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.