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.