I was again toying with which way to travel, toward Quirindi then Gunnedah or Coonabarabran and Coonamble, as I neared the Golden Hwy I eventually turned left so my first stop would be Merriwah. Ah! that wonderful town brings back memories as I drive past the motel. A few years back I received a distress call from a friend Dave, he and his lovely wife had broken down on their Christmas trip to Victoria and was in need of a lift back home as the repair to their car would take many days. It was a 3 1/2 hour trip out to pick them up, was my Christmas present to them.
Pulling into the park (pretending to be a Caravan park) at the end of town, I practiced reversing as there was no one around and plenty of room. Shortly the park managers arrived, I entered the doorway where she was filling in the payment sheet, I explained I needed no power or shower this evening, ok she says, that'll be $20 thanks. What! no way, I turned tail pretty quickly and headed out of town toward Cassillis. But bugger! the petrol light comes on! I have two bars left and I have at least another 40ks to Cassillis. I refuse to turn around so continue on hoping the gauge is incorrect. The Cassillis War Memorial Park is adjacent to the Bowling club and made my inquiry in the club for a site for the night, once again saying no power needed. To my surprise the cost was nil and was offered a hot shower to boot! In repayment for the hospitality I returned to the club for dinner. My first night was a warm one, I first warmed up with the gas heater for an hour or two before snuggling under the feather doona reading about the first settlers of Aus. Mighty cold out in the morning though, ice on the ground and on the car. I ran both gas burners on the stove as well as the heater until the morning sun melted the ice.
Close up of the ice on my car
Little Ruby keeping warm
There is no petrol in Cassillis and the closest garage is in Coolah. Mmmm, no phone coverage here either, it would be silly of me to travel further so I find out there is a store/police station in the little town. I'm given the direct NRMA number at Coolah (this seems to happen often here) and in half an hour he arrives with 20ltrs of petrol and I'm on my way again with lesson learnt...toward Coolah
I'm sure they moved the Black Stump, It's before the turn off to Binnaway now?
then onto Binnaway to the Pumphouse caravan camp area on the edge of the Castlereagh river. There is one caravan parked here with 3 well behaved dogs. The area is large enough though only room for 7 powered sites, feeding a few dollars into the box allows for the power, the same goes for the hot shower. Plenty of non powered sites also. This is a fabulous way to welcome travelers as the signs says "enjoy" more than once. The fan heater will be running as soon as the sun goes down with the telly set up ready to go, I'm looking forward to a relaxing wind down this afternoon and tonight.
Found a friend on my walk to the shops
I have to say I really do enjoy driving thru the country side, just amazing peacefulness surrounds the view and slipping along at around 80kls give time to reflect on its beauty.
The Castlereagh River
I've just watched the last slithers of sun sink behind the hills and to top off the day I might brave a few minutes outside in the dark to check on the Milky Way.
No comments:
Post a Comment