive note… the Murray put on yet another magnificent evening display on our last night. Very hard to move on from a place like this that calms your mind, soothes your soul and nourishes your spirit…

So.. back to civilisation after three wonderful days in Mungo National Park. The road from Mungo Main Campsite to Mildura was very similar to the road from Balranald; red dirt, corrugations, lumpy white hard-top and finally some bitumen. I would say that the road to Mildura was a bit rougher than from Balranald but the Cruiser and the Van handled everything perfectly. This time we put some padding between the sliding doors and their tracks so that they didn’t bounce out and that pretty much did the trick.

Before we left home Aldi were having one of their caravan and camping specials weeks. We picked up one of their thermal cookers, similar to the ‘Ecopot‘ but much cheaper. The thermal cooker is basically a big thermos that acts like a Crock Pot slow cooker by sealing in heat after having cooked the food to boiling point on a the stove.

We christened the thermal cooker with ‘Chicken Paprikash’ based on the simple but incredibly flavourful Hungarian dish introduced to us by close friends. The results were excellent and we’re looking forward to other slow braise recipes in the future. You can also make yoghurt in it, which we will try at some point in time.

So… we set off from Balranald, a bit sad to leave such a comfortable camp site. Before we left though we stocked up on some meat from the Balranald Butcher, beers and cider, water, nibbles and wine. The bottle-shop was selling a local wine label ( ‘Masterpeace’) by a wine-maker named Andrew Peace located in Piangil, Victoria.

Without jumping ahead too much, the Pinot Grigio ($15) was very pleasant and the 2019 Shiraz ($19) was most unexpected and thoroughly enjoyed with two of the best porterhouse steaks we have ever had (from the Balranald Butcher Shop) and the last of our home-grown vege’s cooked beautifully on the BabyQ.

---

We left Hay after a slightly cooler night and headed off along the Hay Plain to Balranald. Jo took the wheel for the first time this trip. Plenty of trucks on the road and Jo managed to overtake a horse float on the way out of town.

The Hay Plain is a long flat expanse of big sky and emptiness, except for the agricultural holdings and the odd mob of emus. It’s hard to imagine what Burke & Wills and Charles Sturt must have thought when faced with all of this ‘barrenness’ in front of them.

Balranald

Balranald is smaller again than Hay but looks prosperous enough even though we arrived on a Sunday and most of the shops were shut.

The town has scattered around it a number of sculptures depicting the Southern Bell Frog, which is an endangered species found along the Murrumbidgee Corridor.

Balranald Caravan Park

Balranald Caravan Park is situated right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee as you come across the bridge (from Hay). It’s quite spacious and very well kept. We chose a grassed drive-through site with some of the thickest, lushest grass I have ever walked on. No levelling of the van was required and setup was quick and hassle-free. From the park it is an easy walk into town and passes a suspension bridge that re-crosses the river to a loop walk.

On the day we arrived we met Chris & Jill, owners of a Supreme Territory, who were keen to have a look at our Supreme Executive and gave us a heap of excellent tips and advice based on their experience.

It was quite chilly when we woke up on he first morning but it was nice to snuggle under the doona for a change instead of lying on top of the sheets all night in the heat. Jo was in good spirits after a good night’s sleep.

River Walk

As with Narrandera and Hay, Balranald also has a beautiful river walk along the banks of the Murrumbidgee. Balranald‘s river walk is characterised by starting with a suspension bridge located just outside the caravan park. Once across the bridge you can walk through the magnificent river gums and make your way back to the traffic bridge to re-cross the river and head back to the caravan park or keep going into town for a coffee.

The corellas assemble in the thousands near the caravan park and create an almighty racket that continues on throughout the day.

Home Improvements

Since our next stop will be Mungo National Park we took the opportunity to try out an idea for a quick privacy sun shade on the awning. Instead of going to the bother of setting up one (or two) or the annex walls… we created some loops of cord inserted through thin plastic tubing that allows us to suspend a cheap plastic tarp from the annex in a similar but quicker way than the annex wall. All it needs is the home-made loops, a few tent pegs and a few bungy cords and ‘instant privacy/shade’. Very happy

After Narrandera it was off to Hay, the half-way point between Sydney and Adelaide and the start of the Hay Plain. Despite the weather being generally hot and dry… it rained heavily and steadily for a large portion of the drive from Narrandera to Hay. It was a good chance to get some wet weather towing experience and also learning how to let big trucks overtake.

Hay

Hay is smaller than Narrandera but seems to be thriving town with three or so pubs and a long strip of shops that seem to be doing OK. We stopped into the Home Hardware store (twice) to buy some smaller tent pegs and a BBQ brush. This shop had everything…and I mean everything.

Caravan Park

The caravan park (there’s two plus a free camp) is on the edge of town and is very spacious with good, clean amenities, friendly manager and equally friendly park dog (Lola).

Plenty of green grass underfoot and a good sized pool that we gratefully cooled off in on the second day. The park wasn’t full by an stretch but had a steady flow of travellers coming and going each day.

The park is close to the highway so gets a bit of traffic noise but not so bad as to be annoying. On two nights though there was a constant wailing of what sounded like ‘car alarms’ that I can only assume was being used to scare birds or bats away from a farm.

Van Life at Hay

We took the opportunity set up the Weber BabyQ for the first time after visiting the Hay Butcher. We had brought, from home, a stack of carrots, zucchinis and apples from our vege garden and apple trees. So our first meal from the BabyQ was pork chops, carrots, zucchini, potato and apple sauce. I was a little skeptical of the BabyQ at first but I have to say that it was absolutely brilliant and so good that we had the same again the next night with porterhouse steaks instead of pork chops.

After the meals it was very pleasant sitting out under the stars sipping on a Bulleit Rye bourbon (Kahlua for Jo). The Bulleit Rye is a very smooth bourbon that’s a little naturally sweeter than other bourbons I have tried. Kahlua is, well, Kahlua.

The weather forecast for our last day said it would be gusty with possible rain on our last night so we took this as an opportunity to have a pub meal at one of Hay’s pubs. We were originally going to try the South Hay Hotel because it was just down the road but when we arrived it looked as though it was packed out with a function so we went in the Riverina Hotel in town. When we got there there was a 60th birthday going on but we managed to grab a table there. We both had a ‘Veal Parmi’, which was massive, thick and just simply a bloody good value pub meal.

Shearers Hall of Fame

Hay is home to the Shearers Hall of Fame (Shear Outback). It’s a well presented attraction that commemorates the great Australian shearers and showcases the history of shearing over the years. We went to shearing demonstration and had a good chat with the shearer who told us all about the life of shearer and how it is becoming a dying art in Australia with most of the shearing teams, these days, flying in from New Zealand. He was genuinely nice bloke who loved his lifestyle but you could see that it was costing a toll on his body.

Water Tower Art

As you enter the township you can see the Hay water towers that are painted with mural depicting Hay’s contribution to the second world war effort. They are striking and emblematic of the town. They’re well worth walking too for a closer look if only to admire the skill and effort required to produce such large scale art work.

River Walk

Hay also has walking loop that follows the banks of the Murrumbidgee, which includes a number of fitness stations and sculptures. It’s a really pleasant walk that provided us with a bit much needed exercise and takes you to the edge of town where you can go off track a little bit and grab a coffee at the Black Sheep Cafe. The coffee was good and you can sit in the shade in the front garden, relax and chill for a while.

So… a nice easy tow from Jugiong to Narrandera.

Rob’s Link With Narrandera

Narrandera is Rob’s father’s birth place where his Dad owned a tailor’s shop and also ran the local picture theatre back in the day. On our last morning we caught up with Jo’s pseudo-cousin, passing through from Wagga to Griffith, at the Narrandera Bakery for a coffee. After that we went on a quest to find my Grandfather’s Tailor Shop. At the Tourist Information Centre they suggested we go to the library and there we were greeted by a stereotypical, grey-haired, elderly librarian, with a nice smile, who dug out some historical volumes for us.

We discovered that there were four shops listed as tailors between 1930 and 1960. We walked to all four but I had a vague recollection of Dad saying that it was just around the corner from the theatre. So after inspecting all four I decided that the most likely candidate was the shop shown in this picture.

Narrandera

Narrandera is on the Murrumbidgee River and is considered to be the gateway to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. At this time of year (March) it is still hot (around 30°C) and very dry. Everywhere is still quite green though.

The town centre is a typical country town strip and there’s at least three pubs, maybe more, in operation so it’s certainly a living breathing place. Some of the shops though are only open from Wednesday to Friday so that speaks to a quiet economy.

The big find was the Narrandera Bakery in the center of town. We both enjoyed an extremely good meat pie, however the masterpiece was their Bacon/Chilie/Cheese loaf. A beautiful, cloud-soft, crusty white loaf permeated with, yep, bacon, chilie and cheese. So good…

Our Stay

Narrandera Caravan Park is a cosy little park near, but not on, the Murrumbidgee River just outside the town.  It uses bore water to keep the grass from dying off and it’s nice to have a level site with concrete strips for the van and plenty of grass to set the chairs out on. The entire caravan park is surrounded by a three metre man-made levee that is designed to keep the park safe from floods, which can get pretty deep when the Murrumbidgee breaks its banks.

A testament to this is a life size poster of a bikini-clad ‘Mandy Smith‘ in the men’s showers. It’s not a completely sexist act but rather a homage to her resilience for wading waist-deep through flood waters for ‘three days’ when she stayed in Narrandera during the 2012 flood (8.9m). The little placard in the bottom left explains this.

Nearby Leeton

On our second day we took a drive over to Leeton, only thirty km’s away. This is where Jo’s grandparents (Mum’s side) lived. We did a quick drive to the address where they lived. The old house has since been demolished and replaced by a new residence. The original shed can be seen out the back though. (It wasn’t at all creepy parking in front of the house and taking a photo,,,😟)

Leeton is a fruit growing town and also the headquarters for SunRice. It’s another typical country town and has a larger shopping center than Narrandera with an art-deco architectural vibe. It also has the typical main street country town Chinese restaurants, two of them side-by-side (only in a town like Leeton…).

On the way into town we noticed a sign for ‘fresh figs’ so on the way out we stopped down a side-street on the edge of town and bought some fresh figs and peaches. It was so nice to taste fresh fruit that is left to ripen on the tree instead of the gas-ripened rocks that masquerade as fresh fruit in the supermarkets.

Narrandera Wetlands

On our last afternoon we enjoyed a bee-sting from the Narrandera Bakery and then worked it off by taking a walk from the Caravan Park to the nearby Narrandera Wetlands project. The round trip took a bit over an hour and crossed the Murrumbidgee River before arriving at the Charles Sturt Memorial.

We followed a loop track around the wetland area, which was man-made and incorporated some flood mitigation controls to allow water in and out of the wetlands. There were a number ‘hides’ around the track that provided a viewing window into the wetlands and identified the various birds that inhabit it. We observed Yellow Spoonbills, Ibis and various other native species… and a lone Pelican. Near the wetlands there was also a Koala Reserve although we didn’t spot any.

Packing Up

Although the weather was hot and dry in Narrandera the last morning brought a good downpour, which I am sure was much welcomed by the locals. As expected though… the rain started as soon as we started our pack-up… and ended as soon as we finished packing up. It did start again on the drive to Hay, which gave us some good practice at towing in the rain and on wet roads.

So… finally we’re away on our five week shakedown trip to Mungo National Park. Accordingly… in the days before we left our septic system kept tripping its circuit breaker and our kitchen sink blocked up requiring continual plunging to keep clearing it. Problems deferred for the time being… Mungo awaits.

First stop, an overnighter at Jugiong Showground. Jugiong is a perfect little country village just off the highway  between Yass and Gundgai.

The showground is a no booking, donation camp site with a huge amount of space where you choose your own site. When we arrived there were probably fifty camps already set up and it still looked relatively empty. We snaffled a nice grassy area by the Murrumbidgee  River.

There followed a relaxing afternoon with a quick nap prior to happy hour and a raucous chorus of sulphur crested cockatoos. Happy hour at 5:00 to celebrate the first day and many days to come…

The next morning was breakfast at the Long Track Pantry just across the road. We both had the Brekkie Roll, which was your basic bacon, egg and cheese roll but with a sweeter bun and pancetta instead of bacon. Very, very nice and the coffee was very good… smooth, good temp. and not bitter (no sugar required).

After a satisfying brekkie… a quick pack up and off to Narrandera.