By comparison with our last leg from Canberra to Yass, today was to be a long one, and as we shall see, it became unexpectedly longer than planned. We have travelled the Sturt Highway on many occasions. This time, rather than an overnight stay at one of the larger highway towns, we decided to try something different, in the form of the tiny farming town of Carrathool, 15 kms north of the highway some 50 kms east of Hay. Here, as our phone enquiry confirmed, we could pull in behind the newly rebuilt community pub (the old one burnt down in very strange circumstances!)
After taking our sad and reluctant leave of Troysie and Hens who were staying on for another day in Yass, we returned to the Hume Highway and made our way south-west along this excellent thoroughfare.
The town of Gundagai and its famous statue of the Dog on the Tuckerbox (which in reality is so small....the first time I saw it it reminded me of that iconic statue of the Mermaid in Copenhagen harbour....I nearly walked right by it....the photos made it look much bigger) was soon in our rear vision mirrors and within the next 40 kms we felt as though we really were on the way home. 'Adelaide' on a highway sign...we had not seen that for a very long time.
We had now joined the Sturt Highway which felt like an old friend to both of us. I had not been particularly looking forward to the drive through Wagga itself, which I recalled as being very busy and riddled with intersections controlled by traffic lights. To my surprise, as we carefully picked our way through, I realised that my recall had been on the darker side of accurate. Or was it that by now experience had served to blunt the pressure previously felt in these traffic conditions?
In any event, we were on the other side of Wagga in no time and settling down for the next 95 kms to Narrandera. I have to say that on these longer stretches of very little, the temptation to 'put the foot down' is almost irresistible.
But when towing 'the brick' anything over 90 kms carries a fuel bill clout, and when I err, 'The Navigator' (who can monitor our speed on our screen mounted Tom Tom) morphs instantly into her other role, as 'The Treasurer'. The seemingly innocuous enquiry, "are we going a bit fast?" carries a much sharper connotation in these circumstances "Sorry, love...not thinking" (read, 'damn it, I'm getting bored and she's caught me out'!)
By the time we had by-passed Narrandera we were well into our day's travel. In fact we had completed what we thought at that stage was to be the lion's share of it..
Some 100 kms further to the east and we were on high alert for the junction which would take us to Carathool. This we duly found and we turned north. Here the road soon took us over the Murrumbidgee River on one of Australia's most interesting bridges.
We were crossing the river on an Allen-type (he was the State Government engineer who designed it) timber truss road bridge (shown here courtesy of Wikipedia)
The lifting span, which allowed the passage of river traffic, is of the 'bascule' type, where the span is raised with the help of a counter-weight. This is only one of three of this style of bridge left in NSW, and the only timber one. It is listed on both the National Trust and NSW Heritage registers.
This was all very interesting so far, and then, as I know you have been expecting to read, things took a turn for the worse. Suffice it to say at this point that we were both very glad we had not travelled far to reach this tiny farming community town.
Despite our previous intentions, we did not tarry long in Carrathool, irrespective of whatever rural charm and good company it may have harboured. As we pulled up opposite the hotel, I was immediately concerned about what I could see by way of caravan accommodation. Ah, well, 'books and covers' and all that.....off I went into the pub. Here I was greeted by a lass clearly of Asian extraction, who, in response to my enquiry about our van site, promptly handed me a key and told me, "that will be $50".
Needless to say I was more than a little confused. When I asked if that was the key to the ablutions and pointed out that we were after a caravan site (already pre-booked) she spluttered on about thinking I was seeking a night's accommodation in one of the very average looking dongas which graced (?) the pub's rear yard.....hardly, I thought, even in the worst of circumstances.
My fairly terse reminder that I had actually rung ahead re a van site cleared the air for a moment, but only until I then asked to be shown where we could pull in. Off we went, out to the quite small back yard of the premises, overlooked completely by the rear beer garden deck.
I won't bore you with more of this other than to say that the patch I was offered was pure dirt, within no more than twenty metres of the edge of the rear pub deck, and right on top of the dongas.....and there was neither power nor water readily available.
Plan 'B' time. As we drove out of Carrathool, Liz phone ahead to Hay. We had previously stayed at the Hay Caravan Park which is some distance out of town. It was OK, but this time we opted for a change. The Hay Plains Caravan Park became our new overnight destination.
Well, there are times on the road when you arrive somewhere and think 'what the hell have we done?', and then there are those other occasions such as we were about to experience when we can't believe our luck.
The Hay Plains Caravan Park is an absolute cracker. We were allocated a lovely site under large shade trees
which, because things were not frantically busy, we could enter as a drive-thru.
Lovely gardens (terrible photo!), masses of lawn,
plenty of shade, even for this row of cabins,
an excellent camp kitchen.
and an adequate park pool.
This is a real gem of a park. It even features something we had never come across before. Here the en suite sites have their own roof to shield weary travellers from the blazing Hay Plains sun.
All the roadways are heavily gravelled to prevent dust, the amenities were clean and functional and then, to top it all off,
the South Hay Hotel is less than a minute away across the road from the park entrance.
This is a good old fashioned country pub. After what had become a very long day on the road, all 460 kms of it, there was no way either of us felt like cooking. We were not the only park residents to wander across for an evening meal. Like our park, it too was very good.
There are a few times when the travel gods smile down on us really broadly....this was one of them. The Hay Plains Caravan Park is now firmly established as our preferred resting spot when using the Sturt Highway in the future.
Plan 'B' time. As we drove out of Carrathool, Liz phone ahead to Hay. We had previously stayed at the Hay Caravan Park which is some distance out of town. It was OK, but this time we opted for a change. The Hay Plains Caravan Park became our new overnight destination.
Well, there are times on the road when you arrive somewhere and think 'what the hell have we done?', and then there are those other occasions such as we were about to experience when we can't believe our luck.
The Hay Plains Caravan Park is an absolute cracker. We were allocated a lovely site under large shade trees
which, because things were not frantically busy, we could enter as a drive-thru.
Lovely gardens (terrible photo!), masses of lawn,
plenty of shade, even for this row of cabins,
an excellent camp kitchen.
and an adequate park pool.
This is a real gem of a park. It even features something we had never come across before. Here the en suite sites have their own roof to shield weary travellers from the blazing Hay Plains sun.
All the roadways are heavily gravelled to prevent dust, the amenities were clean and functional and then, to top it all off,
the South Hay Hotel is less than a minute away across the road from the park entrance.
This is a good old fashioned country pub. After what had become a very long day on the road, all 460 kms of it, there was no way either of us felt like cooking. We were not the only park residents to wander across for an evening meal. Like our park, it too was very good.
There are a few times when the travel gods smile down on us really broadly....this was one of them. The Hay Plains Caravan Park is now firmly established as our preferred resting spot when using the Sturt Highway in the future.
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